In1976, Jimmy Carter, the Democratic presidential nominee, chose Mondale as his vice-presidential running mate. The Carter–Mondale ticket narrowly defeated the Republican ticket of incumbent presidentGerald Ford and his running mateBob Dole from Kansas. The economy worsened during Carter and Mondale's time in office, and they lost the1980 presidential election in alandslide to RepublicansRonald Reagan andGeorge H. W. Bush. In1984, Mondale won the Democratic presidential nomination and campaigned for anuclear freeze, theEqual Rights Amendment, an increase in taxes, and a reduction ofU.S. public debt. His vice presidential nominee, U.S. representativeGeraldine Ferraro from New York, was the first female vice-presidential nominee of any major party in U.S. history. Mondale and Ferraro lost the election to the incumbents Reagan and Bush, with Reagan winning 49 states and Mondale carrying only his home state of Minnesota and theWashington, D.C. (District of Columbia).
Walter Frederick Mondale was born on January 5, 1928, inCeylon, Minnesota,[4] to Theodore Sigvaard Mondale, aMethodist minister, and his second wife Claribel Hope (née Cowan), a part-time music teacher.[5][6] Mondale had two full brothers, Clarence, (known as Pete) and William (known as Mort). Their half-brotherLester Mondale became aUnitarian minister.[7] The brothers' paternal grandparents wereNorwegian immigrants, with some distantGerman ancestry,[8] and their paternal grandfather Frederik Mundal had emigrated fromNorway with his family in 1856, eventually settling in the southern part of Minnesota in 1864.[9] The surname "Mondale" wasAmericanized from that of Mundal, a valley and village in theFjærland region of Norway.[10] His mother was born inIowa, the daughter of an immigrant father, Robert Cowan, who was born inSeaforth, Ontario; she was ofScottish andEnglish descent.[11]
In his youth, Mondale's family thought the names "Walter" and "Frederick" were too stilted for a boy, so they called him "Fritz", a common German andScandinavian diminutive form of Friedrich or Frederick.[12] Due to theGreat Depression, Mondale grew up in poverty. His family moved from Ceylon toHeron Lake in 1934, and toElmore in 1937.[13] Throughout his youth, Mondale was influenced heavily by his father's religious beliefs, including support for the civil rights movement.[14] In 1948, his father died of a stroke.[15] Mondale attended public schools and thenMacalester College for two years before transferring to the University of Minnesota, from which he graduatedcum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree inpolitical science in 1951.[16]
Mondale became involved in national politics in the 1940s. At age 20, he was visible in Minnesota politics by helping organize Hubert Humphrey's successful Senate campaign in1948. Humphrey's campaign assigned Mondale to cover the staunchly Republican2nd district. Mondale, who had grown up in the region, was able to win the district for Humphrey by a comfortable margin.[20] After working with Humphrey, Mondale went on to work on several campaigns for Orville Freeman. Mondale worked on Freeman's unsuccessful1952 campaign for the governorship as well as his successful campaign in1954 and his1958 reelection campaign.[21] In 1960, Freeman appointed MondaleMinnesota Attorney General following the resignation ofMiles Lord. At the time he was appointed, Mondale was 32 years old and had been practicing law for four years. He was elected to the post in his own right in 1962.[22]
External videos
"Interview with Walter Mondale" conducted in 1986 for theEyes on the Prize documentary in which his efforts to effect a compromise at the 1964 Democratic National Convention between the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and the official Democratic delegates.
During his tenure as Minnesota Attorney General, the caseGideon v. Wainwright (which ultimately established the right of defendants in state courts to have a lawyer) was being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. When those opposed to the right to counsel organized afriend of the court brief representing several state attorneys general for that position, Mondale organized a countering friend of the court brief from many more state attorneys general, arguing that defendants must be allowed a lawyer.[23] He also continued the investigation of formermayor of MinneapolisMarvin L. Kline and the mismanagement of theCourage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute.[24] At the1964 Democratic National Convention, Mondale played a major role in the proposed but ultimately unsuccessful compromise by which the national Democratic Party offered theMississippi Freedom Democratic Party two at-large seats.[25] Mondale also served as a member of the President's Consumer Advisory Council from 1960 to 1964.[16]
U.S. Senate (1964–1976)
Senator Walter F. Mondale
On December 30, 1964,Governor of Minnesota Karl Rolvaag appointed Mondale to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy created by Hubert Humphrey's resignation; Humphrey had stepped down after being electedVice President of the United States. Mondale was elected to the Senate for the first time in1966, defeatingRepublican Party candidate Robert A. Forsythe by a margin of 53.9% to 45.2%.[26]
Mondale worked hard to build up the center of the party on economic and social issues. Unlike his father, a fervent liberal, he was not a crusader for theNew Deal. Instead, he realized that the Democratic base (especially ethnic blue-collar workers) was gradually moving to the right, and he worked to keep their support.[31] Mondale showed little or no interest in foreign policy until about 1974, when he realized that some foreign policy knowledge was necessary if he had loftier aspirations than the Senate. He developed a centrist position, avoiding alignment with either the party's hawks (such asHenry M. Jackson) or its doves (such as McGovern).[32]
Mondale took a liberal position on civil rights, which proved acceptable in Minnesota, a state with "a minuscule black population".[33] Mondale was a chief sponsor of the federal Fair Housing Act as part of theCivil Rights Act of 1968, which prohibits discrimination in housing and created theUnited States Department of Housing and Urban Development'sOffice of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity as the primary enforcer of the law.[34] DuringLyndon B. Johnson's presidency, Mondale supported theVietnam War. After Nixon became president in 1969, Mondale began to oppose the war and participated in legislation to restrict Nixon's ability to prolong it. Mondale supported abortion rights.[35][36]
In 1967, Mondale served on the Aeronautical and Space Sciences Committee, then chaired byClinton Anderson, when astronautsGus Grissom,Ed White, andRoger B. Chaffee were killed in a fire on January 27 while testing the Apollo 204 (later renumberedApollo 1) spacecraft.NASA AdministratorJames E. Webb secured President Lyndon Johnson's approval for NASA to internally investigate the cause of the accident according to its established procedures, subject to Congressional oversight. NASA's procedure called for Deputy Administrator (and de facto general manager)Robert Seamans to appoint and oversee an investigative panel.[40]
In February, a reporter leaked to Mondale the existence of aPhillips report issued in 1965 by Apollo program directorSamuel C. Phillips, detailing management, cost, delivery, and quality problems of the Apollo prime contractorNorth American Aviation. In the February 27 hearing, Mondale asked Webb if he knew of such a report. Webb had not yet seen the December 1965 written report, so he responded in the negative. Seamans had passed along to Webb neither the written report nor the briefing presentation made to him in January 1966 by Phillips and Phillips's boss, Manned Space Flight AdministratorGeorge Mueller.[41] Both Seamans and Mueller had also been called to testify at this session. Mueller denied the report's existence, though he must have been aware of it, as he had appended his own strongly worded letter to the copy sent to North American Aviation presidentJohn Leland Atwood.[42]
Seamans was afraid Mondale might be in possession of a copy (he was not), so he admitted that NASA often reviewed its contractors' performance, with both positive and negative results, but claimed that was nothing extraordinary. Under repeated questioning from Mondale, Webb promised that he would investigate whether the "Phillips Report" existed, and if so, whether a controlled release could be made to Congress. Immediately after the hearing, Webb saw the Phillips report for the first time.[41] The controversy spread to both houses of Congress and grew (through the efforts of Mondale's fellow committee member, Republican U.S. Senate memberMargaret Chase Smith fromMaine to include the second-guessing of NASA's original selection in 1961 of North American as the prime Apollo spacecraft contractor, which Webb became forced to defend). The House NASA oversight committee, which was conducting its own hearings and had picked up on the controversy, was ultimately given a copy of the Phillips report.[40]
While the committee, as a whole, believed that NASA should have informed Congress of the Phillips review results in 1966, its final report issued on January 30, 1968, concluded (as had NASA's own accident investigation completed on April 5, 1967) that "the findings of the [Phillips] task force had no effect on the accident, did not lead to the accident, and were not related to the accident". Yet Mondale wrote a minority opinion accusing NASA of "evasiveness,... lack of candor, ... patronizing attitude exhibited toward Congress, ... refusal to respond fully and forthrightly to legitimate congressional inquiries, and ... solicitous concern for corporate sensitivities at a time of national tragedy".[43] Mondale explained his actions in a 2001 interview: "I think that by forcing a public confrontation about these heretofore secret and deep concerns about the safety and the management of the program, it forced NASA to restructure and reorganize the program in a way that was much safer."[41]
When Jimmy Carter won the Democratic nomination forPresident of the United States in1976, he chose Mondale as his running mate. Mondalecampaigned for the ticket in various states. While campaigning inToledo, Ohio he said that the country needed a strong president to stop inflation and added that President Gerald Ford did not have the guts to stand up to big businesses.[44] The ticket was narrowly elected on November 2, 1976, and Mondale was inaugurated as Vice President of the United States on January 20, 1977. He also became the first vice president to live atNumber One Observatory Circle.[45][46][47]
Under Carter, Mondale traveled extensively throughout the nation and the world advocating the administration's foreign policy. His travels also included a visit to theUSS Midway (CV-41), which was on station at the time in the Indian Ocean during theIran hostage crisis. Mondale was the first vice president to have an office in theWhite House and established the concept of an "activist Vice President". He had weekly lunches with the president and expanded the vice president's role from figurehead to presidential advisor, full-time participant, and troubleshooter for the administration. Subsequent vice presidents have followed this model.[48] In 1979,Twin Cities Public Television produced a documentary about his trip to Norway, titledWalter Mondale: There's aFjord in Your Past, a play on the well-known advertising slogan "There's aFord in Your Future".[49][50]
Mondale and Carter in January 1979
Mondale cast onetie-breaking vote in the U.S. Senate on November 4, 1977, allowing the Social Security financing bill to be passed.[51][52]
Carter and Mondale were the longest-living post-presidential team in American history. On May 23, 2006, they had been out of office for 9,254 days (25 years, 4 months and 3 days), surpassing the former record established by PresidentJohn Adams and Vice PresidentThomas Jefferson, both of whom died on July 4, 1826. On September 8, 2012, Carter surpassedHerbert Hoover as the president with the longest retirement from office. On April 23, 2014, Mondale surpassedRichard Nixon as the vice president with the longest retirement from office at 12,146 days (33 years, 3 months and 3 days). At the time of his death, Mondale was theoldest living U.S. vice president and Carter was theoldest living U.S. president.[54]
After losing the 1980 election, Mondale returned briefly to the practice of law atWinston & Strawn, a large Chicago-based law firm, but he intended to return to politics before long.[55]
Mondale ran for the Democratic Party presidential nomination in theDemocratic presidential primaries preceding the 1984 election, and was soon the front-runner. His opposition included ReverendJesse Jackson and SenatorGary Hart from Colorado. Hart won theNew Hampshire primary in March, but Mondale had much of the party leadership behind him. To great effect, Mondale used theWendy's slogan "Where's the beef?" to describe Hart's policies as lacking depth. Jackson, widely regarded as the first serious African-American candidate for president, held on longer, but Mondale gained the nomination with the majority of delegates.[56]
A Mondale—Ferraro bumper sticker
At theDemocratic National Convention, Mondale choseUnited States House of Representatives memberGeraldine Ferraro from New York as his running mate, making her the first woman nominated for that position by a major party. Aides later said that Mondale was determined to make a historic choice with his vice presidential candidate, having considered San Francisco MayorDianne Feinstein (female and Jewish); Los Angeles MayorTom Bradley, an African American; andSan Antonio MayorHenry Cisneros, a Mexican American, as finalists.[57] Others preferred U.S. Senate memberLloyd Bentsen ofTexas because he would appeal to the Deep South, or even nomination rivalGary Hart. Ferraro, as a Catholic, was criticized by some Catholic Church leaders for beingpro-choice. Much more controversy erupted over her changing positions about the release of her husband's tax returns, and her own ethics record in the House. Ferraro was on the defensive throughout much of the campaign, largely negating her breakthrough as the first woman on a major national ticket. She was also the first Italian American to reach that level in American politics.[58]
When Mondale made his acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention, he said: "By the end of my first term, I will reduce the Reagan budget deficit by two‑thirds. Let's tell the truth. It must be done, it must be done. Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did."[59] While this was meant to show that Mondale would be honest with voters, it was instead largely interpreted as a campaign pledge to raise taxes to spend on domestic programs, which was unappealing to many voters.[60]
Mondale and Ferraro campaigning in 1984
Mondale ran aliberal campaign, supporting aNuclear Freeze campaign and theEqual Rights Amendment (ERA). He spoke againstReaganonomics and in support of reducing federaldeficit spending. However, the incumbent was popular, and Mondale's campaign was widely considered ineffective. Mondale was also perceived as supporting the poor at the expense of the middle class. In the first televised debate he performed unexpectedly well, which led many to question Reagan's age and capacity to endure the grueling demands of the presidency (Reagan was the oldest person to serve as president—73 at the time—while Mondale was 56). In the next debate on October 21, 1984, Reagan deflected the issue by quipping, "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience."[61]
Mondale was defeated in a landslide, receiving 37,577,352 votes (40.6% of the popular vote), and winning only theWashington, D.C. and his home state of Minnesota (even there his margin of victory was fewer than 3,800 votes),[62] securing only 13 electoral votes to Reagan's 525. The result was the worst electoral college defeat for any Democratic Party candidate in history, and the worst for any major-party candidate sinceAlf Landon's loss toFranklin D. Roosevelt in1936.[63]
He was appointed by PresidentBill Clinton as United States Ambassador to Japan from 1993 to 1996 during which he would oversee the U.S. response to the1995 Okinawa rape incident in which three US servicemen stationed incamp Hansen andCamp Kinser kidnapped, tortured, and raped a 12 year-old girl leading to months of widespread protest and political turmoil throughout the island and between the US and Japanese governments, Returning from a trip, Mondale quickly met with the Japanese Foreign Minister to apologize for the attack and the suffering it caused. This swift apology was seen as necessary to prevent further damage to the U.S.-Japan alliance.[64] s well as his decision to reduce US military operations inOkinawa as a whole,[65] in April 1996, Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and Mondale announced the return of the land occupied by theFutenma base.[64] though ultimately the demands of the Okinawan government and many activist would be declined in favor of US strategic goals[66] and Tokyo's own discretion
He chaired a bipartisan group to studycampaign finance reform, and was Clinton'sspecial envoy to Indonesia in 1998.[10] Until his appointment as Ambassador to Japan, Mondale was a Distinguished University Fellow in Law and Public Affairs at theHumphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. In 1990, he established the Mondale Policy Forum at the Humphrey Institute. The forum has brought together leading scholars and policymakers for annual conferences on domestic and international issues.[67]
Mondale spoke before the U.S. Senate on September 4, 2002, delivering a lecture on his service, with commentary on the transformation of the office of the vice president during the Carter administration, the Senatecloture rule for ending debate, and his view of the future of the Senate. The lecture was a part of a continuing Senate "Leaders Lecture Series" that ran from 1998 to 2002.[68]
In 2002, Democratic Senator Paul Wellstone from Minnesota, who was running for reelection, died in aplane crash 11 days before the November 5 election. Mondale replaced Wellstone on the ballot at the urging of Wellstone's relatives. The Senate seat was the one Mondale had held before resigning to become vice president in 1977.
Mondale with Joe Biden in 2015
During his debate with the Republican nominee, former mayor ofSaint Paul, MinnesotaNorm Coleman, Mondale emphasized his experience, while painting Coleman as right-wing partisan in-line with then-president Bush.[69] Mondale unexpectedly lost the election, receiving 1,067,246 votes (47.34%) to Coleman's 1,116,697 (49.53%). Upon conceding defeat, Mondale said, "At the end of what will be my last campaign, I want to say to Minnesota, you always treated me well, you always listened to me."[70] Mondale's loss in this election made him the first major party candidate to lose an election in every state.
In 2004, Mondale became co-chairman of theConstitution Project's bipartisan Right to Counsel Committee.[71] He endorsed U.S. Senate memberHillary Clinton of New York for president in2008.[72] On June 3, 2008, following the final primary contests, Mondale endorsed U.S. Senate memberBarack Obama ofIllinois, who had clinched the nomination the previous evening, and won the presidency.[73]
Following thepresidential election of 2004 and the midterm elections of 2006, Mondale is seen in the documentaryAl Franken: God Spoke talking withAl Franken about the possibility of the latter running against Coleman for U.S. Senate in 2008.[74] In the film, Mondale encourages Franken to run, but cautions him, saying that Coleman's allies and the Republican Party would look for anything they could use against him. Franken ultimately ran and won the2008 Senate election by 312 votes, with Coleman contesting the election results until June 30, 2009.[75] Mondale and U.S. Senate memberAmy Klobuchar stood with Franken in theUnited States Senate chamber when Franken was sworn in on July 7, 2009.[76]
Mondale's wife, Joan Mondale, was a national advocate for the arts and was the Honorary Chairman of the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities during the Carter Administration. On February 3, 2014, she died at a hospice in Minneapolis surrounded by family members.[78]
The Mondales' eldest son,Ted, is an entrepreneur and the CEO of Nazca Solutions, a technology fulfillment venture. He is also a former Minnesota state senator. In 1998, Ted Mondale unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for Minnesota governor, running as a fiscal moderate who had distanced himself from labor.[79] The Mondales' daughter,Eleanor, was a television personality. She also had radio talk shows in Chicago and a long-running program onWCCO (AM) in Minneapolis. She died of brain cancer at her home in Minnesota on September 17, 2011, at the age of 51.[80] Their younger son, William Hall Mondale, is a former assistantAttorney General of Minnesota.[81]
Mondale had a residence nearLake of the Isles in Minneapolis. He was aPresbyterian. He enjoyed fishing, readingShakespeare and historical accounts, barbecuing, skiing, watchingMonty Python, and playing tennis.[82] Mondale was the recipient of numerous distinctions. He was inducted intoOmicron Delta Kappa as an honoris causa initiate at theUniversity of South Carolina in 1981. Mondale also maintained strong ties to theUniversity of Minnesota Law School. In 2002 the school renamed its building Walter F. Mondale Hall. Mondale contributed cameo appearances to the law school's annual T.O.R.T. ("Theater of the Relatively Talentless") productions and allowed his name to be used as the nickname of the school's hockey team: the "Fighting Mondales".[83]
Mondale had deep connections to his ancestral Norway. Upon entering the Senate in 1964, he took over the seat of vice president Hubert Humphrey, anotherNorwegian-American. In later years, Mondale served on the executive committee of the Peace Prize Forum, an annual conference co-sponsored by theNorwegian Nobel Institute.[84] On December 5, 2007, Norwegian Minister of Foreign AffairsJonas Gahr Støre announced that Mondale would be namedHonorary Consul-General of Norway, representing the Norwegian state in Minnesota.[85] In 2015, Mondale was awarded the Public Leadership in Neurology Award from theAmerican Academy of Neurology for raising awareness for brain health, having lost both his wife and daughter to brain diseases.[86]
Death
Dear Team, Well my time has come. I am eager to rejoin Joan and Eleanor. Before I Go I wanted to let you know how much you mean to me. Never has a public servant had a better group of people working at their side! Together we have accomplished so much and I know you will keep up the good fight. Joe in theWhite House certainly helps. I always knew it would be okay if I arrived some place and was greeted by one of you! My best to all of you! Fritz
Mondale died ofnatural causes in his sleep at his home in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on April 19, 2021, at the age of 93.[88][89][90] At the time of his death, Mondale was theoldest living former U.S. vice president. On the day before his death, he had several phone conversations with Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton,Joe Biden,Kamala Harris, and Minnesota governorTim Walz. Mondale also emailed a final message to his staff, as he and his family had come to the conclusion that "his death was imminent".[91][92]
Carter said in a statement: "Today I mourn the passing of my dear friend Walter Mondale, who I consider the best vice president in our country's history ...Rosalynn and I join all Americans in giving thanks for his exemplary life, and we extend our deepest condolences to his family."[93][94] Carter had last seen Mondale in person at theCarter Center in June 2019.[95]
President Biden paid tribute to Mondale in a public statement, calling him a "dear friend and mentor" who had "defined the vice presidency as a full partnership, and helped provide a model for my service".[96] On April 20, 2021, Biden ordered all flags at government properties, office buildings and public grounds to be flown athalf-staff until that Tuesday evening in honor of Mondale.[97][98]
Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, funeral services for Mondale were delayed. Two public services were initially planned for September 2021, one in his home state of Minnesota and the other in Washington D.C.;[99] both were later postponed. A memorial service was later held on May 1, 2022, atNorthrop Auditorium on the Minneapolis campus of the University of Minnesota. Attendees included family, friends, state and national leaders, including President Joe Biden.[100]
In the "Walter F. Mondale Papers" at theMinnesota Historical Society, digital content is available for research use. Contents include speech files, handwritten notes, memoranda, annotated briefings, schedules, correspondence, and visual materials. The collection includes senatorial, vice presidential, ambassadorial, political papers and campaign files, and personal papers documenting most aspects of Mondale's 60‑year-long career, including all of his public offices, campaigns, and Democratic Party and other non-official activities.[101] The University of Minnesota Law Library's Walter F. Mondale website is devoted to Mondale's senatorial career. Mondale's work is documented in full text access to selected proceedings and debates on the floor of the Senate as recorded in theCongressional Record.[102]
^abcCurrent Biography Yearbook. Bronx, NY: H. W. Wilson Company. 1979. p. 304.Archived from the original on April 20, 2021. RetrievedFebruary 12, 2020.
^Lin, Judy (October 7, 2010)."George McGovern: the personal and political toll of mental illness".UCLA Today. Archived fromthe original on December 11, 2012. RetrievedSeptember 6, 2012.Six colleagues—fromTed Kennedy to Walter Mondale—turned him down for reasons ranging from "My mother just couldn't take it" (Kennedy, referring toRose Kennedy's grief following the assassinations of her sonsJohn andRobert) to "I'm getting married tomorrow, and I don't know if my marriage will survive a presidential campaign" (Abe Ribicoff).
^abLibrary of Congress, Science and Technology Division (1968). Astronautics and Aeronautics 1967 (Report). U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.: Scientific and Technical Information Division – NASA. pp. 25,53–54,145–148, 175, 257.
^Kengor, Paul (2000).Wreath Layer or Policy Player: The Vice President's Role in Foreign Policy. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. p. 85.ISBN978-0-73-910174-2.
^Kelter, Bill (2008).Veeps. Top Shelf Productions. p. 220.ISBN978-1-60309-095-7.Archived from the original on April 20, 2021. RetrievedMay 6, 2020.
Andelic, Patrick (2019).Donkey Work: Congressional Democrats in Conservative America, 1974–1994. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.ISBN978-0-7006-2803-2.OCLC1120132858.
.jpg)
