Walter Mondale, Former US Vice President dies at 93

Former US Vice President Walter Mondale, a liberal icon who famously warned voters that if he won the presidency, they should expect higher taxes, died Monday, according to US media. He was 93 years old when he died.

According to reports citing a statement from Mondale’s family, no cause of death was released.

From 1977 to 1981, Mondale served as Jimmy Carter’s vice president.

“Today I mourn the passing of my dear friend Walter Mondale, who I consider the best vice president in our country’s history,” Carter said in a statement, extending his condolences to his former number two’s family.

“He was an invaluable partner and an able servant of the people of Minnesota, the United States, and the world.”

Prior to his time in the White House, Mondale served as Minnesota’s attorney general from 1960 to 1964, and then as a US senator from that state from 1964 to 1976.

Mondale served as ambassador to Japan between 1993 and 1996 after Carter left office.

Senator Amy Klobuchar, a fellow Minnesotan, expressed her sadness over Mondale’s death, calling him “kind and dignified to the end,” while former President Barack Obama said Mondale “championed progressive causes and changed the position of vice president.”

In a tweet, current Vice President Kamala Harris praised her predecessor’s “extraordinary life of service” and praised him for being “so generous with his wit and wisdom over the years.”

President Joe Biden recalled some of his fondest memories of Mondale, including how he was one of the first to welcome him when he first arrived at the United States Senate.

Walter Frederick “Fritz” Mondale was born in the small Minnesota town of Ceylon on January 5, 1928. He grew up in a series of small towns in the southern part of the state as the son of a Methodist pastor and a music teacher.

Mondale worked as a congressional district manager for Hubert Humphrey’s successful Senate campaign when he was 20 years old. Humphrey would later tutor Mondale in politics.

Mondale got his start in national politics in 1964, when he was named to fill Humphrey’s Senate seat after the latter resigned to become Vice President.

An outspoken supporter of civil rights, Mondale advocated throughout his Senate career for education, housing, migrant worker rights and child nutrition.

He made his own bid for the White House in 1984, facing off against Republican Ronald Reagan. Mondale picked US representative Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate, making him the first major-party presidential nominee to put a woman on the ticket.

During his campaign, he infamously told voters to expect a tax increase if he won, which would later go on to define the race.

On Election Day, Mondale won only Minnesota and the District of Columbia.

“I did my best,” he said the day after the vote.

Under Bill Clinton, Mondale served as the United States’ ambassador to Japan, where he worked to expand trade between the two countries.

He maintained his friendship with the Clintons, initially endorsing Hillary Clinton for president in 2008. He reversed his endorsement after Obama won the nomination.

Joan Adams Mondale, Mondale’s wife, and he married in 1955. Ted and William, as well as daughter Eleanor, were the couple’s three children.

Eleanor became a broadcast journalist, while Ted and William followed their father into politics and public service.

Eleanor died of brain cancer in 2011 and Joan died in 2014 after a long illness.