Quayle, Dan (1947–)

James Danforth Quayle, born to James and Corrine Quayle in Indianapolis, Indiana, served as vice president of the United States under President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1993. At the time of his birth, his father, Jim Quayle, a far-right conservative and member of the John Birch Society, was a middle manager with the Huntington Herald-Press newspaper, owned by his fatherin-law, Eugene Pullman, in the small town of Huntington, Indiana. After moving to Arizona for 8 years, Jim Quayle returned to Huntington with his family in 1963 and bought the Herald-Press from his father-in-law. After returning to Indiana, Dan Quayle finished his last 2 years of high school in Huntington, which he calls home. From 1965 to 1969, Quayle worked as a reporter and pressman for the Herald-Press (and general manager from 1974 to 1976). In 1969, he also graduated from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, with a degree in political science.

In 1974, Quayle graduated from Indiana Law School and passed the Indiana bar, but before doing so, he held various positions in Indiana state government. Between 1970 and 1971, he worked with the Indiana State Attorney General's Office, served as an administrative assistant to the governor of Indiana from 1971 to 1973, and was Director of the Indiana Inheritance Tax Division between 1973 and 1974. After teaching Business Law at Huntington College, Indiana, in 1975, Quayle was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1976, where he represented the fourth District of Indiana for two terms. Quayle was then elected to the U.S. Senate and served from 1981 to 1989. During this time, Quayle was relatively unknown outside of his home state. All of that changed when Bush nominated him to serve as his vice-presidential running mate in the 1988 presidential election.

At the age of 41, with 12 years of experience in Congress, Dan Quayle not only became George Bush's surprise running mate but also a constant target of jokes and ridicule by the media. As such, Quayle would earn his dubious distinction, according to David Broder and Bob Woodward, in The Man Who Would Be President: Dan Quayle, as not only a political lightweight but as a boyish buffoon. Stunned during the campaign by what he referred to in his memoir, Standing Firm, as a feeding frenzy by the press, he failed to be forthright about accusations concerning his privileged upbringing, mediocre performance and academic dishonesty in college, and use of family connections to enter the Indiana National Guard to avoid the draft and enroll in law school.

In light of the 1988 election campaign, Quayle became known as one of the most undesirable and debunked vice-presidential candidates to hold the office. During his vice-presidential campaign debate with Democratic vice-presidential opponent Lloyd Bentsen, Quayle was famously ridiculed when, in response to Quayle's mention of John Kennedy's youthful accomplishments as a defense of his own young age, Bentsen quipped: “You're no Jack Kennedy.” Quayle's lackluster and gaffe-ridden campaign notwithstanding, he remained largely unknown to the public and believed himself that he was misunderstood by the press. Broder and Woodward also admitted that some media allegations, particularly those surrounding descriptions of vast wealth and [Page 690]academic dishonesty, were false. Nevertheless, there were legitimate doubts about Quayle's strength as a potential president, and given the options for a conservative running mate that Bush had, the campaign ironically brought attention to the importance of the vice presidency and the diligence needed when selecting a candidate for the office.

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