The Man From Russell: The Move To The Middle

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After Bob Dole’s victory in 1966 many political observers believe he started to move toward the middle.

Hunger became an issue that Dole got deeply involved in. CBS showed the documentary “Hunger in America” on May 21, 1968 and it helped profoundly change how the U-S government dealt with hunger. It would also help solidify Bob Dole’s moderation.

No longer the Kansas Againster, as the Salina Journal called him, he was becoming more of a statesman. President Johnson would dispatch Dole as part of a four-member, bipartisan congressional delegation to India to see what the U.S. could be to mitigate a famine that was killing thousands.

“It’s hard not to give away the Capitol when you see people starving,” Dole told the Wichita Eagle when he returned. But even before his trip to India, Dole had been thinking about hunger.

At the end of 1965 Dole proposed the Bread and Butter Corp, an idea that would send Americans abroad to help developing countries with agriculture. So the man from Russell moved to the middle and got himself elected to the Senate in 1968.

In an editorial after the election, the Topeka Daily Capital said Kansas chose well, that Dole had a winning personality and a devotion to duty. But his next election would be the toughest of Dole’s congressional career.