Walter Mondale spent his boyhood in the small towns of southern Minnesota,
where he attended public schools. After he helped manage Hubert H. Humphrey's
first successful U.S. Senate campaign in 1948, he earned his B.A. in political
science from the University of Minnesota in 1951. After completing service as a
corporal in the U.S. Army, Mondale received his LL.B (cum laude) from the
University of Minnesota Law School in 1956, having served on the law review and
as a law clerk in the Minnesota Supreme Court.
Mondale practiced law for the next four years in Minneapolis. In 1960,
Minnesota Gov. Orville Freeman appointed him to the position of state attorney
general. Mondale was then elected to the office in 1962, and served until 1964,
when Gov. Karl Rolvaag asked him to fill the U.S. Senate vacancy create by
Hubert Humphrey's election to the vice presidency. The voters of Minnesota
returned Mondale to the Senate in 1966 and 1972.
During his 12 years as a senator, Mondale served on the Finance Committee, the
Labor and Public Welfare Committee, Budget Committee, and the Banking, Housing
and Urban Affairs Committee. He also served as the chairman of the Select
Committee on Equal Education Opportunity and as the chairman of the
Intelligence Committee's Domestic Task Force.
Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale were elected president and vice president of
the United States on Nov. 2, 1976. On the president's behalf, Mondale traveled
extensively throughout the nation and the world advocating U.S. policy. He was
the first vice president to have an office in the White House, and he served as
a full-time participant, advisor, and troubleshooter for the administration.
During this period, Joan Mondale served as a national advocate for the arts and
was Honorary Chairman of the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities.
In 1984, Mondale was the Democratic Party's nominee for president of the United
States. He lost to President Ronald Reagan. Since that election, Mondale has
been practicing law, teaching, studying, traveling, and serving as a director
of both non-profit and corporate boards. He returned to his native Minnesota in
1987, where he has been practicing law as a partner with the firm of Dorsey &
Whitney.
Until his appointment as U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Walter Mondale was a
Distinguished University Fellow in Law and Public Affairs at the Hubert H.
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota. In 1990, Mondale
established the Mondale Policy Forum at the Humphrey Institute. The forum has
brought together leading scholars and policymakers for annual conferences on
domestic and international issues.
From 1986 to 1993, Mondale was chairman of the National Democratic Institute
for International Affairs, an organization that conducts non-partisan
international programs to help maintain and strengthen democratic institutions.
In that capacity, he has co-led delegations to Poland and Hungary.
Mondale has also served on the executive committee of the Peace Prize Forum, an
annual conference co-sponsored by the Norwegian Nobel Institute and five
Midwestern colleges of Norwegian heritage. Former President Jimmy Carter, Costa
Rican President Oscar Arias Sanchez, Nobel Laureate and author Elie Wiesel, Dr.
Yelena Bonner, and Nobel Laureate Norman Borlaug have been among the featured
speakers.
In spring 1993, Mondale was elected a director of the Council on Foreign
Relations. Other non-profit boards of directors on which he served until his
appointment as ambassador include the Guthrie Theatre Foundation, Mayo
Foundation, National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, Rand
Corporation, and University of Minnesota Foundation. His recent corporate board
memberships included BlackRock Advantage Term Trust and other BlackRock Mutual
Funds, Cargill Incorporated, CNA Financial Corporation, the Encyclopaedia
Britannica, First Financial Fund and other Prudential Mutual Funds, Northwest
Airlines, and Untied HealthCare Corporation.
Mondale was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to Japan on Aug. 13, 1993. He had been
nominated by President Clinton on June 11, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on
July 30. The former vice president succeeded Michael H. Armacost, who had been
ambassador to Tokyo since 1989. Mondale completed his service in that role in
December, 1997. He returned to his Minnesota home and rejoined the law firm of
Dorsey & Whitney as a partner.
In March 1998, Mondale traveled to Jakarta as President Clinton's personal
representative for discussions with President Soeharto and other Indonesian
officials on the financial situation facing that country.
Mondale has authored the book The Accountability of Power: Toward a Responsible
Presidency and has written numerous articles on domestic and international
issues. In his free time, he enjoys fishing, reading Shakespeare and historical
accounts, barbecuing, skiing and tennis.
