"History is Going to Be Very Kind to Dan Quayle ('69)," Former President Bush Says as Ex-VP's Marble Bust is Installed

September 11, 2003

September 11, 2003, Greencastle, Ind. - "As his former boss declared 'history is going to be very kind to Dan Quayle,' a marble bust of the former vice president was unveiled Wednesday in the Capitol rotunda," begins a Gannett News Service story on the former vice president and 1969 graduate of DePauw University. The bust of Quayle, who served as America's second-in-command from 1989 to 1993, was delayed for several years by the deaths of two artists who were working on the piece. It was completed by New York sculptor Dan Sinclair and dedicated at a ceremony on Capitol Hill yesterday.

"If you want an example of keeping your head up and doing your job when you were unfairly criticized, take a look at the 44th vice president of the United States," former President George H.W. Bush said at the event. Quayle responded by saying that "being loyal to President George Bush was very easy."

Maureen Groppe writes, "Vice presidents also have the title of president of the Senate, and the tradition of honoring them with a bust dates to the late 1800s. The invitation-only audience of 400 included leaders of Congress, current and former Cabinet secretaries and Supreme Court justices."

The story continues, "During his tenure, Quayle endured personal ridicule for some high-profile verbal gaffes and his defense of family values, including his criticism of a television show character, Murphy Brown, for having a child out of wedlock. 'What he had to say, instead of fading with the passage of time, has become all the more relevant and all the more right,' said Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., as the crowd applauded."

In July 2002, Candice Bergen, who starred in the television series that Quayle criticized, said, "I never have really said much about the whole episode, which was endless. But his speech was a perfectly intelligent speech about fathers not being dispensable and nobody agreed with that more than I did" (read more here).

You can read the complete article at the Web site of the Indianapolis Star by clicking here. Another lengthy story is available via the New York Times' site (click here). Visit the Dan Quayle Center here.

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