True, there are people out there who might quibble about whether Quayle, late of the Bush Administration, has the stature to be the first second banana so honored. Huntington resident Carol Yeiter, a visitor to the museum, is not one of them. "If he was so dumb and stupid, how did he get to be Vice President and have a nice museum like this?" she demands. "He's as smart as anyone."
As if to prove just that point, the museum, located in a former church and unofficially open since June, has some of Quayle's grade-school report cards, with an impressive number of A's and B's—although a teacher did note that he "talks at table."
The museum, which is supported by private donations and will have its formal, Dan-attended ribbon cutting in October, contains countless other nuggets of Quayleana. Revealing boyhood moments are captured in snapshots of Dan at the dentist, Dan on a horse, Dan with his high school golf team, and 10-month-old Dan in his pajamas on Christmas Day, 1947.
One of the most popular items is Quayle's Indiana University Law School degree with the edge chewed up by Barnaby, the family dog. "Marilyn was aghast," says museum board member David Schenkel, "and gave Barnaby away."
Because of space limitations, only 100 of the 11,000 items donated by the Quayle family and friends are on display, with the overflow stored in a warehouse. The museum owns none of the vice presidential papers, which are destined for the yet-to-be-built George Bush presidential library.
No matter. Museumgoers are more interested in the individual than in the public servant. "I've known Dan Quayle since he was 1—he is a fine young man," says Janet Hafner, who works the cash register, selling official Dan Quayle Center and Museum refrigerator magnets and T-shirts. "I bought a Dan Quayle T-shirt and wore it to bed last night."
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
