This column first appeared in July 2016. Pence was elected to the vice presidency in November of that year.
Speaking as a proud native Hoosier, it has been refreshing to see Indiana in the national political headlines lately. I find it ironic that this most recent national dust up revolves around the selection of Governor Mike Pence by GOP nominee (presumptive at the time of this writing) Donald Trump for Vice-President. After all, Indiana is best known for three things: basketball, the Indy 500 and as the home to Vice- Presidents. True, Indiana has had five veeps, but it is Mr. Trump’s home state on New York who really heads that list with eleven. But we’ll take that title regardless.
When I was a kid, Indiana was an important swing state; a vital battleground for every Presidential election. The last time I remember my home state being nationally politically significant was the 1968 Democratic primaries when Bobby Kennedy lived here for a couple weeks while chasing the nomination. An assassin’s bullet changed all that and a decade later, the gerrymandering sons of the Reagan revolution insured our state’s insignificance by redistricting us into a solid red state seemingly unworthy of further notice. Barack Obama’s 2008 victory is the only bright spot on an otherwise colorless national political landscape.
Indiana has contributed five vice presidents to the nation. Schuyler Colfax (1823–85), who served from 1869 to 1873 under President Ulysses S. Grant; Thomas A. Hendricks (1819–85), who was Samuel Tilden’s running mate in 1876 (but lost) before serving only eight months in 1885 under President Cleveland (Hendricks died in office); Charles Fairbanks (1852–1918), who served from 1905 to 1909 under Theodore Roosevelt; Thomas R. Marshall (1854–1925), who served two four-year terms from 1913 to 1921 with President Wilson, and Dan Quayle (b.1947), who served one term from 1985 to 1989 under President George Bush. Two other Hoosiers were nominated but did not win: Democrat William English ran with Winfield Scott Hancock in 1880 and John W. Kern ran with William Jennings Bryan in 1908. Hendricks and Fairbanks share the unique distinction of being vice presidential nominees for multiple presidential candidates.
Present headlines notwithstanding, there was a time when Indiana occupied a lofty perch in nationwide politics as one of the most important states in the Presidential election process. In the years after the Civil War, Indiana was considered to be a pivotal swing state and one of the few that wasn’t solidly Democratic or Republican. Indiana became known as “The Mother of Vice Presidents” during the campaigns of 1868 to 1916. In that 48-year period, 10 of those 13 elections featured a Hoosier on either the Republican or Democratic national ticket. Six of those Hoosiers won their contests, including Benjamin Harrison, the only Indiana-born president. We were in 10 out of 13 elections — hard to believe but true!
Teddy Roosevelt’s vice president Charles Fairbanks proved popular enough among his fellow Republicans to be nominated for vice president a second time alongside Charles Evans Hughes in 1916; the ticket lost to Woodrow Wilson and his own Hoosier vice president, former Indiana Governor Thomas Marshall.
Yes, for the years between the Civil War and the First World War, Indiana was a powerhouse in Presidential politics. Since then, the Hoosier state has been a mere shadow of itself. But now, with the nomination of Governor Pence to the GOP ticket, the Dickensian ghosts of Hoosier Vice Presidents past, present and future beckon yet again.
After all, Indiana boasts our nation’s only state highway dedicated to the American Vice Presidency. State Road 9, a north-south route that meanders 196 miles (almost the entire length of Indiana) from Bartholomew County through Greenfield and ending near the Michigan border is officially known as the Highway of Vice Presidents. Why you ask, is that road honored with that name? Well, the reason for the name is that three of Indiana’s five Vice Presidents lived in cities along the route: Hendricks was from Shelbyville, Marshall from Columbia City, and Dan Quayle is from Huntington. These three were all lawyers by the way. Appropriately, Pence is from Columbus, the genesis of State Road 9. Well played Governor, well played.
Colfax was from South Bend and Fairbanks from Indianapolis, and both of these men were newspaper editors. All trivia aside, the most important landmark to the office can be found along the Highway of Vice-Presidents in Huntington, Dan Quayle’s hometown. Located near State Road 9 about 25 miles southwest of Fort Wayne, it is the nation’s only museum dedicated solely to the vice presidency: The Dan Quayle Center. Housed inside the former Christian Science Church at 815 Warren Street, the first floor is dedicated to all of the men who have served as Vice President. The museum may hold another distinction as well in that most of the material and artifacts displayed were purchased from eBay. Zachary Taylor’s Vice-President (and upon Taylor’s death) President Millard Fillmore’s hat, is a first floor highlight.
The second floor of the museum (the old gymnasium) focuses on the life of Huntington’s favorite son Dan Quayle. Highlights of this section include the “Danny” sweater he wore as a child displayed alongside the sweater in which he played golf as Vice President. His hometown Little League uniform is displayed among items from Huntington as Quayle would have known it back in the day. Perhaps the funniest item is Dan Quayle’s Indiana University law degree, a large portion of which was chewed off by his dog Barnaby. Judging by the photos of the offending pooch displayed nearby, Barnaby didn’t loose much sleep over his doggy crime.
For those too young to remember, James Danforth Quayle served as George H.W. Bush’s Vice President for one term (1989-93). Quayle previously served as Congressman and Senator from Indiana before being tagged by the Senior Bush as his running mate in 1988. Dan Quayle took a lot of guff from people during his term of office, for gaffes both real and apocryphal, and was often the focal point of the late night circuit on shows like Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Arsenio Hall and Saturday Night Live. As a young Vice President, he became famous for misspelling “potato” and instigated a public feud with the fictional TV sitcom character Murphy Brown. Try as he might, Quayle failed to shake his reputation as an apathetic, pretty boy, pro-life frat-boy. The Bush-Quayle ticket failed to get reelected. And other than a brief attempt to secure the 2000 Republican presidential nomination (that ended quickly), Quayle fell from the national spotlight.
So how will our most recent Hoosier Vice-Presidential offering fare in 2016? Only time will tell. Maybe Governor Pence should heed the words of his Hoosier predecessor Tom Marshal when it comes to the office and it’s value. Marshall, easily the cleverest wordsmith of our Hoosier Fab Five, remarked: “Once there were two brothers. One ran away to sea; the other was elected vice president and nothing was ever heard of them after that.” Marshall also quipped that Indiana is known as “the mother of vice presidents,” because it is “home of more second-class men than any other state.” But for those of you who know me, you can guess that my favorite Tom Marshall quote is: “What this country needs is a really good five cent cigar.” Yes, Mr. Vice-President, I agree. Being a well known “buck-a-stick” man myself I would adjust that figure for inflation by saying that, “What this country needs is a good One Buck cigar.”
Al Hunter is the author of the “Haunted Indianapolis” and co-author of the “Haunted Irvington” and “Indiana National Road” book series. His newest book is “Bumps in the Night. Stories from the Weekly View.” Contact Al directly at Huntvault@aol.com or become a friend on Facebook.
