HomeThe Dole Institute

The following are selections from letters written by a young Bob Dole. The recently recovered letters, in the words of Dole Institute director Robert Norton Smith, “trace the evolution of a fairly typical, callow college kid into a man and a leader.”

Family letters show Dole as young man
Saturday, July 19, 2003
Some were simple laundry lists. Others expressed a Kansas University student's concerns after being called to serve his country.

Letters from life at KU: Fall 1941 to fall 1942
Saturday, July 19, 2003

Letters from Army life: June 1943 to Oct. 1944
Saturday, July 19, 2003

Letters from Italy: January to April 1945
Saturday, July 19, 2003