Former U.S. Vice-President and 1984 Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale has passed today at the age of 93. No cause of death has been released, but Mondale knew the end was coming as he penned a letter to his staff saying goodbye.
Affectionately known as Fritz, Mondale cut his teeth in Minnesota politics as an organizer for Hubert Humphrey's 1948 Senate campaign and Orville Freeman's gubernatorial campaigns. Freeman would appoint Mondale as the state's Attorney General in 1960 winning the office in his own right in 1962. When LBJ tapped Humphrey to be his running mate in 1964, Mondale would be named his successor. He would be elected to the Senate in 1966 and again in 1972.
During his second term in the Senate, Jimmy Carter would name him as his running mate during the 1976 presidential election. Although he only served a single term as VP, Mondale is widely credited for reinventing the position.
In 1984, Mondale would turn back strong challenges from Gary Hart and Jesse Jackson to win the Democratic Party nomination for the White House. Mondale would make history when he named New York Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro to be his running mate. Although he acquitted himself well in his first debate with President Reagan, his pledge to increase taxes didn't go over well. That November, Mondale earned only 13 electoral college votes winning his home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia.
After a number of years practicing law, Mondale would be named U.S. Ambassador to Japan by President Clinton and later served as a special envoy to Indonesia.
In 2002, Mondale would re-enter the electoral arena following the sudden death of Minnesota Democratic Senator Paul Wellstone in a plane crash. However, Mondale would face a backlash when Wellstone's memorial service turned into a political rally. Mondale would lose by 3 points to Republican Norm Coleman.
Mondale is survived by two sons. His daughter Eleanor died of brain cancer in 2011 and his wife Joan passed away in 2014.
Walter Mondale will be remembered both by liberalism and by his honesty as exemplified in his concession speech to Reagan in 1984. R.I.P.
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