Walter Mondale, the Minnesota Democratic political leader who served as Vice President under then-President Jimmy Carter and, later, made a failed attempt to reach the White House as president died Monday. He was 93.
Mondale’s family issued a public statement lauding the former vice president’s policy efforts.
“It is with profound sadness that we share news that our beloved dad passed away today in Minneapolis, Minnesota,” the statement said. “As proud as we were of him leading the presidential ticket for Democrats in 1984, we know that our father’s public policy legacy is so much more than that.”
A political moderate throughout his career, Mondale was the son of a Methodist minister and a music teacher. He was born in southern Minnesota in 1928. A graduate of the University of Minnesota’s law school, Mondale earned his political stripes as a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.
Mondale served as a U.S. Senator from 1964 until 1976, when he left the Senate to serve as Carter’s running mate during the 1976 presidential election. Carter called Mondale a dear friend adding that Mondale was “the best vice president in our country’s history.”
Carter and Mondale would only serve one term, however. In 1980 the pair were defeated by former California Governor Ronald Reagan and his running mate George H.W. Bush.
In 1984 Mondale secured the Democratic nomination for President and made history by choosing the first woman, U.S. Rep. Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York, as his running mate. Mondale and Ferraro lost their bid, defeated by a Reagan landside. Reagan captured 525 electoral votes to Mondale’s 13.
In 2002 Mondale made his final run for office, when he stepped in to serve as Minnesota’s DFL candidate after Sen. Paul Wellstone died shortly before the election. Mondale lost in that election to Republican Norm Coleman.
Mondale was preceded in death by his wife, Joan, who died in 2014, and a daughter, Eleanor, who died in 2011.