The Dole Legacy: Leadership in the U.S. Senate
The oral histories provided here cover the entirety of Senator Dole’s career. Details about his early and war years as well as his four national campaigns have been well-recorded in other writings. To complement these, the focus of these oral history interviews is on Dole's leadership style (particularly as Senate Finance Chairman and Republican Senate Leader) and on his principal legislative accomplishments
Project Background
This phase of the Dole Institute Oral History Project was conducted from 2007-2009. It was conceived of and planned by Dole Institute Director Bill Lacy, in collaboration with Dole Institute Senior Archivist Jean Bischoff.
The primary goal of this phase was to document his leadership style, with an emphasis on issues and legislation during the Senate years (1968-1996) on which Senator Dole's impact was critical and which had an effect on the national political landscape.
Interviews were conducted by Principal Historian Richard Norton Smith and Project Manager and Historian Brien R. Williams. Interviewees include Senator Dole, Senate and House colleagues, key staffers and aides, high-ranking campaign personnel, and others critical to Senator Dole's political activities.
Accessing the Oral Histories
Most of the oral histories can be accessed on this page. Streaming video is available for many interviews, and streaming audio is available for the remainder. Transcripts are available for most of the interviews and are available here for download in PDF format. If you have trouble accessing any of these files, please feel free to contact us, and we will help find a solution.
Audio versions of all interviews are available for download in MP3 format.
Subscribe to the podcast of the oral history interviews: (RSS feed) | (iTunes link)
For more information about the Oral History Project, or to do a full text search of the transcripts, please review the finding aid for the collection.
Use of the Oral Histories
These oral history transcripts may be read, quoted from, cited, and reproduced for purposes of research. They may not be published in full except with permission of the Dole Archives.
Preferred Citation: Oral History Interview with [interviewee's name], [date of interview], The Dole Institute Oral History Project, Robert and Elizabeth Dole Archive and Special Collections, University of Kansas.
The Dole Institute Oral History Project was funded through generous support from the Andreas Family Foundation