Trailblazing former Sen. Elizabeth Dole of NC to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom

President Joe Biden will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, to former U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

The former North Carolina senator spent her political career shattering glass ceilings and fighting for women’s equality.

During her expansive career, Dole, 87, became the first woman to hold two Cabinet positions under two presidents, as the labor and transportation secretaries. She was the first woman to hold the latter position.

She was also the first female senator from North Carolina and the first woman to chair the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

And if that wasn’t enough, she was the second woman to lead the Red Cross, since its founder Clara Barton. Dole did not take a salary her first year.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom

The president gives the Medal of Freedom to individuals who made “meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors,” according to the White House.

She is one of 19 people receiving the award Friday. The list also includes former Vice President Al Gore, former Secretary of State John Kerry, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and South Carolina Sen. James Clyburn, all Democrats.

“President Biden often says there is nothing beyond our capacity when we act together,” a news release from the White House said. “These nineteen Americans built teams, coalitions, movements, organizations, and businesses that shaped America for the better. They are the pinnacle of leadership in their fields. They consistently demonstrated over their careers the power of community, hard work, and service.”

Dole is receiving the medal 27 years after it was awarded to her late husband, Bob Dole, the former Kansas senator and the Republican presidential nominee in 1996. They’re one of just a few couples to both receive the medal, along with Ronald and Nancy Reagan.

Clinton gave Bob Dole the medal in 1997, a year after the two campaigned against each other for the White House. In that ceremony, Clinton called Bob Dole one the nation’s most distinguished World War II veterans and celebrated his career in public service.

“I have found honor in the profession of politics,” Bob Dole said, accepting the medal in 1997. “I have found vitality in the American experiment. Our challenge is not to question American ideals or to replace them, but to act worthy of them.”

Dole’s political career

Sen. Elizabeth Dole, known to many as Liddy, was born in Salisbury, a city between Charlotte and Greensboro, to Mary Ella and John Van Hanford. She attended Duke University, where she earned her political science degree, and then Harvard, where she earned her law degree.

Dole served under five presidential administrations: those of Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

It was during the Nixon administration, in 1972, that she met her husband. He died in December 2021.

In 1975, she changed her political affiliation from Democrat to Republican.

As her husband’s political career flourished she would take breaks from her own to help with his vice presidential and presidential campaigns.

But her career aspirations drew attention in 1999, when after eight years, she left the Red Cross. Many believed this signaled her own desire to launch a presidential campaign, and she did. Her campaign proved popular in polling, but her fundraising numbers weren’t strong enough and she withdrew from the race before any primaries took place.

Running for Senate

Then in 2001, she decided to focus on succeeding Jesse Helms, who represented North Carolina in the U.S. Senate, after he announced his retirement. Her decision was controversial since she had spent her adult life in Washington, but with support from the state’s Republicans she switched her address back to Salisbury and won handily in 2002.

In the Senate she served on the armed services committee, the committee on banking, housing and urban affairs, the select committee on aging and the committee on small business and entrepreneurship.

She remained in Congress until former Sen. Kay Hagan, a Democrat, defeated her during the 2008 election.

After leaving the Senate, Dole began a foundation under her own name to help caregivers of wounded military members. The foundation remains active today.

The White House said in a news release that Dole leads by example for the support her foundation gives to military caregivers and their families.

Daniel Desrochers contributed to this report.