Robert Dole: Presidential Candidate, Senate Leader, and Decorated WWII Veteran Dies at 98

Robert Dole: Presidential Candidate, Senate Leader, and Decorated WWII Veteran Dies at 98

Robert Dole died early Sunday morning in his sleep, the Elizabeth Dole Foundation said. He was 98.

He dominated American politics for decades. But, he was nearly killed in World War II.

"As the old soldiers of World War II faded away, Mr. Dole, who had been a lieutenant in the Army’s storied 10th Mountain Division and was wounded so severely on a battlefield that he was left for dead, came to personify the resilience of his generation. In his post-political career, he devoted himself to raising money for the World War II Memorial in Washington and spent weekends there welcoming visiting veterans," reports the New York Times.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

The Wall Street Journal reports, "Mr. Dole was a fixture on the Washington scene for more than half a century and a national leader of the Republican Party for nearly as long. As a legislator, and ultimately as leader of the Senate, he played a role on a staggering list of legislation touching every aspect of American society: voting rights, Social Security, food stamps, child-nutrition programs, the rights of the disabled, the North American Free Trade Agreement and more. As Congress’s chief tax writer, he was instrumental in the landmark Reagan-era tax cuts as well as in an overhaul of the nation’s tax code in 1986."

"Over the arc of a 36-year career in Congress, Mr. Dole underwent a steady but dramatic transformation. He once was seen as a partisan slasher, a reputation enhanced by his time as Republican National Committee chairman when he was a fierce defender of former President Richard Nixon during the Watergate crisis. In time, though, his partisan edges softened, and he worked with liberal icons George McGovern and Ted Kennedy on major legislation," write the WSJ.

For Rhode Islanders, there were many connections. He was a close ally of Senator John Chafee and the two served in the Senate leadership.

And, it was Dole who was a strong supporter of RI architect Fredrich St. Florian's design of Washington's WW II Memorial.