WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden visited Bob Dole on Saturday in his private home in Washington, DC, after the former Kansas senator and Republican presidential candidate announced in 1996 on Thursday that he had stage 4 lung cancer.
The White House said in a statement that Biden was visiting “his ‘good friend’. Biden and Dole served together in the Senate for decades.
Dole, 97, said in a statement that he would begin treatment on Monday.
“While there are certainly some obstacles ahead, I also know that I am joining millions of Americans who are facing their own serious health challenges,” Dole said.
Dole was a U.S. senator from Kansas from 1969 to 1996 and also served as Senate Majority and Minority Leader during his long career. He was the GOP presidential candidate in 1996 and lost to Bill Clinton.
Previously, he served in the House, which was a large district encompassing the western half of the state. He was also the then nominee of the GOP, Gerald Ford,’s running mate in the 1976 election, which they lost.
Dole served with distinction in the military during World War II and sustained serious injuries in the fighting in Italy.
Biden’s son, Beau Biden, died in 2015 at the age of 46 after struggling with brain cancer for several years. Biden spoke openly about Beau’s experience with cancer and the sadness with which he lost his son.
During his presidency, Biden often used his own experience with the disease to connect with people across the country who had lost relatives to cancer.
Biden said in a speech Friday that once the coronavirus is defeated, his next goal is to beat cancer.
“I want you to know that, once we beat Covid, we will do everything in our power to end cancer as we know it.”
