Biden's Mentor, Carter's Running Mate Mondale, Former U.S. Vice President, Passes Away

Vice President During Jimmy Carter Administration...Influence on Diplomacy
Biden "Mentor Who Provided a Roadmap for Performing Vice Presidency"

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Walter Mondale, a leading progressive politician of the U.S. Democratic Party whom U.S. President Joe Biden had openly called his mentor, passed away at the age of 93.

According to foreign media including the AP on the 19th (local time), Walter Mondale, a Democratic politician who served as vice president during the Jimmy Carter administration in the 1970s, died at the age of 93 in his hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota, on the 19th (local time). Mondale, a former Minnesota Attorney General, entered politics as a senator at the age of 36 and was inaugurated as vice president alongside President Jimmy Carter in 1976.

Mondale, known as a representative progressive figure within the Democratic Party, showed great interest in policies such as consumer protection, civil rights, and labor rights expansion since his time as a senator. During his vice presidency, he is credited with having a significant influence on the overall foreign policy of the Carter administration. Later, he ran for president as the Democratic candidate in the 1984 election but was defeated by then-incumbent President Ronald Reagan.

At that time, American voters sided with Reagan’s “Reaganomics,” a strong tax-cut policy, over Mondale’s pledge to raise taxes to address the fiscal deficit. After his presidential defeat, Mondale served as the U.S. Ambassador to Japan from 1993 to 1996 during the Bill Clinton administration.

President Joe Biden was also known to frequently speak of his close relationship with Mondale. In a speech at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota in 2015, Biden said, “Mondale was my mentor who provided the roadmap to successfully perform the duties of the vice presidency.”

Until his passing, Mondale held the record as the longest-living running mate alongside former President Carter in U.S. history. Former President Carter is currently known to be 96 years old.