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Posted: 2021-12-10T16:46:05Z | Updated: 2021-12-10T16:46:05Z

WASHINGTON (AP) Bob Dole was honored Friday at Washington National Cathedral as top leaders from both parties gathered to display the kind of bipartisanship now rare in modern government, a tribute to the longtime Kansas senators ability to practice bare-knuckle politics without losing an overriding sense of civility.

Doles flag-draped casket was carried into the sanctuary by a military honor guard as the congregation stood and Doles wife, former North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole, and daughter, Robin, looked on. Joining top leaders of Congress at the invitation-only ceremony were former Vice President Mike Pence and actor Tom Hanks, as was Bill Clinton, who beat Dole to win reelection as president in 1996 and was recently hospitalized in California for six days to treat an infection unrelated to COVID-19.

Doles longtime friend, President Joe Biden , sat with first lady Jill Biden in the first pew. Doles casket will later travel to the World War II Memorial on the National Mall for a public celebration of life featuring Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the U.S. Army Band.

Dole, who died Sunday at age 98 , was wounded in the war, served nearly 36 years in Congress and was GOP Senate leader for more than a decade. In February, he announced hed been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.

Besides his sharp, often sarcastic tongue, among Doles best-known attributes were his pragmatic brand of politics and self-deprecating wit representing the sense of common civility and compromise of a bygone era.