Walter Mondale
Walter F. Mondale

42nd Vice President of the United States

(1977 to 1981)
Served Under: James (Jimmy) Carter
Political Party: Democratic
Occupation: Lawyer
Born: 1928

Biography

A liberal Democrat, he was active in the Minnesota Farmer—Labor Party and served as state attorney general (1960–64). When Hubert Humphrey became vice president in 1964, Mondale was appointed to replace him in the U.S. Senate; he served until 1977.

In 1976 Jimmy Carter chose Mondale to be his vice president. Carter and Mondale ran for reelection in 1980, but lost to the Republican ticket of Ronald Reagan and George Bush. In 1984 Mondale, as the Democratic presidential nominee, became the first major—party candidate to choose a woman, Geraldine Ferraro, as a running mate. The Mondale—Ferraro ticket lost to the incumbents. Mondale was U.S. ambassador to Japan from 1993 to 1996.