Long­time GOP sen­a­tor and pres­i­den­tial can­di­date Bob Dole dead at 98

‘It is with heavy hearts we announce that Sen­a­tor Robert Joseph Dole died ear­ly this morn­ing in his sleep,’ the Eliz­a­beth Dole Foun­da­tion announced.

For­mer Sen­ate Major­i­ty Leader Bob Dole died Sun­day morn­ing at age 98, his wife’s foun­da­tion announced.

“It is with heavy hearts we announce that Sen­a­tor Robert Joseph Dole died ear­ly this morn­ing in his sleep,” the Eliz­a­beth Dole Foun­da­tion tweet­ed. “At his death, at age 98, he had served the Unit­ed States of Amer­i­ca faith­ful­ly for 79 years. More infor­ma­tion com­ing soon. #Remem­ber­ing­Bob­Dole”

WWII Foun­da­tion hon­ors for­mer Sen. Bob Dole

French embassy presents Legion of Hon­or award to WWII veterans.

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For­mer Sen­a­tor Bob Dole stands up and salutes the cas­ket of the late for­mer Pres­i­dent George H.W. Bush as he lies in state at the U.S. Capi­tol, Decem­ber 4, 2018 in Wash­ing­ton, DC. (Pho­to by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) ((Pho­to by Drew Angerer/Getty Images))

Dole announced ear­li­er this year that he was being treat­ed for stage 4 lung can­cer, which prompt­ed a vis­it at the time by Pres­i­dent Biden to his Wash­ing­ton, D.C., home.

Dole is sur­vived by his wife, for­mer North Car­oli­na GOP Sen. Eliz­a­beth Dole, who is 85.

Dole, the for­mer Kansas sen­a­tor, was a World War II vet­er­an who lost the use of his right arm on the bat­tle­field in Italy. As for­mer nation­al chair­man of the World War II Memo­r­i­al Com­mis­sion, he helped raise near­ly $200 mil­lion for a WWII memo­r­i­al on the Nation­al Mall, which was com­plet­ed in 2004.

Dole was the Repub­li­can Par­ty’s 1996 pres­i­den­tial nom­i­nee and had a polit­i­cal career span­ning near­ly four decades. For­mer Pres­i­dent Bill Clin­ton pre­sent­ed Dole with the Pres­i­den­tial Medal of Free­dom months after win­ning the elec­tion against him.

Sen­a­tor Bob Dole gives the “thumbs up” sign dur­ing a pres­i­den­tial ral­ly. Sen­a­tor Dole won the Repub­li­can nom­i­na­tion for pres­i­dent in 1996, but lost the elec­tion to Bill Clin­ton.  ( (Pho­to by © Wal­ly McNamee/CORBIS/Corbis via Get­ty Images))

For­mer Pres­i­dent George W. Bush issued a state­ment Sun­day say­ing Dole rep­re­sent­ed “the finest of Amer­i­can values.”

“He defend­ed them in uni­form dur­ing World War II,” the state­ment read. “He advanced them in the Unit­ed States Sen­ate. And he lived them out as a father, hus­band, and friend. Our entire fam­i­ly ben­e­fit­ed from that friend­ship, includ­ing my father. I will always remem­ber Bob’s salute to my late dad at the Capi­tol, and now we Bush­es salute Bob and give thanks for his life of prin­ci­pled ser­vice. Lau­ra and I send our heart­felt con­do­lences to Eliz­a­beth and join our fel­low cit­i­zens in prayer for her comfort.”

House Speak­er Nan­cy Pelosi has ordered the flags at the U.S. Capi­tol to fly at half-staff in Dole’s honor.

Source: foxnews​.com