An oral history interview with Walter Mondale

              WISCONSIN
HISTORICAL
SOCIETY
An Oral History Interview with
WALTER MONDALE
Interviewer: .Anita Hecht, Life History Services
Recording Date: May 13, 2009
Place: Minneapolis, Minnesota. Length: 1.75 hours
Walter Mondale was born in 1928 in Ceylon, Minnesota. He graduated cum laude from the Univ.
of Minnesota in 1951 with a degree in political science. He entered the military, and after
discharge attended the University of Minnesota Law School, graduating in 1956.
During college, Mondale was active in the Democratic Farmer Labor Party. He worked on
Hubert Humphrey's mayoral and senate campaigns, and managed Orville Freeman's successful
gubernatorial campaigns. In 1960, Mondale was appointed Minnesota Attorney General.
In 1964, he was appointed to the U.S. Senate seat vacated when Hubert Humphrey became Vice
President. He held the seat for twelve years, working closely with Sen. William Proxmire on the
Senate Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs Committee.
Mondale was elected Vice President of the United States in 1976, winning alongside President
Jimmy Carter. In 1984, he was the Democratic Party's presidential nominee. Defeated by Ronald
Reagan, Mondale returned to Minnesota to practice law. Between 1993 and 1996, he was US
ambassador to Japan. He has also written a book and numerous articles on domestic and
international issues, and taught at the University of Minnesota.
Walter Mondale Interview Transcript 1 Proxmire Oral History Project