Historic Quote: “I love California. I grew up in Phoenix.” Dan Quayle
Continuing with my series of people famous politicians beat to win their first major political office, we now turn to
J. Danforth Quayle. The future vice-president would win his House seat in 1976 by beating J. Edward Roush, an eight term Congressman (not consecutive) who had survived a number of close, hard-fought challenges in this Fort Wayne based district before finally falling victim to the 29 year old Quayle.
In his memoirs, Standing Firm, Quayle called Roush a “decent, hard-working family man.” But he “had traded a Hoosier perspective for a Potomac one.” He didn’t believe in “less government, less spending, and less taxation.”
Like so many Democrats from traditionally Republican areas, Roush had the good fortune of winning his seat in a splendid Democratic year, 1958. But also like the others, his electoral security was non-existent. Only once in four subsequent elections, 1964, did Roush exceed 52%.
And his 1960 re-election was so close that, until a recount had taken place the following May, Roush actually trailed George Chambers by 12 votes. His final margin would climb to a landslide of 99 votes out of 215,000 cast. It certainly had to rank among the closest for modern Congressional races (though in subsequent years, Indiana had at least two in the 80’s that were even closer).
Chambers tried again in 1962, and many Republicans openly expressed hope for a “sympathy vote” from his near miss two years before. But the mood had shifted, Roush had even more time to cement his incumbency, and Birch Bayh was stunningly winning a Senate seat, with help from rural Indiana as much as anywhere.
Before Quayle, Roush’s luck would run out — temporarily. The 1968 remap paired him with Republican colleague Ross Adair. The advantage went to the Republican, but Roush was able to chip away with his virulent campaigning and barely lose his seat. Nixon’s 55% win may have made the difference, But Roush tried again in 1970 and this time reversed the margin (the Almanac of American Politics credited high unemployment with decisive Allen County’s shift toward Roush making the difference.
For 1972, Roush had to contend with Nixon’s 67%. This was not as high as the President would get in other Indiana districts, and for Roush, it would be a good thing. He’d hold off Allan Bloom just 51-49%, a difference of 6,000 votes.
Roush’s strength, according to Congressional Quarterly, was his zest for campaigning. It cited Roush as “famous for his walking tours of the district, sometimes making surprise visits to ‘graveyard shifts’ in factories in the middle of the night.” They credit a “personal appeal and acquaintance with thousands in the district.” But winning just 53% in glorious 1974 should have convinced Roush that his days could be numbered.
But top-tier Republicans did not believe that was the case either. Quayle was far from the first Republican candidate to come to mind to take on Roush, which he acknowledged in his book. He wrote most of the would-be top-tier candidates to challenge Roush had “already taken a failed shot” at him. Even Quayle’s father, whom he had told the GOP Chair he had to check with before deciding whether to pull the trigger said, “run, but you won’t win. Nobody can beat Ed Roush.” Another reliable souce added “some party regulars felt comfortable with Roush”
Quayle’s strength may not have been his campaign but, his campaign apparatus. He brought in his own volunteers designed to reach GOP voters. He had $100,000 and backing of a Committee for the Survival of a Free Congress.” The “Quayle Quartet” featured party elders going to the mat for their candidate. And his movie star good looks posed a contrast to Roush.
One could say that Roush’s electoral history mirrored that of Bayh, whom Quayle would defeat in 1980. He held the seat by often tenuous margins (actually being unseated once before), but seemed headed to re-election in the summer of ’76 before Quayle and the Republican lean truly began to emerge. As late as October 9, Congressional Quarterly rated the contest “Leans Democratic” and Quayle had to contend with the presence of Gail Gran, an American candidate.
Debates were a contrast as well. A youthful Quayle vs.Roush. Quayle said he thought Roush as the incumbent had erred by agreeing to debate, as he gave his young challenger free exposure. He attacked roush for backing Humphrey-Hawkins and lumped him in with “the McGoverns and Kennedys and Birch Bayhs.”
Quayle attacked Roush for being soft on defense. He opposed the Vietnam War, which as The New York Times pointed out, “his son Dave was drafted to serve in at the same time Quayle who favored the war, entered the National Guard.”
In the end, Quayle’s 55% margin was larger than any candidate had won in the district since Roush’s ’58 win. After his loss, he became Director of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Regional and Intergovernmental Operations. He died in 2004 at the age of 84.
The J. Edward Roush lake in Huntington, Indiana bears his name, a reflection for his tireless efforts to preserve Indiana dunes.