Senator Bob Dole serves as special counsel in Alston & Bird’s Legislative & Public Policy Group in the Washington, D.C. office. The 1996 Republican nominee for president and former U.S. senate majority leader is one of the most sought after advisors in the public policy arena.

A renowned statesman who spent 35½ years in Congress, Dole was first elected to Congress from his home state of Kansas in 1960 and to the U.S. Senate in 1968. He gained national prominence as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1971 to 1972. In 1976, President Gerald Ford tapped him to be his vice presidential running mate. He served as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee from 1981-1985. Elected senate majority leader in 1984, Dole holds the record as the nation’s longest serving Republican leader.

Dole has received national acclaim for his leadership on behalf of the disadvantaged and disabled. He is a major spokesman on issues involving veterans, hunger and nutrition, agriculture, and men’s health. He is respected on both sides of the aisle for his views on bipartisanship, deficit reduction, economic growth and health care, and for his mastery of foreign affairs.