The Man From Russell: The National Stage

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On August 20th, 1976 the new ticket of Gerald Ford and Bob Dole made their first campaign stop in Dole’s hometown of Russell, Kansas. It was the night before the two were nominated at the Republican National Convention in Kansas City.

It was also Bob Dole Day in Russell, 95 degrees with a 20-mile-an-hour wind that can make the plains feel like a convection oven. Still, a thousand people showed up to hear Dole and see Ford. Dole choked up as he spoke to the same people who helped pay for his rehab after wounds suffered on hill 914 in Italy during World War II. A “tearful homecoming” the Parsons Sun called it.

Everyone knew Ford picked a partisan running mate; Dole had been attacking Democrats since entering the House in 1961. But it was on October 15th, during the vice presidential debate, when he earned a nickname that would stick with him forever.

Dole called World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam “Democratic” wars. Jimmy Carter’s running mate, Minnesota Senator Walter Mondale responded coolly, "Senator Dole has richly earned his reputation as a hatchet man.” Time Magazine said it was number one on its top ten list of veep debate moments. Two weeks later Carter and Mondale would beat Ford and Dole 50 to 48 percent.

Dole went right back to work on hunger, a deep passion for him. In the summer of 1977, the cash requirement for food stamps was eliminated as Dole worked with his long-time collaborator on hunger, Senator George McGovern, a Democrat from South Dakota.

Dole briefly flirted with a presidential run in 1980. But, in the year of Ronald Reagan, it didn’t last long. He was reelected that year with 64 percent of the vote, beating Republican-turned-Democrat John Simpson from Salina. Dole carried all 105 counties.

The GOP captured the Senate with Reagan at the top of the ticket and Dole became finance chairman and helped pass much of Reagan’s economic programs. Then Dole was elected Senate majority leader and became even a bigger deal.

He was headed toward another national campaign.