The making of the president 1996.

• Author: Taylor, Paul (American choreographer)
• Position: Dan Quayle - standard target for comedians

THE MAKING OF THE PRESIDENT 1996

"At the time, there wasn't this moral ambiguity as far as supporting the war but not being willing to sign up and go there--certainly not in my mind," Quayle said. "What that statement reflected was the political ambiguity of my situation. I had done what I thought was right, what I wanted to do at that particular time, which was to get on with my education, without making any kind of calculated decision about a political career, because I really wasn't set on a political career at that time. I had been more oriented toward law and the newspaper business. I didn't have a burning desire to be president--that developed later. . . .

"If I had in fact known at that time that I really wanted to be president of the United States, then I could have calculated--like I think some of my generation thought about it in college and calculated for that reason--that . . . from a political point of view, it looks better on a resume to have served in Vietnam."

Quayle received his early campaign training from a professional handler, a media consultant named Don Ringe. He was brought to Ringe's studio in Washington to be drilled in the art of eloquence. The tape of those training sessions was turned over to a transcription service for record keeping, and it is a rare document, revealing not only the unvarnished exchanges between a handler and his subject, worthy of Pygmalion, but the tentative efforts of a future vice president to locate his own motivations and beliefs.

The tape begins with a voice exercise: "I'm Dan Quayle. I'm Dan Quayle. I'm Dan Quayle. I am Dan Quayle. The real Dan Quayle. The real Dan Quayle stand up. I'm Dan Quayle. I'm Dan Quayle."

"All right," said Ringe, "and what are you running for? I'm Dan Quayle--and what?"

"I'm Dan quayle. I'm running for the U.S. Senate."

"Sounds to me like you're not sure."

"Why are we getting into this?" asked Quayle. "Okay," he agreed. "Because I believe in public service. I want to have the opportunity to serve."

"Got you, I've got you, I've got you."

"What?" asked Quayle.

"Relax."

"Oh."

Ringe asked him again "why you're running."

"I think I'm part of that new generation of leadership and I want to be part of that new generation of leadership."

"Tell me about, tell me about your past."

Quayle explained that he had been a political science major at DePauw.

"Why?"

"Because I've always had a deep interest in government. . . . And political science was a natural for someone like...