Fourty-fourth U.S. vice president John Danforth Quayle was a figure of mild controversy from the time he was announced as running mate through his 1989-1993 term with President George Bush. On the summer day in 1988 when Republican presidential nominee Bush declared his choice for a running mate, it was difficult to assess who was more surprised—the journalists covering the convention, Bush's advisors, or the junior senator from Indiana himself.

Quayle was a graduate of DePauw University and Indiana University Law School. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1976 with a campaign emphasizing conservative issues and was reelected in 1978. He was elected to the Senate in 1980, reelected in 1986, and was identified as a spokesman for the New Right wing of the conservative movement. He had married Marilyn Tucker in 1972 and was the father of three children.

Bush selected Quayle as a...