President Biden on Thursday urged the nation to follow the example of the late Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) and find consensus as he reflected on the legacy of the late senator and war hero.
Biden remembered Dole as a “giant of our history” who devoted decades of his life to serving the nation.
“Bob and I, like many of us here, we disagreed on a number of things, but not on any of the fundamental things,” Biden said at the Capitol, where Dole’s casket had arrived to lie in state. “We still found a way to work together. We genuinely respected one another as colleagues, as fellow Americans.”
The president, saying Dole “deserves the final word,” read a portion of a column the late senator penned that was published upon his death, in which he urged Americans to overcome their political divisions and rediscover the country’s role as a “beacon of hope” for the world.
“America has lost one of our greatest patriots,” Biden said of Dole. “We may follow his wisdom, I hope, and his timeless truth. But the truth of the matter is, as divided as we are, the only way forward for democracy is unity. Consensus. The only way.”
“May we follow his wisdom and his timeless truth and reach consensus on the basic fundamental principles we all agree on,” Biden concluded.
Biden overlapped with Dole in the Senate for 25 years, and the two remained friends beyond their time in the chamber. The president visited with Dole in February at the Watergate in Washington, D.C., after Dole had announced his lung cancer diagnosis.
Dole endorsed former President Trump in 2016 and 2020, though he acknowledged after the 2020 election that Trump had lost and Biden had legitimately won the presidency.
Biden’s remarks were preceded by remembrances from Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Each recognized his decades of service, his willingness to reach across the aisle, his focus on Americans with disabilities and his memorable wit.
Biden will join other former U.S. presidents at a memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral on Friday.
Following Friday’s memorial service, there will be a celebration of life at the World War II Memorial. Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie and Tom Hanks will all speak.
Dole’s body will then be flown to his home state of Kansas.