Walter Mondale
Walter Mondale was Vice-President of the United States under Jimmy Carter and the man who turned the office into a working part of the executive. Born in Ceylon, Minnesota in 1928, the son of a Methodist minister and a music teacher, he grew up in small farm towns during the Depression and worked on political campaigns from his teens. He served in the Army, took a law degree at Minnesota, and was appointed state attorney general in 1960 at thirty-two. There he organised a brief by twenty-two states supporting Clarence Earl Gideon, which contributed to the Supreme Court's ruling that defendants have a right to counsel. He was appointed to the Senate in 1964 to fill Hubert Humphrey's seat and won it twice, working on fair housing, child nutrition, and open-government legislation, and chairing the committee on intelligence abuses. Carter chose him in 1976, and Mondale set conditions that reshaped the job: an office in the West Wing, access to all the same intelligence as the president, a weekly private lunch, and a role as general adviser rather than a portfolio of ceremonial tasks. Every vice-presidency since has been built on that template. He won the 1984 nomination and chose Geraldine Ferraro as running mate, the first woman on a major-party ticket. He then told the convention plainly that taxes would have to rise and that his opponent would not admit it. He lost forty-nine states to Ronald Reagan, carrying only Minnesota and the District of Columbia. He served as ambassador to Japan under Bill Clinton, and stood in at short notice in the 2002 Senate race after Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash, losing narrowly. He died in 2021.
- Lived: 1928 CE – 2021 CE
- Nationality: American
- Roles: vice_president
