TIME: Almanac 1990/1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso/time/012389/01238900.042

Text File | 1990-09-17 | 6KB | 101 lines

NATION, Page 27

A New Second Lady Who Is No Second Fiddle


    There are unwritten rules of etiquette for a Vice President's
wife that correspond roughly to the antebellum definition of a
lady: her name should appear in the papers only on the occasion of
her marriage or death. Barbara Bush adapted well: she did good
works quietly and kept out of the public eye. Marilyn Quayle is
already hard at work following in Mrs. Bush's footsteps. But the
outspoken and confident lawyer turned housewife may have a tougher
time keeping a low profile. Marilyn Tucker Quayle is anything but
self-effacing.

    She asserted herself almost immediately after Dan Quayle was
nominated, telling reporters that when her husband first ran for
Congress in Indiana, "I made all the decisions." The cool,
appraising look she cast on Quayle when he spoke, and the sharp
tugs on his sleeve when she wanted him to stop, gave her away as
first among her husband's handlers. Bush aides quickly learned that
behind her demure shirtwaist dresses and her trademark Mary Tyler
Moore flip hairdo there was a strong-minded, intelligent woman who
wished to be viewed as Quayle's "senior adviser."

    In mid-September Marilyn wanted to accompany Quayle on a tour
of NORAD, the high-security Air Force installation in Colorado.
His handlers, who had planned to use the event to underscore
Quayle's readiness to become Commander in Chief, argued that he
would be undercut by having his wife tag along. Marilyn stood firm
about going, until Quayle interceded and eventually persuaded her
to visit a Colorado Springs day-care center instead.

    Marilyn, 39, is made of sterner stuff than her playful,
easygoing husband. Both her parents were doctors; she was the
fourth of six children, brought up in a strict Christian household
in Indianapolis. The Tuckers became followers of a conservative
Fundamentalist preacher, "Colonel" Robert B. Thieme Jr., and
Marilyn grew up listening to Thieme's tapes. She has dissociated
herself from Thieme's more reactionary social teachings, but
defends his biblical teachings.

    A model student, Marilyn was "always real popular," according
to classmate Kathy Hyde Parker, "but never with the bad kids." Her
self-styled feminism was awakened early: she wanted to play
basketball in high school but balked at the half-court games girls
then had to play. At Purdue she ran for freshman-class treasurer
and formed the Pep Girls, a pom-pom cheerleader squad that she
directed with no nonsense. "At our meetings we didn't horse
around," says former Pep Girl Barbara Little.

    Marilyn met Quayle at Indiana University law school and married
him ten weeks later. They sat together in the front row in tax
lectures; it was Marilyn who spoke up frequently and sought out the
professor after class. She was due to deliver her first child on
the day of the bar exam, and had labor induced early so she could
take the test. The young couple hung out a law shingle together
above the family newspaper office in Huntington, but Marilyn ran
the practice. A Huntington friend, Sandy Cook, says Marilyn was the
first "superwoman" in her set, expertly balancing career and
family, even baking bread.

    Marilyn quit working shortly after her second child was born,
and brought her efficiency and drive to housekeeping. Innately
frugal, she shops at bargain stores and does her own daily
housework, but she has always made sure -- at least up to now --
that the Senator did his fair share. The Quayles shun the social
circuit. When the family moved to the Washington area in 1977, a
former aide recalls, "Marilyn was at the school as often as the
teachers." She directed children's school plays, did PTA and Little
League, and does not allow her three children -- two boys and a
girl -- to watch television. She was just as attentive to Dan
Quayle's career, reading his paperwork at home, clipping articles
and offering advice on strategy. She also found time to join Joanne
Kemp and Susan Baker's Bible study group.

    She shares her husband's conservative views, opposing abortion
and the ERA, but comes off as more of a true believer than Quayle.
In appearances and interviews, Marilyn has proved to be poised,
self-possessed and far defter than her husband at deflecting
hostile questions.

    Toward the end of the campaign, her stock was so high that
politicians speculated on whether she would be appointed to fill
Quayle's Senate seat. The move was never feasible, but Marilyn felt
flattered, and heightened press interest for a while by coyly
refusing to deny it. Now she is busy changing the children's
schools (the family is moving into Washington from McLean, Va.) and
redoing the vice-presidential residence. She is soliciting a
donation of $150,000 from friends to cover the renovations needed
for a family with three growing children.

    Unlike Barbara Bush, who has long toiled against illiteracy,
Marilyn may not pursue good works. She says her interests run more
to foreign affairs and "substantive" issues. She is even
considering joining a Washington law firm -- provided her official
duties and conflict-of-interest concerns permit it. "She
understands the role," says her friend and tennis partner Joanne
Kemp, "but if she can find a way to do it differently that is
proper, she will."  At her Christmas party, a reporter told her
jokingly that as the Vice President's wife she could set her own
style. Marilyn smiled saucily and replied, "That's right -- the
flip is back."