Quayle, Dan, 1947-

<p>James Danforth Quayle was born on February 4, 1947, to James and Corinne Quayle in Huntington, Indiana. His grandfather owned newspapers in Indiana and Arizona and eventually sold the Huntington Herald-Press to Quayle's father. Both of Quayle's parents were politically active conservatives who participated in Republican Party politics and instilled their son with strong conservative values. Quayle attended DePauw University and graduated in 1969. After graduation, he enlisted in the Indiana National Guard and attended the Indiana University-Indianapolis Law School. At law school, he met his wife Marilyn, and they were married in 1972.</p>

<p>Quayle turned his attention to politics immediately after graduating and bought a house in the district in which he intended to run for state legislature. However, his plans were interrupted when he was asked to run for a seat in the U.S. Congress at the age of twenty-nine. He challenged an incumbent Democrat who had served eight terms and won in an upset. Quayle served two terms in the House and established a staunchly conservative voting record before deciding to run for a seat in the U.S. Senate in 1980. As before, he challenged an incumbent Democrat and pulled off a surprising victory as the GOP took control of the Senate for the first time since 1952.</p>

<p>While in the Senate, he served on Labor and Human Resources Committee, Budget Committee, and Armed Services Committee. He was particularly focused on unemployment and worked with Edward Kennedy to pass a significant job training bill. After a relatively easy reelection campaign in 1986, Quayle quietly positioned himself as a potential vice presidential candidate. In many ways, he was a welcome contrast to the older, more moderate Republican nominee, George H.W. Bush. In spite of this, his addition to the ticket was a surprise to the nation and the press. As a vice presidential candidate, Quayle was widely disparaged in the press and prone to gaffes and offhand remarks. His performance in the debate was lackluster and widely remembered for his ill-advised attempt to draw a parallel between himself and John F. Kennedy. Nonetheless, the Republican ticket carried the popular vote by more than seven million votes.</p>

<p>Within the White House, Quayle had access to President Bush and served effectively as a liaison between the administration and Congress. Although he fulfilled his traditional duties and loyally supported the President, Quayle was not truly a member of Bush's inner circle. Quayle's influence was generally subordinate to that of stronger personalities within the administration, such as Secretary of State James Baker or Chief of Staff John Sununu. The vice president did chair the National Space Council and advocated deregulation of private businesses as chair of the Council on Competitiveness. He also traveled extensively and campaigned on behalf of Republican candidates. Although Bush enjoyed a surge in his approval ratings after the Persian Gulf War, he was vulnerable in the 1992 elections. Despite his low approval ratings, Quayle campaigned vigorously. He committed a number of memorable mistakes on the campaign trail, including his infamous misspelling of "potato" at an elementary school spelling bee. More importantly, Bush was badly hurt by a sagging economy and would receive only 37 percent of the popular vote in the election. Quayle retired to private life after the defeat. Although he was mentioned as a possibility for the 1996 and 2000 Republican presidential nominations, he never seriously contended.</p>

<p>Quayle was a loyal vice president who fulfilled the traditional roles of the office but did not exert much authority within the administration. In the popular imagination, he is more remembered for his political blunders than his political triumphs. However, in a White House dominated by strong personalities and a President who saw loyalty as the principal asset of the vice president, Quayle served adequately.</p>

<p>James Danforth Quayle (born February 4, 1947) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 44th vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993. Quayle was also a U.S. representative from 1977 to 1981 and a U.S. senator from 1981 to 1989 from the state of Indiana.</p>

<p>A native of Indianapolis, Indiana, Quayle spent most of his childhood in Paradise Valley, a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona. He married Marilyn Tucker in 1972 and obtained his J.D. degree from the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in 1974. Quayle practiced law in Huntington, Indiana with his wife before his election to the United States House of Representatives in 1976. In 1980 Quayle was elected to the U.S. Senate.</p>

<p>In 1988, Vice President and Republican presidential nominee George H. W. Bush chose Quayle as his running mate. Quayle's vice presidential debate against Democratic candidate Lloyd Bentsen was notable for the "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy" incident. The Bush/Quayle ticket won the 1988 election over the Democratic ticket of Michael Dukakis and Bentsen, and Quayle became vice president in January 1989. As vice president, he made official visits to 47 countries and was appointed chairman of the National Space Council. He secured re-nomination for vice president in 1992, but Democrat Bill Clinton and his running mate, Al Gore, defeated the Bush/Quayle ticket.</p>

<p>In 1994 Quayle published his memoir, <i>Standing Firm</i>. He declined to run for President in 1996 because he was suffering from phlebitis. Quayle sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2000 but later withdrew from the campaign and supported the eventual winner, George W. Bush. He joined Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity firm, in 1999.</p>

QUAYLE, JAMES DANFORTH (DAN), (father of Ben Quayle), a Representative and a Senator from Indiana and a Vice President of the United States; born in Indianapolis, Marion County, Ind., February 4, 1947; attended the public schools of Phoenix, Ariz., and Huntington, Ind.; graduated, DePauw University, Greencastle, Ind., 1969; graduated, Indiana University, Indianapolis 1974; admitted to the Indiana bar in 1974 and commenced practice in Huntington; served in the Indiana National Guard 1969-1975; associate publisher of the Huntington Herald Press; elected as a Republican to the Ninety-fifth Congress in 1976; reelected to the Ninety-sixth Congress (January 3, 1977-January 3, 1981); was not a candidate in 1980 for reelection to the House of Representatives, but was elected to the United States Senate; reelected in 1986 and served from January 3, 1981, until January 3, 1989, when he resigned to become Vice President of the United States; chairman, Select Committee to Study the Committee System (Ninety-eighth Congress); elected Vice President of the United States in 1988 with President George Herbert Walker Bush and was inaugurated January 20, 1989; unsuccessful candidate for reelection as Vice President in 1992; is a resident of Paradise Valley, Ariz.