The trajectory of his career placed him at the center of actions and events that transformed the Democratic Party, the face of American politics, and the character of the nation. He is most commonly viewed as a traditional New Deal liberal, and this characterization is to a large extent accurate, but falls far short of a full definition of the man. Reserved and cautious by nature, a problem-oriented gradualist, lacking the innate charisma and ebullience of his mentor Hubert Humphrey, and never fully comfortable in front of the television cameras, Mondale’s inclination has been to work within established political institutions to reconcile opposing positions and build consensus in the pursuit of achievable goals, rather than to lead crusades.
These factors have tended to mask the significant role he played in helping to shape the political and public-policy scene of the latter 20th century. As Senator, he was instrumental in helping to achieve the passage of pivotal consumer protection, education, and social justice legislation. As Vice President, the nature of his working relationship with Jimmy Carter reshaped the character of that office. As Presidential candidate, he made history by selecting Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate, the first woman to appear on a major party presidential ticket. His participation in a variety of public policy forums has helped to define choices and alternatives on a variety of issues, and to educate future leaders.
Mondale was born in the small town of Ceylon, in southern Minnesota, in 1928, and grew up in the equally small town of Elmore. His father, Theodore, was a farmer and Methodist minister, and his mother, Claribel Cowen, a musician and piano teacher. After attending Macalester College in St. Paul, working for a time as executive secretary of Students for Democratic Action in Washington, D.C., and then graduating from the University of Minnesota in 1951, he enlisted for a two-year stint in the U.S. Army (1951-1953). He then returned to the University of Minnesota, graduating cum laude from its Law School in 1956.
During his college years, Mondale was initiated into the realities of practical politics as a volunteer worker in Hubert Humphrey’s campaigns for mayor of Minneapolis, as an organizer for the liberal faction of Minnesota’s newly merged Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, as a field worker in Humphrey’s initial campaign for election to the U.S. Senate, and as campaign manager for Orville Freeman’s unsuccessful but party-building run for Minnesota attorney general. While earning a living as a lawyer in private practice, he also ran Freeman’s successful campaigns for governor of Minnesota in 1956 and 1958, continued his involvement in other aspects of DFL organization including serving as its state finance director, and gained a reputation as a first-rate political strategist.
In May of 1960 Governor Freeman appointed Mondale to the post of Minnesota attorney general, following the contentious resignation of the incumbent, and he was elected to the post in his own right that fall. His instinct to serve as a thoughtful, hard-working “people’s lawyer” was given a fortuitous boost during his first months in office by the investigation and exposure of massive fraud in the fund-raising activities of officials of the Sister Elizabeth Kenny Foundation.
Mondale’s four years as Minnesota attorney general saw several other initiatives, of both state and national significance, that broadened the office’s role as protector of the citizenry, including establishing separate consumer-protection, anti-trust, and civil rights units; testing and expanding his legal authority in a suit against a predatory furnace-repair company; and spearheading a brief by 22 state attorneys general that influenced the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Gideon v. Wainwright, which established the right of indigent defendants in felony cases to receive court-appointed counsel. He also served as a member of the President’s Consumer Advisory Council (1960-1964).
After Hubert Humphrey was elected U.S. Vice President in 1964, Minnesota Governor Karl Rolvaag appointed Mondale to replace him in the Senate, where he served through 1976. His first years in office coincided with the passage of the major social and economic programs that defined President Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society,” and he became one of its most reliable supporters, advocating economic, education, consumer protection, and civil rights measures that reflected his own values. These included working to muster public support in Minnesota for the Voting Rights Act of 1965; introducing what became the Fair Warning Act of 1966, which forced auto makers to inform car owners of safety defects; and sponsoring legislation to strengthen government inspection and regulation of meat packing plants.
Mondale emerged as a major legislative player with his successful brokering of the 1968 Fair Housing Act, which outlawed discrimination in the selling or renting of most types of housing. The most controversial portion of the Johnson Administration’s civil rights agenda, open housing legislation had already failed to pass Congress in 1966 and 1967. Mondale agreed to spearhead another attempt, and through months of negotiations he and his allies garnered support that resulted in the bill’s passage as Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968.
Johnson’s Great Society initiatives were gradually overshadowed by the Vietnam War, and here Mondale’s political instincts did not serve him well. Inexperienced in foreign affairs and initially trusting the Administration’s judgment, he supported the war for far longer than did many of his liberal colleagues. Even after he became disillusioned with the war, he kept his doubts largely to himself, in large part out of loyalty to his mentor, Vice President Humphrey. This stance led many to question Mondale’s ability to match belief with action and to separate himself from vested party interests, and he later acknowledged it to have been his most serious mistake as a senator.
Mondale, along with Senator Fred Harris of Oklahoma, co-chaired United Democrats for Humphrey in his 1968 campaign for the Presidency. Following Humphrey’s loss to Richard Nixon, Mondale sought and gained membership on committees that dealt with human needs, particularly those of children – the Labor and Public Welfare Committee and its Subcommittee on Children and Youth, the Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs, a Special Committee on Aging, and, at various times, subcommittees on migratory labor, retirement, labor legislation, employment and poverty, veterans affairs, social security financing, and Indian education.
In 1970 he was made chairman of the Select Committee on Equal Education Opportunity, which studied means of overcoming the educational disadvantages of children from poor and racially segregated neighborhoods and which recommended programs such as magnet schools, special-education projects, educational television, and bilingual education that have become part of the modern educational landscape. He was involved in legislation to strengthen legal services projects; attempted several times to shelve the space shuttle program; attempted unsuccessfully to muster support for improvements in the condition of migrant workers; and introduced a comprehensive child-care measure that was passed by the Senate but vetoed by President Nixon.
In the 94th Congress (1975-1976), his committee assignments involved some even more
intricate and significant public policy issues. As a member of the Senate Finance
Committee, he proposed several measures to introduce greater equity into the tax
code. As chairman of a subcommittee of the Select Committee on Intelligence, he
investigated abuses by the FBI of its domestic charter. He led a successful effort
to change the cloture requirement for ending a filibuster from 2/3 to 3/5 of Senate
members. His book
Scholars and commentators have given Mondale and Carter credit for invigorating the office of Vice President and for setting an example, emulated by subsequent administrations, of a productive working relationship between President and Vice President. Mondale’s office was in the West Wing of the White House. He participated in the selection of Cabinet members and other officials. He or his staff members headed several task forces assigned to develop programs, priorities, and long-range goals for the administration, including an economic-stimulus package and the President’s Reorganization Project to recommend improvements in the effectiveness and efficiency of the federal bureaucracy. He lunched privately with Carter every Monday; attended the White House weekly foreign policy breakfasts, Cabinet meetings, and intelligence briefings; and received, and often commented on, copies of all major memos sent to and from Carter. Carter instructed his staff and cabinet to respond to requests from the Vice President as though they came from the president. Three of Mondale’s senior staff were appointed to important policy posts, his chief of staff Richard Moe was given several special assignments, and the Presidential and Vice Presidential staffs were coordinated in other ways.
Immediately after their inauguration, Mondale embarked on a visit to Europe and Japan to introduce the new administration to America’s allies--the first of thirteen trips abroad he would make to meet with heads of state and other officials on the administration’s behalf. He was included in negotiations with foreign leaders and in national security strategy sessions, and is credited with opening the discussions with Menahem Begin and Anwar Sadat that eventually led to the September 1978 Camp David Summit. He played a significant role in seeking support in Congress for some of the Carter Administration’s more controversial measures, including a new Panama Canal treaty, a new Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, and efforts to formulate a national energy policy. His wife Joan, an artist and craftswoman with many ties to the arts community, was appointed the Administration’s ambassador for the arts and carried out exhibits, road tours, media events, and other activities aimed at raising the public profile of art and artists, as well as serving as honorary chair of the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities--the first time a vice presidential spouse was given a specific role and duties.
Every vice president since Mondale has had an office in the West Wing and has had a working relationship with the President based to varying degrees on the Mondale-Carter model. In a recent article in Minnesota History, Richard Moe characterized Carter’s endorsement of a redefined vice presidency as “a gift to the nation.”
He sought and won the Democratic Party nomination for President in 1984. In a bold move that he hoped would counter Reagan’s popularity and mark him as an innovative leader, he selected Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro of New York as his running mate. However, added to the disadvantage of running against a popular incumbent, the public temper had turned more conservative, while Mondale continued to be identified by many with an outmoded brand of liberalism. His acknowledgment that he would raise taxes in order to deal with the federal budget deficit was also unpopular, and their candidacy was further damaged by controversy over Ferraro’s husband’s tax returns. Mondale and Ferraro were defeated in a landslide.
Mondale returned to Minnesota and joined the Minneapolis law firm of Dorsey & Whitney as senior counsel. In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed him ambassador to Japan, in which post he served until 1996. As ambassador, he helped negotiate several U.S.-Japan security agreements, including a resolution to the controversy over the U.S. military presence in Okinawa, as well as a number of trade agreements and educational exchange arrangements. Following his ambassadorship, he co-chaired, with former Republican Senator Nancy Kassebaum, the Aspen Institute’s Campaign Finance Reform Project (1997-1998), and traveled to Indonesia as President Clinton’s special envoy to discuss economic reforms (March 1998).
Mondale entered the public arena one last time in November of 2002, when with less than two weeks left in the Minnesota Senatorial campaign, incumbent Paul Wellstone was killed in a plane crash, and Mondale agreed to replace him as the DFL candidate. Although he narrowly lost the election, a number of commentators opined that his candidacy served to legitimatize Republican winner Norm Coleman as the state’s representative, having won his Senate seat rather than being handed it by default.
Mondale continues to pursue an active career with Dorsey & Whitney in its Asia law practice group; as a director on several non-profit and corporate boards; as a member of the executive committee of the Nobel Peace Prize Forum; and as a public affairs lecturer and educator, particularly through the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota.
Mondale’s papers document most aspects of his six-decade career, including all of his public offices, his campaigns, and his DFL and other non-official activities.
Campaign files (ca. 1954-1990) include materials from Mondale’s 1962 Attorney General campaign, 1962 and 1966 Senate campaigns, the 1976 and 1980 Presidential campaigns where Mondale ran as Jimmy Carter’s Vice President, and extensive files from the 1984 Presidential campaign in which Mondale ran for President against Ronald Reagan.
Materials from Mondale’s U.S. Senate career include outgoing correspondence ("control") files, sampled constituent correspondence and constituent services files, files on his schedule and appointments, press releases, and speeches.
Vice presidential materials include the VP office’s central correspondence and subject files, scheduling and appointment files, trip files, speeches, press releases, assorted domestic policy and briefing materials, files of chief of staff Richard Moe and Senate relations assistant Bill Smith, and files of a task force to study the public financing of election campaigns.
National security and foreign affairs files fromm Mondale's vice-presidency are currently in the custody of the Office of Presidential Libraries and housed at the Jimmy Carter Library. A small number of these files, including his reports on meetings with foreign leaders and agenda materials for the foreign policy breakfasts and his weekly meetings with Carter, have been declassified and copies are available as part of the Walter F. Mondale papers.
Mondale’s personal papers document his family, education, military service, law practice, political activities, and role as a statesman and lecturer in years he did not hold office. Included are correspondence, subject files, speech files, schedules and telephone logs, events files, political life files, photographs, sound and visual recordings, memorabilia, and other related materials.
Sound recordings, photographs, and moving image materials (ca. 1964-1984) cover Mondale’s terms of office as Senator and Vice-President, and his campaigns including his 1984 Presidential campaign.
The papers are arranged into the following series:
This collection is currently being processed. Researchers may not expect retrieval of material that is being processed.
Accession numbers: 13,631; 13,676; 13,945; 14,301; 14,542; 14,972; 15,629; 15,854; 15,962; 16,075; 16,092.
Processed by: Anne Levin, 2006-2007; Rich Arpi, and Dave Peterson, 2008- .
Catalog ID Number: 1735098
Vice presidential foreign affairs and national security files remain with the Office of Presidential Libraries, National Archives; Washington, D.C. A small number of these files have been declassified, and copies are available at MHS as part of the Mondale papers.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the
Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics,
persons or places should
The person in charge of this office was known as the “Special Assistant to the Vice President for Administration.” It was headed by Susan Holloway (1977-1979) and Sue Cockrell (1979-1981?). These individuals and their support staff were evidently responsible for the day-to-day operation of the Office of the Vice President (OVP). Other staff members included Susan Borkowski, who served as Staff Assistant for Budget and Finance.
The records include budget and financial records relating primarily to office expenditures and travel expenses; biographical information about Vice President Mondale; staff job descriptions and staff lists; files on the Vice President’s House, including information about events held there and related expenses; and trip itineraries and schedules. There are also files pertaining to Joan Mondale.
Correspondents represented in the files include Holloway, Cockrell, and various OVP staff members, including Richard Moe, Michael Berman, Gail Harrison, and Dave Nichols (staff assistant for budget and finance). There is also correspondence with officials of the Office of Management and Budget, the General Services Administration, and the Executive Office of the President – Office of Administration.
The person in charge of this office was known as the “Special Assistant to the Vice President and Director of Advance.“ It was headed by William F. (Bill) Roberts (1977-1979) and Richard C. (Dick) Schmitt (1979-1980).
The records consist of miscellaneous files kept by the Advance Office staff, particularly advance directors Roberts and Schmitt. They focus on staffing and staff training, policies and procedures, and logistics and budgeting for the Vice President's trips.
Several files of instructional materials, notes, and lists of participants document training seminars conducted for advance staff; these are supplemented by a set of audio recordings from a seminar conducted in November 1979. There are numerous iterations of advance policy and procedure manuals, supplemented by sample letters and a master set of forms.
Correspondence and memoranda of Roberts, Schmitt, Bill Berman, and Special Assistant Debbie Sale cover various aspects of advance administration. There is a file on policies, logistics, and budgeting for the Carter-Mondale reelection campaign (1979-1980). Also present are a few briefing folders on visits by foreign dignitaries. Yearbooks list official duties and trips as well as some political activities by type and by date.
For official trips of the Vice-President, the First Lady, and Mrs. Mondale. Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C. and Minneapolis.
Contains copies of blank forms, sample letters, instructions, and related materials.
Contains a list of letter types, with a sample of each.
Correspondence regarding audio-visual support for trips and appearances by the Vice President.
The books are divided into sections that chronologically list events and activities by diplomatic, Washington miscellaneous, out of town, Washington political, and media function. The 1978 yearbook also includes a section that focuses on Joan A. Mondale's events and activities.
The full title of this office is “Assistant for Congressional Relations and Administrative Assistant to the President of the Senate.” During Mondale’s term this office was held by William C. Smith.
The files reflect Smith's role as liaison between the Vice President and Congress. Many of the materials are photocopies. They include information on Carter Administration policy and legislative priorities, on the role and function of the Vice President, Congressional relations and the administration's legislative agenda, the 1980 presidential debates, and on a variety of topics of current interest in Congress or to the Carter Administration.
Correspondents include Smith, Frank Moore (White House Office of Congressional Liaison), and Stuart Eizenstat (the Director of the Carter Administration’s domestic policy staff).
Materials include correspondence and memoranda, Presidential Agendas (1976-1979) (found also in Chief of Staff Files), and a poor photocopy of a memo from Jimmy Carter to Mondale entitled “The Role of the Vice President in the Carter Administration” (December 9, 1976). There is a set of “Vice Presidential Office Files, which include yearly assessments and analyses, financial information, and office procedural information. Subject files include information about energy policy, the Middle East, the economy, the Panama [Canal] treaties, and SALT II. There are files on campaigns and elections, including the 1980 vice presidential debate; the closing of the Frankford Arsenal (Philadelphia); and the overhaul of the U.S.S. Saratoga aircraft carrier. There is also a chronologically-organized file of Smith’s communications with Mondale concerning meetings, issues, vice presidential activities, and Congressional requests and interactions..
An incomplete set of weekly legislative reports from Frank Moore, director of the White House Office of Congressional Liaison, to the President.
Very incomplete set of the President's domestic policy staff weekly status reports.
Memos, reports, and analyses regarding Carter Administration policy and legislation initiatives and priorities.
Memos regarding scope of Presidential power.
"Initial Working Paper on Political Strategy," by Patrick H. Caddell, regarding devising a strategy for the incoming Carter Administration (copy).
Memos and analyses regarding strategy for leadership during the first month of the Carter administration - priorities, decisions, activities, issues, organization.
Stu Eizenstat presentation of potential domestic legislative initiatives for FY1978 (copy).
Compilation of campaign promises.
Memos and background information on the President's reorganization project, to review all major functions of the federal government and recommend improvements in effectiveness and efficiency.
Summary and outline of first-year domestic accomplishments.
Lists, notes, and memoranda on an agenda for 1978, and regarding consultations with Congressional leaders.
Memo from VP regarding priorities for a combined foreign and domestic policy presidential agenda.
Memo to President .
Photocopy of briefing book from VP to President, constituting the White House Executive Committee's initial submission on the 1979 agenda, with related memoranda (photocopies).
Smith's copies of communications with Vice President Mondale regarding meetings, issues, VP activities and interactions with Congress. They offer a running picture of Congressional liaison activities.
Files on the role and functions of the Vice President, procedures and policies for the operation of the Vice Presidential office, and miscellaneous information on office expenditures.
Annotated bibliography on “The Vice Presidency and the Vice Presidents,” by Joseph Cantor (LC Congressional research Service).
Copy of the Presidential Transition Act and amendments, and memo (Smith to Dick Moe) regarding procedures, especially regarding expenditure of transition funds.
Memo, Mondale to Carter, "The Role of the Vice President in the Carter Administration," December 9, 1976 (washed out photocopy); descriptions/analyses of the Presidential Transition Act of 1963 and of VP staffing, by Robert B. Barnett; components of the VP's Senate office.
Copy of memo from VP regarding the formation of a White House Executive Committee to be chaired by the VP.
Memos from Al Eisele and Bill Smith regarding role of VP in the Senate and in the Carter administration.
Assessments by Mike Berman and Bill Smith of operations of VP office and Mondale's role as VP in Congress and in the Carter administration; recommendations for next 6 months; meetings with foreigners; use of VP's time.
Year-end assessment and recommendations for VP and congressional relations, by Bill Smith (February 6 and March 7, 1978); draft of memos of recommendations from senior staff (March 8).
Tabulations of the use of the Vice President's time. (More are with the files of the Counsel and Deputy Chief of Staff.)
Memoranda regarding various VP Office procedures and policies.
Regarding VP Office procedures and rules.
Memos regarding handling of foreign gifts.
Text of S.555, "Public Officials Integrity Act of 1977," and memos regarding it.
Memos and miscellany on applying the Hatch Act to employees of the Vice President.
Organization and assignments of issues staff.
Handwritten notes on Jim Johnson's role in VP office.
Regarding offices that can be filled by Presidential appointment.
Office matters and equipment issuances.
Construction/installation drawings of alterations to the VP's office in the Capitol building.
Mainly regarding staff payroll and salary matters.
Supplemental appropriation request for official entertainment at VP residence.
Request and resolution to extend Secret Service protection to VP for 6 months after leaving office.
Files regarding plans for White House and Vice President relationships with Congress, meetings regarding policy and legislative strategy, social functions hosted by the VP, and miscellaneous issues, legislation, and requests from Congress members.
Memos, remarks.
Notes on procedures and proper wording for various Senate actions.
Includes recommendations from Bill Smith and Dick Moe (December 1976); memorandum from Graham Mathews on his experience as a legislative liaison (December 1976); memos on the functions of the White House Congressional relations staff (March 1977); agendas for 1977 liaison staff meetings; memo (ribbon copy), Smith to VP, regarding Richard Harden's memo on "Cabinet support for Congressional liaison" (January 6, 1978); request to VP from Frank Moore to attend a meeting and praise the staff (July 1978).
Notes and memos regarding plans for VP Congressional relations meetings and activities.
Various congressional relations activities.
Notes, memos, agendas regarding VP attendance at Congressional leadership breakfasts.
Memos regarding Mondale breakfasts with Senator Robert Byrd, including Mondale's report to President Carter on the February breakfast and talking points for the October breakfast.
Schedules and topics for VP foreign policy consultations with Senators.
Memo regarding VP consultation with Senator Byrd and Speaker O'Neil on 1978 agenda.
A dinner hosted by the VP in Senator Byrd's honor.
Memos and lists.
Mainly a Frank Moore memo (June 12, 1978), "Strategy of Various Appropriations Bills and Other Troublesome Legislation."
Weekly issues/speech status reports for the VP from staff member Gail Harrison.
Includes "Outlook" comments on each committee. Author unknown
Memo, "Analysis of Support for the Administration in the House of Representatives."
Memos regarding bills that are possible candidates for a presidential veto.
Smith to VP: Talking points for a Mondale interview on White House-Congressional relations.
Talking points for a Mondale interview discussing changes in Congress.
A variety of letters and memos regarding issues, legislation, requests from Congress members, appointments, and the like. This is an artificial file, compiled in 2006 from a number of small files that contained only one or two items, most of which appeared to involve the VP only peripherally.
Bill Smith's miscellaneous correspondence.
Many of these files comprise memos, background information, and talking points for phone calls on issues of interest to the Carter Administration, often in connection with the Vice President's role in phoning and meeting with Congress members in support of legislation.
Memo and background regarding oversight of intelligence activities.
Memos regarding congressional action on aid to Africa.
Notes and memos regarding a Carter-Mondale campaign commitment to issue a blanket pardon to those who had violated Selective Service laws during the Vietnam War. Includes a folder of Department of Defense background information.
Memos and notes regarding proposed sale to Iran, and regarding NATO AWACS program.
Notes and memos regarding recission legislation.
Testimony and miscellany regarding House hearings concerning unauthorized disclosure of names of undercover intelligence agents.
Congressional Black Caucus.
Agenda and background materials for a China/Taiwan Legislative Task Force meeting.
Memoranda regarding Congressional use of military aircraft.
Analysis by Larry Tribe (Harvard) of issues raised by a potential "balanced budget" Constitutional convention.
Request, with background information, for VP assistance in support of the Consumer Protection Act.
Proposal for a President's White House Conference on Crime Resistance.
Memo on reorganization of federal government based on comprehensive community planning.
Exchange of memos regarding President's powers under the Disaster Relief Act.
Copies of VP memos to President regarding transfer of prosecutorial functions from U.S. Attorney's office to D.C. government.
Memos regarding retired military "double dippers" on Senate payroll.
Commissioner of Education report and speech, and 2 memos regarding Carter Administration educational accomplishments.
A Report on Cities in Schools, by Judy Austermiller.
Request from Frank Moore for VP calls to Congress members.
Transcripts of caucus hearings; memo regarding talking points
Memo regarding application of the Harkin Amendment to countries seeking loans.
Memoranda regarding reporting, prior notice, Freedom of Information Act, and other issues concerned in communication of information about intelligence activities and plans.
Background/talking points. Includes intelligence oversight, Agee agreement.
President's orchestrating of the firing of David W. Marston as United States Attorney for Eastern Pennsylvania.
Solicitations of support for President's Mideast peace proposals.
FYI copy of the framework for peace.
Memos regarding possibility of corporate bribery by a Textron subsidiary.
Talking points for VP phone calls.
Bill and amendment texts, memoranda, and head counts of supporters/opponents.
Memoranda, letters, notes, analyses, head counts, and talking points regarding the natural gas component of efforts to formulate a national energy policy, especially with regard to a Senate conference report on the natural gas bill. No copy of the conference report is included in these files.
Memoranda, notes, background materials, copies of Senators' remarks, Congressional Record debate proceedings, newspaper clippings, and miscellany relating to the Senate's consideration of a new "Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal," and the Carter Administration's efforts to garner support in the Senate for its passage.
Memos and background materials for VP calls, especially regarding water projects.
Request to Mondale from Abraham Ribicoff for assistance in getting a Defense Department airplane.
Strategy and background memoranda, talking points, head counts of Senate supporters, news clippings, and miscellany regarding Carter Administration efforts to obtain Senate ratification of a new Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty with the Soviet Union. A number of memos pertain to Vice President Mondale's role.
Proposed industrial reassignment of the U.S. carrier Forrestal.
Status information regarding an industrial park project in Pennsylvania.
Bills and memos regarding reorganization of the Senate committee system.
Memos and notes regarding postponement of President's tax reform message.
Memos and background, partly in context of SALT agreements.
Notes/memos regarding public works fund allocations.
Proposals for repair and renovation of the west central front of the U.S. Capitol building. Mondale was chairman of the Commission on the West Central Front of the Capitol.
Regarding appointment and pay of White House employees, especially to meet unanticipated needs.
Includes procedures for joint sessions of Congress; procedures in election of President and Vice President/counting of electoral votes.
Background information on potential election of a President by the House of Representatives.
Background miscellany regarding direct popular election of the President and VP.
Memo from Larry Oliver on May 5 Rules Committee hearings.
Includes a staff directory; memos regarding scheduling and advance procedures, and fundraising; and the national Democratic platform.
Mondale Debate Preparation Group planning/strategy notes, memoranda, and issue papers.
A compilation of quotes by Ronald Reagan, and from the media by or about Reagan, with Debate Team commentary, on a number of topics: aging, agriculture, arts, blacks, cities, consumers, defense, economy, education, energy, environment, family, foreign policy, government ethics, handicapped, health, hispanics, housing, labor, law and order, religion, social issues, women, youth. A table of contents at the front of the packet lists sub-topics.
Primarily summaries of Carter Administration accomplishments, sometimes with contrasting summaries of Reagan's positions, on various issues: arts, civil rights, consumers, energy, environment, human rights, human needs, justice, managing the federal government, science and technology, state and local government, transportation.
Files regarding military base realignments in the United States in general, and particularly the closing of the Frankford Arsenal in Philadelphia.
Files regarding U.S. Navy Department plans to overhaul the USS Saratoga and three other Forrestal-class aircraft carriers as part of its Service Life Extension Program (SLEP), and debate over where the work on the Saratoga, the first of the scheduled overhauls, should be done (Philadelphia or Newport News).
This office seems to have been variously known as “Assistant to the Vice President for Domestic Policy,” “Issues Development and Domestic Policy,” and “Assistant for Issues Development.” Gail Harrison headed this office during Mondale’s term as Vice President.
This material consists primarily of memoranda and briefing materials on various issues and policy matters. There are memos from Mondale’s domestic policy staff on various issues and policy matters; a briefing book on education and income maintenance programs of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; memos concerning priorities for the President and approaches to be taken toward domestic and international issues; and a set of briefing notes focused on the U.S. economy and related matters.
A large run of chronological files consists largely of staff memoranda on domestic policy issues. There are also weekly briefing notebooks, presidential and legislative agendas; and files relating to the President’s Program for U.S. Energy Security. Subject files include information on Alaska natural gas transportation systems (pipeline), energy issues, the President’s Reorganization Project, and women’s issues.
Files of Eric Vaughn (administrative assistant to Harrison and special assistant to the vice president) include information on the President’s Reorganization Project, as well as extensive lists of campaign promises made by Mondale (1976-1977).
Files of Mark Warren (special assistant to the vice president and administrative assistant to the chief of staff) consists mostly of correspondence (February 1979-March 1980) and policy and other memoranda from Warren to Mondale, Chief of Staff Richard Moe, Counsel and Deputy Chief of Staff Michael Berman, and various other members of Mondale’s staff.
Memoranda from Mondale's domestic policy staff on various issues and policy matters, addressed mainly to the Vice President and occasionally to chief of staff Dick Moe and others.
Beyond their focus on domestic policy, there is no obvious topical concentration to the memoranda in the chronological files. Primary authors in this set are Gail Harrison (domestic policy chief), John Farmer, Jim Dyke, and Eric Vaughn. Files for October-December 1978 and May 16-31, 1979, are missing. The file also contains references to other documents not in this series (current locations not yet determined).
Vaughn served as administrative assistant to Assistant to the Vice President Gail Harrison and as a special assistant to the Vice President.
Mark Warren served as a special assistant to the Vice President and as an administrative assistant to the Chief of Staff. Warren's correspondence contains three topical concentrations: (1) the Carter administration's health cost containment legislation; (2) National health plan legislation; and (3) matters involving Minnesota. They are supplemented by five small topical files: Control Data Corporation, crisis [fuel bills] Intervention, election law, Bureau of Land Management (Minnesota wilderness inventory), and the 1979 Duluth grainhandlers' strike.
Memoranda to and from the Vice President, his staff, and others concerning priorities for the President and approaches to be taken toward domestic and international issues during the years 1978 and 1979. The White House Executive Committee, which included Hamilton Jordan, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Stu Eizenstat, Jody Powell, and the Vice President (or members of his staff), among others, were responsible for setting these agendas.
Each agenda item is presented as a program with a statement of the issue, background on the program, an impact analysis, programmatic and budgetary alternatives, and recommendations. Also included in these files are memoranda from cabinet officers concerning department priorities.
A compilation of informational materials on President Carter's plans for programs aimed at minimizing U.S. reliance on foreign energy sources. They consist largely of fact sheets and White House news releases, and are accompanied by the program's summary report. Information within the files cover the five components of the President's program: oil import reduction, increased domestic oil production, oil use alternatives, conservation and fuel efficiency, and emergency measures. Background information on the roots of the U.S. energy crisis in the 1960s and 1970s is also included.
Briefing materials specifically address the President's plan for an energy program. These include discussion of financing an Energy Security Corporation to assist private sector development of synthetic fuels and natural gas through a windfall profits tax. Other details outline the Carter administration's plans for an Energy Mobilization Board to coordinate the decision-making process for non-nuclear energy facilities and a special energy allowance and energy crisis assistance program to help low-income families transition to alternative fuel sources.
Includes a copy of Carter's July 15, 1979 presidential address on energy.
Prepared for the President and the Vice President by the Census Bureau's Federal Statistical System, each weekly briefing is typically divided into five sections: general economic indicators, general social indicators, government activity, environment, science and culture, and selected subjects. Each week's compilation covers an average of nine subtopics within any section. Key domestic issues discussed in the briefings include wholesale and consumer price indexes, retail sales, unemployment, housing construction, import and export figures, industry, gross national product, health, manufacturing, agriculture, population, education, and the environment.
Included in each compilation are charts, graphs, and diagrams that illustrate trends in the topics being addressed. A short narrative summary follows each illustration with salient facts highlighted in colored marker.
A compilation of background materials on education and income maintenance programs carried out by the federal Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. It is divided into sections on education of the disadvantaged, impact aid, education for the handicapped, student loans, higher education, National Institute of Education, establishment of a separate Department of Education, social services reorganization, disability insurance financing, windfall dual benefits, Railroad Retirement Board, quality control, the Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service, and a set of budget summary tables and recommendations for long-range evaluations.
Disassembled looseleaf manual kept by Mondale's office staff. One section is essentially a list of the alpha-numeric filing categories employed in the files below. The other is a topical index to subjects, giving their alpha-numeric filing codes.
Includes material on Barter Program (AG-7-1) and School Lunch Program (AG-7-2)
Includes study for pilot agency.
Arranged alphabetically by name of commodity within each year.
FG300-340.
FG328-340.
Includes one folder entitled "Sherman Holbert's land."
Alabama through California.
Canal Zone through District of Columbia.
District of Columbia through Illinois.
Indiana through Minnesota.
Minnesota through New York.
New York through Pennsylvania.
Puerto Rico through Wyoming.
See trip series for detailed information on each trip.
Including claims of relationship.
Postponed; see TR 2-64