Marilyn Tucker Quayle (born July 29, 1949) is an American lawyer and novelist. She is the wife of the 44th
vice president of the United States
The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice ...
,
Dan Quayle, and served as the
second lady of the United States from 1989 until 1993.
Early life and education
Marilyn Tucker was born in the Meridian-Kessler area of
Indianapolis
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...
,
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
, to Mary Alice (née Craig, d. 1975) and Warren Samuel Tucker (d. 2004). The fourth of six children, she has three sisters (
Nancy, Sally, and Janet) and two brothers (James and William). Her parents were both doctors. Her maternal grandfather was born in
Maybole, Scotland. She had a strict Christian upbringing.
[Alessandra Stanley]
"Marilyn Quayle: A New Second Lady"
''Time Magazine
''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...
'', January 23, 1989. Accessed January 21, 2010. The Tuckers were longtime admirers of Colonel
Robert B. Thieme, Jr., the founder and former pastor of
Berachah Church
Berachah Church is a nondenominational Bible church founded in 1935 in Houston, Texas.
History
Berachah Church was founded by C. W. Colgan, an oil company executive, who created it to evangelize Christianity. In 1950, Robert Thieme came to Berac ...
in
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
. Years later, when media attention focused on her family's religious beliefs, Marilyn Quayle said in an
NBC interview: "I grew up with my mother listening to (Thieme's) tapes. ... I have never listened to him on social issues. I didn't even know that he espoused any." She does defend his biblical teachings.
She attended
Broad Ripple High School
Broad Ripple Magnet High School for the Arts & Humanities, established in 1886, was a magnet school of the Indianapolis Public Schools. It was closed in 2018.
History
Originally built in 1886 in the town of Broad Ripple, the school started with s ...
and subsequently received a bachelor's degree in political science from
Purdue University
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...
. While attending college, she served as a
pompom
A pom-pom – also spelled pom-pon, pompom or pompon – is a decorative ball or tuft of fibrous material.
The term may refer to large tufts used by cheerleaders, or a small, tighter ball attached to the top of a hat, also known as a ...
girl and as treasurer of her freshman class.
She later attended law school at night and earned a
J.D. at
Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law
The Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law (IU McKinney) is located on the campus of Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in Indianapolis, Indiana, the urban campus of Indiana University. In the summer of 2001 ...
. There, she met Dan Quayle, the son of a newspaper publisher. The two were assigned to work together on a draft version of Indiana's death penalty law. A courtship quickly developed, and they were married by their law school dean just a few weeks later, on November 18, 1972.
In 1974, they both passed the bar exam; she had given birth to their first child just a few days before the exam.
Career
Marilyn and Dan moved back to
Huntington, Indiana
Huntington, known as the "Lime City", is the largest city in and the county seat of Huntington County, Indiana, Huntington County, Indiana, United States. It is in Huntington Township, Huntington County, Indiana, Huntington and Union Township, Hun ...
and opened a joint law practice, Quayle and Quayle. She did most of the legal work; he worked for his father's newspaper and prepared to enter politics. In 1976, he was elected to Congress as a
Republican, whereupon they suspended their law practice. In 1980, he was elected to the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
.
In 1988, Dan was elected
Vice President
A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...
on
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
's ticket. Throughout her husband's political career, Marilyn was "always her husband's closest and most candid advisor."
She campaigned independently during the presidential campaign. During the 1988 campaign, she was often portrayed in the press as smart, cold, and tough – the power behind her husband.
But as
second lady, she played a mostly traditional role as hostess, while being an active and involved mother to their three young children. She also worked for causes such as early diagnosis of breast cancer (her mother died of breast cancer at the age of 56).
With her sister Nancy, she also published a novel, ''Embrace the Serpent'', a thriller about the wife of a vice president.
During the
1992 presidential campaign, Marilyn was an active campaigner, delivering a speech at the
Republican National Convention
The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...
and spending more than 40 days on the campaign trail. In her speeches, she took a strong "family values" theme, and she was very popular with conservatives. Ultimately, Bush and Quayle lost reelection that year, and the Quayles returned to Huntington, where she joined an Indianapolis law firm.
The couple later moved to Arizona, where the former Vice President had spent much of his formative years.
In 1996, Quayle narrated an advertisement for
Indiana gubernatorial candidate Stephen Goldsmith. In 2010, she narrated an advertisement for
Georgia gubernatorial candidate Karen Handel.
In 2011, she was reported to have phoned
Arizona governor Jan Brewer
Janice Kay Brewer (''née'' Drinkwine, formerly Warren; born September 26, 1944) is an American politician and author who was the 22nd governor of Arizona from 2009 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Brewer is the fourth woman (and was ...
about an Arizona redistricting plan that was detrimental to her son, Congressman
Benjamin Quayle.
Personal life
The Quayles live in
Paradise Valley,
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
. They have three children: two sons, Tucker, founder of an investment company called Tynwald Capital, and
Benjamin
Benjamin ( he, ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's thir ...
, who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from
Arizona's 3rd Congressional District from 2011 to 2013; and a daughter, Corinne.
Books
* ''Embrace The Serpent'' (1992) ()
* ''The Campaign: A Novel'' (1996) ()
* ''Moments that Matter'' (1999) ()
References
External links
*
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quayle, Marilyn
1949 births
20th-century American novelists
20th-century American women writers
American people of Scottish descent
American thriller writers
American women lawyers
American women novelists
Dan Quayle
Indiana lawyers
Indiana Republicans
Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law alumni
Living people
People from Paradise Valley, Arizona
Pulliam family
Quayle family
Purdue University alumni
Second Ladies of the United States
Novelists from Arizona
Women thriller writers
Writers from Indianapolis
Novelists from Indiana
Arizona Republicans