Dole Lecture

Former General Richard B. Meyers speaks for the 2007 Dole Lecture, about his personal experience with the War on Terror. The Dole Lecture is a public event headlined by a national figure discussing an aspect of current politics or policy. Held each spring, it commemorates April 14, 1945, when Bob Dole was critically wounded while […]

Tom Brokaw, Former Anchor of NBC Nightly News and Author The Dole Lecture is a public event headlined by a national figure discussing an aspect of current politics or policy. Held each spring, it commemorates April 14, 1945, when Bob Dole was critically wounded while serving in Italy during World War II. The Dole Lecture […]

Former Senators Bob Dole and Elizabeth Dole spoke at the Lied Center for the 2009 Dole Lecture as part of the Dole Institute's annual Dole Lecture Series. The Dole Lecture is a public event headlined by a national figure discussing an aspect of current politics or policy. Held each spring, it commemorates April 14, 1945, […]

FDIC Chair and KU alumna Sheila Bair discussed her career in public service and her efforts to restore Americans' faith in the financial system. Sheila C. Bair has spent most of her life in public service, beginning with her career as a civil rights attorney in what was then the U.S. Department of Health, Education, […]

Bob Woodward, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and associate editor for the Washington Post, was interviewed by Dole Institute of Politics Director Bill Lacy for the 2011 Dole Lecture. Bob Woodward is regarded as one of America’s preeminent investigative reporters and non-fiction authors. He has worked for The Washington Post since 1971 as a reporter, and is […]

George Mitchell is an exemplary public servant with an impressive political career. Mitchell served with Senator Dole in the Senate and was a founder of the Bipartisan Policy Center. After leaving the Senate, he has continued to serve by seeking peace in Northern Ireland and in the Middle East and by studying the effect of […]

Ike is a personal hero of Bob Dole's, and the Dole Institute was proud to honor President Eisenhower's life and legacy with the annual Dole Lecture. Are you aware of the effort to honor IKE with a memorial on the national mall? Authorized in 1999 by an act of Congress, the Commission seeks to build […]

"Al From is the principal architect for the Clinton presidency and the new Democrat movement, which helped shape the 21st century Democratic Party," said Dole Institute Director Bill Lacy. "Most of the Dole Lectures have been by or about public figures; this is the first that will honor a person working behind the scenes to […]

U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, fifth ranking member of the House Majority, will be interviewed on her national leadership position in Congress, what’s happening in Washington, D.C., today, and women’s leadership. An excellent way to conclude a semester largely devoted to women as leaders. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp0SdSaGeDU  

In a high-stakes election year with deep divisions along party lines, bipartisanship often feels like a thing of the past. Former Congressmen Tom Davis (R) and Martin Frost (D) joined us at the Institute to discuss why gridlock is more prominent than ever—and how it can be stopped. With 40 years of combined service in […]

Explore the complex world of U.S. monetary policy and the central banking system in the 2017 Dole Lecture with Robert Kaplan, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Only the second KU alum to deliver the Dole Lecture, Kaplan will discuss his career as leader of one of the 12 banks in […]

“I was not in a position to choose whether I want to be an artist or actor or astronaut or mathematician or linguist or lawyer. That’s not an option when you’re not free because you fight for life and death. And that’s how I and that’s how everybody in my generation became politically active. We […]