Ex-Vice President Walter Mondale Dies At 93
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
(Worthy News) – Former U.S. Vice-President Walter F. Mondale, who current President Joe Biden called his “dear friend and mentor,” has died. He passed away Monday in Minneapolis at age 93, his family said. No cause was cited.
Mondale was Democrat Jimmy Carter’s running mate for his winning 1976 presidential bid and defeated four years later.
Despite political setbacks, Carter recalled Mondale as the “best vice-president in our country’s history.” He added: “Fritz Mondale provided us all with a model for public service and private behavior.”
The liberal icon lost heavily to Republican Ronald Reagan in the 1984 presidential election, after bluntly telling voters he would raise their taxes if elected.
In one of the most significant recorded defeats, Mondale secured only his home state of Minnesota and Washington DC. That gave him just 13 electoral votes compared with President Reagan’s record-high tally of 525.
UNPOPULAR MESSAGE
“I did my best,” Mondale declared the day after the election.
Contrary to recent candidates, he blamed no one but himself for his defeat. “I think you know I’ve never really warmed up to television,” Mondale stressed. “In fairness to television, it never really warmed up to me.”
Years later, Mondale said his campaign message had proven to be the right one. “History has vindicated me that we would have to raise taxes,” he said. “It was very unpopular, but it was undeniably correct.”
Mondale is also remembered for choosing Geraldine Ferraro of New York as his running mate – the first woman on a major-party presidential ticket.
In a statement, Carter said he was “an invaluable partner and an able servant of the people of Minnesota, the United States, and the world.” “Rosalynn and I join all Americans in giving thanks for his exemplary life, and we extend our deepest condolences to his family,” he added.
CLOSE FRIENDSHIP
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden revealed their close friendship with the former Vice President. They said in a statement that they “were able to call one of our nation’s most dedicated patriots and public servants a dear friend and mentor.”
President Biden stressed that “Jill and I had the opportunity to speak to Fritz and his family over the weekend. To reflect on the years of friendship we shared, and how much we learned from and leaned on each other.”
Mondale’s family said it was with “ profound sadness that we share the news that our beloved dad passed away.”
He leaves behind two sons, Ted and William. Ted Mondale served six years in the Minnesota Senate and made an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination for governor in 1998. William Mondale served for a time as an assistant attorney general. His daughter Eleanor Mondale, who became a broadcast journalist and TV host, died of brain cancer in 2011.
Earlier his long-time wife, Joan Adams Mondale, who he married in 1955, passed away after an extended illness in 2014 at age 83. During his vice presidency, she pushed for more government support of the arts and gained the nickname “Joan of Art.” She had minored in art in college and worked at museums in Boston and Minneapolis.
The family praised Walter Mondale’s achievements in housing, civil rights, and environmental policy. They said plans for memorials in both Minnesota and Washington D.C. would be announced later, Worthy News monitored.
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