U.S. Politics in the Post Cold-War Era, United States History - 20th Century - 1945 to 2000, U.S. - Political Biography, Legislative Branch

Bob Dole

Name: Bob Dole
Author: Richard Ben Cramer
ISBN: 9780679766476

by Richard Ben Cramer

Write a review

Overview

The man who may become the next President of the United States carries his right arm seemingly permanently bent at the elbow. Gravely wounded as a young lieutenant in World War II, Bob Dole might very well have spent the rest of his life as an invalid in Russell, Kansas, if it hadn't been for his ferocious determination to rebuild his ravaged body. Dole keeps his arm bent on purpose, holding it up for hours at a time lest it dangle uselessly at his side. It is further evidence of what the doctor who treated him called his "faith to endure" - a faith that has taken Dole to the threshold of the White House. This insightful portrait from Richard Ben Cramer's epic What It Takes penetrates Dole's legendary reserve to decipher the riddle of his character and the vicissitudes of his career. We learn how Dole has managed to survive thirty-five years in the House and the Senate, carrying the ball for four Republican Presidents (including one who treated him shabbily and another whose policies he often questioned) while injecting a note of conscience into the conservative creed.

Cramer penetrates Bob Dole's legendary reserve to decipher the enigma of his character and the vicissitudes of his career. Dole loyally served four Republican presidents--including one who treated him shabbily and another whose policies he often questioned--and has survived Congress for 35 years. Bob Dole is an invaluable barometer not only to Dole himself, but to American politi cs as a whole.

About the Author, Richard Ben Cramer

Richard Ben Cramer

With personal profiles on some of history's greatest legends like his breakout book Joe DiMaggio: A Hero's Life, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Richard Ben Cramer is an expert on what makes men like DiMaggio as fascinating out of the spotlight as they are while under its glare.

Biography

Richard Ben Cramer is the author of the bestselling What It Takes: The Way to the White House, which was acclaimed as one of the finest books ever written on American politics. His journalism has appeared in Rolling Stone, Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, Time, and Newsweek. His dispatches from the Middle East for The Philadelphia Inquirer won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 1979. With his wife and daughter, he lives on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

Author biography courtsesy of Simon & Schuster, Inc.