On June 15, 1992, at the Munoz-Rivera Elementary School in Trenton, New Jersey, the Vice President of the United States misspelled the word “potato.”
The Vice President was Dan Quayle.
The Daily Spud, in the interest of historical accuracy and a longstanding editorial interest in the subject matter, has reviewed the record.
The incident
A 12-year-old student named William Figueroa wrote “potato” on a chalkboard during a school spelling bee.
Vice President Quayle, presiding over the event, advised the student that he had missed the final “e.”
The student, having spelled the word correctly, complied.
The exchange was televised. The Vice President of the United States had publicly corrected a correct spelling to an incorrect one, on the word potato, in front of the national press.
The cue card
The relevant detail, which the Daily Spud is required to report:
The cue card provided to Vice President Quayle by the school had also spelled the word “potatoe.”
The Vice President had, in fairness, been issued bad source material by a New Jersey elementary school.
This did not figure prominently in subsequent coverage.
Quayle on Quayle
In his memoir, Vice President Quayle described the moment as “a defining moment of the worst kind imaginable.”
The Daily Spud regards this as among the most candid assessments of professional embarrassment ever published by a sitting or former Vice President.
The epilogue the Daily Spud wishes more people knew
Some months after the incident, Vice President Quayle held up a New York Times article that had misspelled his own surname.
His position, articulated publicly, was that the paper which demanded he spell potato could not, itself, spell Quayle.
The Daily Spud takes no position on the merit of this defense. We merely note that it was made.
Editorial position
The 1992 incident is significant to the historical record for one reason: it demonstrates the potato’s ability to humble the powerful.
A sitting Vice President. National television. A spelling bee. A potato.
This is the kind of cultural weight that does not attach itself to, for instance, the rutabaga.
The Daily Spud is monitoring the rutabaga, but expects no comparable incident.
Take the pledge. Even Vice Presidents fall before the potato. Choose your side.