Dan Quayle: The Skipped Jonestown Trip, Potatoe, and Advice to Pence

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Dan Quayle, the 44th vice president of the United States, was born James Danforth Quayle in 1947 into the Pulliam publishing family, owners of the Arizona Republic and the Indianapolis Star. He captained the golf team at DePauw University, studied law at Indiana University, served in the Indiana National Guard during the Vietnam era, and married Marilyn Tucker weeks after meeting her in a night law class. At 29 he unseated a Democratic incumbent for a House seat, and at 33 he defeated three term Senator Birch Bayh. In 1988 George H.W. Bush picked the 41 year old Quayle as his running mate, and the New Orleans convention turned into a press ordeal over his Guard service and a Florida golf trip with a lobbyist.

The episode traces how the new 24 hour cable news cycle fixed his image, from Lloyd Bentsen's line "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy" to the 1992 spelling bee in New Jersey. It also covers the less remembered record: diplomatic missions to 47 countries, chairing the National Space Council, early advocacy for asteroid defense, and backing the DC-X Delta Clipper reusable rocket. After losing in 1992 he presided over the certification of his own defeat, wrote the memoir Standing Firm, joined Cerberus Capital Management, and in late 2020 told Mike Pence that the vice president had no power to reject electoral votes.

• In November 1978 a scheduling conflict kept Quayle off the congressional trip to Jonestown, Guyana, where Leo Ryan went instead and was killed on the airstrip.
• Quayle defended his experience by comparing his 12 years in Congress to John F. Kennedy's, prompting Bentsen's famous rebuke in the 1988 debate.
• At a 1992 spelling bee, using a flash card supplied by the school, he told a 12 year old student to add an e to potato.
• His May 1992 speech after the Los Angeles riots criticized the sitcom Murphy Brown and set off a long national debate over family values.
• A 1996 presidential bid was stopped by phlebitis, and a 2000 campaign ended for lack of traction.