Remembering Robert J. Dole

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, this week marks the 80th year since FDR delivered his ``Day of Infamy'' speech. That was in a joint session of Congress. FDR told the Nation that the United States of America was under attack. Besides that attack, Pearl Harbor changed the course of history, including the future and fortunes of a young man from Russell, KS.

Today, I come to the floor with a heavy heart. I am here to pay tribute to my best friend in the U.S. Senate. Yesterday, Senator Dole passed away at 98 years of age.

For 35 of those years, he served Kansans here in Congress. He also was the second longest serving Senate Republican leader. When Iowans first elected me to serve in the Senate, Bob Dole took me under his wing. I couldn't have asked for a better mentor. He treated me like a brother. Even when we disagreed, he treated me with respect. We shared conservative, Midwestern values. Those values steered us to champion fiscal discipline, American agriculture, rural healthcare, and limited government.

From humble beginnings, the three-sport athlete at the University of Kansas left his field of dreams. He left them behind to enlist and serve his country. Near the end of World War II, he was called to serve on the front lines in the northern mountains of Italy.

From the Great Depression to the ``greatest generation,'' Senator Dole was battle-tested to tackle whatever life threw at him. During his Presidential campaigns, he got to know my State of Iowa very well, just like almost every Presidential candidate does. Bob loved my State of Iowa. He won the Iowa caucuses twice. In 1988 and in 1996, I was proud to join him on the campaign trail and crisscross the State, visiting as many Iowans as possible in as many of our 99 counties as possible. I think he earned an honorary nickname as Iowa's third Senator.

On the campaign trail, it was often my job to introduce Bob Dole, so I am going to tell you about some of those introductions and about how, maybe, sometimes I screwed them up, but it was all with the intention of honoring my friend and fellow Senator, a person who I thought would make a very good President of the United States.

So I would start out these meetings by telling the story about the day he nearly lost his life on the battlefield. I wanted to show how this young soldier from the Kansas prairie led a platoon of mountain troops to flush out the enemy--far, far afield from serving chocolate malts at Dawson's Drug Store in Russell, KS.

To illustrate his grit, his courage, and his resiliency, I explained how a then-21-year-old soldier belly-crawled across a mountain valley, under heavy artillery, to secure what I thought was Hill 15--or was it Hill 13?

Then Bob Dole would chime in--kind of interrupt me--with some witty remark. More often than not, I flubbed the name of that hill in my introduction of this Presidential candidate to the voters of Iowa. He patiently said to me that it was not Hill 15; it was Hill 913.

Humble through and through, he didn't share that his injuries left him paralyzed from the neck down. Rather, he joked that I got the name of the hill wrong. He went on to say that what is important is that we are in the right State--meaning Iowa--at the right time, and right now.

Senator Dole's legacy was secured that day on the Italian mountainside. As Second Lieutenant of the 10th Mountain Division, as he pulled his radio operator to safety, Bob's right shoulder was nearly blown away. The hit paralyzed him from the neck down. He waited for hours in the pouring rain, bleeding and in pain, before being carried down the mountain.

Bob Dole was eventually sent home to Kansas in a body cast. He endured years of surgery, infections, rehabilitation in his relentless pursuit to walk again, and he did walk again. He learned how to write with his left hand, his right arm remaining paralyzed. Bob never forgot the people who helped him along the way: a doctor in Chicago or the medical professionals in Italy. They made it possible for him to serve later on in elective office.

Even though Senator Dole endured more than his share of hardship, it surely didn't take away his sense of humor. Anybody who knew him knew that there was hardly a speech or a conversation in which something witty wasn't said. He was a master of witty one-liners, and he could defuse red-hot partisanship with a single quip.

As Republican Senate majority leader, he finessed thorny policy issues with no-nonsense charm. He was able to find consensus with allies and adversaries alike. When Senator Dole became chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, he and House Speaker Tip O'Neill forged bipartisan consensus to rescue Social Security; and here we are, 35 years later, still rescued but still in need of some help. Less than 10 years later, he helped to broker the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 of which my colleague from Iowa, Senator Harkin, played a very major role.

His compassion for the disadvantaged informed his legislative achievements to expand Medicaid, school lunches, hospice, and food stamps. Senator Dole was awarded the World Food Prize in Des Moines with Senator George McGovern--a dual honor, that it was. That was the year 2008. They got this World Food Prize for their work to combat hunger, specifically nutrition for children in poverty.

He never forgot from where he came, and his legislative record reflects his compassion for others. He was a compassionate conservative because of his instincts and because of who he was and not as a political gimmick. Senator Dole had an uncommon ability to make you feel like you were the most important person in the world. He was plain-spoken, not a smooth talker. His authenticity wasn't manufactured. It pumped through his bloodstream, shaped by the hardships in the dust bowl and sacrifice as a war hero.

His Midwestern instincts guided his decision on one crucial factor here in the Senate--the looming deadlines. He knew when to fish or cut bait. Senator Dole mastered the art of compromise, embracing transparency and banked trust and the respect of supporters and opponents alike.

Senator Dole knew what it took to make the Senate work. We all know that it is not so very easy to make the Senate work. One former majority leader referred to the job as majority leader as a job of ``herding cats.''

Leader Dole was effective because he was exceptionally skilled at figuring out what each side needed to claim victory. You can't be an effective leader if you don't have followers, and Dole had lots of them. He was a war hero and a workhorse rolled into one; a soldier, a Senator, a statesman. He led the 10th Mountain Division to defeat tyranny and championed the 10th Amendment to uphold the blessings of freedom and liberty.

When Senator Dole stepped away from public life, he didn't stop public service. He poured his heart and soul into honoring veterans. He was instrumental in getting the National World War II Memorial established. For nearly two decades, he went there often to greet veterans at the memorial face-to-face, each time thanking them for their service and their sacrifice.

Barbara and I extend our condolences to Elizabeth and the entire Dole family. So many are grieving the loss of this extraordinary American here at home and also around the world. From his former colleagues to the corps of loyal staffers who worked with him here in the U.S. Senate, to legions of volunteers and supporters who worked for him on the campaign trail, Senator Dole was a widely respected leader on both sides of the aisle.

Senator Dole referenced Scripture when he resigned from the Senate in 1996 to hit the Presidential campaign trail at full speed. He said:

To everything there is a season.

A quarter-century has passed since he shared those very words with us here in this Chamber.

Today, the time has come to say farewell to my mentor and brother in Christ, Robert Joseph Dole. The Lord has called him home as a loyal servant.

Until we meet again, enjoy the new balcony of Eternal Paradise. It has got a better view to keep watch over Washington and your beloved Sunflower State.

It is fair to say that ``Dole Beach'' is now even closer to the Sun.

May you enjoy the warm sunshine upon your face in life everlasting. And may the yoke of hardship born upon your shoulders, worn with grit and grace, weathered by ravages of time and war, be taken now by our Lord God and Savior.

Always at the end of the day on the campaign trail, whether it was getting on an airplane to fly to the next stop or whether it was in a car going to the motel or a car going to a restaurant, we always heard Dole at the end of a day of maybe four or five campaign stops saying ``Free at last. Free at last.'' Well, Bob Dole now is free at last.

Godspeed, my friend. You have made a difference in my life. You have made a difference in our country. Your service and sacrifice will be celebrated for generations to come.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source