Elizabeth Dole

About Elizabeth Dole

Mary Elizabeth Hanford "Liddy" Dole (born July 29, 1936) is an American politician who served in both the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush presidential administrations, and currently serves as a United States senator from North Carolina. She was elected to the Senate in 2002 and is the first female senator for North Carolina. She is running for re-election in the United States Senate election in North Carolina, 2008.

She is a member of the Republican Party and former chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. She is married to former U.S. Senate Majority Leader and 1996 Republican presidential nominee Sen. Bob Dole.

Dole was born Mary Elizabeth Hanford in Salisbury, North Carolina, to Mary Ella Cathey (1901-2004) and John Van Hanford (1893-1978). She attended Duke University, graduating in 1958, and followed that with post-graduate work at Oxford University in 1959. She earned a master's degree in education from Harvard University in 1960 and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1965. She is an alumna of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society and was recognized for being their leading orchid grower several times.