Elizabeth Dole

Biography

Elizabeth Dole is a Republican senator from North Carolina, the former secretary of the Department of Labor and the Department of Transportation and former head of the American Red Cross.

Early Life and Education 

Mary Elizabeth Hanford was born July 29, 1936, in Salisbury to Mary Cathey and John Van Hanford. Her father was a wholesale florist and her mother a civic volunteer.

She earned a bachelor's degree from Duke University in 1958.

She then attended Harvard University, earning a master of arts in 1960 and a law degree in 1965.

Family

Her husband, Bob, was a longtime senator and a vice presidential and presidential candidate.

Political Career 

She served as Secretary of Transportation under President Reagan and Secretary of Labor under the first President Bush. After heading the American Red Cross for most of the 1990s, she ran for the Republican nomination for president in 1999, dropping out before the primaries.

In 2002, she defeated Erskine Bowles and became North Carolina's first female U.S. senator.

In office, she passed a tobacco quota buyout, co-sponsored new regulations for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and advocated for federal recognition of the Lumbee Indians. For the past two years, she headed the National Republican Senatorial Committee. 

Between 1987 and 2003, Dole was listed among the top 10 most admired women 11 times in an annual poll by the Gallup organization. 

She is running for re-election in 2008.

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