The past year has seen the deaths of a number of prominent figures in conservative and Republican politics.
Bob Dole
One of the most notable Republicans who died this year was 1996 Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole. Though perhaps best known as a presidential candidate, Dole was also a World War II veteran, longtime congressman, Senate majority leader, and even a vice presidential candidate in 1976 (his Democratic counterpart, Walter Mondale, also died earlier this year).
Well known for his humor and frequently parodied on Saturday Night Live, Dole left office following the 1996 election but remained active in politics well into his 90s. Dole stayed in Washington in retirement and was instrumental in establishing the World War II and Eisenhower monuments erected on the National Mall, adding to his many legislative accomplishments such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, a measure to save Social Security, and the creation of federal Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
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Colin Powell
The first black secretary of state and a prominent member of the George W. Bush Cabinet during and after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Colin Powell helped drive counterterrorism efforts in the early 2000s. It was the peak of a career that included stints as national security adviser and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Powell was the son of Jamaican immigrants and attended New York City public schools in the South Bronx. After college, he served as a soldier in Vietnam, South Korea, and West Germany, becoming a brigadier general at age 42.
Though his role in the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan eventually drew controversy, Powell is remembered in policy circles for a series of questions that he felt must be answered affirmatively before the United States undertakes military action abroad: Are national security interests truly threatened; is there a clear, attainable objective and plausible exit strategy; does the action enjoy widespread public support; and are resources overwhelming and decisive?
The questions became known as the Powell Doctrine.
Donald Rumsfeld
Like Powell, Donald Rumsfeld was a Bush Cabinet member who became a household name in the wake of 9/11. Rumsfeld was both the youngest and oldest person to serve as secretary of defense, holding the position from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford and again from 2001 to 2006 under Bush.
A collegiate wrestler, three-term Illinois congressman, and White House chief of staff, Rumsfeld became the most visible and vocal advocate of Bush’s wartime policies during his first term. He earned SNL parodies for his aggressive handling of reporters, but Rumsfeld’s star began to fade after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He had predicted the war would last no more than a few months, but it dragged on for over a decade. Rumsfeld lasted six years at the Pentagon before Bush replaced him in 2006 with former CIA Director Robert Gates.
Foster Friess
While Foster Friess may not be a well-known figure, the Republican causes and politicians he supported certainly are. Friess gave millions to conservative causes, becoming the largest donor to Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum’s 2012 presidential campaign in the hopes of defeating incumbent Barack Obama.
A successful investor who often sported a cowboy hat in public, Friess left Pennsylvania for Wyoming in 1992, citing the latter state’s lack of an income tax. He gave away more than $500 million to charitable causes over his lifetime, and at his 70th birthday party, he donated $70,000 to the favorite charity of each guest in attendance.
Bill Brock
As a member of both chambers of the U.S. Congress, Republican National Committee chairman, and presidential Cabinet member during the Reagan administration, Bill Brock left an immense mark on the nation’s history.
Brock helped lift the GOP out of the doldrums of the Watergate scandal and Gerald Ford’s presidential election loss to Jimmy Carter in 1976. As RNC chairman, he is credited with professionalizing the party’s operations and vastly expanding its grassroots fundraising efforts, growing the organization’s coffers from $19 million to $45 million over four years. Brock also championed winning issues for the party, including tax cuts, which set up the Reagan revolution and have become GOP orthodox in the ensuing decades.
G. Gordon Liddy
George Gordon Battle Liddy had to reinvent himself after the Watergate scandal. As the leader of the leak-preventing White House Plumbers during the Nixon administration, Liddy became famous for his silence as the scandal unfolded and received the longest Watergate prison term from U.S. district judge “Maximum” John Sirica.
Even after President Jimmy Carter commuted his sentence, Liddy found himself disbarred and disgraced. He responded by writing bestselling books (including his 1980 memoir, Will), hosting a conservative talk radio program from 1992 to 2021, and playing roles in movies and TV shows. He had Parkinson’s disease in his later years and died at the age of 90.
George Shultz
Only two people have held four separate presidential Cabinet-level positions. One of them is George Shultz, who served under three different Republican presidents. His most notable role was his last, a run as secretary of state under Ronald Reagan that lasted from 1982 until the time Reagan left office, during which he helped the U.S. to victory in the Cold War.
Upon his death at the age of 100, President Joe Biden described Shultz as “a gentleman of honor and ideas, dedicated to public service and respectful debate.” Shultz served in World War II and became a University of Chicago business school dean before being named Richard Nixon’s secretary of labor. After retiring from public office in 1989, Shultz became an informal adviser to George W. Bush and served on the boards of the Charles Schwab Corp. and the Bechdel Group.
John Warner
As the last Republican elected to a Senate seat from Virginia, John Warner represented the end of an era in Old Dominion politics. Elected to five full terms in the upper chamber of Congress, Warner spent three decades representing Virginia, chairing the powerful Armed Services and Rules committees during his long tenure.
But Warner was known for more than just politics. He was a World War II and Korean War veteran and spent two years as secretary of the Navy. Outside of Washington, he was the sixth husband of actress Elizabeth Taylor and her last surviving ex-spouse. A political centrist, Warner endorsed his Democratic successor, Mark Warner (no relation), who attended and spoke at his funeral along with Biden.
Rush Limbaugh
Arguably the most influential voice in conservative politics from the late 1980s until his death, Rush Limbaugh not only dominated but effectively created the genre of conservative talk radio, paving the way for Fox News, the Drudge Report, and dozens of internet-based conservative media outlets.
Limbaugh filled a void created when the Federal Communications Commission scrapped the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, building an audience in the tens of millions and keeping it for more than three decades. He also wrote seven books, hosted a national television show for four years, and was briefly employed as an ESPN sports commentator.
President Donald Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom during the 2020 State of the Union Address, just weeks after Limbaugh was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. He stayed on the air through the rest of 2020 before passing away early this year.
Sheldon Adelson
As the single-largest donor to Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns, Sheldon Adelson played a major role in the shock election result that sent the former real estate mogul and reality television personality to the White House.
The son of a Jewish cab driver in Boston, Adelson eventually became a classic rags-to-riches story through serial entrepreneurship. He built a fortune estimated at nearly $30 billion through investments in trade shows and real estate, particularly entertainment properties in Las Vegas and overseas.
Adelson became a major political donor whose backing was coveted by Republican presidential candidates. His strong pro-Israel stance reportedly influenced Trump’s 2017 decision to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
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Mike Enzi
A Republican senator in a heavily Republican state, Mike Enzi represented Wyoming in the upper chamber of Congress from 1997 through the first days of 2021. Enzi chaired the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and Budget committees before retiring in the 2020 election cycle.
Upon announcing his retirement, Enzi pointed to his record of backing bipartisan bills as a top achievement.
“I didn’t get into the Senate for the fancy titles,” he said. “I like passing legislation.”
Johnny Isakson
The longest-serving Republican senator in Georgia history was also a man known for his friendly style of politics and for graciously reaching across the aisle. Unlike other Southern politicians of his era who began as Democrats and switched parties near the turn of the century, Johnny Isakson was a GOPer from the start.
Isakson spearheaded the growth of the Republican Party in the South and literally helped build the suburbs as the president of a major metro Atlanta real estate firm. He lost several early races before eventually taking over the House seat held by Newt Gingrich, and he served in the Senate from 2004 through 2019.
