The American Spectator

Buy the Book

(Page 2 of 4)

/p> blockquote>D-Day, the allies invade France at the beaches in Normandy -- June 6 1944 br> br> After a massive secret research and development program, U.S. scientists exploded the world's first atom bomb in New Mexico -- July 1945 br> br> James Danforth Quayle was born at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis -- Feb. 4 1947 /blockquote> br> Both floors feature videos that loop continuously. In keeping with the Museum's organizational scheme, the downstairs has a catch-all documentary about the vice presidency, while upstairs you get The Quayle Story: the Boy, the Man, the Vice President!

The film is upbeat but hardly hagiography -- which serves as a good description of the whole Quayle collection. Visitors can watch the start of the so-called "battle of Huntington": reporters peppered the freshly-minted vice-presidential nominee with questions about his service in the National Guard as the locals booed and jeered the effete East Coast snobs. They can learn about Nick's Kitchen, the local watering hole where Quayle first decided to run for office and launched all his subsequent, successful campaigns.

Visitors can also observe Quayle's mother, Martha Quayle, vouching for her son's determination in a way that only mothers can: by relating an embarrassing anecdote. When he was a young lad, Quayle was given a pair of roller skates and was determined to learn how to use them.

He had a hard time of it and fell a lot. She kept thinking, Gosh, isn't he going to give up? But he didn't. No matter how many times he wiped out, he got right back up and kept at it until he could skate like a Roller Derby champ.

THE DISPLAY CASES are full of items that represent the progression of Quayle's life from child (little league uniform, second grade report card) to lawyer (law school diploma -- partially eaten by family pooch Barnaby) to politician (decorated golf bag presented to "Senator Dan Quayle") and, finally, to vice president (gavel that Quayle used to preside over the 1992 Republican National Convention).

topics:
Education, Constitution, Law, NATO, Energy