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Mondale, Walter (1928–2021)

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Vice President Walter Mondale

Vice President Walter Mondale, 1977. Photograph by Robert McNeely. From the vice presidential papers of Walter F. Mondale, Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.

One of the most accomplished politicians in Minnesota history, Walter “Fritz” Mondale served as vice president under Jimmy Carter and ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign with running mate Geraldine Ferraro in 1984. During his long career, he advanced consumer rights as Minnesota's attorney general, maneuvered civil rights and procedural reform legislation as a US senator, and revitalized the notoriously stagnant vice presidency during the Carter administration.

Mondale was born in the small rural community of Ceylon (Martin County) but grew up in Elmore, some thirty miles to the west. The foreclosure of his father’s farms in the 1920s influenced him as a young man, as did progressive politicians like Robert LaFolette, Floyd Olson, and Henrik Shipstead. While enrolled at Macalester College he volunteered as a canvasser for Hubert Humphrey’s mayoral re-election campaign in Minneapolis. Mondale proved a highly capable district organizer for Humphrey’s 1948 US Senate campaign.

The GI Bill allowed Mondale to attend the University of Minnesota Law School after serving at Fort Knox during the Korean War. He graduated in 1951, worked at a Minneapolis law firm, and then became the de-facto manager of Governor Orville Freeman’s re-election campaigns. This paid off for Mondale when Freeman’s attorney general abruptly resigned in 1960. At only thirty-two, Mondale was appointed to the second most powerful office in Minnesota. He then positioned himself to make valuable friendships and alliances, most famously with Hubert Humphrey.

As attorney general, Mondale focused on consumer rights. After winning a highly publicized charity embezzlement case, he went after out-of-state companies with records of fraud, passing statutes banning misleading sales practices. In 1962, he rallied other state attorneys general behind a Supreme Court case that affirmed the right to a public defender nationwide. Then, when Humphrey became Lyndon Johnson’s vice president in 1964, Mondale was appointed to his vacant senate seat.

Though he lacked his predecessor’s oratory skills, Mondale proved himself an expert negotiator and political operator by pushing the controversial Fair Housing Act through the senate as an amendment to the Civil Rights Act of 1968. In the 1970s, he established a reputation as a reformer, supporting legislation for consumer protection, child care, poverty reform, public healthcare, and increased education spending. Nevertheless, he was the only Democrat on the Senate’s conservative-leaning Budget Committee. In 1975, he passed cloture reform, dropping the number of votes needed to end debates on the senate floor from a two-thirds majority to a three-fifths majority and making it harder for individual senators to filibuster bills out of existence without a vote.

In 1976, Jimmy Carter selected Mondale as his vice presidential running mate. He brought Northern support and Washington experience to the upstart Georgian’s campaign, impressing audiences with his in-depth understanding of foreign policy. He made it clear to Carter from the start that he wanted to infuse real meaning into the office of the vice president, where political careers traditionally went to die when presidents didn’t (Richard Nixon being the exception). To ensure that he would serve as a real asset to the president, Mondale reviewed every memo Carter did and was free to attend all meetings; he even had an office in the West Wing. The two discussed policy over lunch every Monday. While Mondale’s disagreements did not always translate into change, he never faced the political exile that Humphrey had suffered after privately disagreeing with Johnson over Vietnam.

Mondale’s most significant vice presidential achievements were in foreign policy. In 1977, he initiated talks with Israeli Prime Minister Begin and Egyptian President Sadat ahead of the Camp David Accords. Though unsuccessful, Mondale’s negotiations over Black suffrage with South African Prime Minister Vorster helped establish a precedent of more straightforward detente with African nations during the Cold War. In 1979, Mondale rallied international aid for hundreds of thousands of Southeast Asian refugees expelled from their home countries for their ethnicity or for aiding American troops.

After Carter's reelection campaign failed to overtake Ronald Reagan in 1980, Mondale practiced law in Chicago and studied public policy. He ran for president in 1984, selecting Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate. The pair campaigned against Reagan’s economic and military policies while promising to cut the federal deficit and pass the Equal Rights Amendment. In the end, his explicit promise to raise taxes, controversy over Ferraro’s tax returns, and Reagan’s popularity as an incumbent contributed to the worst Democratic loss in decades.

In 1992, Mondale served as President Bill Clinton’s ambassador to Japan; in 2002 he ran a close but unsuccessful senatorial race on behalf of the late Paul Wellstone. Beginning in 1986, Mondale worked at the Minneapolis law firm Dorsey and Whitney while lecturing at the University of Minnesota’s Hubert Humphrey School of Public Affairs, where he left an endowed faculty chair.

Mondale died at home in Minneapolis on April 19, 2021. He was ninety-three years old.

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"1976 Vice Presidential Debates." Video posted by YouTube user Samuel Wilson, February 8, 2013.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acYi22FHaSM

Carter, Jimmy, and Walter Mondale. "Eulogies by Carter and Mondale at Memorial to Humphrey." New York Times, January 16, 1978.
https://www.nytimes.com/1978/01/16/archives/eulogies-by-carter-and-mondale-at-memorial-tribute-to-humphrey.html

Condon, Patrick. "Walter Mondale, Who Rose From Small-town Minnesota to Vice Presidency, Dies at 93." Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 20, 2021.
https://www.startribune.com/walter-mondale-who-rose-from-small-town-minnesota-to-vice-presidency-dies-at-93/600047853

Gillon, Steven M. The Democrats' Dilemma: Walter F. Mondale and the Liberal Legacy. Contemporary American History Series. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992.

Greider, William. "Walter Mondale: Learning to Live With Fritz." Rolling Stone, March 1, 1984.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/learning-to-live-with-fritz-19840301

Lewis, Finlay. Mondale: Portrait of an American Politician. New York: Harper and Row, 1984.

Largest Landslide Victories In US Presidential Election History. World Atlas.
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/largest-landslide-victories-in-us-presidential-election-history.html

Mondale, Walter. The Good Fight: A Life in Liberal Politics. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2010.

Olson, Dan. "Mondale's Role in Saving 'Boat People' Recalled, 30 Years Later." MPR News, November 16, 2009.
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2009/11/16/vietnamese-refugees

Sepic, Matt, and Associated Press. "Former Vice President Walter Mondale Dies at 93." MPR News, April 19, 2021.
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2021/04/19/vice-president-walter-mondale-dies-at-93

Walter F. Mondale Collection. Minnesota Historical Society.
http://collections.mnhs.org/mondale/index.php/10001325

Weisman, Steven R. "Walter Mondale, Ex-Vice President and Champion of Liberal Politics, Dies at 93." New York Times, April 21, 2021.

Related Images

Vice President Walter Mondale
Vice President Walter Mondale
Walter Mondale with his brother
Walter Mondale with his brother
Mondale family
Mondale family
Minnesota Law Review Board of Editors
Minnesota Law Review Board of Editors
Walter and Claribel Mondale
Walter and Claribel Mondale
Walter Mondale and Hubert Humphrey, 1967
Walter Mondale and Hubert Humphrey, 1967
Photograph of Walter Mondale and Karl Rolvaag with Hubert Humphrey
Photograph of Walter Mondale and Karl Rolvaag with Hubert Humphrey
Senator Walter Mondale waves from the back of a car in the Minneapolis Aquatennial Parade, 1972
Senator Walter Mondale waves from the back of a car in the Minneapolis Aquatennial Parade, 1972
Walter and Joan Mondale with their children
Walter and Joan Mondale with their children
President John F. Kennedy with Minnesota State Attorney General Walter Mondale
President John F. Kennedy with Minnesota State Attorney General Walter Mondale
Karl Rolvaag and Walter Mondale
Karl Rolvaag and Walter Mondale
Hubert H. Humphrey and Walter Mondale
Hubert H. Humphrey and Walter Mondale
Vice President Walter Mondale meets with President Jimmy Carter and White House staff
Vice President Walter Mondale meets with President Jimmy Carter and White House staff
Vice President Walter Mondale speaks to Egyptian President Anwar Sadat
Vice President Walter Mondale speaks to Egyptian President Anwar Sadat
Vice President Walter Mondale in Duluth
Vice President Walter Mondale in Duluth
Walter Mondale and George H. W. Bush
Walter Mondale and George H. W. Bush
Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro
Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro
United States Ambassador to Japan Walter Mondale
United States Ambassador to Japan Walter Mondale
Walter Mondale, Vice President Al Gore, and Senator Nancy Kassebaum Baker
Walter Mondale, Vice President Al Gore, and Senator Nancy Kassebaum Baker
Yard sign created to support Paul Wellstone’s U.S. Senate campaign in 2002.
Yard sign created to support Paul Wellstone’s U.S. Senate campaign in 2002.

Turning Point

In 1964, Mondale is appointed to the US Senate after Hubert Humphrey becomes Lyndon Johnson’s vice presidential running mate. “Fritz” (Mondale) and the “Happy Warrior” (Humphrey) enjoyed a close working and personal relationship over the next two decades, with Humphrey helping Mondale to avoid the problems he had faced himself in both the senate and the White House.

Chronology

1928

Walter Mondale is born in Ceylon, Minnesota.

1946

Mondale volunteers for Minneapolis Mayor Hubert Humphrey’s re-election campaign. He builds a friendship with Humphrey’s campaign manager, future Minnesota governor Orville Freeman.

1955

Mondale goes to a jazz show on a blind date with Joan Adams of St. Paul. The couple talk about Mondale’s interest in politics and Adams’ in fine art. They become engaged less than two months later.

1960

After managing Orville Freeman’s successful gubernatorial campaigns, Mondale becomes one of the youngest attorneys general in US history when Freeman’s attorney general resigns after being denied a seat on the state Supreme Court.

1962

Florida’s attorney general seeks Mondale’s support in the Supreme Court case of a petty thief (Clarence Gideon) denied free counsel. In response, Mondale rallies twenty-two other attorneys general to support Gideon’s constitutional right to a defender.

1964

Mondale brokers a deal between pro-Jim Crow Regular Democrats and the pro-civil rights Freedom Caucus for seats at the Democratic Convention. In part for uniting Democrats behind Johnson, Humphrey wins the vice-presidency; Mondale gets his senate seat.

1968

Through countless bargains and connections, Mondale helps push the Fair Housing Act through the senate. Non-discriminatory housing remains controversial in the North, and backlash from Southern Democrats in the Senate lasts into the 1970s.

1975

In spite of a party majority, the overuse of filibusters by Southern Democrats members leaves the senate paralyzed. Mondale passes a vote to reduce the majority required to end debates on the senate floor from two-thirds to three-fifths.

1976

As part of the Church Committee, Mondale investigates widespread abuses and lack of oversight in the CIA. After Jimmy Carter promises him an influential role in his administration, Mondale accepts the offer. Carter wins; Mondale takes office.

1978

Hubert Humphrey dies of bladder cancer. Mondale delivers the eulogy at a memorial service in the US Capitol, saying, “He taught us all how to hope and how to love, how to win and how to lose; he taught us how to live, and finally he taught us how to die."

1979

Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia deport hundreds of thousands of people for their Chinese ethnicity or support of the US. In response, Mondale supports the refugees trapped in limbo on the South China Sea, arranging a naval rescue and lobbying the UN for aid.

1980

Carter and Mondale lose their reelection campaign to Ronald Reagan. Mondale later attributed this to Carter’s prioritizing work on the Iran Hostage Crisis over the campaign, a move Mondale deemed “right for his country,” but “wrong for his career."

1984

After close primaries, Mondale runs against Reagan with Geraldine Ferraro, re-branding himself as a moderate Democrat. Reagan wins by a landslide, but Ferraro makes history as the first woman on a major party’s presidential ticket.

1993

President Bill Clinton appoints Mondale ambassador to Japan. Over the next four years, Mondale tackles negotiations over trade deficits, a North Korean nuclear crisis, and a sexual assault by US soldiers at Okinawa with broad military policy implications.

2002

Paul Wellstone dies in a plane crash two weeks before a senate election. Mondale agrees, at the request of the Wellstone family, to run in his place. In his first political loss within Minnesota, Mondale loses to Republican Norm Coleman.

2021

Mondale dies at his home in Minneapolis at the age of ninety-three.