TOPEKA – Washburn University unveiled a statue honoring former U.S. senator Bob Dole Friday on the Topeka campus.
The bronze statue celebrates the lifetime achievements of the Washburn graduate and Russell native.
Today @WashburnUniv had the great pleasure and honor of unveiling a statue of @SenatorDole, a WU and @washburnlaw alumnus, the longest-serving Senate leader of the GOP, a presidential candidate and a fighter for veterans and the disabled. #washburnuniversity #washburnlaw pic.twitter.com/v73x5DnuEu
— Washburn Alumni Assn (@washburnalumni) September 28, 2018
This is the first commissioned bronze statue of him ever created. It is a gift to Washburn University from John Pinegar, BA ’82, and the Doug and Kathleen, BA ’84, Smith family.
Former U.S. senators Bob and Elizabeth Dole attended the unveiling with Jerry Farley, president, Washburn University, and other dignitaries including former senator Nancy Kassebaum.
Washburn conferred on Dole an honorary doctorate of laws in 1969 and an honorary doctorate of civil law in 1985. He received the Washburn Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award in 1966. The Washburn University School of Law Alumni Association honored him with the Distinguished Service Award in 1981 and the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.
Dole graduated from Washburn University in 1952 earning both a bachelor of arts and a juris doctorate in the same year because of credits he earned before enlisting in the U.S. Army during World War II.
He has developed a worldwide reputation for public service, holding elected positions in the Kansas House of Representatives, as Russell County (Kan.) attorney and as a U.S. congressman before spending nearly 30 years as a U.S. senator. He was chair of the Republican National Committee, Senate Minority Leader and Senate Majority Leader, where he set a record as the longest-serving Republican leader. Dole was President Gerald Ford’s vice presidential running mate in 1976 and a Republican presidential candidate in both 1988 and 1996, earning the GOP nomination in 1996.
A World War II veteran, he served as national chair of the World War II Memorial Campaign and authored the autobiographical “One Soldier’s Story,” among other books.