Dan Quayle: Timeline

1947   Born

1988   In the only vice presidential debate of the 1988 U.S. presidential election, Republican vice presidential nominee Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana insists he has as much experience in government as John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also referred to as John F.... 

 did when he sought the presidency in 1960. His Democratic opponent, Senator Lloyd Bentsen of Texas, replies, "Senator, I knew Jack Kennedy. I served with Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy." The positive audience response to Bentsen's remark solidifies the reputation of Quayle - who later becomes Vice President nonetheless - as a political lightweight.

1992   During a spelling bee at a Trenton, New Jersey elementary school, U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle erroneously corrects a student's spelling of the word ''potato'', by indicating it should have an ''e'' at the end.

1992   At the Republican National Convention Republican National Convention

The Republican National Convention, held every four years, is the presidential nominating convention [i] ... 

 in Houston, Texas Houston, Texas

Houston is the largest city in the state of Texas [i] and the fourth-largest in the United States [i] ... 

, U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle are renominated. Pat Buchanan, one of Bush's opponents in the primaries, delivers a controversial convention speech, in which he refers to a "religious war" in the country.