Mondale, Walter F. (Walter Frederick), 1928-2021

<p>Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (January 5, 1928 – April 19, 2021) was an American politician, diplomat, and lawyer who served as the 42nd vice president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A United States senator from Minnesota (1964–1976), he was the Democratic Party's nominee in the 1984 United States presidential election, but lost to incumbent Ronald Reagan in an Electoral College and popular vote landslide. Reagan won 49 states while Mondale carried his home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia. In October 2002, Mondale became the last-minute choice of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party to run for Senate after the death of Senator Paul Wellstone, but was defeated by Saint Paul Mayor Norm Coleman. Mondale was the oldest living former U.S. vice president from 2018 to 2021, following the death of George H. W. Bush.</p>

<p>Mondale was born in Ceylon, Minnesota, and graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1951 after attending Macalester College. He then served in the United States Army during the Korean War before earning a law degree in 1956. He married Joan Adams in 1955. Working as a lawyer in Minneapolis, Mondale was appointed Minnesota Attorney General in 1960 by Governor Orville Freeman and was elected to a full term as attorney general in 1962 with 60% of the vote. He was appointed to the U.S. Senate by Governor Karl Rolvaag upon the resignation of Senator Hubert Humphrey following Humphrey's election as vice president in 1964. Mondale was elected to a full Senate term in 1966 and reelected in 1972, resigning in 1976 as he prepared to succeed to the vice presidency in 1977. While in the Senate, he supported consumer protection, fair housing, tax reform, and the desegregation of schools. Importantly, he served as a member of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities ("Church Committee").</p>

<p>In 1976, Jimmy Carter, the Democratic presidential nominee, chose Mondale as his vice-presidential running mate. The Carter–Mondale ticket defeated incumbent president Gerald Ford and his vice presidential running mate, Bob Dole. Carter and Mondale's time in office was marred by a worsening economy and they lost the 1980 election to Republicans Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. In 1984, Mondale won the Democratic presidential nomination and campaigned for a nuclear freeze, the Equal Rights Amendment, an increase in taxes, and a reduction of U.S. public debt. His vice presidential nominee was Geraldine Ferraro, a Congresswoman from New York, the first female vice-presidential nominee of any major party. Mondale and Ferraro lost the election to the incumbents Reagan and Bush.</p>

<p>After his defeat, Mondale joined the Minnesota-based law firm Dorsey & Whitney and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (1986–93). President Bill Clinton appointed Mondale United States Ambassador to Japan in 1993; he retired in 1996. In 2002, Mondale ran for his old Senate seat, agreeing to be the last-minute replacement for Democratic Senator Paul Wellstone, who died in a plane crash less than two weeks before the election. Mondale narrowly lost the race to Saint Paul mayor Norm Coleman. He then returned to working at Dorsey & Whitney and remained active in the Democratic Party. Mondale later took up a part-time teaching position at the University of Minnesota's Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs.</p>

<p>Walter Fitzgerald Mondale was born January 5, 1928, in Ceylon, Minnesota. His father was a Methodist minister, and his mother was a music teacher. Both were politically conscious individuals who greatly admired President Franklin Roosevelt. As a young man, Mondale excelled in sports and developed an early interest in public service. He volunteered in the mayoral and senatorial campaigns of Hubert Humphrey and briefly attended Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, before pursuing a job in Washington, D.C. After a frustrating tenure as secretary of an organization called Students for Democratic Action (SDA), Mondale returned to his home state to finish school at the University of Minnesota. He graduated in 1951 and served in the military for two years afterwards. After he was discharged, he earned his law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1956. He married Joan Adams on December 27, 1955.</p>

<p>Mondale practiced law in Minneapolis until 1960, at which point Governor Orville Freeman appointed him state attorney general. At the time of his appointment, he was the youngest state attorney general in the country. Four years later, he was appointed to finish the Senate term of Hubert Humphrey, who had been selected as President Lyndon Johnson's vice president. Mondale won election in his own right in 1966 and staunchly supported President Johnson's domestic and foreign policies, including the Vietnam War. Mondale later called his support of the war the biggest mistake of his career. By 1969, Mondale began to turn against the war and participated in legislation aimed at curtailing President Nixon's ability to prolong it. He voted to cease military actions in Cambodia and cosponsored the War Powers Act in 1973. Although he had a chance at the vice presidential nomination in 1972, he declined to joined McGovern's ill-fated campaign and instead focused on his successful reelection campaign.</p>

<p>In 1976, Mondale was considered a serious contender for the presidential nomination. Although he might have had a good chance at wresting the nomination from the relatively unknown Jimmy Carter of Georgia, he eventually decided that he had little desire to suffer through a grueling campaign when he "did not have the overwhelming desire to be President." In spite of Mondale's aversion to national campaigning, Carter offered him the vice presidency. As a northern liberal with Washington experience, Mondale was a perfect complement to Carter, a southerner who had won the nomination by campaigning as a Washington outsider. Mondale accepted the offer but made it clear he would not give up his Senate seat to accept an office that was largely ceremonial. Carter had similar thoughts on making the vice presidency a "substantive position." During the campaign, Mondale focused on economic issues and did well in a televised debate against Robert Dole, the Republican nominee for vice president. The Carter-Mondale ticket won in a close election.</p>

<p>Although many vice presidents had previously pursued a more substantial role in policy making, Mondale was unique in the fact that he actually achieved it. He had an office in the West Wing, assisted in the selection of cabinet and staff members, and his staff was closely integrated with the President's people. He had substantial access to President Carter and was frequently able to influence policy. He also did not hold the same kind of administrative positions over commissions and special programs that vice presidents were typically assigned. Mondale saw such functions as somewhat ceremonial and detrimental to the overall authority of the vice president and preferred a more general role. Despite his position, Mondale sometimes found himself on the losing end of disagreements. He strongly opposed Carter's decision to deliver a highly negative speech on the Nation's "crisis of confidence" and opposed the shake-up of the cabinet that followed. As the 1980 elections approached, the public perception of the administration was of a confused administration unable to address problems as they arose. The flagging economy, the Iranian hostage crisis, and a litany of other troubles dragged down the Democratic ticket and allowed Republican Ronald Reagan to roll to a landslide victory.</p>

<p>After the 1980 election, Mondale was still a major voice in the Democratic Party although he held no elected office. In 1984, he successfully pursued the Democratic nomination for President, but won only 13 electoral votes as President Reagan won another resounding victory. After his defeat, Mondale retired to private life until President Bill Clinton selected him as ambassador to Japan in 1992. He served until 1996, when he again returned to private life. In October 2002, Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota was killed in an airplane crash while campaigning for reelection. With just days before the election, the Democratic Party chose Mondale to replace Wellstone on the ballot. However, the Republican candidate, Norm Coleman, defeated Mondale. Mondale's main contribution to history is his lasting impact on the vice presidency. His considerable influence within the administration set precedents for the office and made him one of the more important vice presidents in terms of his impact on the office itself. Where many had sought wider influence, Mondale actually achieved it, and rightfully concluded at the end of his term that he had been "closer to a President than maybe any vice president in history."</p>

MONDALE, WALTER FREDERICK, a Senator from Minnesota and Vice President of the United States; born in Ceylon, Martin County, Minn., January 5, 1928; attended the Heron Lake and Elmore, Minn., public schools; attended Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn.; graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1951; served in the United States Army 1951-1953; graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School 1956; admitted to the Minnesota bar in 1956 and commenced practice in Minneapolis; appointed and elected attorney general of Minnesota in 1960 and reelected in 1962; member of the President's Consumer Advisory Council 1960-1964; appointed on December 30, 1964, as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Hubert H. Humphrey for the term ending January 3, 1967; elected in 1966 for the term commencing January 3, 1967; reelected in 1972 and served from December 30, 1964, until his resignation December 30, 1976; chairman, Select Committee on Equal Education Opportunity (Ninety-first and Ninety-second Congresses); elected Vice President of the United States on the Democratic ticket with President Jimmy Carter on November 2, 1976; inaugurated January 20, 1977, and served until January 20, 1981; unsuccessful Democratic candidate for reelection; unsuccessful Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 1984; Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Japan, 1993-1996; special envoy to Indonesia (1998); unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2002; is a resident of Minneapolis, Minn.