They include luring Secretary of State Colin Powell, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Sen. Joseph Lieberman to Lawrence, possibly in the next year.

They also include speeches by presidential historians and TV talking heads David McCullough, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Michael Beschloss.

Though he doesn’t officially start as director at the Dole Institute until Dec. 1, Smith says he has a clear vision for what the center will become.

“This is not a monument, this is not a shrine, and it’s not even dare I say an archival warehouse,” he said. “The papers are a great scholarly resource. They are only the foundation for what will hopefully be a much-more dynamic and a much-more public-oriented institution.”

‘Starting something’

Smith has led presidential libraries and museums for Gerald Ford, Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan. He’s already heard the question many times: Why would he want to come to Lawrence?

“I’ve never been concerned about appearances,” he said. “It’s the job and not the mythical status or implied prestige. … One of the reasons I’m here is the challenge and hopefully the satisfaction of starting something.”

It doesn’t hurt that he and Dole have been friends since 1978, when the Kansas senator hired him as a speech writer.

“I would have been involved (in the institute),” Dole said, “but with Richard Norton Smith, I’ll be involved more than I’d thought. He’s already sent me a packet of things to think about and do.

“We hope to have diversity here different people with different ideas. We don’t have any agenda, any kind of Republican or Democratic agenda. I don’t think we have any issue agenda yet.”

Smith says Dole has a “great American story,” from his wound in World War II to his 45 years of public service.

Dole has an authenticity that has lasted through the years, Smith said.

Politics “is a soundbyte factory, and in many ways he’s never came to terms with that,” Smith said. “He’s not easily handled. He’s not someone who’s going to let a pollster or spin doctor tell him what to think or what to say.”

But that quality also has made him popular, especially after his political career, Smith said. His authenticity has carried over into his commercial appearances, including spots for Viagra and Pepsi.

“He is both a symbol of an earlier era who won’t do soundbytes, who won’t do theater, but at the same time he can go on Letterman on his own he doesn’t need writers providing him material and hold his own,” Smith said.

Big plans under way

Smith is hoping to play off Dole’s popularity and career while starting the institute.

He doesn’t start work for almost two months he’s finishing his tenure as executive director of the Gerald R. Ford Foundation in Grand Rapids, Mich. but he’s already making plans.

In addition to bringing Powell, Lieberman, Rumsfeld and others to town, other plans:

Completing an oral history project on Kansas politics from 1950 to 2000. Much of Dole’s work was behind closed doors, Smith said, so there wasn’t any paperwork documenting it. He said others in Kansas were the same way.

A series of debates with national political figures.

An annual leadership prize.

Smith wants to develop an exhibit honoring Dole that will include the uniform Dole was wearing when wounded in World War II. It is stored in one of the 3,500 boxes of Dole memorabilia.

The KU Endowment Association has raised $5.5 million for programming at the institute. Smith wants to have a $20 million endowment.

He’s confident the center can affect national politics.

“The starting line is that people deserve a better kind of politics than they’ve been accustomed to,” he said.