When Sen. Bob Dole invited me to attend the dedication of the Dole Institute of Politics building, I tried to imagine not only what the institute was going to be like but also how it was going to achieve its aims.

Nothing prepared me for what I found on my arrival in Kansas. Instead of what I imagined might have been a more academic style set-up, I found only inspiration especially in the exhibits detailing Sen. Dole’s life.

For us in Britain, we recognize the sacrifices made by the Greatest Generation in ensuring our freedom in the long term. And perhaps the reality of what was achieved by that generation is felt more keenly by Europeans because occupation either happened or was very close to happening.

In this light, therefore, it was for me an honor to be present, an honour to see veterans who served their country with distinction. It will be a long time, if ever, before we see a generation like this again, resplendent with courage and willing to serve country and the cause of freedom unhesitatingly.

I was, by a long way, the youngest speaker in the Memory Tent and at the “Salute to the Heroes” celebration. When I came to Kansas I saw myself as there only to represent the memory of Winston Churchill. By the time I left, I hope I had also been the representative of my generation inducing enthusiasm to younger people about public service and honouring the Greatest Generation at, in Sen. Dole’s words, their Greatest Celebration.

At the Lied Center, I paid tribute to these men and women using the words of my great-grandfather, Winston Churchill. Speaking at Harvard University in 1943, Churchill had said: “Here let me say how proud we ought to be, young and old alike, to live in this tremendous, thrilling, formative epoch in the human story, and how fortunate it was for the world that when these great trials came upon it, there was a generation that terror could not conquer and brutal violence could not enslave.”

As one who has benefited from these unconquerable attitudes and courageous actions, this tribute still rings true. However while we can and must honour those who have gone before us, we must use their example to the benefit of the future. Churchill wrote to my father while at school telling him the importance of learning history “because a knowledge of the past is the only way we can make guesses at the future.” And this is where the Dole Institute of Politics is so vitally important.

So let me turn to the future of the Dole Institute. I know that Sen. Dole does not want the institute that bears his name to be an ivory tower, but his life is an example to us all. Of course his life is just one in the vast ocean of lives of the Greatest Generation. But here is the story of a man who put service to his country before self and when most would have been beaten, demoralized and down, he forced himself to overcome his war wounds and not to let them stop him from living his life as he wanted.

That message that public service is open to all is the essence of the Dole Institute. And who better to be the messenger. And should Sen. Dole feel that he is unworthy of this position, he should remember the words of Winston Churchill who said after the Second World War that it was the people who had the lionheart and that he “had the luck to be called upon to give the roar.”

All generations, but my generation in particular, should look carefully at Sen. Dole’s life and learn from it. It is the story of a man who wanted to give back to society some of what society had given to him. Today we live in a world where politics is not seen as much of an honorable profession. But to help your neighbor is a noble cause. And while deep-rooted partisanship is seen at times, public service is about improving life across the board for everyone. In the end it is about making everyday life better.

And so I would say to my generation: Do not be disheartened about public life. I have been a councilman in London for five years. Not only has it been fun but I have made a difference and made new friends. It is easy to sit back and criticize government for failure to solve problems but really one should sign up and try to solve the problems from the inside rather than carping from the sidelines.

This takes us back to the institute’s mentor and namesake, Bob Dole. Throughout his long public life, he achieved much. But what stands out is his continual pushing for Congress to help America’s disabled, an act borne out of personal experience in the preceding 40 years. It was signed into law by the first President Bush who credited Sen. Dole with changing his mind on the issue.

Bob Dole has shown us what public service truly is. Lyndon Johnson said shortly after he became president that when he was younger, there were things he wanted to change. He went on: “now that I have the power, I intend to do these things.” That is public service. President Kennedy said famously in his 1961 inauguration speech: “ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.”

Bob Dole answered that call. Many of the Greatest Generation who also answered that call paid the ultimate price without hesitation and with duty and boundless courage. The time has come for the new generation of leaders to answer that call. Some have already but many have not. That is the challenge for the Dole Institute of Politics.

— Duncan Sandys, the great-grandson of Winston Churchill, visited Lawrence last month to participate in the dedication of the Dole Institute of Politics.