Bob Dole, US politician and Second World War veteran, dies at 98

Former Republican senator overcame serious wounds and sought the presidency three times

Bob Dole and his wife Elizabeth wave from the podium at the Republican National Convention in San Diego, after he accepted the 1996 Republican presidential nomination for a race he lost to Bill Clinton. Dole has died, aged 98. AP

A young Bob Dole after he enlisted in the US Army after his second year at the University of Kansas. He overcame disabling war wounds to become a sharp-tongued Senate leader. AP

Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole points to a victim of crime in the audience while spelling out his plans to battle drugs and violent crime, at Villanova University, in September 1996. Reuters

Presidential nominee Bob Dole hugs wife Elizabeth in August 1996 at the Republican National Convention. Reuters

Dole and Bill Clinton wave to the audience after their first presidential debate in Hartford, Connecticut, in October 1996. Reuters

House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Senate majority leader Dole in San Diego, August 1996. Reuters

FILE PHOTO: Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole makes a point during a Memorial Day speech in Clifton, New Jersey May 27, 1996. REUTERS / File Photo

US President Bill Clinton confers the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, to Dole in January 1997. Reuters

Dole attends a welcome ceremony for new Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Gen Mark Milley, at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Virginia, in September 2019. Reuters

President George W Bush with Dole during a ceremony honouring the USA Freedom Corps, in the East Room of the White House, in July 2002. Reuters

Dole, in his failed race for the Republican presidential candidacy, makes a speech in Washington in March 1988. AP

Dole with former President George HW Bush and his wife Barbara at the 2004 Republican National Convention at Madison Square Garden in New York. Reuters

Dole speaks to supporters in Kansas as he announces his bid for the Republican nomination for president in April 1995. AP

Dole with Democratic House minority leader Nancy Pelosi during his Congressional Gold Medal ceremony on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, in January 2018. AFP

Former majority leader Dole and his wife Elizabeth are escorted by senators as they leave Capitol Hill after his official retirement in June 1996. AP

Dole talks to women at Srebrenica on a weekend visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina in April 1998, in his capacity as chairman of the International Commission on Missing Persons. EPA

US Presidential candidate Dole leaves a rally at West High School in Davenport, Iowa, in February 1996. AFP

Newly elected Senate majority leader Dole is kissed by his wife, Transport Secretary Elizabeth Dole, and his daughter, Robin, on Capitol Hill in Washington, in November 1984. AP

At a 'Dole For President' rally in the Orpheum Theatre in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in February 1996. AFP

Sen Dole of Kansas in 1976. AP

Senator Dole, chairman of the Republican National Committee, speaks in Chicago in April 1972. AP

US politician Bob Dole, a Second World War veteran and Republican Party stalwart who led an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1996, died on Sunday aged 98 after a battle with cancer.

The Republican senator from Kansas, who was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer in February, died in his sleep, according to the foundation of Dole’s wife, Elizabeth Dole.

“It is with heavy hearts we announce that Senator Robert Joseph Dole died early this morning,” the foundation posted on Twitter.

“He had served the United States of America faithfully for 79 years.”

Dole sought the presidency three times and was his party's nominee in 1996 but lost to Democratic incumbent Bill Clinton. He was his party's vice presidential nominee in 1976 on a ticket headed by incumbent president Gerald Ford, but they lost to Democrat Jimmy Carter and his running mate Walter Mondale.

Dole was known for his self-deprecating wit and often referred to himself in the third person.

He grew up in the Great Depression of the 1930s and served in the Second World War. He was wounded in Italy shortly before the end of the conflict.

Dole represented Kansas in Congress for 35 years – from 1961 to 1969 in the House of Representatives and from 1969 to 1996 in the Senate, where he shepherded legislation as majority leader in the 1980s.

“Our nation and world is better for the service and sacrifice of Bob Dole,” Pennsylvania politician Chris Quinn posted on social media. “May he Rest In Peace.”