Elizabeth Dole

Elizabeth Dole
Official portrait, 2003
United States Senator from North Carolina
In office January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2009
Preceded by	Jesse Helms
Succeeded by	Kay Hagan
Chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee
In office January 3, 2005 – January 3, 2007
Leader	Bill Frist
Preceded by	George Allen
Succeeded by	John Ensign
20th United States Secretary of Labor
In office January 25, 1989 – November 23, 1990
President	George H. W. Bush
Preceded by	Ann McLaughlin Korologos
Succeeded by	Lynn Morley Martin
8th United States Secretary of Transportation
In office February 7, 1983 – September 30, 1987
President	Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	Drew Lewis
Succeeded by	James H. Burnley IV
Director of the Office of Public Liaison
In office January 20, 1981 – February 7, 1983
President	Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	Anne Wexler
Succeeded by	Faith Whittlesey
Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission
In office December 4, 1973 – March 9, 1979
Appointed by	Richard Nixon
Preceded by	Mary Gardiner Jones
Succeeded by	Patricia Bailey
Personal details
Born	Mary Elizabeth Alexander Hanford (1936-07-29) July 29, 1936 (age 88) Salisbury, North Carolina, U.S.
Political party	Republican (1975–present)
Other political affiliations	Democratic (before 1975)
Spouse	Bob Dole ​ ​ (m. 1975; died 2021)​
Education	Duke University (BA) Harvard University (MEd, JD)
Awards	Presidential Medal of Freedom (2024)
Signature
Elizabeth Dole's voice Dole opens a Senate Aging Committee hearing on Medicare drug benefit implementation Recorded February 2, 2006

Mary Elizabeth Alexander Dole (née Hanford; born July 29, 1936)^[1] is an American attorney, author, and politician who served as a United States Senator from North Carolina from 2003 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served in five presidential administrations, including as U.S. Secretary of Transportation under President Ronald Reagan from 1983 to 1987 and as U.S. Secretary of Labor under Reagan's successor, George H. W. Bush, from 1989 until 1990. Dole then left government to serve as president of the American Red Cross from 1991 to 1999; she departed from that position to seek the Republican nomination in the 2000 presidential election but eventually withdrew from the race.

Dole graduated from Duke University in 1958 and earned a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School in 1965. Throughout her public career, she was the first woman to hold a number of positions, including secretary of transportation, becoming the first woman to serve in two different presidential cabinet positions for two presidents after being appointed secretary of labor, as well as the first female U.S. senator from North Carolina and chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. She was also the third female secretary of labor and just the second woman to lead the American Red Cross since its founder, Clara Barton. She is the widow of U.S. Senator Bob Dole from Kansas, who served as the Republican Senate leader and was the party's presidential nominee in the 1996 election and vice presidential nominee in the 1976 election.