I can’t overstate how discouraging and exasperating the whole event was.”. “We’d just have a conversation, like, you know, like adults. The first episode digs into one of the era’s most notorious political gaffes: the time former vice president Dan Quayle misspelled potato. It’s different now,” he said. Become a BuzzFeed News member. So, yes, Quayle did mess up—but so did the school. “I just thought it was, you know, some fun thing,” he said. What most people don’t know (or don’t remember) is that Quayle was looking at a flash card provided by the school that had the “correct” answer on it, spelled incorrectly. Now, 27 years later, BuzzFeed News tracked down Figueroa to find out what was going through his mind as all this happened. William Figueroa, age 12, was called to the board to demonstrate how to spell “potato.” With a stick of chalk and perfect penmanship, Figueroa carefully spelled the word correctly on the board. “I’ve always been like, ‘Why didn’t I do a potato chip commercial?’” he said. In 1992, Vice President Dan Quayle was visiting Rivera Elementary School in Trenton, New Jersey, and jumped in to help facilitate a spelling bee. I can’t overstate how discouraging and exasperating the whole event was.”. The questions involved his military service, a golf trip to Florida with Paula Parkinson, and w… He later wrote in his memoir Standing Firm that “It was more than a gaffe. BuzzFeed News and ET. “So if he wants to talk, that’s fine with me. Steyn: C’mon, man, you’re a big-time educrat on a “Board of School Directors” and the best you can do is a Dan Quayle dig? Contact BuzzFeed News at bfnews@buzzfeed.com. After the gaffe, he received a dictionary from Merriam-Webster, was featured in an exhibit in the official potato museum, and was given a free trip to Puerto Rico, but he said that appearing on David Letterman’s show was the true highlight. Potato. The student stepped back, satisfied—until the Veep himself urged the young man to tack another letter on to the end to make the spelling “correct.”. Want to see more stories like this? Mark Steyn wearily explains whole ‘Dan Quayle/potato(e)’ myth to remaining idiot… October 27, 2011 By Kathy Shaidle. ErikaNeddenien, Posted on September 11, 2019, at 11:31 a.m. Yep. Dan Quayle's 'Potatoe' Incident – 1992 A minor slip-up by Vice President Dan Quayle hatched a frenzy and a long-running joke. Contact ErikaNeddenien at erika.neddenien@buzzfeed.com. Looks like your browser doesn't support JavaScript. “I should have been the one doing that.”. For those who don’t remember, on June 15, 1992, Dan Quayle was making a routine campaign stop, pushing then-president George H.W. “I know it was a bad day for him, but it was a good day for me.”, By Still, he said, if Quayle showed up on his doorstep tomorrow, there would be no hard feelings. In a room filled with reporters, Quayle called 12-year-old William Figueroa to the board, prompting him to “spell potato.” Figueroa stepped up, correctly spelled potato, erased the word, and went to sit down — until the vice president stopped him, saying, “Hold on now, add a little to the end there.”. Press coverage of the convention was dominated by questions about "the three Quayle problems". Befuddled, William added an “e” to the end of the word at the vice president’s urging, then quickly erased it. It was a ‘defining moment’ of the worst imaginable kind. Outgoing President Ronald Reagan praised Quayle for his "energy and enthusiasm". Merriam-Webster was misspelled in an earlier version of this post. “I kept thinking, ‘How the hell did I spell ‘potato’ wrong?’” he later said. On August 16, 1988, at the Republican convention in New Orleans, Louisiana, George H. W. Bush chose Quayle to be his running mate in the 1988 United States presidential election. It wasn’t until a reporter came up to Figueroa later that he realized he was right. Para saber mais sobre nossa política de cookies, acesse link. “It was a ‘defining moment’ of the worst imaginable kind. “I didn’t know it had some political ramifications.”. He then sat in his seat as a room full of adults applauded the mistake. Ao continuar com a navegação em nosso site, você aceita o uso de cookies. BuzzFeed News launched a new show on Facebook Watch on Monday, That Literally Happened, which revisits some of the most notorious events and trends of the ’90s. Vor der Präsidentschaftswahl trat Quayle am 5. Whether Quayle should have known better (yes) or the school should have known better (yes), that one little letter was the vowel heard ‘round the world, damaging Quayle's credibility and adding to the public's perception that the vice president wasn't the brightest crayon in the box. I know it was a bad day for him, but it was a good day for me.”. The choice immediately became controversial. Who knew a simple tuber could do so much damage? The first episode digs into one of the era’s most notorious political gaffes: the time former vice president Dan Quayle misspelled potato. Quayle was embarrassed, of course. Despite the ensuing applause from the adults in the room, Figueroa knew he had spelled it correctly the first time. Who, not incidentally, sits on a school board. Er entgegnete, er sei erfahrener als manche Vizepräsidentschaftskandidaten in der Vergangenheit und habe ebenso viel Kongresserfahrung wie John F. Kennedy(„Jack Kennedy“), als dieser sich um die Präsidentschaft beworben habe, weshalb er für den … “It was more than a gaffe,” Quayle later wrote in his memoirs. Figueroa said the former vice president has not reached out to him personally over the years, even though he hoped he eventually would.