Off the Record

He Told You So. Next to Ronald Reagan, the most ridiculed conservative in America has to be Dan Quayle, who as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee carried the water for the defense buildup of the 1980s. Like Reagan, the Vice President is laughing last these days. In a 1987 op-ed piece in the Washington Post, Senator Quayle cited the missile buildup of Third World nations such as Iraq and argued that the way to counter proliferation was for the United States to develop high-tech defenses—e.g., the Patriot and Tomahawk missiles. This was at a time when the U.S. was concerned about China’s sale of its Silkworm cruise missiles to Iran.

Today Quayle’s remarks look exceptionally prescient. “So long as nations think they can make a quantum jump in military power easily by acquiring missiles,” wrote Senator Quayle, “many will try. What we’ve got to do is make sure that missile technology is difficult, expensive, and militarily counterproductive for them. If we don’t, this technology will spread faster than we can cope with it—so fast that it will make our current crisis in the Persian Gulf the least of our missile woes.” Not the sort of thing that plays well on the Johnny Carson circuit.

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He Told You So. Next to Ronald Reagan, the most ridiculed conservative in America has to be Dan Quayle, who as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee carried the water for the defense buildup of the 1980s. Like Reagan, the Vice President is laughing last these days. In a 1987 op-ed piece in the Washington Post, Senator Quayle cited the missile buildup of Third World nations such as Iraq and argued that the way to counter proliferation was for the United States to develop high-tech defenses—e.g., the Patriot and Tomahawk missiles. This was at a time when the U.S. was concerned about China’s sale of its Silkworm cruise missiles to Iran.

Today Quayle’s remarks look exceptionally prescient. “So long as nations think they can make a quantum jump in military power easily by acquiring missiles,” wrote Senator Quayle, “many will try. What we’ve got to do is make sure that missile technology is difficult, expensive, and militarily counterproductive for them. If we don’t, this technology will spread faster than we can cope with it—so fast that it will make our current crisis in the Persian Gulf the least of our missile woes.” Not the sort of thing that plays well on the Johnny Carson circuit.