Tribute to Senator Robert Dole

TRIBUTE TO SENATOR ROBERT DOLE

Mr. SMITH. Mr. President, I was not in the Chamber 10 years ago when Senator Dole resigned his seat. I was, in fact, on the campaign trail in the midst of an election campaign that he had helped to recruit me to run. I remember watching those proceedings and seeing the bipartisan affection in which Senator Dole was held. I later met him many times on the campaign trail as he pursued the Presidency and was impressed by his courage in the face of very discouraging poll numbers and the high probability that he would not win and how hard he fought for us and others who were running to fill seats in the U.S. Senate. ELIZABETH was at his side, and together they made a tremendous campaign and did honor to our country and to the Republican Party by the way in which they prosecuted a very difficult campaign cycle. It reflected honor upon our country.

It is important that as we celebrate his resignation and his career that ended 10 years ago, we take occasion to reflect on his remarkable accomplishments. He served 27 years in this body, 11 of those as Senate Republican leader. Bob Dole's remarkable record of accomplishment as a Senator is well known. It is not an exaggeration to say that his fingerprints could be found on nearly every major piece of legislation that passed Congress during the 1980s and the first half of 1990s.

It was Bob Dole who reached across party lines to work with Senator George McGovern to create the Food Stamp Program. It was Bob Dole who worked with Senators HARKIN and KENNEDY to bring about the Americans with Disabilities Act. It was Bob Dole who worked with the late Senator Pat Moynihan to save the Social Security Program.

I rise today not just to pay tribute to Bob Dole's legislative accomplishments; rather, I rise on this occasion to celebrate what he has done in the decade since he left this body. There can be no question that over those 10 years, Bob Dole has continued his lifelong commitment to serving his country, a commitment that began as a young soldier in the hills of Italy during the Second World War. Indeed, for many Americans, Bob Dole is the living symbol of what Tom Brokaw has termed ``America's greatest generation,'' the generation of Americans who saved freedom during World War II. My generation is the beneficiary of Bob Dole's generation, the world we inherited, a world in which America assumed world leadership. My generation has been greatly blessed by patriots such as Bob Dole.

Perhaps Bob Dole's greatest contribution to the past decade was his chairmanship of the National World War II Memorial. Quite simply, that beautiful memorial would not grace our National Mall now had it not been for the persistence and leadership of Bob Dole.

Bob Dole also volunteered for service after the attacks on September 11, when he joined with former President Bill Clinton to serve as cochair of the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund, which assists the educational needs of families of those who lost their lives in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and United flight 93.

During this time in this Chamber, no Senator spoke more loudly and more eloquently about atrocities occurring around the world--specifically in Bosnia--than did Bob Dole, who raised his voice loudly. He has continued his vigilance by serving as Chairman of the International Commission on Missing Persons, traveling to the Balkans to provide closure to families of those who were victims of the genocide that occurred under Slobodon Milosevic.

In January of 2003, President Bush appointed Bob Dole as honorary Cochair of the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation. He has worked to connect countless Americans with service opportunities in communities, schools, and workplaces.

Bob Dole has also continued his commitment to ending the scourge of hunger, working with his former colleague, George McGovern, to advocate the expansion of school breakfast programs in the United States. They have also teamed to promote the expansion of the School Lunch Programs across the world through their Global School Feeding Initiative.

Bob Dole has also devoted a great deal of his time and energy to the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, which is located at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS. The institute is one of America's premier university-based political science and international affairs research institutes, dedicated to reestablishing politics as an honorable profession and to promoting greater student and civic involvement in the democratic process.

Along with all of these activities, Bob Dole is one of America's most popular public speakers, inspiring audiences with his courage, his humor, his love of America, and always with that trademark wit. He has also authored three books since leaving the Senate--two on political humor, and the most recent, ``One Soldier's Story,'' which tells the remarkable story of his recovery from the wounds he suffered during the Second World War.

Mr. President, Bob Dole has often said that he takes inspiration in the State motto of his beloved Kansas, which is: ``To the stars through difficulties.'' There can be no doubt that Bob Dole reached those stars in serving his country as a soldier and as a public servant. He has proved time and again over the past decade that he continues to reach for the stars as a private citizen.

I know all Senators join me in saluting Bob Dole and thanking him for the positive difference he has made over these past 10 years. Part of that difference was supporting his wife Elizabeth and her campaign to win a seat in the Senate. Together, they are a remarkable American couple and have made a remarkable difference for the betterment of our country and even the world.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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