HISTORY TOPICS

Walter F. Mondale

Walter Mondale was a liberal Democrat, active in the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. He served as state attorney general from 1960-1964. When Hubert Humphrey became vice president in 1964, Mondale was appointed to replace him in the U.S. Senate, where he served until 1977. In 1976 Jimmy Carter chose Mondale to be his vice president. In 1984 Mondale, as the Democratic presidential nominee, became the first major-party candidate to choose a woman, Geraldine Ferraro, as a running mate. After the Mondale-Ferraro ticket lost to the incumbent Ronald Reagan, Mondale continued to be involved in politics, serving as U.S. ambassador to Japan from 1993 to 1996, and stepping in for Paul Wellstone, who died in an airplane accident running for his third Senate term in 2002. Mondale lost the race to Norm Coleman.

GET STARTED WITH SECONDARY SOURCES:

• "150 Years Norwegian Immigration."
  In Norwegian American Commerce, no. 2/75 (summer 1975).
  Includes Walter F. Mondale on page 46.
  MHS call number: Folio E 184.S22 A15 1975.
• America's Vice-Presidents: Our First Forty-Three Vice-Presidents and How They Got to Be Number Two, by Diana Dixon Healy.
  New York: Atheneum, 1984.
  Includes Walter F. Mondale.
  MHS call number: E 176.49 .H4 1984.
• Campaign Journal: The Political Events of 1983-1984, by Elizabeth Drew.
  New York: Macmillan, 1985.
  MHS call number: E 876 .D74 1985.
• The Democrats' Dilemma: Walter F. Mondale and the Liberal Legacy, by Steven M. Gillon.
  New York: Columbia University Press, 1992.
  MHS call number: Reading Room E 840.8.M66 G55 1992.
• The Election of 1984: Reports and Interpretations, by Gerald M. Pomper, et al.
  Chatham, N.J.: Chatham House Publishers, 1985.
  MHS call number: JK 526 1984d.
• "Fritz Mondale is a Capital Oddity-A Vice-President Who is Not Unemployed," by Garry Clifford.
  In People (weekly), vol. 9, no. 8 (Feb. 27, 1978): pp. 20-25.
  MHS call number: E 840.8.M66 C54.
• "'Give 'em Hell, Fritz!': The Democrats Came to San Francisco In a State of Gloom, But They Left Feeling That Their Party and the Mondale-Ferraro Ticket Represented the Future's Brightest Hope," by William Grieder.
  In Rolling Stone (San Francisco), issue no. 429 (Aug. 30, 1984): pp. 10, 15, 46.
  MHS call number: Folio E840.8.M66 G73 1984.
• "A Historic Choice."
  In Time, vol. 124, no. 4 (July 23, 1984): pp. 10-16, 18-20, 33-37, 40.
  MHS call number: JK 526 1984 .H47 1984.
• "The Making of the Modern Vice Presidency: A Personal Reflection," by Richard Moe.
  In Minnesota History, vol. 60, no. 3 (fall 2006): pp. 88-99.
  MHS call number: Reading Room F 601.5 .M66 v.60.
• The Modern American Vice Presidency: The Transformation of a Political Institution, by Joel K. Goldstein.
  Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1982.
  MHS call number: JK 609.5 .G64.
• Mondale: Portrait of an American Politician, by Finlay Lewis.
  New York: Harper & Row, 1980.
  MHS call number: Reading Room E 840.8.M66 L48.
• "The Mondale Myth," by Wallace Roberts.
  In New Times, vol. 2, no. 2 (Jan. 25, 1974): pp. 26-31.
  MHS call number: E 840.8 .M66 R62 1974.
• The New Senate: Liberal Influence on a Conservative Institution, 1959-1972, by Michael Foley.
  New Haven, N.J.: Yale University Press, 1980.
  MHS call number: JK 1161 .F64.
• Portrait of an Election: The 1980 Presidential Campaign, by Elizabeth Drew.
  New York: Simon and Schuster, 1981.
  MHS call number: E 875 .D73.
• The Quest for the Presidency, 1984, by Peter Goldman & Tony Fuller.
  Toronto; New York: Bantam Books, 1985.
  MHS call number: E 879 .G64 1985.
• "The Vice Presidency: Walter Mondale in the Lion's Den," by Marie D. Natoli.
  In Presidential Studies Quarterly, vol. 8, no. 1 (1978): pp. 100-102.
  MHS call number: E 840.8 .M66 N38.
• Vice-Presidential Power: Advice and Influence in the White House, by Paul C. Light.
  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984.
  MHS call number: Reading Room JK 609.5 .L53 1984.
• What a United States Senator Does, by Roy Hoopes. New York: John Day Co., [1975].
  Includes "A Typical Day on Capitol Hill" [with Senator Walter Mondale] on pp. 60-81.
  MHS call number: JK 1161 .H6 1975.
• Minnesota History index terms that may be useful for this topic:
  Mondale, Joan A. (Mrs. Walter)
  Mondale, Walter F.

PRIMARY RESOURCES:

• Walter F. Mondale
  • Walter F. Mondale Papers (1927-2004).
    Those portions of Walter Mondale's files that are available for public use comprise several sets of office files, public relations and publicity materials, and constituent services files from his service as United States Senator from Minnesota (1964-1976) and Vice President of the United States (1977-1981), as well as materials pertaining to his subsequent career as a lawyer and lecturer, and a few files relating to his service as ambassador to Japan (1993-1996). Senatorial materials 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, and files of a task force to study the public financing of election campaigns.
    MHS call number: See the green Manuscripts Alpha Notebooks—filed alphabetically under Mondale, Walter F.—for a detailed list of boxes and locator numbers (there are 948 boxes), or use an electronic version of the inventory.
  • Walter Mondale Memorandum to Jimmy Carter, 1976.
    Walter Mondale and Jimmy Carter shared the opinion that the vice presidency was a wasted national asset and that there were opportunities for a real partnership with a president willing to delegate authority. In December 1976, Mondale wrote a memo outlining his thoughts on the role the vice president could play, some specific contributions that he personally could make, and the degree of involvement in the Carter administration that such a relationship would require. A copy of the memorandum is in the Walter F. Mondale Papers. Also, the Minnesota Historical Society website contains digital images and a searchable transcription of the memo.
  • Excerpts From the Speeches of Walter F. Mondale: Campaign for the Presidency, 1982-1984.
    [Washington, D.C.: Walter F. Mondale, 1985].
    MHS call number: E 840.8.M66 E92 1985.
• Joan Mondale
  • Personal Papers (bulk 1960-2006).
    Speech and trip files, correspondence files, subject files, clippings, calendars, and sound and visual materials documenting Joan Mondale's activities as the wife of a politician and diplomat, and as an advocate for, and promoter of, the arts.
    MHS call number: See the green Manuscripts Alpha Notebooks—filed alphabetically under Mondale, Joan, then Personal Papers —for a detailed list of boxes and locator numbers (there are 58 boxes of material, but not all relate to the topic), or use an electronic version of the inventory.
  • Second Lady’s Office Files (bulk 1976-1981).
    Trip and speaking files, which include itineraries and speeches, form the bulk of the collection. They document Mondale's many trips throughout the United States and abroad including campaign appearances, official visits to other countries with the Vice President, and speaking engagements as an advocate for the arts. There is information about politics and politicians; presidential and other election campaigns; Macalester College; Joan Mondale's interest in and support of the visual and performing arts; artists and art exhibitions; Japanese art; and the Mondales' life and activities in Japan while Walter served as United States ambassador (1993-1996). Correspondents include politicians and their wives, political supporters, campaign workers, family members, and artists and members of arts organizations.
    MHS call number: See the green Manuscripts Alpha Notebooks—filed alphabetically under Mondale, Joan, then Second Lady's Office Files—for a detailed list of boxes and locator numbers (there are 73 boxes of material, but not all relate to the topic), or use an electronic version of the inventory.
• Minnesota Attorney General
  • Subject Files (Series 2), 1955-1965.
    Subject files compiled and used by the attorney general's office under Walter Mondale, relating to a wide variety of subjects and issues of interest to the office staff. They include some Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party campaign and political matters, including Mondale's campaign opponents.
    MHS call number: See the black State Archives Notebooks—filed under Attorney General —for a detailed list of boxes and locator numbers (there are 6 boxes and 1 partial box), or use an electronic version of the inventory.
  • Correspondence of Walter Mondale's Office, 1959-1965.
    Correspondence and memos of the attorney general's office and staff concerning activities of state agencies and problems or issues of interest to the office. Many files appear to have been accumulated or maintained by Roberta Schneider, Chief Clerk in the office.
    MHS call number: See the black State Archives Notebooks—filed under Attorney General —for a detailed list of boxes and locator numbers (there are 8 boxes and 1 partial box), or use an electronic version of the inventory.
    
• Newspapers that may be useful for this topic:
  • Minneapolis Star-Tribune (an index for articles published after 1970 is located in the Hubbs Microfilm Room)
  • St. Paul Pioneer Press Dispatch (an index for articles published after 1970 is located in the Hubbs Microfilm Room)
• Visual Resources Database subjects that may be useful for this topic:
  • Walter Mondale
• Check the library catalog for other materials.