Categories: LIFESTYLE

My Encounter with Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Dan Quayle and My 15 Minutes of Fame

One day as Cynthia and I sat in my living room watching the David Letterman show, we were inspired with a brilliant idea that ended up making CNN news as well as making us a lot of money.

It all began on June 5, 1992 when the infamous Dan Quayle, vice president to George Bush Sr., not particularly known for his intellect, went to a 6th grade class at the Luis Munoz Rivera School in Trenton, New Jersey and conducted a spelling Bee with the children. Vice President Quayle gave 12 year old William Figueroa the word “potato” to write on the blackboard.

Young William correctly wrote on the board: POTATO. Dan Quayle prompted William to add an E to the end, which William did in order to appease Mr. Quayle, knowing full well that it was spelled without the E at the end!

So there we were, Cynthia and I, watching David Letterman when he introduced his guest, none other than William Figueroa! As we listened to William describing the incident that we had already seen all over the national and local news stations, we suddenly had what could only be described as a telepathic moment of genius!

Cynthia and I looked at each other and at the exact same second, we both said “Dan Quayle Potatoe Head T-Shirts!”

That was the beginning. We, with the help of her brother David, created the design. It had a photo of all of the Mr. Potato Head parts all put together with Dan Quayle’s face on the front of the potato’s head. On top of picture it said “PotatoE Head”, and underneath it said “Brain not included”.

We took them to a local screen printer and had hundreds of T-shirts made, and then we began taking them to democratic rallies all over the country and sold them.

The first rally we went to was in downtown St. Louis, Missouri at Union Station. Bill Clinton and Al Gore were traveling with their wives and other members of the democratic party. We waited as the line of all of the democratic hopefuls walked in line, meeting and greeting everyone who was there to hear what they had to say. As Bill Clinton stopped to say hi and shake hands with me, I handed him a brand new freshly made Dan Quayle PotatoE Head T-shirt, and said “This is for you!” He smiled a huge genuine smile, and graciously accepted the gift and said “Thank you! I will wear this on my daily jogs”. He then took my one year old son Brandon from me, whom I was holding on my hip, picked him up for a moment and gave him a kiss on the cheek as he commented “what a beautiful baby!” Then came Hillary Clinton who I also handed a PotatoE Head Shirt to and said “and this is for you, so you and your husband have matching PotatoE Head Shirts!” She smiled and thanked me in a very sincere voice.

Next in line was AL Gore, followed by Tipper. This time I handed Al a T-shirt, and at this point, there were cameras everywhere. He held the Dan Quayle PotatoE Head T-shirt up so the CNN Camera caught it on tape, and smiled. He thanked me for the shirt and then asked how I had come up with such a fun idea. I told him about how my friend Cynthia and I got an inspiration from the David Letterman show. He laughed and said “well good luck in your entrepreneurship! Tipper was the next to accept the gift.

Afterwards, we walked around as Al Gore and then Bill Clinton spoke to the crowd, answered questions posed to him by the audience. In the meantime, I had 32 people approach me, asking to buy a shirt! It was the beginning of a long and exciting campaign trail.

When I got home, my phone was ringing off the hook! Every time I hung up, someone else I knew would call and tell me that they had just seen me on CNN News, and then CBS news and the KDNL news, a local channel. I was amazed, especially when the very next day, the Illinois Democratic party called me from Decatur, Illinois and asked if they could buy some of my shirts. They ordered 100, and if I could possibly deliver them, as they would like to meet the person who created “that shirt”. Naturally I obliged them.

It became a whirlwind after that, with Cynthia and myself going to democratic rallies, particularly where either Bill Clinton, Al Gore or both were present. Within 5 months time, we had made over $30,000 profit each. We had both been on different news channels all over the country multiple times. We had simply lost count. We were forever getting phone calls from people wanting to order T-shirts.

The most exciting moment came one evening, when Dan Quayle was scheduled to have a fund raiser and dinner with the Republican party. I felt that since Dan had been the one to start off my successful PotatoE Head Endeavor, I must thank him personally. So being the grateful person that I am, I made my way to the Marriott Airport Hotel near Lambert Airport in St. Louis, MO. I waited just outside of short silver poles lined on two sides with yellow ropes. As Dan Quayle made his way down the makeshift isle, almost completely surrounded by secret service body guards, I held up the shirt to Mr. Quayle and said to him; “Mr. Quayle, I made this T-Shirt in honor of you! I want you to have one for a keepsake”. Dan’s eyes lit up, and he stopped before me, gave me a huge happy smile, took the shirt from me and held it up for the rolling media. He said “Hey, that picture is of me!” Thank you! I am truly flattered!”. This was all while multiple news media cameras were taping the entire incident. He then kept walking forward and soon disappeared into the ball room.

I smiled to myself as I drove home, and I wondered if anyone had seen me and Dan on television together. At that moment I felt more proud to be an American then I had ever felt before, and perhaps even since! I will forever remember Dan Quayle very fondly.

Written By
Diana Smith