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DePauw graduate and former VP Dan Quayle to return for March 31 Ubben Lecture
Dan Quayle, the 44th vice president of the United States and a 1969 graduate of DePauw University, will return to his alma mater on Tuesday, March 31, to deliver a Timothy and Sharon Ubben Lecture.
The program will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Meharry Hall, located within historic East College.
Quayle will discuss the state of the nation and the world, the road that brought him from DePauw to the top levels of government, and other topics in a moderated discussion with Jeffrey M. McCall, professor of communication. The audience will be invited to ask questions following the conversation.
Like all Ubben Lectures, the event is presented free of admission charge and is open to everyone.
Born in Indianapolis, James Danforth Quayle majored in political science at DePauw and captained the Tiger men's golf team. After graduating, he earned a J.D. from the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.
Quayle worked for the Indiana Attorney General's office, as an aide to Indiana Governor Edgar Whitcomb, and within the Indiana Department of Revenue, before moving to Huntington, Ind., where he practiced law and was associate publisher of his family's newspaper, the Huntington Herald-Press.
In 1976, Quayle ran for the U.S. House of Representatives and handily defeated eight-term incumbent Democrat J. Edward Roush. In 1980, at age 33, Quayle pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Indiana political history, toppling three-term U.S. Senator Birch Bayh from office and becoming the youngest person ever elected to the Senate from Indiana.
In 1985, the New York Times included Quayle on a list of "the 12 most underrated members of Congress." Those selected were called "unpretentious, rarely partisan legislative professionals who are candid, well-informed and not prone to self-promotion."
In August 1988, as Quayle was serving his second term in the Senate after two terms in the House, he was selected by Republican presidential nominee George H.W. Bush to be his running mate. Three months later, the The Bush/Quayle ticket won the election by a 53-46 percent margin, capturing 40 states and 426 electoral votes. He was sworn in as vice president of the United States on Jan. 20, 1989.
As vice president, Quayle built on his reputation as an active and engaged leader. He headed the Council on Competitiveness, which worked to ensure that America remained strong in international markets into the coming new century. He also served as the first chairman of the National Space Council. During his vice presidency, Dan Quayle made official trips to 47 countries and has had private meetings with most major world leaders, including Boris Yeltsin, Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev, Helmut Kohl, Francois Mitterrand, John Major, Jacques Chirac and Jiang Zemin.
Quayle made an unsuccessful bid for the 2000 Republican presidential nomination.
The author of three books -- Standing Firm: A Vice Presidential Memoir (which spent 15 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list); The American Family: Discovering the Values That Make Us Strong; and Worth Fighting For -- Quayle is chairman of Cerberus Global Investments LLC, one of the world's leading private investment firms. He is also president of Quayle & Associates, and has served on many boards of directors. He's also served as a distinguished visiting professor of international studies at Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Management.
Dan Quayle has made several memorable return visits to DePauw. In 1990, as vice president, he was honored with DePauw's McNaughton Medal for Public Service. Five years later, he came to campus and shared his thoughts on the state of the world in a convocation address. While a U.S. senator, Quayle delivered the commencement address to the university's Class of 1982 and received an honorary doctorate.
In 2000, Vice President Quayle was inducted into the DePauw Athletic Hall of Fame.
In her March 20, 1996 Ubben Lecture at DePauw, former first lady Barbara Bush stated that Quayle "is truly a hero of mine." She added, "You can be proud of Dan and what he's accomplished."
In their 1992 book, The Man Who Would be President: Dan Quayle, Bob Woodward and David S. Broder of the Washington Post (each of whom also visited DePauw as Ubben Lecturers), wrote, "Dan Quayle has proven to be a skillful player of the political game, with a competitive drive that has been underestimated repeatedly by his rivals."
Last Thursday, Quayle and his college roommate and golf teammate, NBC Sports analyst Mark Rolfing '71, appeared together on the Golf Channel.
Established in 1986 through the generous support of 1958 DePauw graduates Timothy H. and Sharon Williams Ubben, the Ubben Lecture Series was designed to "bring the world to Greencastle."
As previously announced, Piper Kerman, author of the bestselling memoir, Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Woman's Prison, will discuss "Lessons Learned Behind Bars" this Wednesday, February 4, 2015, at 7:30 p.m. Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck will share "Creating Your Personal Game Plan for Success" in a Friday, April 25 visit.
The 2014-15 academic year has already included Ubben Lectures by television's Jimmy Kimmel and New York Times columnist David Brooks.
Previous Ubben Lecturers have included Bill Clinton, Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev, Tony Blair, Benazir Bhutto, Shimon Peres, Spike Lee, Jane Goodall, Elie Wiesel, Robert Gates, Jesse Jackson, Willy Brandt, Naomi Wolf, Ross Perot, Michio Kaku, Ralph Nader, Jim Lovell, Ron Paul, Gwen Ifill, General Colin Powell, John Major, Mike Krzyzewski, Oscar Arias, Brian Mulroney, F.W. de Klerk, Ambassador L. Paul Bremer, General Wesley Clark, Bob Woodward, Paul Volcker, Karl Rove, Mitch Albom, Julian Bond, Howard Dean, Doris Kearns Goodwin, David S. Broder, Jane Pauley, Todd Rundgren, William J. Bennett, ice cream entrepreneurs Ben Cohen &andPeyton Manning, Liz Murray, David McCullough, Carl Bernstein, Zbigniew Brzezinski, David Gergen, Sam Donaldson, Lee Hamilton '52, Jimmy Wales, David S. Broder, Jason Reitman, Leymah Gbowee, Bret Baier '92, Greg Mortenson, Candy Crowley, Sister Helen Prejean, Bill Bradley, Ferid Murad '58, Mary Frances Berry, Seymour Hersh, David Ho, Allen Neuharth, Andrew Young, Paul Tsongas, Rebecca Skloot, William S. Cohen, Richard Lamm, George Will, Ken Burns, Carl Rowan and many others.