WASHINGTON – Family, friends and members of Congress are paying tribute to Bob Dole at his funeral at the Washington National Cathedral on Friday, a day after President Joe Biden and congressional leaders honored the Senate’s longest-serving Republican leader as he lay in state at the U.S. Capitol.
Dole’s casket was loaded onto a hearse at the Capitol and taken to the cathedral, where a private service started shortly after 11 a.m. EST.
Biden, former Sens. Pat Roberts and Tom Daschle, and Dole’s daughter Robin Dole will give tributes, and Lee Greenwood will perform.
Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will also speak, along with friends of the Dole family, actor Tom Hanks and Savannah Guthrie of NBC News. Dole’s widow, Elizabeth, will lay a wreath at the memorial.
Following the church service, around 1:15 p.m. EST, Dole’s motorcade and casket will drive to the National World War II Memorial on the National Mall and stop there to honor the life and service of the World War II veteran. Dole helped build the memorial as national chairman of its fundraising effort.
Memorials will shift to Dole’s home state of Kansas on Saturday. His body will then return to Washington. Burial details have not been announced.
Reverend: Bob Dole gone but ‘not lost’
Rev. Randolph Hollerith welcomed the mourners to the funeral, noting that it was only five weeks ago that former Secretary of State Colin Powell had his own memorial service in the very same church.
“We have indeed seen too much loss in recent days,” said Hollerith, dean of the Washington National Cathedral since 2016.
“Bob Dole was one of the greatest of the greatest generation, a patriot who always placed country above partisanship and politics. While we mourn his loss, we gather this morning to give thanks for him and to celebrate his extraordinary life,” the reverend said.
“Though Sen. Dole has gone from us he is not lost,” he said. “For now, it is enough to say on behalf of a grateful nation, well done, good and faithful servant. Well done.”
Ledyard King
Bill Clinton arrives at Bob Dole funeral service
Former President Bill Clinton is in attendance at Bob Dole’s funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral.
Clinton was seated in the first row, alongside President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff.
Clinton defeated Dole in the 1996 presidential election.
Former Vice Presidents Dan Quayle, Dick Cheney and Mike Pence were also in attendance. The three former vice presidents were seated together.
– Rebecca Morin
Ex-VPs Mike Pence, Dan Quayle, Dick Cheney attend Dole funeral service
Former Vice President Mike Pence arrived at the Washington National Cathedral around 10:15 a.m. EST Friday to attend Dole’s funeral service.
Pence wasn’t the only former vice president there. Dan Quayle and Dick Cheney were also in attendance.
A number of lawmakers will be at the funeral service for the former senator. Some members of Congress, such as Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, were already in attendance at the Cathedral. Other lawmakers, as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will be arriving with the motorcade that left the Capitol.
President Joe Biden will also be in attendance and will deliver remarks honoring Dole.
– Rebecca Morin
Casket carrying Dole leaves Capitol for funeral service
The flag-draped casket carrying former Sen. Bob Dole has been loaded on a hearse and has left the Capitol for the six-mile trip to the Washington National Cathedral where a funeral service for the former GOP leader is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. EST.
The casket of the World War II veteran, who lay in state Thursday, was carried down the steps from the Capitol Rotunda by eight members of the military as congressional leaders looked on.
Dole’s widow, Elizabeth, and daughter, Robin, were part of the police escort taking the former presidential candidate to the funeral service.
A private service is scheduled at the cathedral where President Joe Biden and former Sens. Pat Roberts and Tom Daschle, and Dole’s daughter Robin Dole will give tribute. Lee Greenwood will perform.
– Ledyard King
Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/12/10/bob-dole-funeral-national-cathedral-world-war-ii-memorial/6451158001/
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