Senators Trent Lott and Tom Daschle

The 2023 Dole Lecture will be held at the Institute on April 25 at 7 p.m. This year’s special guest speakers will be Senators Trent Lott and Tom Daschle.

Senators Lott and Daschle were longtime colleagues of Senator Bob Dole. Collectively the three represent 28 years of service as Minority or Majority Leader in the United States Senate. Senators Daschle and Lott were central figures in an era of bipartisan cooperation that yielded many impactful pieces of legislation that continue to shape American society. All three Senators have been involved with the Bipartisan Policy Center, an institution Senators Dole and Daschle helped found and where Senator Lott serves as a Senior Fellow.

Presented each spring, the Dole Lecture commemorates the date when Bob Dole was critically wounded while serving in Italy during World War II. The Dole Lecture honors Dole’s courageous recovery and commitment to serve the nation.

Sen. Trent Lott represented the people of Mississippi in Congress for 35 years and is one of a handful of officials to have held elected leadership positions in both the House of Representatives and Senate. During his 16 years in the House and 19 years in the Senate, he worked closely with seven presidential administrations and was regarded as a savvy coalition builder and dealmaker. Fifth Congressional District. From 1981 to 1989, he served as House Minority Whip, the second-ranking Republican in the House.

In 1995, Senator Lott was elected Senate Republican Whip, giving him the distinction of being the only person to hold that position in both the House and Senate. He served as both Senate Majority and Minority Leader from 1996 to 2003.

Sen. Tom Daschle, a BPC co-founder, co-chairs its Commission on Political Reform and Health Project. He served as Senate minority leader from 1995 to 2001 and from 2003 to 2005, and as the majority leader from 2001 to 2003. He is the founder and chairman of The Daschle Group, a public policy advisory of Baker Donelson, where he provides strategic advice on key national issues including health care, energy, transportation, and the environment.

In 1978, he was elected to the House of Representatives, where he served for eight years. In 1986, he was elected to the Senate and was chosen as Senate Democratic leader in 1994.

After leaving the Senate in 2005, Daschle joined Alston & Bird LLP as a special policy advisor and then went on to work in the same role at DLA Piper before establishing The Daschle Group in 2014.

This program is presented in partnership with The Bipartisan Policy Center and The Sunflower Foundation.

The Bipartisan Policy Center is a Washington, DC-based think tank that actively fosters bipartisanship by combining the best ideas from both parties to promote health, security, and opportunity for all Americans. Their policy solutions are the product of informed deliberations by former elected and appointed officials, business and labor leaders, and academics and advocates who represent both sides of the political spectrum. BPC prioritizes one thing above all else: getting things done.

At the program, we will also honor the 2023 student recipients of the Robert J. Dole Service to Country Award and Elizabeth Dole Public Service Award

The Robert J. Dole Service to Country Award was established by John D. Pinegar, Douglas E. Smith and Pinegar, Smith & Associates, Inc. to provide a $1000 award each year to a student at the University of Kansas who is an active member of the Dole Institute Student Advisory Board (SAB).

The Elizabeth Dole Public Service Award was established by John D. Pinegar, Douglas E. Smith, and Kathleen M. Smith to provide a $1000 award each year to a student at the University of Kansas who is an active member of the Dole Institute Student Advisory Board (SAB).

For more information on the awards, please visit: https://doleinstitute.org/get-involved/awards-and-financial-assistance/

The Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics is dedicated to promoting political and civic participation as well as civil discourse in a bipartisan, philosophically balanced manner. It is located on KU’s West Campus and houses the Dole Archive and Special Collections. Through its robust public programming, congressional archive, and museum, the Dole Institute strives to celebrate public service and the legacies of US Senators Bob Dole and Elizabeth Dole.