Quayle Denies Joining Guard to Avoid Vietnam : Hasn’t Offered to Quit Ticket, He Says as Angry Hometown Crowd Boos Reporters Quizzing Him

As a thousand angry supporters jeered and booed reporters questioning him, Republican vice presidential nominee Dan Quayle denied Friday that he had joined the National Guard to avoid service in Vietnam and said he has not offered to resign from the Republican ticket because of the mushrooming controversy.

The Indiana senator confirmed that as a 22-year-old he had met with a former Indiana National Guard commander, employed by his family, to express his interest in joining the Guard. Quayle said he assumed at the time that the former commander had made inquiries on his behalf. Had he not entered the National Guard, Quayle would have been eligible for the Vietnam War draft.

He indicated also that Bush campaign officials had not been aware of the details of his entry into the Guard when he was interviewed for the vice presidential nomination.

But, he said: “I got into the National Guard fairly. I did not ask anybody to break the rules and, as far as I know, nobody did break the rules.”

Because it was rare that National Guard units were sent to Vietnam, many draft-age men in that era sought Guard duty, swelling applications in many states beyond available slots.

The unscheduled question-and-answer session in Quayle’s hometown was held by the Bush campaign after the newly nominated ticket made its first postconvention appearance. But it overwhelmed the choreographed campaign kick-off meant to show off Quayle’s Midwestern roots.

As Quayle stepped toward reporters to answer questions about his military service, a microphone supplied by the campaign broadcast the exchanges to a crowd of 10,000 to 12,000 Quayle boosters gathered near the Huntington County Courthouse for the rally.

At least 1,000 supporters booed the knot of reporters surrounding Quayle, and some waved prepared signs denouncing the media. They cheered Quayle’s answers forcefully. At one point, as the milling crowd chanted “Boring, boring,” former Treasury Secretary James A. Baker III, now the campaign’s chairman, stepped forward and motioned for silence.

A senior campaign official, speaking on the condition that his name not be used, later sought out reporters to deny that the campaign had, in effect, used the open microphone to influence the crowd to shift the focus from Quayle to his questioners.

“There was no set-up planned here,” the official said. “We weren’t playing games out there.”

Since questions were raised about Quayle’s candidacy, Bush campaign officials have refused to allow him to hold a formal press conference, despite repeated requests. They have cited fears that the scene would appear reminiscent of a lengthy press conference given by Democratic vice presidential nominee Geraldine A. Ferraro in 1984, after questions were raised about her husband’s financial dealings.

The session followed a day of confusion in the Bush campaign, as high-ranking officials offered vastly different indications of how the campaign would deal with the controversy over Quayle’s background.

Earlier in the day, Quayle himself treated the matter as a joke when he appeared with Vice President George Bush at a Republican National Committee breakfast in New Orleans.

“Having gone through this week, I think I know how I’m to introduce myself,” he said shortly after reaching the lectern.

“Stand at attention,” he barked, straightening his posture noticeably. “Name: Dan Quayle. Rank: Sergeant. Serial number: 303504096. Indiana National Guard six years and proud of it.”

But the controversy is no laughing matter to campaign officials, and the 30-minute session with the news media Friday seemed destined to keep the issue alive.

Tries to Dodge Questions

Several times during the exchange, Quayle tried to dodge specific questions, most noticeably when he was asked whether he had offered to resign from the ticket since questions surfaced Wednesday, the day after Bush selected him as his running mate.

Quayle was asked directly whether he would step down “if it’s an embarrassment to the vice president.”

“Serving in the Indiana National Guard is not an embarrassment,” Quayle said.

Reporters persisted, asking Quayle: “Have you offered to take your name . . . off the ticket, sir?”

“It’s not a yes or no question,” Quayle said.

“Yes, sir, it is,” a reporter replied.

“There’s no reason for me to make that offer,” Quayle responded.

“So you have not made that offer?” Quayle was asked.

“No,” he said.

Quayle said that, when he decided to join the Guard, he sought out retired National Guard Maj. Gen. Wendell Phillippi for help. Phillippi was managing editor of the Indianapolis News and worked for Quayle’s grandfather, Eugene C. Pulliam. The Pulliam family owns a multimillion-dollar string of newspapers.

Most of Quayle’s service in the National Guard consisted of public information work, including writing press releases and articles for the Guard magazine, Quayle said Friday.

When asked why he had not simply signed up for the Guard, the 41-year-old senator said that, as a young man, his first instinct was to “call home.”

“I talked to my mother and my father and I said I am interested in getting into the Indiana National Guard,” he said. “We communicated that to Mr. Phillippi.

“Mr. Phillippi knew that I wanted to get into the National Guard, and I hoped he would help me and I expect that,” he added later.

The Indiana senator, the first baby boomer on a national ticket, denied that his intention had been to avoid hazardous duty in Vietnam. Quayle noted that his Guard unit could have been called for war duty--although the likelihood was certainly smaller than in other forces.

Quayle said he wanted to join the National Guard because its weekend-style duty would allow him to attend law school. He insisted that he did not remember his draft number, although published accounts have listed it as 210, just under the highest eligibility number for Vietnam draftees.

Repeatedly, the senator said that specifics of his National Guard enlistment were not discussed in lengthy meetings with attorney Robert Kimmitt, who handled the vice presidential selection process for Bush.

“We didn’t get into that kind of detail,” the vice presidential nominee said.

Contradiction Cited

When reminded that Bush campaign strategist Robert Teeter has been quoted as saying Quayle had been asked about the enlistment, he said:

“He asked that question? . . . You’re asking me a very specific question. There were a lot of questions, and I think it best if you addressed that to him.”

Later, he added: “Check with the campaign and see what they say. I answered a lot of questions. I can’t tell you all the questions.”

Campaign officials said Kimmitt would not be made available to clarify what questions were asked.

During the session, Quayle suggested that he had conflicting feelings about the Vietnam War.

“I supported the goal of fighting communism in Vietnam,” he said. “I, like many, many Americans, had particular problems about the way the war was conducted . . . . It was the no-win policy aspect.”

He added that he did not believe that his backing of a more aggressive approach should necessarily have led him to volunteer for service in Southeast Asia.

“You can, in fact, do that in different ways,” he said.

And he disagreed with the characterization of Vietnam as a war fought by the poor and avoided by the sons of the rich.

“I don’t buy that,” he said.

“There were many different people in Vietnam that fought very nobly.”

Although there is no early assessment of the impact of the controversy on Bush and Quayle’s campaign, Quayle said he believed it ultimately would be a plus.

“You are going to be surprised how outraged people . . . are going to be towards these accusations,” he said.

The Bush campaign has been seeking to defuse the issue by emphasizing that Quayle volunteered for duty, but the issue cuts to a central vulnerability in the Bush campaign and threatens to usurp Quayle’s expected role as November approaches.

The campaign has been battling to expand its appeal beyond the upper-crust Establishment Republicans whom Bush most resembles--and an implication that the wealthy Quayle benefited from his connections could hurt.

Emphasis on Defense

And Quayle, with his past emphasis on defense and foreign policy, was expected to exploit the lack of experience in those areas of Democratic nominee Michael S. Dukakis. The controversy over his own military experience could somewhat threaten that approach.

Already on Friday, Quayle’s past actions took center stage from Bush’s own upbeat kick-off speech, cutting momentum from his well-received convention speech Thursday night.

Bush, however, repeatedly praised Quayle, calling him in Huntington “Indiana’s finest production.”