Walter Mondale, whose rural roots helped make him a success in Minnesota but a flub for president, dies at 93

Walter Mondale in his hometown, 1984
Photo: Thomas Arndt/Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Walter Mondale, who was Jimmy Carter's vice president and lost the 1984 presidential election to Ronald Reagan in record fashion, died Monday at 93. He and Carter are the president and VP from the same administration who lived the longest since leaving office; Carter, 96, survives.

Mondale was Minnesota attorney general in 1964 when he was appointed to Hubert Humphrey's Senate seat after the ex-mayor of Minneapolis was elected Lyndon Johnson's vice president. Mondale's roots were different. He was the son of "a poor farmer who had become a Methodist clergyman," frequently reassigned by his denomination, reports Bart Barnes of The Washington Post.

"Winters in the country towns and villages of his boyhood were desolate and lonely, and the Scandinavian culture pervasive," Barnes writes." It was a culture that left a lasting imprint on the young Mr. Mondale, who learned the value of restraint and self-control. Years later, as a nationally known politician, he would recall only two acts that during his growing-up years were certain to result in a whipping: lying and boasting. The reserved youth grew into a low-key politician, never much good as a backslapper or a special pleader. He hated plastic smiles, and he was uncomfortable using the personal pronoun 'I'."

Mondale on his 90th birthday, with Jimmy Carter
(Photo by Anthony Souffle, The Associated Press)

Mondale shared credit with Southern ruralite Carter's 1976 win over President Gerald Ford of Michigan and Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas by helping carry Northern states, and Carter made Mondale the first VP to be a full-fledged member of an administration, but Reagan and George H.W. Bush swamped them in 1980. As the 1984 Democratic nominee, he told voters that he or Reagan would have to raise taxes, but “He won't tell you. I just did.” Later, he said, “My opponent was handing out rose petals; I was handing out coal. . . . I’m not trying to excuse what happened in 1984 on the basis of television technique, even though I think Reagan’s a genius and I’m not very good at it.”

Barnes concludes, "In 2002, Mr. Mondale was drafted into one more campaign, for him a sad last hurrah. He agreed to run for his former Senate seat after the incumbent, Democrat Paul Wellstone, was killed in a plane crash within a couple of weeks of the election. He was narrowly defeated by Republican Norm Coleman, a former mayor of St. Paul and a former Democrat. Years later, in an interview with the University of Minnesota Foundation, he begged off reflecting on his legacy. 'Well, you know, Minnesota doesn’t believe much in bragging. I did the best I could.'"

At left: Mondale sent this remarkable email saying farewell to more than 300 associates and staffers. Click on it for a larger version.