Senator, women’s rights advocate and philanthropist – Elizabeth Hanford Dole was all that and more. Married to one-time Republican presidential nominee Robert Dole, Elizabeth Dole was a political powerhouse in her own right, and in 2000, she sought the Republican nomination for president. Two years later, Dole became North Carolina’s first woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate.
Born in 1936 in Salisbury, N.C., Dole graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in political science from the Woman’s College of Duke University in 1958. She served in five presidential administrations beginning with Lyndon Johnson and ending with President George H.W. Bush.
From 1991 to 1998, Dole was the president of the American Red Cross, the second woman to hold the position and the first since founder Clara Barton in 1881.
During her years at Duke, Dole participated in numerous activities including the choir, the Chanticleer yearbook, the First-Year Advisory Counselor program and the Delta Delta Delta sorority.
In her senior year, she was elected president of the Women’s Student Government Association, earning her the Duke University 1958 Leader of the Year award. Her leadership agenda included establishing an honor code, discussing campus drinking rules and developing a leadership training program.
Dole returned to Duke as a member of the Board of Trustees, serving from 1974-1985, and received the third Distinguished Alumni Award in 1985.
In 2000, Dole gave the commencement address during which she urged students: “Remember that life is not meant to be endured, but enjoyed. Retain your curiosity, and though you may get wrinkles, you will never grow old. Be brave. Take risks. Above all, be yourselves, for therein lies the greatest gift you can return to those who have given so much that you might join the Duke family. May love and need be one, and all your work be play for mortal stakes.”
