Bob, Dan, and the Way Things Used to Be

Celebrating his nomination at the Republican
Convention, San Diego, 1996 (WSJ photo)

Bob Dole (July 22, 1923 - December 5, 2021) was disabled by war injuries for most of his life:

In April 1945, while stationed in Italy during WWII, the young soldier was struck by enemy fire. As a result of his wounds, Dole was permanently left without feeling in his right hand and arm, which measured more than two inches shorter than his left after reparative surgeries; part of his left hand was also left numb. Dole, who died on Sunday at the age of 98, would live with and be shaped by the aftermath of those injuries in the years that followed, including the 30 he spent as a U.S. senator from Kansas.

The future Republican senator from Kansas met the future Democratic senator from Hawaii when they both were recovering in an Army hospital. Daniel Inouye (1924-2012), who lost his right arm in the Italian campaign, and Bob Dole became lifelong friends.

Below are Senator Dan's 2008 reflections on his shared experiences with Bob Dole. His description of how things worked mere decades ago shows how much times have changed.

Aloha, Senator Dan

Two war heroes

After my college graduation ceremonies were over, we took a car trip along the Eastern seaboard to the nation's capital. We gaped at the monuments and spent days walking about the Smithsonian. We toured the Capitol and took a peek at the offices of Daniel Inouye, our home state's then-junior senator. To our surprise, his secretary told us to come right in.

Senator Dan recognized my father as a fellow graduate of McKinley High and reminisced about the McCully neighborhood. They shot the breeze about old times and old friends. We had arrived unannounced, and he spoke to us as if he didn't have anything else on his calendar. (It was the summer of 1973, and the national spotlight was beginning to focus on him and other members of the Senate Watergate Committee.)

When he died earlier today, Senator Dan, as president pro tempore, was third in line to the Presidency. He had acquired enormous influence in the "world's most exclusive club", yet one never got the sense that he was owned by Washington. A staunch Democrat, Senator Dan had close Republican friends. He refrained from extreme partisanship, possibly costing himself a party leadership position in the Senate.

"A remarkable American life," said Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky). Amen. © 2012 Stephen Yuen

Why Does Senator Daniel Inouye Have Secret Service Protection?

Two old pros who worked on Watergate in 1974.

Answered via other questions and answers:

Q: who's next in the line of Presidential succession, after the Vice President and Speaker of the House?

A: The president pro tempore of the Senate.

Q: What does the president pro tempore do?

A: He* presides over the Senate in the absence of the Vice President, is the Senate's legal recipient of various reports, and serves on commissions and boards. (Obviously, the duties are largely ceremonial, but the office is third in line and it is in the Constitution.)

*Male singular pronoun used for convenience only.

Q: How is he elected?

A: "Since the mid-20th century, it has been traditional for the Senate to elect the senior member of the majority party as president pro tempore."

Q: Who is the current president pro tempore?

A. Daniel K. Inouye, 88-year-old Democratic Senator from Hawaii. We have posted about Medal of Honor recipient Senator Dan before (here and here).

Two sons of Hawaii grew up in the same middle-class neighborhood, albeit four decades apart, and are now important enough to be protected round-the-clock by the Secret Service. Last question: who would ever have believed it? © 2012 Stephen Yuen

The Genuine Article

In the Army

Yesterday Senator Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI) turned 85. Congratulations to the Medal-of-Honor recipient, the second-most-senior member of the Senate, and a loyal but not hyper-partisan Democrat.

As the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, he is not afraid to disagree with another Hawaiian-born politician who is trying to cut the F-22 and other defense programs. Senator Dan is a veteran of the Watergate and Iran-Contra political battles and a soldier who charged German machine-gun nests by himself and had his arm blown off by shrapnel. These latest kerfuffles are not even beanbag.

Per his website, “I am running for re-election to a ninth term in 2010”. If that’s truly what he wants, I hope he gets it. In a day when the word “hero” is overused, Senator Dan is the genuine article.

War is Hell

A U.S. Marine is being investigated for shooting a wounded terrorist in Fallujah. One World War II veteran confronted a similar situation:

Coming forward, we found two Germans dead, torn to shapeless hulks by the bazooka. A third, an ammo bearer, had been thrown across the room and lay sprawled against a wall, one leg shredded and twisted around. "Chambered," he whispered. "Chambered."

He reached into his tunic, and I thought he was going for a gun. It was war; you had only one chance to make the right decision. I pumped the last three shots in my rifle clip into his chest. As he toppled over, his hand sprang spasmodically from the tunic, and he held up a snapshot, clutching it in death. It was a picture of a pretty woman and two little children, and there was a handwritten inscription: "seine Dichliebende Frau, Hedi." So I had made a widow and two orphans.

Dan Inouye lost his right arm during the war, was awarded the Medal of Honor, and has been Hawaii's Senator for over 40 years.