Walter Mondale Dead at 93

Former Carter Vice President Walter "Fritz" Mondale died this week at age 93.

Walter Mondale, who transformed the role of U.S. vice president while serving under Jimmy Carter and was the Democratic nominee for president in 1984, died Monday at 93, according to a family spokesperson.

The big picture: President Biden, who was mentored by Mondale through the years, said in 2015 that the former vice president gave him a "roadmap" to successfully take on the job. 

He was the first vice president to have an office in the White House and was deeply engaged in both U.S. and foreign policy, working closely with the president. 

"I took Fritz's roadmap. He actually gave me a memo, classic Fritz, gave me a memo, as to what I should be looking for and what kind of commitments I should get to be able to do the job the way Fritz thought it should be done," Biden said at an event honoring Mondale in 2015.

Backstory: Mondale spoke by phone on Sunday with President Biden and former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, as well as Vice President Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, said his friend and former campaign staffer Tom Cosgrove. While he and his family believed his death was imminent, after those calls he “perked up.” 

In a final goodbye email to 320 staffers spanning four decades, Mondale told his staffers how much they meant to him, adding he knew that they’d keep up “the good fight” and “Joe in the White House certainly helps.” The email, which was shared with Axios, was prepared to be sent upon his death. 

Cosgrove said Mondale had been deeply worried about the impact of a potential second Donald Trump term on American democracy. "There was a difference after the inauguration - a letting go,” Cosgrove said. “There was a big exhale of relief.”

Mondale and Carter were the longest-living post-presidential team in U.S. history.

 

Mondale got the short end of the historical stick, frankly. He basically invented the job of the modern VP more than forty years ago, the President's right-hand person and on occasions, attack dog and lightning rod, saying the things the President could not.  He nominated Geraldine Ferarro in 1984 when he ran against Reagan, and history only really remembers him for the absolute asskicking Reagan gave him, with Mondale winning only his home state of Minnesota (barely) and DC. Reagan's 525-13 destruction of Mondale represented the high-point of GOP politics and shaped the country for decades.

Democrats have been afraid of losing like that ever since, even when they win. And there's a reason why it took 36 years for another woman to be nominated as VP. Hillary Clinton of course ran for President and lost to a cartoon character, so it makes what Joe Biden and Kamala Harris did even more historic.

America eventually gets to the right place, but it takes a long time for it to happen.