WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden visited Bob Dole at his private home in Washington, DC on Saturday after the former Kansas senator and 1996 Republican presidential candidate announced on Thursday that he has stage 4 lung cancer.
The White House said in a statement that Biden was visiting “his close friend”. Biden and Dole served in the Senate together for decades.
Dole, 97, said in a statement that he will begin treatment on Monday.
“While I certainly have some obstacles ahead, I also know that I will be joining millions of Americans facing their own significant health challenges,” said Dole.
Dole served as a United States senator for Kansas from 1969 to 1996 and also served as a majority and minority leader in the Senate during his long career. He was the Republican Party’s presidential candidate in 1996, losing to Bill Clinton.
Previously, he served in the Chamber, representing a large district that covered the western half of the state. He was also running for Republican candidate Gerald Ford in the 1976 election, which he lost.
Dole served with distinction in the Army during World War II, suffering serious injuries in battle in Italy.
Biden’s son, Beau Biden, died in 2015 at the age of 46, after battling brain cancer for several years. Biden spoke openly about Beau’s experience with cancer and the pain he faced after losing his son.
During his run for president, Biden used to use his own experience with the disease to connect with people across the country who had lost relatives to cancer.
Biden said in a speech on Friday that, once the coronavirus is defeated, his next goal will be to beat cancer.
“I want you to know that, once we beat Covid, we will do everything we can to end cancer as we know it.”
