Bob Dole, the former U.S. Senate majority leader from Kansas and 1996 Republican nominee for president, is being remembered for his service, patriotism, civility, and ability to work with those from across the political aisle.
Locally, he can also be remembered for an additional reason – he came to Chattanooga formally at least twice, according to records at the Chattanooga Public Library.
And uniquely, the two known visits were more than 20 years apart, when he was just starting up the national political ladder and when he was near the top.
A look back at those two visits following his death on Dec. 5 at the age of 98 shows a man who was obviously at ease in the public eye.
His first known formal visit to the Scenic City was on Aug. 14, 1965, when the 32-year-old spoke at an event at Engel Stadium saluting outgoing GOP Tennessee state chairman Harry Carbaugh. Some 1,000 people attended the gathering and stood in line to get a fried chicken picnic dinner with sides – or trimmings as they were called in 1965.
They sat in the stands as Mr. Dole, longtime Congressman Charles Halleck of Indiana, Rep. Bill Brock from Chattanooga and other speakers talked from a temporary stage over the pitcher’s mound.
Before the speeches, a band played in the outfield and square-dancing demonstrations were held – although it did not say if Mr. Dole or the other distinguished speakers took part.
Rep. Dole, who had been elected to Congress in 1960 after a decorated military career in World War II and a stint as a basketball player at Kansas for coach Phog Allen, was promoted in the announcement before the event as a humorous speaker in the spirit of comedian Bob Hope.
If he was humorous that Saturday, not much note of it was made in the stories in the News-Free Press by J.B. Collins or in the Times by Grady Gallant, although references to his quipping manner have been made by friends and acquaintances following his death.
Much of the focus by the speakers, including Mr. Carbaugh, was on the “liberal Democratic regime” occupying the White House, a reference to the Lyndon Johnson administration. In fact, Mr. Carbaugh and the others sounded very similar to what the Republicans say of Democrats in 2021.
Mr. Dole on one occasion said of the upcoming 1966 House and Senate races, “Nationally, unless there is a swing next year (away from liberalism), we will move even more rapidly toward one-party government under one-man rule.”
When Mr. Dole came to Chattanooga 22 years later as a U.S. senator, he had apparently developed more of a talking point of mentioning what was best for the country as a whole and was not just focusing on strict ideological and political party lines.
He also showed a little more of his sense of humor, based on a comment he made about his wife and mentioned below.
On June 1, 1987, he spent about two hours in Chattanooga at the Trade Center (and possibly elsewhere) meeting with city and county government officials, state GOP legislators, party strategy leaders, and potential private donors.
At the time, he was laying the groundwork to run for president in 1988 after Howard Baker – whom Mr. Dole called his best friend -- had joined President Reagan’s administration as chief of staff, and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had decided not to run.
Mr. Dole admitted Vice President George H.W. Bush was likely the frontrunner, but the Kansan was optimistic. “Somebody could get a hot hand,” he said. “I think we’re making progress.”
He had hired John Davis, who had run for Congress to represent the Third District in Tennessee in 1984 and 1986, to head his Southern campaign strategy.
During his press conference, in which he said the deficit was the biggest issue facing the country, the questioning was primarily about the recent news that both President Ronald Reagan and Vice President Bush supported AIDS testing for immigrants and federal prisoners.
It was at a time when people were still trying to figure out the horrific disease that had led to actor Rock Hudson’s death in 1985.
Mr. Dole took a different approach, looking at the negative implications of such testing and saying, “We have to be careful. We’re not a police state.” He also thought the White House’s response on combatting the AIDS epidemic had been slow.
On a lighter note, someone asked the then-63-year-old about his wife, then-Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole, whom he married in 1975 after his first Chattanooga visit. His reply was, “I go to a lot of places, and when people find out she’s not there, they leave.”
He was photographed at the Chattanooga airport being greeted by Neil and Ann Thomas. Covering the event for the News-Free Press were Jeff Powell, who had a phone interview with him before his visit, and John McGee, who attended his press conference. Both reporters are now deceased.
Covering his conference for the Times was Dave Flessner, who is still with the Times Free Press.
After Mr. Dole’s Chattanooga event, he left for Charleston, S.C., as he continued to test the waters of a potential 1988 presidential campaign that would ultimately prove unsuccessful.
But this week, many Chattanoogans – both Republicans and Democrats – are remembering his many successes at reaching that now-elusive goal of bringing people with different outlooks together and simply trying to make the country better in a way that benefited all.
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After this story was posted, reader Steve Helms emailed to say that in TV newscaster David Carroll’s new book, “Hello, Chattanooga!: Famous People Who Have Visited the Tennessee Valley,” Mr. Carroll writes that Mr. Dole also visited the local home of George Pettway and campaigned at Lovell Field for Fred Thompson on May 9, 1994, during Mr. Thompson’s initial U.S. senatorial campaign.
A followup look at the Times and News-Free Press said that Mr. Dole gave a press conference at Lovell Field with Mr. Thompson and that the $500 a plate evening dinner at the home of Mr. Pettway along with a fund-raising lunch here raised $100,000 for his campaign. He would go on to defeat Democratic Congressman Jim Cooper.
Covering the press conference were Jeff Powell of the News-Free Press and Mary Gabel of the Times.
The 1993 and 1994 city directories say that Mr. Pettway lived at 1310 Scenic Highway on Lookout Mountain, but by the time the 1995 city directory was published, his family had moved to 708 W. Brow Road, also on the mountain.
The library also said that Mr. Dole’s wife, Elizabeth, came to Chattanooga in mid-July 1996 while Mr. Dole was running for president and held a fundraising and organization meeting at Republic Parking head Jim Berry’s farm near Highway 58.
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Jcshearer2@comcast.net