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WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden visited Bob Dole at his private home in Washington, DC on Saturday after the former Kansas senator and 1996 Republican presidential candidate announced Thursday that he had a stage 4 lung cancer.
The White House said in a statement that Biden was visiting “his close friend.” Biden and Dole served in the Senate together for decades.
Dole, 97, said in a statement he would start treatment on Monday.
“While I certainly have a few hurdles to jump over, I also know that I join millions of Americans who face significant health challenges,” Dole said.
Dole was the United States Senator from Kansas from 1969 to 1996 and was also both Senate Majority Leader and Minority Leader during his long career. He was the GOP presidential candidate in 1996, losing to Bill Clinton.
Previously, he served in the House, representing a large district that encompassed the western half of the state. He was also the then-running GOP candidate for Gerald Ford in the 1976 election, which they lost.
Dole served with distinction in the military during World War II, suffering from serious combat injuries in Italy.
Biden’s son Beau Biden died in 2015 at the age of 46 after battling brain cancer for several years. Biden has spoken openly about Beau’s experience with cancer and the grief he went through after losing his son.
During his run for president, Biden often used his own experience with the disease to connect with people across the country who had lost family members to cancer.
Biden said in a speech Friday that once the coronavirus is defeated, his next goal is to defeat cancer.
“I want you to know that once we beat Covid, we will do all we can to end cancer as we know it.”
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