Dole, Elizabeth Hanford

Dole, Elizabeth Hanford, 1936–, American public official, b. Salisbury, N.C., B.A., Duke Univ., 1958, J.D., Harvard, 1965; wife of Bob Dole. A Republican, she held several government positions including commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (1973–79). President Reagan appointed her secretary of transportation (1983–89) and President George H. W. Bush named her secretary of labor in 1989. In 1991 she resigned to become president of the American Red Cross. She took one-year leave of absence from the Red Cross in 1995–96 to support her husband's unsuccessful campaign for the presidency, then resigned in 1999 to run for president herself, but left the race before the primaries. In 2002 she was elected to the U.S. Senate from North Carolina.