U.S. Politics & Government - 20th Century, Senators & Representatives - Biography, The United States Senate, General & Miscellaneous U.S. Political Biography, Legislators - U.S. Political Biography, U.S. Politics & Government - 1988-1993

Standing Firm

Name: Standing Firm
Author: Dan Quayle
ISBN: 9780060177584

by Dan Quayle

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Overview

Standing Firm leaves no doubt that Dan Quayle is the most misjudged figure in modern political history. Prior to 1988, Quayle had never lost an election. Not for Congress. Not even for the Senate. Heading into that year's Republican Convention, Quayle was considered one of the party's brightest young stars - a man of unusual political instincts who, when it came to campaigning, had a reputation as a giant killer. He would become the first in his generation to hold national office, but only after a tumultuous contest that frequently put him on the defensive. With gritty honesty and admirable self-deprecation, Quayle describes what it was like to weather that 1988 media storm, and the other squalls that followed. Poignantly, he also talks of the self-confidence and Christian faith that gave him the courage to stand firm and record some of the most noteworthy contributions of any Vice President ever. Among the high points: his coordination of America's response to a coup attempt in the Philippines, the details of which have never been reported; his bringing the family-values issue to the fore with the Murphy Brown speech - a call for action that, one year later, would even draw support from Democratic President Bill Clinton; his use of the White House Competitiveness Council to curtail harmful "overregulation"; his unreported diplomacy with Latin American leaders; and his championing of legal reform, which would earn him the strongest praise of his vice-presidency. Quayle pulls no punches when it comes to assessing himself and other players in the Bush administration - the men and women who were his allies, and sometimes his opponents, in helping George Bush spread democracy around the world. He shares entries from his diary of the Persian Gulf crisis, offers a surprising snapshot of what the typical Bush cabinet meeting was like, describes intramural battles waged by White House power brokers, and reveals his special relationship with the President. Quayle, a for

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Editorials

Booknews

Not our cup of tea. See the review in Booklist Upfront, 6/94. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Ray Olson

No politician has been savaged by the press more than Dan Quayle. It's hardly surprising, then, that if there are any villains in his account of his vice-presidency, they're Sam Donaldson; various minions of the "New York Times" and "Washington Post"; sometimes--but not always--Dan Rather; the gadfly conservative magazine, the "American Spectator"; and even a supposed friend, George Will. But Quayle nurses no grudges with journalists (indeed, he seems most put out with the political handlers assigned to him in 1988 and the 1992 campaign team led by James Baker). He just wants reporters to be candid about their political biases and to show some generosity of spirit. The latter he finds especially lacking in liberals in general, except for--which may surprise many--Ted Kennedy and Bill Clinton, both of whom, Quayle says, are great guys. Not that he shares much of anything politically with them; he is the staunch conservative throughout this memoir, and he also periodically asserts the influence of his Christian faith upon his thoughts and actions. What he most signally accomplishes is to show what he did during his vice-presidency, feats that included much international diplomacy and, most impressively, handling, in the absence of President Bush (en route to the Malta summit with Gorbachev), the crisis of the most serious coup against Philippine president Cory Aquino. This thoughtful book is probably the best thing ever written about the modern vice-presidency.