Most Likely to Succeed

Elizabeth Hanford Dole (b. July 29, 1936) is voted "Most Likely to Succeed" by her classmates at Duke University. With degrees from Harvard University's School of Education and Oxford University, and only one of only 24 women in her Harvard Law class of 550, Dole learns the importance of a level playing field. She is appointed as the first female secretary of transportation in 1983, and rebuilds the nation's air travel workforce after the 1981 air traffic controller strike. As secretary of labor, she negotiates an increase in the minimum wage and initiates efforts to help minorities break through the glass ceiling. Dole leaves the department to become president of the American Red Cross.