Walter Mondale

• Born: January 5, 1928
• Birthplace: Ceylon, Minnesota
• Died: April 19, 2021
• Place of death: Minneapolis, MN

Mondale was one of the most visible leaders of the Democratic Party in the first half of the decade. His choice of Geraldine Ferraro as his 1984 vice presidential running mate was both a practical and a symbolic milestone in the rise of American women politicians.

Walter Frederick Mondale (nicknamed “Fritz”) was a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, a composite party unique to Minnesota. Mondale first became involved in national politics when he helped organize Hubert Humphrey’s successful senatorial campaign in 1948 at the age of twenty. After serving in the Army during the Korean War, Mondale graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1956 and practiced law for four years. In 1960, Minnesota governor Orville Freeman appointed Mondale—who had managed Freeman’s 1960 gubernatorial campaign—as Minnesota’s attorney general. From age thirty-two to age thirty-six, Mondale served two terms as attorney general. In 1964, Mondale was appointed to the U.S. Senate, when Hubert Humphrey became U.S. vice president. Mondale was reelected in 1972.

Vice President

When Jimmy Carter became the Democratic presidential nominee in 1976, he selected Mondale as his vice presidential running mate. Elected in November, 1976, Mondale became the first vice president to live in the official vice presidential residence, which had been converted from the old Naval Observatory. With Carter’s support, Mondale became the most active vice president to that point in American history, troubleshooting executive offices and functions and advising the president. He helped change the vice presidency from a figurehead office into a full-fledged participant in the presidential administration, making it possible for subsequent vice presidents to play a much larger political role as well. Not only was Mondale the first vice president to live in a formal vice presidential residence, but he also had an office in the West Wing of the White House, indicating his substantive role in the government.

Mondale became a major proponent of Carter’s foreign and domestic policies, traveling across the United States and the globe in this role. Carter and Mondale won the 1980 Democratic presidential and vice presidential nomination, albeit with more difficulty than was usual for incumbents. They were defeated by Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush in a three-way race, in which independent presidential candidate and former Republican congressman John Anderson may have siphoned off enough votes from the Carter-Mondale ticket to give the election to the Republicans.

Presidential Nominee

Mondale practiced law for the next few years and positioned himself for a presidential run in 1984. The early front-runner for the Democratic nomination, he gained a majority of the delegates before the Democratic National Convention, defeating both the Reverend Jesse Jackson and Senator Gary Hart of Colorado convincingly after a spirited campaign. The highlight of the convention was Mondale’s selection of a New York congresswoman, Geraldine Ferraro, as his running mate. Mondale seemed determined to set a precedent with his choice, and he succeeded, since Ferraro was the first woman to receive a major party vice presidential nomination. Presumably, this decision should have increased the percentage of women who voted for the ticket. Unfortunately, Ferraro’s liabilities outweighed the benefits. Although the ticket gained the support of many women, it did not receive a majority of the 1984 women’s vote. As a Roman Catholic, Ferraro was attacked by the Church for her pro-choice stance. She also damaged her credibility when she waffled on a promise to release her husband’s tax returns.

Mondale took liberal positions in the campaign, endorsing a nuclear weapons freeze and passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. Attempting to gain strength from candor, Mondale said he would raise taxes and asserted that incumbent President Ronald Reagan would be forced to do likewise. Such a liberal stance provided no way to divert strength from a popular incumbent who appeared strong on national defense and responsible for economic prosperity. Mondale was a skilled debater and managed to do very well in the first debate, planting doubts about Reagan’s ability to govern, since Reagan was the oldest person ever to serve as president. Reagan regained momentum in the following debate with his memorable line, “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.”

In the election, Mondale was defeated in a landslide, winning less than of 41 percent of the popular vote and carrying only the District of Columbia (which has always voted Democratic) and his home state of Minnesota (by a few thousand votes), thereby garnering only 13 electoral votes to Reagan’s 525. The Democrats sustained the worst electoral result in their history. No other major-party candidate had done worse since Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Alf Landon in 1936.

Impact

Mondale’s lasting legacy was the result of his choosing a female running mate. Subsequently, there was an upsurge in women candidates and elected officials in the United States and a general tendency for the Democratic Party to benefit from the “gender gap,” with women being more likely to vote for Democrats than Republicans.

Bibliography

Baker, Peter. "Jimmy Carter, in Good Humor, Praises Walter Mondale's Time as Vice President." New York Times. New York Times, 21 Oct. 2015. Web. 23 June 2016.

Forest, John. Warriors of the Political Arena: The Presidential Election of 1984. New York: Vantage, 1986. Print.

Gillon, Steven M. The Democrats’ Dilemma: Walter F. Mondale and the Liberal Legacy. New York: Columbia UP, 1992. Print.

Mondale, Walter. The Accountability of Power: Toward a Responsible Presidency. New York: McKay, 1975. Print.

Railton, Ben. "Why It's Time to Reassess Walter Mondale's Place in History." TPM. TPM Media, 20 Oct. 2015. Web. 23 June 2016.

Rainey, Austin. American Elections of 1984. Durham: Duke UP, 1985. Print.

Sherry, Allison. "Minnesota's Elder Statesman Mondale to Be Honored Tuesday in Washington, D.C." Star Tribune [Minnesota]. Star Tribune, 19 Oct. 2015. Web. 23 June 2016.

Witt, Linda, Karen M. Paget, and Glenna Matthews. Running as a Woman: Gender and Power in American Politics. New York: Free, 1993. Print.