Each former US President gets his own presidential library . Veeps , however , make do with a slur in the Quayle Vice Presidential Learning Center , also live as the Dan Quayle Museum , in Huntington , Indiana . open in 1991 and originally dedicated only to J. Danforth Quayle ( who , in slip you forget , or never have intercourse , served as VP for one - term president George H.W. Bush ) , it ’s lucubrate to admit all 47 ( soon to be 48 ) of the man who ’ve pose a heartbeat away from the presidency . Since yet another Hoosier ( Trump ’s wingman , Indiana regulator Mike Pence ) is tilt for the job of First Second Banana , we decided to take a feel . Here ’s what we learned about the Center and the vice administration in general .
The Learning Center is in Huntington for a reason
… because this is where Dan Quayle spent a skillful dowery of his puerility , and began both his practice of law exercise and political vocation . If the building looks a bit churchy , it ’s because it used to be a Christian Scientist church building .
Dan Quayle must have emptied his entire basement to equip the place
The whole 2d floor is devoted to the building ’s namesake – hardly a surprise , since Quayle gave it 425 corner of his paper . Other display curio include a set of his golf game society ( Quayle loves his golf ) , a toy truck he played with as a child , and the gown his wife assume to the Bush inauguration . There ’s also Quayle ’s bedevil - looking law school sheepskin , which was chewed up by the family pawl , Barnaby ( who ’s also pictured ) .
Quayle isn’t the only Indiana vice president. Not by a longshot.
For tenner , Indiana was consider a pivotal swing state , with Republicans and Democrats vying to win its favor , which explains why five veeps ( six if Pence form it in ) hail from here – so many that the commonwealth was once referred to , in all earnestness , as the “ provenance of frailty presidents . ” Too high-risk the claim does n’t have water . New York has produced the most veeps , with eight so far .
Vice presidents have their own theme song!
It ’s not as memorable as “ Hail to the Chief , ” which typically play POTUS into the way . Instead it ’s the bombastic , vaguely show strain - y “ Hail Columbia ! ”
Vice presidents have their own music, but for a long time, they had no place to live.
From day one , the office of vice president has been treated as an reconsideration at safe , a gimpy embarrassment at sorry . The veep ’s only consequential duty is to preside over the US Senate and break tie votes if necessary . His other grant is to stay on out of the way . It was n’t until the 1970s that he got an official residence – Number One Observatory Circle , on the grounds of the US Naval Observatory . Before then they either holed up in boarding theatre , or ( in the case of Thomas Jefferson ) chilled in their hometown cribs .
No VP has ever been assassinated, but one did commit murder while in office
speak of Jefferson , his own frailty president was Aaron Burr , the murderer of succeeding Broadway virtuoso Alexander Hamilton . After gun down Hamilton in a affaire d’honneur in 1804 , Burr went on the lam , during which ( among a great many other shenanigans ) he explored the melodic theme of engage over Spanish - rule Florida and turning it into his own kingdom . When this did n’t pan off out , he returned to Washington , DC and restart his vice presidential tariff . And no one ( well , almost no one ) batted an eye . Because that ’s how masses roll back then .
The dueling pistols used to kill Hamilton are on display – but not at the vice presidential museum
Sorry , those fateful shootin ’ iron reside at a somewhat higher - profile readiness called the Smithsonian Institution . Though each VP at Quayle ’s museum gets his own first - floor display surface area , the exhibits are n’t exactly A - list . Many , in fact , were acquire on eBay . Be certain to ensure out the Spiro Agnew souvenir trash can , along with an authentic 1789 newspaper with a story about John Adams ( the very first vice Chief Executive ) fall in a tie balloting in the Senate . And cut the museum management some slackness , because many of the vice presidents are so obscure that finding any artifact at all was a conflict .
Quayle was the most unintentionally funny Hoosier VP, but Thomas Marshall was the mostintentionallyfunny
Quayle , who once misspelled “ potato ” in front of a classroom of kids and regularly blurted out pearls such as , “ I digest by all my misstatement , ” was always fix gag at his own disbursal . But the genuine life of the political party ( in his case the Democratic Party ) was Thomas Marshall of Columbia City . Marshall was fabled for his disturbed burns , such as , “ Indiana is the mother of vice presidents ; home of more second - course of instruction men than any other commonwealth . ” His remarks were so saucy – and relentless – that his president , Woodrow Wilson , moved his bureau out of the West Wing so he ’d stop joking with White House tour groups .
Thomas Marshall wasn’t the only veep to complain about his job. They pretty much all did.
The frailty Chief Executive is the human combining weight of a tyre donut – seldom necessitate , usually ignored . Thomas Jefferson , who served as James Madison ’s vice president , delineate the spear as a “ tranquil and unoffending post . ” John Nance Garner , one of Franklin D. Roosevelt ’s veeps , was a bit less tactful , tell that the task is “ not worth a bucket of warm water . ” Roosevelt’sothervice president , Harry S. Truman , said veeps were “ about as utile as a moo-cow ’s 5th tit , ” and Calvin Coolidge ( Warren G. Harding ’s wingman ) added , “ I enjoy my fourth dimension as frailty president . It never interfered with my mandatory 11 hour of sleep a day . ” Somebody from HR really should have talked to these guys .
The vice president museum is having a banner year – in relative terms
Because of Pence , it ’s expect to see northward of 10,000 visitors in 2016 – a record . But do n’t expect Disney - esque lines , because most of the guest are schooling tour groups . If there is n’t a school bus in the parking deal , you ’ll likely have the entire place to yourself . oecumenical admission charge is $ 3 for adults , $ 1 for kids .
There’s a gift shop!
… albeit a tiny one . The more or less special breed include Quayle Vice Presidential Learning Center refrigerator magnets ( of course ) , plus mug , and copies of Dan Quayle ’s two books , Standing FirmandWorth Fighting For . This may be the only place on solid ground ( outside of bookstore remainder bins ) where these tomes can be launch .
The Quayle Museum isn’t the only salute to No. 2s in Huntington
The Huntington County leg of the Indiana Historical Society observe five old - timey earth-closet outside its museum , all will by a local “ collector ” named Hy Goldenberg . Another twelve of Goldenberg ’s finds sit around along a walk lead in the Tel - Hy Nature Preserve , which offers sight of the Wabash River , local fauna and flora – and outhouses . You wo n’t belt down more than an hour at the veep museum , so keep the earth-closet tour as your backup plan .
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Dan Quayle|Flickr/Gage Skidmore
The Quayle Vice Presidential Learning Center
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