The Dole Institute of Politics is proud to present a series of projects focusing on the people, places, and enduring legacies of the 1976 presidential election, featuring materials from the Dole Archives, the Dole Institute programming archive, and other historical collections.
Funded by the Enid and Crosby Kemper Foundation
Exhibit
From State to Nation: Dole for Vice President, 1976
Opening: Sunday, August 14, 2016
Closing: Friday, January 13, 2017
Dole Institute of Politics, University of Kansas
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The Kansas Audio-Reader Network has provided narration and description for the physical exhibit that is housed at the Dole Institute of Politics. If you would like to hear the audio narration, please use the links below.
The Kansas Audio-Reader Network is a reading and information service for blind, visually impaired, and print disabled individuals in Kansas and western Missouri. To learn more about the Kansas Audio-Reader Network, please visit their website at http://reader.ku.edu/.
Audio narration for Section 1
From State to Nation
Audio narration for Section 2
The Primary Contest
Audio narration for Section 3
Ford's Choice
Audio narration for Section 4
Ford-Dole
Audio narration for Section 5
Campaign Strategy
Audio narration for Section 6
An Unguided Missile
Audio narration for Section 7
Bob Dole Campaign Express
Audio narration for Section 8
An Historic First
Audio narration for Section 9
Legacies of '76
Event
The Doles and the '76 Presidential Election
August 14, 2016
Dole Institute of Politics, University of Kansas
Forty years ago, the nation's political spotlight was on the 1976 presidential race, with vice-presidential candidate Sen. Bob Dole and his wife, Federal Trade Commissioner Elizabeth Dole taking center stage. Presidential historian and Dole Archives Fellow John Robert Greene discussed the story of the Doles on the campaign trail for the Ford-Dole ticket. Dr. Greene is the Paul J. Schupf Professor of History and Humanities at Cazenovia College in New York and has written or edited seventeen books on American politics and the presidency. This event served as the opening of the Institute's fall 2016 special exhibit, "From State to Nation: Dole for Vice President, 1976."
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Radio Interview
Bob Dole for Vice President, 1976
August 14, 2016
KPR radio, Lawrence, KS
In August 2016, Senior Archivist and Assistant Director of the Dole Institute Audrey Coleman, along with Presidential historian and Dole Archives Fellow Dr. John Robert Greene, appeared on KPR Presents, a weekly radio show hosted by KPR public radio in Lawrence, KS, to talk about the 1976 Republican National Convention in Kansas City.
You can listen to this broadcast through KPR's website (link will open a new window).
Event
Ford-Dole 1976 40th Anniversary Celebration
August 20, 2016
Russell County Historical Society, Russell, KS
On Saturday, Aug. 20, 1976, then President Gerald Ford came to Russell to announce Bob Dole as his running mate. Forty years later in August 2016, the Russell County Historical Society and the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics celebrated that important day through a community reminiscence of the announcement held at the Russell County Courthouse.
Audio courtesy of KRSL radio.
Listen now:
Exhibit
Republican Showdown in Kansas City
Opening: Sunday, July 17, 2016
Closing: Sunday, August 28, 2016
Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.
For three hot, muggy days in August 1976, the country and much of the world focused on Kansas City and a scramble for delegates at the Republican National Convention. The battle in Kemper Arena between incumbent President Gerald Ford and challenger Ronald Reagan was the last time our country saw a presidential nomination decided at the convention, itself.
Republican Showdown in Kansas City - staged in partnership with the Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas - features photographs, video, and an array of other artifacts from the historic event, recalling the drama and the city's role as host. Ford narrowly won. Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, who served as the convention's temporary chairman and a platform committee member, wound up as his running mate.
The exhibit is made possible by a grant from the Enid and Crosby Kemper Foundation.
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Event
The Last Contest
Your Story, His Story, the Legacy: The 1976 Republican Convention in Kansas City
Sunday, July 17, 2016
Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.
The 1976 Republican National Convention in Kansas City was historic - the last major U.S. political convention in which the presidential nomination was decided onsite. Days of debate, deals, and handshakes ended with incumbent Gerald Ford pulling out a narrow victory over former California Gov. Ronald Reagan, and the intense deliberations extended to the selection of Kansas Sen. Bob Dole as Ford's running mate.
Forty years later, in a discussion led by Library Director Crosby Kemper III, a panel of area residents who were witness to the drama in Kemper Arena looked back at that moment in our nation's - and our city's - history. This event was co-presented by the University of Kansas' Dole Institute of Politics. It marked the opening of a Library exhibit spotlighting the convention, "Republican Showdown in Kansas City."
The event was recorded by C-SPAN, and can be viewed on their website (link will open a new window).
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