Elizabeth Dole: America needs leaders, not labels, authors say

Elizabeth Dole: America needs leaders, not labels, authors say

Allentown, Pa. -- When a woman is finally elected president of the United States, some of the groundwork will have been laid by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Hanford Dole, the breaker of stereotypes par excellence, according to two Penn State experts.

In many of her public addresses, Elizabeth Dole focuses on the need to evaluate political candidates strictly on the basis of character and qualifications, says Nichola D. Gutgold, assistant professor of communication arts and sciences at Penn State's Lehigh Valley Campus in Allentown, Pa. Like Hillary Clinton, she has succeeded admirably in balancing the roles of loyal spouse and prominent public figure in her own right. In the process, she has pointed the way for other talented and ambitious women to do the same.

Gutgold and Molly Meijer Wertheimer, professor of communication arts and sciences at Penn State's Hazleton Campus in northeastern Pennsylvania, are co-authors of the new book, "Elizabeth Hanford Dole: Speaking from the Heart," published by Praeger.

The authors note that Dole's political philosophy was presented succinctly in a speech given at her alma mater of Duke University in May 2000. She said, "Why not dispense with labels altogether? After all, what is a label but a preconception brought to life, a marketing tool that blurs your identity and judges you by the car you drive, the jeans you wear or the CDs that you buy? In such a culture, we don't know people - we categorize them. Replacing subtly with stereotype, we rob citizens of their most precious possession - their individuality."

While a modern woman in every sense, Dole, a Southern belle from North Carolina, often seems like a transplant from a more genteel era but without putting on airs, Wertheimer says. Her youthful high spirits camouflage the fact that she is in her late sixties and has already achieved an impressive career as Secretary of Transportation under President Reagan, Secretary of Labor under the first President Bush, American Red Cross director, U.S. presidential candidate and U.S. Senator.

"She confuses those who wish to compartmentalize her because she is utterly feminine, yet powerful; beautiful, yet intelligent; well-rehearsed, yet spontaneous; serious, yet good-humored," Wertheimer says.

To the surprise of some feminists and Washington pundits, she set aside her own political aspirations and campaigned vigorously for her husband, Robert Dole, when he ran for president against Bill Clinton, in 1996. During that campaign, she not only served as her husband's most visible standard bearer but further honed rhetorical skills that would help her in her own bid for the presidency in 2000 and in her successful run for the U.S. Senate in 2002.

"She has demonstrated well an ability to serve more than one purpose in her speeches, a phenomenon we have coined 'rhetorical multitasking,' " says Gutgold.

The hallmarks of Elizabeth Dole's political history have been her capacity for hard work, her ability to grasp every intricacy of whatever job she undertakes and her heart-felt concern for all underrepresented people, not just women, Gutgold says.

Furthermore, she has shown a unique gift for projecting authenticity while avoiding any tendency to polarize, Wertheimer adds. Elizabeth Dole has been her own best example in telling her audiences that America needs leaders, not labels, the researchers say.