September-October 1997

One Block from the White House

by Jennifer Ferranti

When Elizabeth Dole walks into a room, the crowd buzzes with rumors about the next Dole race in the year 2000. But this time she would be the candidate.

Not me, Mrs. Dole insists when confronted by reporters. "I have no plans to run. None at all," she said on election night as her husband lost his final bid for the presidency.

Two months later, as she resumed her position as president of the American Red Cross, headquartered just one block from the White House, Mrs. Dole still maintained she is not considering elected office. "That's not something that's on the agenda for me now," she said as she artfully changed the subject to the humanitarian organization she leads.

Even today, her press secretary places one condition on an interview. "No questions about her running for office. Mrs. Dole wants to focus on her work at the Red Cross."

But no matter how much she protests, Mrs. Dole cannot douse the sparks of "draft Liddy" fervor that are spreading like wildfire down the preelection trail. Supporters suggest she could return to her native North Carolina to run for governor, or make herself available as a vice presidential nominee in 2000, or even seek the presidency.

Republican Party leaders in her home state have twice tried to recruit Mrs. Dole to run for governor or the U.S. Senate, confirms Leo Daughtry, majority leader of the North Carolina House. Both times she declined.

Bob Dole says that if any other Republican had been running for president last fall, his wife might well have been asked to run as vice president. "She'd have been on everybody's very, very, very short list," he told Barbara Walters in a postelection interview.

Florida Rep. Tillie Fowler, a close friend for 30 years, confirms that Mrs. Dole has never expressed interest in running for office. But, Fowler says: "Who knows? 2000 is a long time from now, and she would be fabulous. She might be convinced."

Even though Mrs. Dole has never run for elected office, polls consistently rank her one of the most popular and capable women in America. She has served in the administrations of five presidents since 1965 and is the only woman ever to hold two different Cabinet posts under two presidents. Since 1991, she has served as president of the American Red Cross, the largest humanitarian relief organization in the nation. And over the course of her three-decade-long career, Mrs. Dole's public image has remained virtually untarnished. "Her negative rating is among the lowest of anyone in public life today, " confirms Republican pollster Kellyanne Fitzpatrick.

There was a time when Mrs. Dole might have enthusiastically embraced the idea of running for political office. But that was many stops back on a spiritual journey she credits with teaching her the value of put-ting first things first. Her career is no longer number one, she explains. Her priorities have been born again. "God is the center of your life, and all else flows from that," she says.

A Spiritual Journey

"My witness contains no 'road to Damascus' experience," Mrs. Dole explains. "I've always been a Christian."

The only daughter of a wealthy flower wholesaler, Mary Elizabeth Hanford was born 60 years ago in the idyllic town of Salisbury, North Carolina. She describes growing up in a beautiful and loving Southern home in which the gospel was "as much a part of our lives as fried chicken, and azaleas in the spring."

"My grandmother, Mom Cathey, was my role model," Mrs. Dole says. "Mom Cathey was a continual reader of the Bible. And next to her bed was a radio that was always tuned to religious broadcasts.

"I remember many Sunday afternoons I sat with my cousin Anita Cathey and other children in my grandmother's living room, munching on cookies and drinking lemonade while she told us stories from Scripture."

With Mom Cathey, God always came first, Mrs. Dole recalls. She lived a life of selfless spirituality. "And I wanted to be just like her."

It was with this intention that "Liddy" (as she lispingly nicknamed herself when she was learning to talk) began her spiritual journey. "But as we move along," she laments, "how often in our busy lives something becomes a barrier to total commitment of one's life to the Lord. It may be money, power or prestige. In my case, my career became of paramount importance."

Ingrained with a strong work ethic, Elizabeth excelled at just about everything she attempted, including a political science degree from Duke University, a master's degree in education from Harvard University (at one time she considered becoming a Christian education director), and a degree from Harvard Law School, where she was one of just 24 women in a class of 550.

She began her public service career as deputy assistant for President Johnson's Commission on Consumer Interests. When Richard Nixon was elected president, she was promoted to deputy director. And a few years later, she was appointed to the Federal Trade Commission.

But in 1982, while serving as head of the White House Office of Public Liaison under President Reagan, Mrs. Dole says her ambitions came to a soul-searching halt.

She found herself consumed by work and a form of perfectionism. "My career had become the center of my life. And that was not the way my wonderful grandmother had taught me to set priorities," Mrs. Dole says. "Sunday had become just another day of the week. And my life was close to spiritual starvation.

"But I knew that Jesus Christ was my Lord and my Savior. And I knew it was time to cease living life backwards, time to strive to put Christ first -- with no competition -- at the very center of my life. It was time to submit my resignation as master of my own little universe." She smiles when she says, "God accepted my resignation."

At Washington's Foundry United Methodist Church, Mrs. Dole met a pastor who urged her to join a spiritual-growth group that met on Monday nights not far from the White House. It was there she came "face-to-face with a compulsion to do things right, and the companion drive to constantly please," she says. "I began to redefine perfectionism the way my grandmother had taught it.

"Some people define strength as independence, self-reliance and resourcefulness. But I have learned that real strength, inner strength, comes from a dependence on the one source who can replenish life with the power that comes from above."

"What we do on our own matters little," Mrs. Dole offers. "What counts is what God chooses to do through us. Life is more than a few years spent on self-indulgence or career advancement. It's a privilege, a responsibility and a stewardship to be met according to his calling. This alone gives true meaning to life."

With her priorities restored to proper order and with a more balanced lifestyle in place, Mrs. Dole accepted President Reagan's invitation in 1983 to serve as Secretary of Transportation. And in 1989, President Bush appointed her Secretary of Labor.

A Mission Field

It was in 1991, Mrs. Dole says, that she discovered her true vocation, working as president of the American Red Cross, the largest humanitarian relief organization in the nation, where she oversees a budget of $1.8 billion, 32,000 employees and 1.4 million volunteers.

The organization's first female president since founder Clara Barton, Mrs. Dole was hired amid a concern over possible HIV-contamination of the blood supply. She promptly revamped the agency's blood bank procedures. And stressing the importance of volunteerism, passed up the first year of her $200,000 salary.

During her first 31/2 years, Mrs. Dole visited Red Cross workers in war zones from Croatia to Somalia and made more than 200 trips around the United States, including disaster hot spots such as Southern California after the Northridge earthquake and coastal Florida after Hurricane Andrew.

Mrs. Dole says she knew after only one month at the helm, "I had found a job that filled me with a sense of mission like I hadnever known." Traveling to disaster-stricken locations such as Oklahoma City, Bosnia and Zaire, "I have seen things that will haunt me for the rest of my life. But in this position, I am able to make a difference for people with dire human needs. This is more than a job to me. It's a mission field."

A Marriage Partnership

Nevertheless, Mrs. Dole did not hesitate to take a 14-month leave of absence from the Red Cross when her husband announced his 1996 bid for the presidency. She promised to return immediately after the election -- whether Bob lost or won.

This was the third time she put her career on hold to campaign for her husband. But Mrs. Dole quickly emphasizes she did so as Bob's wife, not his political partner. "My husband and I have two very separate careers," she insists.

Pursuing dual careers has been somewhat easier for this political couple without the demands of children. "I was almost 40 when we got married, so it [getting pregnant] was just not so likely to happen," she says. "If it had, terrific. But since not, we both feel very challenged and blessed with the kinds of opportunities we've had to make a difference to a lot of children."

She adds: "I'm lucky to have Robin [Bob's 42-year-old daughter from his first marriage], who is much more than a stepdaughter, and a pair of nephews close enough to be like sons. John [Hanford], a young minister, works in the Senate on issues of international religious liberty, and Jody [Hanford] works for Campus Crusade for Christ."

"Bob and I are both believers,"

Mrs. Dole confirms. They attend Washington's National Presbyterian Church, after leaving Foundry United Methodist a couple of years ago because of the liberal views of its pastor.

Now that Bob's presidential campaign is over, the Doles' schedules are considerably less hectic. Their personal lifestyle, however, is not nearly as glamorous as the public might imagine. They say they've been meaning to buy a house since the day they got married, but in 20 years, they've just never had time. So they continue to live in the two-bedroom apartment at the Watergate complex where the senator lived before they were married. They frequently stay home with Chinese takeout and a rented video rather than attend another Washington social event. They shop at the local Safeway and divide the household chores, which has generated some amusing mail.

When a popular magazine featured a picture of the Doles making their bed together, Senator Dole receiveda letter from an irate Republican in California. "Senator Dole," the man wrote, "My wife saw that picture of you making the bed, and now she has me helping make the bed. Please, Senator, you've got to stop doing all that work around the house. You're causing problems for men all across America."

"You don't know the half of it," Senator Dole replied. "The only reason she was helping make the bed was because they were taking pictures."

Just One Block Away

In a private interview last fall, Mrs. Dole predicted a female president or vice president "in our lifetime." But, she said, it won't be me. "I don't have plans to ever run for office."

Those who have known Mrs. Dole for a lifetime offer a different opinion. In high school, Liddy was voted the girl most likely to succeed, recalls her childhood friend Betty Dan Spencer. "We teased her a lot that she'd be the first woman president."

And today, as Mrs. Dole looks out the window of her corner office at the Red Cross, only a slim line of trees obscures her view of the White House.

Jennifer Ferranti is a freelance journalist living in Fairfax Station, Virginia. She has followed Elizabeth Dole's career since hearing Mrs. Dole speak at a luncheon in Los Angeles 20 years ago.

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