BOB DOLE : The Life that Brought Him There
Randal Wallace Presents : Bob Dole The Life that Brought Him There We begin our second season on Bob Dole's life and career, by traveling back in time to the battlefield of Italy in World War 2. A story that will begin with Bob Dole gravely wounded on a battlefield in Italy, and end on the threshold of the 1996 Campaign for President. It is truly one of America's greatest stories. Over the next three seasons we will tell his story and the story of the rise of the modern Republican Party. It will be the final story of National leadership for the generation of people who built the American Century. For all the attention a new generation of Republican leaders would garner, it was in fact, Bob Dole, so often in the shadow of the giants of his age, from Nixon to Reagan to Bush, and who would largely be forgotten in the coming era of Gingrich , Clinton, and the second George W. Bush, who actually led the Republican Party out of the political wilderness and back to power in both houses of Congress, even as his own efforts to win the Presidency would fall short. In our second of three seasons, we will look back at Bob Dole's life from his tragic injury, to the eve of his Presidential Campaign in 1996. In these episodes, we will see one of the most remarkable stories of resilience, faith, and willpower, in all of American history. We invite you to come along with us on a wild ride through the high points and low moments of modern American History, in an effort to show the citizens of today that we are an amazing and resilient nation. Our Podcasts are separated by individual Documentary style titles. -- Season 1 : Bridging the Political Gap episodes 1 -11 --- Season 2 : Lessons in Leadership : --- The GIANTS of the Senate and Joe Biden episodes 14 - 16 ---- World War 2 Episodes 17 - 20 --- General MacArthur You're Fired Episodes 21 - 23 ---- A Celebration of the life of George Shultz episodes 26 - 28 ---- November 1963 : The end of the Age of Innocence episode 29 --- Season 3 ----The Johnson Treatment episodes 32 - 39 ---- Upheaval 1968 episodes 40 - 50 ---- Season 4: Richard Nixon 1968 -1971 The Man Who Saved the Union episodes 51 -67 ----- Season 5 Richard Nixon 1972 The Foundation of Peace episodes 71 - 96 -----1973 Ten Days in January 97 - 100 -- Season 6 Richard Nixon 1973 : Enemies at the Gate 101 - 125 ---- Season 7 Richard Nixon 1974 Through the Fire 126 - 147 ---- Season 8 Richard Nixon 1974 - 1994 The Fall and the Re-Rise of Richard Nixon. 148 - 174 plus bonus materials --- Season 9 Gerald Ford Beyond Watergate 175 -190 -- Season 10 John Jenrette. & Jimmy Carter too 191 - 224 -- Season 11 George H.W. Bush : The Leadership Lessons 225 - 250 --- Season 12: Mayor Hirsch 253 - 259, George H.W. Bush : The Sweep of History 260 - 285, Season 13 George H.W. Bush The Gulf War, The Coup, Clarence Thomas & the Cold War's End 286 - 318, Season 14 George H. W. Bush 1992 The Changing of the Guard 319 - 363 Season 15 Bob Dole 1993 - 1995 The Last Man Standing 364 - 402, Special Season 16 The Great American Authors 403 - 419 , Season Seventeen Bob Dole The Life that Brought him there 420 - (FAIR USE NOTICE : This presentation contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The use of this footage is for educational and historical commentary. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material.)
Episodes
Episode 426 – Bob Dole: The Life That Brought Him There (Part 7)
With Nixon’s Help (A)
Part 7 explores a pivotal chapter in Bob Dole’s rise on the national stage — his growing alliance with Richard Nixon during one of the most turbulent periods in modern American history.
As the Nixon administration grappled with the war in Vietnam, Dole emerged as a reliable and disciplined voice defending administration policy on Ca...
Bob Dole: The Life That Brought Him There (Part 6)
Welcome to the United States Senate
What was the Senate really like when Bob Dole walked into it in 1968? Part 6 answers that question through the voices of the people who lived it.
This episode moves beyond biography and into lived institutional memory, as a remarkable lineup of Senate insiders describe the culture, pace, and power structure of the United States Sena...
Bob Dole: The Life That Brought Him There – Part 5
Getting Into Politics (B): The Senate Campaign
In Part 5, the journey continues as Bob Dole takes his biggest political leap yet — a run for the United States Senate. This episode explores the ambition, strategy, and sheer determination behind a campaign that would elevate him from the House to one of the most powerful chambers in American government.
We begin with...
Bob Dole: The Life That Brought Him There – Part 4
Going Into Politics (A)
Before he was a national figure, he was a young Kansan with grit, ambition, and a deep belief in public service. In Part 4 of our series, we follow Bob Dole’s path from student life and small-town law practice to the rough-and-tumble world of national politics.
This episode traces Dole’s formative years — how college sharpened his discipline...
FEBRUARY 2026 : A Preview for across The Wallace Podcast Network (WPN) An exciting month of podcasts
February 2026 on the Wallace Podcast Network — One Month. Three Podcasts. A Shared Journey Through History.
This February, all three shows across the Wallace Podcast Network come together for a powerful month of storytelling that connects world history with hometown legacy.
On Grand Strand Politics, we revisit our acclaimed January 2024 special series, “Robert Hirsch: Our Mayor.” This special rebroadcast honors Mayor Ro...
Episode 422 BOB DOLE THE LIFE THAT BROUGHT HIM THERE (Part 3) Dwight Eisenhower: The Inspiration (B)
In this remarkable episode, we step out of narration and into history itself.
Episode 422 is built entirely around a rare, deeply personal interview conducted by the Eisenhower Presidential Library with Senator Bob Dole when he was 95 years old. What unfolds is not just a recollection of events — it is a living voice from a man who stood at the crossroads of America’s greatest generation and its modern political era.
Do...
Dwight Eisenhower: The Inspiration (A)
What kind of leader shapes a young soldier’s idea of courage, duty, and sacrifice—and then stays with him for a lifetime?
In this powerful second chapter of our Bob Dole series, we turn to the man who became Dole’s lifelong hero: Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Long before Bob Dole entered politics, he was a wounded young officer watching the world being remade by war. And at the center of th...
BOB DOLE LECTURE: One Soldier’s Story
Special Edition
In this extraordinary special edition, Bob Dole returns home to Kansas—and to the school that bears his name—to tell the story that shaped everything that came after.
Standing before a new generation, Dole recounts the moment on a battlefield in Italy when his life was shattered by war, and the long, uncertain months that followed in a military hospital. With hu...
Season 17 Premiere
Before Bob Dole became a Senate leader, a presidential nominee, or a national symbol of resilience, he was a 21-year-old second lieutenant fighting for his life on a hillside in Italy.
This season-opening episode begins at the moment everything changed.
Through Bob Dole’s own words and historic audio, we return to the brutal final months of World War II and the Allied push through Italy during Operatio...
In this special tribute episode, we honor the extraordinary life and legacy of Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell — Olympic athlete, decorated Marine, master silversmith, and one of the most consequential Native American leaders in the history of the United States Senate.
Campbell’s journey was uniquely American: from a childhood marked by hardship, to representing the United States in the Olympics, to becoming a powerful...
Here is a little bit about our coming book projects:
16 Leadership Lessons From the Cold War
By Randal Wallace
What does it really take to lead in moments when history is on the line?
Drawing on five years of research from The Randal Wallace Presents Podcast, 16 Leadership Lessons From the Cold War distills timeless leadership principles from the men and women who shaped the American Century. From President Herbert Hoove...
Bob Dole returns January 20, 2026
Bob Dole: The Life That Brought Him There — Season Preview
How does a small-town Kansas boy, gravely wounded on an Italian battlefield, rise to become one of the most powerful and respected figures in American politics?
This season of Bob Dole: The Life That Brought Him There traces the extraordinary journey of Bob Dole from the moment his life was forever changed in World War II through...
In this landmark season finale, The Great American Authors brings its sweeping literary and political journey to a powerful close by spotlighting a remarkable group of leaders who turned to fiction to tell their stories — Jimmy Carter, Marilyn Quayle, Newt Gingrich, Bill Clinton, and James Patterson — and by sharing major news from our own host, Randal Wallace.
We begin with President Jimmy Carter’s The Hornet’s Nest, ...
In this episode of Great American Authors, we take an unforgettable look at two astonishing works born from the tumultuous aftermath of Nixon-era Washington — The Canfield Decision by Spiro T. Agnew and The Company by John Ehrlichman.
Today, The Canfield Decision enjoys a surprisingly warm reception online, with roughly 87% of readers awarding it three to five stars on Goodreads and similar platforms. But that wasn’t a...
This episode is a tribute to a great actor, Gene Hackman, who decided to retire from the silver screen and write novels. He wrote five of them and all got some level of acclaim. They were :
- “Wake of the Perdido Star” with Daniel Lenihan (1999)
- “Justice for None” with Daniel Lenihan (2004)
- “Escape from Andersonville” with Daniel Lenihan (2008)
- “Payback at Morning Peak” (2011)
- “Pursuit” (2013)
While this episode i...
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2026!!!
Last year ws a year of extremes but overall we saw our show expand to include a new local broadcast and we completed several projects we hope to bring you in this coming year of 2026. Please join us here for another exciting year at "Randal Wallace Presents" , "The Richard Nixon Experience" and " Grand Strand Politics"
Here is what is on tap for next years:
BOB D...
This episode of our podcast is a tribute for a giant figure in the history of North Carolina. Governor Jim Hunt served for 16 years and he led the way in education reform in our region of the country. The modern North Carolina owes much to his leadership in the state.
It also is a tribute to one of the great reporter of our time, journalist Peter Arnett. He had a distinctive voice that you recognized from the moment h...
Happy New Year 2026!!
In this episode we say farewell to many iconic figures on the national scene, and here locally where we record this show.
Sadly, we had so many passings in 2025 we are having to divide the New Year show in half this year. This episode we look back at the many people we lost this year.
This episode is especially dedicated to a good friend from my college days at Lander University, who was also my ...
Ernest Hemingway's life was a testament to his belief in living authentically and drawing from rich, personal experience for his writing. His three primary homes in
Key West, Havana, and Ketchum were more than just residences; they were essential backdrops and sources of inspiration for his work, each intrinsically linked to his lifestyle and creativity. Unifying these locales, and a symbol of his deep...
In this epsode we examine the mythology around the life of Ernest Hemingway. How it has shaped his place in american Literature. We follow him from war to Key west, to Havana, Cuba.
Then we travel out west as the Castro Government takes control of Cuba and the ongoing bad blood between the American Government and Castro make it impossible for Hemingway to return to his beloved home in Cuba. We see Hemingway sink into ...
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