# Walter Mondale _Minnesota attorney general, U.S. senator, vice president under Jimmy Carter and 1984 Democratic nominee for president — the offices he held, the federal laws he sponsored or voted on, his part in refugee policy as vice president, and what the record does and does not tie to him_ | Walter Mondale | | |---|---| | Full name | Walter Frederick Mondale | | Born | January 5, 1928, Ceylon, Minnesota | | Died | April 19, 2021, Minneapolis | | Party | Democratic-Farmer-Labor | | Minnesota attorney general | May 4, 1960 – December 30, 1964 (appointed by Governor Orville Freeman; then elected) | | U.S. senator from Minnesota | December 30, 1964 – December 30, 1976 (appointed by Governor Karl Rolvaag to Humphrey's seat; then elected; resigned December 30, 1976, having been elected vice president) | | Vice President of the United States | January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981 | | Democratic nominee for President | 1984 (lost to Ronald Reagan, 13 electoral votes to 525) | | U.S. ambassador to Japan | 1993–1996 | | Minnesota instruments signed | none (he never served in the Legislature or as governor) | | Parent article | [[How Minnesota Got Here]] | | Status | architect article; restates the record and sets out the readings; adjudicates nothing | **Walter Frederick Mondale** (1928–2021) was Minnesota's attorney general from 1960 to 1964, a United States senator from Minnesota from 1964 to 1976, vice president of the United States under Jimmy Carter, the Democratic nominee for president in 1984 and ambassador to Japan from 1993 to 1996.[^1][^2][^3][^4][^5][^6] He came into politics as a volunteer and field worker in [[Hubert Humphrey]]'s campaigns, ran [[Orville Freeman]]'s campaigns for governor, and owed his first two offices to appointment: Freeman made him attorney general in 1960, and Governor Karl Rolvaag appointed him to Humphrey's Senate seat when Humphrey became vice president.[^7][^3] This article treats Mondale as one of the six figures the project calls architects. Like Humphrey, he never served in the Legislature or as governor and signed no Minnesota statute.[^7][^1] The record ties him to the subjects of [[How Minnesota Got Here]] in four ways. As attorney general he created a civil-rights unit in the office that now defends § 43A.191 in federal court.[^7][^8] As a senator he co-sponsored the open-housing amendment that was set aside for Senator Dirksen's narrower substitute, enacted as Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968; introduced the federal child-abuse bill whose grants to States are conditioned on state law; sponsored a child-development bill that Nixon vetoed; and voted with Humphrey in 1972 on the bill that brought state governments under Title VII.[^9][^10][^11][^12][^13][^14] As vice president he headed the United States delegation to the 1979 Geneva meeting on Indochinese refugees, where he announced an increase in American resettlement eight months before the [[Refugee Act of 1980]].[^15][^16][^17] And his name is carried by University of Minnesota and party institutions that are part of the state's present.[^18][^19][^20] The corpus overstates several of these ties. No source read for this article shows Mondale drafting or sponsoring the Refugee Act, and he did not sign it; the enrolled bill bears the signatures of the Speaker, the Senate president pro tempore and President Carter.[^21][^17] The day-care legislation the corpus credits him with creating was vetoed.[^12] And the state hiring statutes at issue in the 2026 suit date from 1981 (§ 43A.19) and 1985 (§ 43A.191), when Mondale held no office; the corpus dates § 43A.191 to 1980 or 1981.[^22][^23] These and other corrections are collected in [[#Corpus claims checked]].[^24] ## Scope and method The article follows the method of its parent: officials in their official capacity, instruments described by what they require, the readings the record supports stated side by side.[^25][^26] Federal acts are cited to the *Statutes at Large*, the *Congressional Record*, the *Foreign Relations of the United States* series and the American Presidency Project; offices to the Legislative Reference Library, the Senate and the State Department; and his biography to the Minnesota Historical Society's account of his papers.[^11][^14][^15][^12][^2][^3][^6][^7] Several Senate roll calls described in the project's research could be read only in a database whose site rules bar this project's retrieval tool; those votes are reported as open items rather than as findings.[^27] ## Early career Mondale was born in Ceylon, Minnesota, on January 5, 1928, and grew up in Elmore; his father was a farmer and Methodist minister, his mother a musician and piano teacher.[^7][^19] He attended Macalester College, graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1951, served two years in the Army, and graduated cum laude from the university's law school in 1956.[^7] His political apprenticeship ran through Humphrey and Freeman. The Historical Society's biography lists his work as a volunteer in Humphrey's campaigns for mayor of Minneapolis, as an organizer for the liberal faction of the newly merged DFL, and as "a field worker in Humphrey's initial campaign for election to the U.S. Senate"; the Associated Press obituary called him a "congressional district manager" in that 1948 campaign.[^7][^28] He managed Freeman's unsuccessful campaign for attorney general and his successful campaigns for governor in 1956 and 1958, and served as the DFL's state finance director.[^7] In a 2018 interview he said of Humphrey: "We were very close, like father and son, especially in the early years."[^19] ## Attorney general, 1960–1964 In May 1960 Governor Freeman appointed Mondale attorney general after what the Historical Society calls the "contentious resignation" of the incumbent, Miles Lord; the Legislative Reference Library's roster dates his term from May 4, 1960.[^7][^2] He was elected to the office in his own right that fall and held it until December 30, 1964, when his successor took office.[^7][^2] Lord became United States Attorney the next year.[^29] The Historical Society credits his four years with broadening the office's role: an investigation of fraud in the fund-raising of the Sister Elizabeth Kenny Foundation; a suit against a predatory furnace-repair company; and the creation of "separate consumer-protection, anti-trust, and civil rights units."[^7] He co-filed the brief of twenty-two states supporting the petitioner in *[[Gideon v. Wainwright]]*; the Supreme Court's report lists "Walter F. Mondale, Attorney General of Minnesota" second among the filers of "A brief for the state governments of twenty-two States and Commonwealths, as amici curiae, urging reversal."[^30] The 2021 proclamation on his death describes the case as establishing that "indigent criminal defendants have the right to legal counsel."[^1] The office he reorganized is the one that defends the State in *[[United States v. State of Minnesota (affirmative-action hiring)|United States v. State of Minnesota]]*.[^8] The connection is one of office, not of instrument: the civil-rights unit he created dates from 1960–64; [[Minn. Stat. § 43A.191]] was enacted in 1985, twenty-one years after he left the office, and assigns its duties to agency heads, agency affirmative-action officers and the commissioner, not to the attorney general.[^7][^23] ## The 1964 convention At the 1964 Democratic National Convention Mondale chaired the Credentials Committee subcommittee that brokered the compromise between Mississippi's segregated regular delegation and the [[Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party]]. The Historical Society records that "As a result of the new rules adopted at the 1964 Convention, segregated delegations were prohibited and participation by previously marginalized groups expanded dramatically."[^7] The corpus describes the rule as the party's first demographic-composition mandate; the rule's text has not been retrieved, and the Historical Society describes a prohibition of segregated delegations and an expansion of participation that followed it, not a composition requirement.[^24][^7] ## Senator, 1964–1976 When Humphrey resigned his Senate seat on December 29, 1964 to become vice president, Governor Karl Rolvaag appointed Mondale to it; he took office the next day and held the seat, by appointment and then election, until he resigned on December 30, 1976.[^3][^7] The Historical Society describes him in his first years as one of the most reliable supporters of Johnson's Great Society, including "working to muster public support in Minnesota for the Voting Rights Act of 1965."[^7] After Humphrey's defeat in 1968 — Mondale and Senator Fred Harris co-chaired United Democrats for Humphrey — he sought seats on the Labor and Public Welfare Committee and its Subcommittee on Children and Youth, and in 1970 he became chairman of the Select Committee on Equal Educational Opportunity.[^7] ### Fair housing, 1967–1968 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 had reached housing discrimination only in federally assisted programs. Open-housing bills failed in 1966 and 1967; in the summer of 1967 hearings were held on his own bill, which did not leave committee.[^9][^7] In 1968 he and Senator [[Edward Brooke]] of Massachusetts offered the open-housing title as an amendment to the pending civil rights bill. Opponents called it "discrimination in reverse"; supporters called it "morally right."[^9] To end the filibuster, Mondale and Brooke set aside their amendment for a somewhat narrower text offered by Senator Everett Dirksen; the Senate passed H.R. 2516, the Civil Rights Act of 1968, on March 11, 1968.[^9] On April 5, the day after Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, Mondale told the Senate, "In the days ahead, we must act to fulfill King's dream."[^9] Johnson signed the [[Civil Rights Act of 1968]] on April 11, 1968; its Title VIII is the [[Fair Housing Act]].[^9][^7] The 2021 presidential proclamation on his death credits him with being "instrumental in the passage of The Fair Housing Act."[^1] ### The child-development bill, 1971 On April 5, 1971 Mondale introduced S. 1512, the [[Comprehensive Child Development Act]], for himself and twenty-nine other senators, Humphrey among them, and in May he chaired its hearings as chairman of the Subcommittee on Children and Youth.[^31] The program passed both houses as part of the Economic Opportunity Amendments of 1971. Nixon vetoed the bill, S. 2007, on December 9, 1971; his message called it "a long leap into the dark" and said he shared the view of supporters "who proclaim this to be the most radical piece of legislation to emerge from the Ninety-second Congress."[^12][^7] Because the bill was vetoed, it created no program; the corpus's statement that Mondale wrote the legislation that created federal day-care funding is incorrect.[^12][^24] ### The 1972 extension of Title VII Mondale voted as Humphrey did on four Senate roll calls on the [[Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972]]: against Senator Ervin's amendment No. 829, which as offered would have barred federal agencies from requiring an employer to hire by race, religion, national origin or sex in "numbers, proportions, percentages, quotas, goals, or ranges"; against amendment No. 907, which would have extended § 703(j) of the 1964 Act to Executive Order 11246 and to any other statute or executive order; and for passage of S. 2515 and of H.R. 1746 as amended.[^13][^14] The act brought state and local governments under Title VII as employers — the coverage on which the United States now sues Minnesota.[^32][^8] ### Title IX The [[Education Amendments of 1972]], approved June 23, 1972, contain both [[Title IX]], which bars sex discrimination in federally funded education programs, and Title VIII, which provides that "No provision of this Act shall be construed to require the assignment or transportation of students or teachers in order to" overcome racial imbalance.[^33][^34] The bill passed the Senate 88 to 6 on March 1, 1972, and the Senate agreed to the conference report 63 to 15 on May 24.[^35] The 2021 proclamation credits Mondale with being instrumental in the passage of Title IX.[^1] The documents read for this article do not show his role; his votes on the two roll calls are an open item.[^27] ### Child abuse and the states On March 13, 1973 Mondale introduced S. 1191 for himself and thirteen other senators, and that month he chaired its hearings as chairman of the Subcommittee on Children and Youth.[^10] It was enacted as the [[Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act]], Public Law 93-247, approved January 31, 1974.[^11] The act created a National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and, for the part of its money granted to States, made a State's eligibility depend on its having in effect, among other conditions, "a State child abuse and neglect law."[^11] The act reaches state government through a condition on federal money.[^11] ### The Senate's rules and the Church Committee In 1975 Mondale and Senator James Pearson of Kansas introduced Senate Resolution 4 to amend the cloture rule. Mondale argued that "Rule XXII, in its present form, has protected the right of debate at the expense of the right to decide."[^36] That year the Senate reduced the votes needed for cloture from two-thirds of senators voting to "three-fifths of all senators duly chosen and sworn," or 60.[^37] In a 2002 Senate lecture he recalled, "When I came to the Senate, I thought a simple majority should be enough to end debate," and said that requiring 60 votes was "about right."[^38] He was a member of the Senate select committee on intelligence activities chaired by Frank Church, the [[Church Committee]], and chaired its domestic task force, which examined abuses by the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service.[^39][^7] The Historical Society also credits him with a leading part in the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.[^7] He resigned from the Senate on December 30, 1976, after his election as vice president; Wendell R. Anderson was appointed to the seat the same day.[^3] ## Vice President, 1977–1981 Mondale was elected vice president on Jimmy Carter's ticket in 1976, with 297 electoral votes, and served from January 20, 1977 to January 20, 1981.[^4][^1] After the election he sent Carter what the Historical Society describes as an 11-page memo proposing that the vice president serve as a general adviser and troubleshooter rather than take narrow assignments. He received an office in the West Wing, a private lunch with the President every Monday, a seat at the weekly foreign-policy breakfasts, and copies of the major memoranda to and from the President.[^7] In 2002 he recalled "an office in the west wing just steps from the Oval Office."[^38] ### The Horn of Africa The corpus ties Mondale to the Carter administration's dealings with Somalia under Siad Barre and to the 1980 agreement giving American forces access to Somali bases.[^24] The *Foreign Relations* volume on the Horn of Africa records Mondale at several points. He is listed among the participants in a Policy Review Committee meeting on Ethiopia and the Horn on April 11, 1977.[^40] On May 11, 1977 the Somali ambassador, Addou, called on him; Mondale's memorandum to Carter the next day reports that Addou pressed for American military aid and that Mondale encouraged the Somalis, as Secretary Vance had, "to buy military equipment elsewhere and that we would be supportive of that effort," and adds, "I asked what the Somalis would be prepared to do regarding Berbera."[^41] On September 27, 1977 he met President Hassan Gouled of Djibouti, who asked for immediate help with the refugee problem caused by the Ogaden war; his national-security assistant reported to him a month later on the State Department's response.[^42][^43] At a National Security Council meeting on February 23, 1978, "The Vice President asked if there was some way to arrange withdrawal that would allow Siad-Barre to preserve some measure of prestige".[^44] At a Special Coordination Committee meeting on March 2, 1978, which he attended for its first part, he asked whether American publicity about the Soviet and Cuban role was encouraging Siad to hold on, said "The conundrum in the Somali problem is that they are fighting an aggressor", and, on a proposal to move an aircraft carrier nearer the region, said "Let's send it to Singapore."[^45] Mondale is not among the participants in the Special Coordination Committee meeting of March 27, 1978 that the corpus cites, and the volume's account of the August 22, 1980 exchange of notes on access to Somali air and port facilities does not mention him.[^46][^47] ### Geneva, July 1979 On July 20–21, 1979 the United Nations Secretary-General convened a meeting in Geneva on refugees and displaced persons from Indochina. The *Foreign Relations* editors record that "Mondale headed the U.S. delegation."[^15] His address, in the prepared text preserved in his papers, recalled the 1938 conference at Evian, on Lake Geneva, at which thirty-two nations had met to save the Jews of Nazi Germany and Austria — "Forty-one years ago this very week, another international conference on Lake Geneva concluded its deliberations" — and its failure: "Let us not re-enact their error. Let us not be the heirs to their shame."[^16] The speech set out the American commitments. It said that the American people had already welcomed more than 200,000 Indochinese and that "We are preparing to welcome another 168,000 refugees" in the coming year; called on other nations to double their resettlement commitments and to commit to multi-year resettlement, adding that the United States "government is now seeking that authority"; announced a request to Congress for more than $20 million for new refugee processing facilities; announced that the government would ask Congress for $105 million for the programs of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, "more than double our current effort"; and proposed an international Refugee Resettlement Fund — "If other nations join us," the United States would ask Congress for $20 million for its first year, and it recommended total capital of $200 million.[^16] It closed: "History will not forgive us if we fail. History will not forget us if we succeed."[^16] A State Department briefing paper of July 25, 1979 assessed the meeting as continuing the process begun at the Tokyo economic summit and at Bali, reported that "Resettlement commitments now exceed 260,000," more than double the pre-Tokyo level, and said that the announced American programs "were important in setting direction and pace."[^15] In August 1979 Mondale met Deng Xiaoping in Beijing.[^48] ### The Refugee Act of 1980 The [[Refugee Act of 1980]], S. 643, was approved eight months after Geneva, on March 17, 1980. It established a procedure for setting annual refugee admissions in consultation with Congress and created an [[Office of Refugee Resettlement]] in the Department of Health and Human Services.[^17][^49] Its enrolled signature page, displayed by the National Archives, bears the signatures of Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill Jr.; of Senator Warren G. Magnuson as president pro tempore of the Senate, with the printed title of the vice president struck through beneath his signature; and of President Carter, under an approval stamp dated March 17, 1980.[^21][^49] Carter's signing statement of March 18, 1980 does not mention Mondale.[^50] As vice president Mondale was the Senate's presiding officer but not a member of either house, and no source read for this article shows him drafting, sponsoring or signing the act. The corpus's descriptions of the act as Mondale's law, and of Mondale as its co-author and signer, are not supported.[^21][^17][^24] What the record shows is the Geneva announcement eight months earlier and a series of Senate votes on refugee legislation from his Senate years that the project's research reports but that have not yet been confirmed against the bound *Record*.[^16][^27] Minnesota's own refugee office was created by the governor within a federally funded program. MNopedia records that the federal Indochinese Refugee Assistance Program let refugees use local services "distributed through the state and fully reimbursed by the federal government", and that in December 1975 Governor Wendell Anderson created an Indochinese Resettlement Office, which became the Refugee Programs Office in 1981 and coordinated the efforts of federal and voluntary agencies such as Lutheran Social Services, Church World Service and Catholic Charities; no document read for this article shows a Mondale role in it.[^51] The Historical Society's biography credits Mondale with intervening to save Southeast Asian refugees and offer them asylum, which it says ended up resettling refugees in Minnesota and elsewhere, and says the Geneva speech "has been credited with galvanizing nations to take in refugees".[^7] ### Iran The corpus describes an October 19, 1979 foreign-policy breakfast at which, it says, Mondale's vote broke a ten-month deadlock on admitting the deposed Shah of Iran to the United States, and cites a *Foreign Relations* volume for it.[^24] That volume, on Iran from 1977 to November 1979, has not been published; the Office of the Historian lists its status as "Being Cleared."[^52] The account is an open item. He was renominated with Carter in 1980; the ticket received 49 electoral votes.[^53] ## 1984 and after Mondale was the Democratic nominee for president in 1984 and chose Representative Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate, the first woman on a major party's presidential ticket.[^1] Accepting the nomination on July 19, 1984, he told the convention: "Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did."[^54] He lost to Ronald Reagan, 13 electoral votes to 525, carrying only Minnesota and the District of Columbia.[^5] President Clinton appointed him ambassador to Japan; he was appointed on August 2, 1993, presented his credentials on September 21, 1993, and left the post on December 15, 1996.[^6][^7] In 2002, after Senator Paul Wellstone died, the DFL nominated Mondale by acclamation to take Wellstone's place on the ballot against Republican Norm Coleman; Minnesota Public Radio reported that he had "five days to campaign." "Tonight, our campaign begins," he told the party's delegates.[^55] He died in Minneapolis on April 19, 2021.[^56][^57][^1] The presidential proclamation of the next day summarized his offices and credited him with landmark work on legal counsel for indigent defendants, the Fair Housing Act, Title IX and the modern vice presidency.[^1] ### Institutions bearing his name In his lifetime Mondale's name was attached to a law-school building, a chair and a commons at the Humphrey School, a state highway and a party dinner. | Institution | Year | Source | |---|---|---| | Walter F. Mondale Hall, University of Minnesota Law School (building complex dedicated, with Jimmy Carter speaking) | 2001 | [^18][^58] | | Walter F. and Joan Mondale Chair for Political Studies, Humphrey School (Lawrence Jacobs appointed to it in 2005) | by 2005 | [^59] | | Walter F. Mondale Drive, Trunk Highway 53 in Duluth (Minn. Stat. § 161.14, subd. 59) | 2008 | [^60] | | Humphrey-Mondale Dinner, a major fund-raising event for the state DFL, renamed with Bill Clinton as keynote speaker | 2012 | [^20] | | Joan and Walter Mondale Commons, Humphrey School | 2018 | [^19] | At the Humphrey School he established the Policy Fellows Program (the school's history says he co-founded it), sat on the dean's advisory council and for fifteen years co-taught a course on the Constitution and national security with Jacobs; the school described him as "a part-time instructor."[^19][^61] His son Ted Mondale (named in the 2021 proclamation) chaired the [[Metropolitan Council (Minnesota)|Metropolitan Council]] from 1999 to 2003; no act of Walter Mondale's concerning the Council is documented.[^62][^1] ## Connections to the other architects and to Freeman | Figure | Documented contact | What is not documented | Sources | |---|---|---|---| | [[Hubert Humphrey]] | Volunteer and field worker in Humphrey's campaigns; appointed to Humphrey's Senate seat in 1964; co-chaired United Democrats for Humphrey in 1968; Humphrey co-sponsored S. 1512 in 1971; the two voted alike on four 1972 Title VII roll calls; as vice president Mondale announced the Humphrey Institute campaign in 1977 | that Mondale was Humphrey's chief of staff or 1964 running mate (corpus) | [^7][^3][^31][^13][^14][^63] | | [[Orville Freeman]] | Managed Freeman's campaigns; appointed attorney general by Freeman in 1960 | — | [^7][^2] | | [[Harlan Cleveland]] | Both associated with the Humphrey Institute: Mondale announced its founding campaign in 1977 and later established its Policy Fellows Program; Cleveland was its founding dean from 1980 | any joint act | [^63][^19][^61] | | [[Harold Stassen]] | none found | — | [^24] | | [[Amy Klobuchar]] | none in the sources read for this article; her own account of early work in his vice-presidential office is taken up in her article | any act of Mondale's concerning her career | [^24] | | [[Tom Emmer]] | none found | — | [^24] | ## Timeline | Date | Event | Sources | |---|---|---| | January 5, 1928 | Born, Ceylon, Minnesota | [^19] | | 1948 | Field worker in Humphrey's first Senate campaign | [^7][^28] | | 1956 | Law degree, University of Minnesota; runs Freeman's campaign for governor | [^7] | | May 4, 1960 | Takes office as attorney general, appointed by Freeman | [^2][^7] | | 1963 | *Gideon v. Wainwright*; brief of twenty-two states | [^30] | | 1964 | Credentials subcommittee, Democratic National Convention | [^7] | | December 30, 1964 | Takes Humphrey's Senate seat by Rolvaag's appointment | [^3] | | March 11, 1968 | Senate passes H.R. 2516 with fair-housing title | [^9] | | April 5, 1971 | Introduces S. 1512, the Comprehensive Child Development Act | [^31] | | December 9, 1971 | Nixon vetoes the child-development program | [^12] | | January 28 and February 22, 1972 | Votes against Ervin amendments Nos. 829 and 907; for the Title VII extension | [^13][^14] | | January 31, 1974 | Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act approved | [^11] | | 1975 | Senate adopts three-fifths cloture rule | [^37][^36] | | January 20, 1977 | Vice President | [^4][^1] | | May 11, 1977 | Meets the Somali ambassador | [^41] | | July 21, 1979 | Geneva address on Indochinese refugees | [^16][^15] | | March 17, 1980 | Refugee Act approved | [^17][^21] | | 1984 | Democratic nominee for president; loses 13–525 | [^5] | | 1985 | Minn. Stat. § 43A.191 enacted | [^23] | | 1993–1996 | Ambassador to Japan | [^6] | | 2001 | Mondale Hall dedicated | [^18] | | October 2002 | DFL Senate nominee after Wellstone's death | [^55] | | April 19, 2021 | Dies in Minneapolis | [^19] | ## Corpus claims checked The project's corpus on Mondale includes a correction note, steelman and positioning essays, a set of killshots, deep dives on the Refugee Act and on "October 1979," a Somalia file, a 1960s DFL file and a list of one hundred claims.[^24] | Corpus claim | Verdict | What the record shows | Sources | |---|---|---|---| | Mondale authored, co-authored or sponsored the Refugee Act of 1980 | not supported | As vice president he was not a member of either house; no source read shows him drafting or sponsoring the bill | [^17][^21] | | Mondale signed the Refugee Act | false | The enrolled bill was signed by O'Neill, by Magnuson as president pro tempore, and by Carter | [^21] | | The Refugee Act created the voluntary-agency network | corrected | The act created the Office of Refugee Resettlement; the National Archives says it built on existing public-private partnerships | [^49][^17] | | Mondale's October 19, 1979 vote broke a deadlock on admitting the Shah, as documented in *Foreign Relations* vol. X | not supported | Volume X has not been published | [^52] | | Mondale wrote the legislation that created federal day-care funding | false | The child-development bill was vetoed on December 9, 1971 | [^12] | | Mondale met the Somali ambassador twice and supported military aid to Siad Barre in the Ogaden war | corrected | One documented meeting with the ambassador, May 11, 1977, at which he encouraged the Somalis to buy arms elsewhere and asked about Berbera; participation in 1977–1978 committee meetings on the Horn; the documents read record no recommendation of his for military aid | [^41][^40][^44][^45] | | Mondale signed or brokered the 1980 Berbera access agreement | not supported | The August 22, 1980 exchange of notes is recorded without any role for him; in May 1977 he had asked the ambassador what Somalia would be prepared to do regarding Berbera | [^47][^41] | | § 43A.191 was enacted in 1980 or 1981 and signed by Al Quie | corrected | The statewide affirmative-action program is § 43A.19, enacted by Laws 1981, ch. 210, approved May 15, 1981; § 43A.191 was enacted in 1985, 1st Spec. Sess., ch. 13, § 172; Mondale held no office at either date | [^22][^23] | | As attorney general Mondale was obligated to review § 43A.191 | false | He left office in 1964; the statute dates from 1985 and assigns its duties to agency heads, affirmative-action officers and the commissioner | [^2][^23] | | Mondale was chief of staff of Humphrey's 1948 campaign | corrected | Field worker (Historical Society) or congressional district manager (Associated Press) | [^7][^28] | | Miles Lord resigned as attorney general to become U.S. attorney | corrected | Lord was U.S. attorney from 1961; the Historical Society calls his 1960 resignation contentious | [^29][^7] | | The Gideon brief was filed for 23 states | corrected | Twenty-two States and Commonwealths | [^30] | | The 1964 convention rule was the party's first demographic-composition mandate | not supported | The source read describes a prohibition of segregated delegations and a resulting expansion of participation, not a composition rule | [^7] | | Mondale was floor manager of the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980 | false | He was vice president in 1980 | [^4][^1] | | Mondale Hall was renamed on November 16, 2001 | corrected | The building complex was dedicated May 17, 2001 | [^18] | | "Walter F. Mondale Drive" is subdivision 57 | corrected | Subdivision 59 | [^60] | | Mondale returned to the Humphrey School as a fellow | corrected | The school called him a part-time instructor; he established its Policy Fellows Program | [^19][^61] | | The Geneva speech asked the nations to renounce the shame of the past, in those words | false as a quotation | The text reads "Let us renounce that legacy of shame" | [^16] | | The Mondale papers are 1,500 cubic feet, in finding aid 00466 | corrected | Finding aid 00697 describes 985.15 cubic feet | [^64] | | Ted Mondale chaired the Metropolitan Council, 1999–2003 | confirmed | — | [^62] | | The Humphrey-Mondale Dinner was renamed in 2012 with Clinton as keynote | confirmed | — | [^20] | ## The two readings The parent article's two readings apply to Mondale as follows; neither is this article's conclusion.[^65] **The inheritance reading.** On this reading Mondale's instruments were federal and none of them is a Minnesota race- or sex-keyed instrument. He never served in the Legislature and signed no Minnesota statute; §§ 43A.19 and 43A.191 were enacted in 1981 and 1985, while he held no office.[^7][^22][^23] The Refugee Act was a Senate bill passed by Congress and signed by the President; his name is not on it.[^21] Geneva was a United Nations meeting at which the United States was one of many governments pledging places and money, continuing a process begun at Tokyo and at Bali.[^15] On Somalia the record shows a meeting at which he encouraged the Somalis to buy arms elsewhere and, in committee, questions about how Siad Barre might be brought to withdraw.[^41][^44][^45] Of the Senate instruments described here, open housing forbids discrimination, the child-abuse law conditions grants on state child-protection law, and the child-development bill was vetoed and never operated.[^9][^11][^12] **The structural reading.** On this reading Mondale's federal work built channels into state government and into resettlement. As a senator he introduced the child-abuse act that conditions its grants to States on state law and sponsored the vetoed child-development program; in 1972 he voted, with Humphrey, against amendment No. 829, which as offered would have barred federal agencies from requiring hiring in numbers, goals or ranges, against No. 907, which would have extended § 703(j) to Executive Order 11246 and other statutes and orders, and for bringing state employers under Title VII.[^10][^11][^31][^13][^14] As vice president he announced at Geneva an increase in American resettlement and said the government was seeking multi-year resettlement authority; a State Department assessment judged the announced American programs important "in setting direction and pace," and the Refugee Act followed eight months later and created the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement.[^16][^15][^17] The attorney general's office whose civil-rights unit he created defends the State in the 2026 suit.[^7][^8] And his name now marks the law school's building, a chair and a commons at the Humphrey School, and a major DFL fund-raising dinner.[^18][^59][^19][^20] **What both readings foreclose.** Both readings rest on the same statutes, documents and offices; they differ on whether federal instruments that reach the States through conditions and resettlement programs are part of the architecture the parent article describes.[^11][^17] Neither is supported by attributing to Mondale the authorship or signature of the Refugee Act, a role in § 43A.191, or the creation of a day-care program that was vetoed.[^21][^23][^12] ## Open items 1. **Senate roll calls.** His votes on the 1968 tabling motion on the open-housing amendment and on cloture and passage of H.R. 2516; on the 1972 Education Amendments (passage, March 1; conference report, May 24); on the 1973 Senate passage of S. 1191; and on the 1975 Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act — reported from a roll-call database in the project's research and still to be confirmed against the bound *Record*.[^27] 2. **The Refugee Act in the Senate.** Whether Mondale, as vice president, had any documented role in the passage of S. 643, from his vice-presidential papers and Carter Library staff files.[^64] 3. **The delivered Geneva text.** The *Department of State Bulletin* text, October 1979, against the prepared text.[^15][^16] 4. **Iran, October 1979.** Mondale's position on admitting the Shah, from the Carter Library and his papers, pending publication of *Foreign Relations* vol. X.[^52] 5. **Title IX.** A primary basis for the proclamation's statement that he was instrumental in its passage.[^1] 6. **The 1964 credentials resolution.** Its text.[^7] ## Red-link work list Titles linked from this article that the wiki does not have yet, grouped by project; the cross-spine list is `_spines/redlinks.tsv`. - **Federal law and cases:** [[Gideon v. Wainwright]] · [[Civil Rights Act of 1968]] · [[Comprehensive Child Development Act]] · [[Education Amendments of 1972]] · [[Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act]] · [[Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972]] - **People and bodies:** [[Edward Brooke]] · [[Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party]] · [[Church Committee]] ## See also - [[How Minnesota Got Here]] - [[Humphrey, Freeman and Mondale]] - [[Refugee Act of 1980]] - [[United States v. State of Minnesota (affirmative-action hiring)]] - [[Minn. Stat. § 43A.191]] - [[Harold Stassen]] · [[Hubert Humphrey]] · [[Harlan Cleveland]] · [[Amy Klobuchar]] · [[Tom Emmer]] ## Notes [^1]: Proclamation 10185 of April 20, 2021, "Death of Walter Mondale," 86 Fed. Reg. 21633 (Apr. 23, 2021). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2021-04-23/pdf/2021-08655.pdf [^2]: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, "Minnesota Attorneys General" roster — Lord from Jan. 3, 1955; Mondale from May 4, 1960; Mattson from Dec. 30, 1964. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/mngov/attygen [^3]: U.S. Senate, "Minnesota: Senators" — service dates for Ball, Humphrey (1949–1964, resigned; 1971–1978, died), Mondale (appointed Dec. 30, 1964), Muriel B. Humphrey (appointed Jan. 25, 1978) and others. https://www.senate.gov/states/MN/senators.htm [^4]: National Archives, "1976 Electoral College Results" — Carter and Mondale, 297. https://www.archives.gov/electoral-college/1976 [^5]: National Archives, "1984 Electoral College Results" — Reagan 525, Mondale 13 (Minnesota 10, District of Columbia 3). https://www.archives.gov/electoral-college/1984 [^6]: U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, "Walter F. Mondale" — ambassador to Japan: appointed Aug. 2, 1993; credentials Sept. 21, 1993; left post Dec. 15, 1996. https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/mondale-walter-f [^7]: Minnesota Historical Society, "Walter F. Mondale: Biography" — campaign work for Humphrey; appointment by Governor Rolvaag in 1964; offices held. https://www.mnhs.org/mondale/biography [^8]: Complaint, *United States v. State of Minnesota*, No. 0:26-cv-00273 (D. Minn. filed Jan. 14, 2026), Title VII §§ 703(a)(1)–(2), with the Department of Human Services hiring-justification policy as Exhibit B; the complaint cites Minn. Stat. § 43A.191. https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1423361/dl [^9]: University of Minnesota Law Library, *Walter F. Mondale* digital exhibit, "Civil Rights / Fair Housing" — the 1967 hearings, the Mondale–Brooke amendment, the Dirksen substitute, Senate passage of H.R. 2516 on March 11, 1968, the April 5 statement and the April 11 signing. https://mondale-librarycollections.law.umn.edu/civil-rights-fair-housing [^10]: *Child Abuse Prevention Act, 1973*: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Children and Youth, Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, on S. 1191 (Mar. 26, 27 and 31 and Apr. 24, 1973) — bill print: introduced Mar. 13, 1973 by Mr. Mondale for himself and thirteen other senators; Mondale presiding as subcommittee chairman. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-93shrg95591O/pdf/CHRG-93shrg95591O.pdf [^11]: Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, Pub. L. 93-247 [S. 1191], 88 Stat. 4, approved Jan. 31, 1974 — the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect; state eligibility conditions. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-88/pdf/STATUTE-88-Pg4.pdf [^12]: Richard Nixon, "Veto of the Economic Opportunity Amendments of 1971" (Dec. 9, 1971), American Presidency Project. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/veto-the-economic-opportunity-amendments-1971 [^13]: 118 Cong. Rec. 1624–88 (Jan. 28, 1972), Senate, bound edition — Ervin amendment No. 829 to S. 2515 and roll call No. 19 (rejected 22–44). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1972-pt2/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1972-pt2-3-1.pdf "No department, agency, or office of the United States shall require any employer to practice discrimination in reverse" [^14]: 118 Cong. Rec. 4829–5020 (Feb. 22, 1972), Senate, bound edition — Ervin amendment No. 907 and roll call No. 53 (rejected 30–60), Javits in opposition; roll calls No. 56 (S. 2515 passed 73–16) and No. 57 (H.R. 1746 passed 72–17). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1972-pt4/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1972-pt4-6-1.pdf [^15]: *FRUS, 1977–1980*, vol. XXII, doc. 138 — State Department briefing paper on the Geneva meeting, July 25, 1979; editors' note that Mondale headed the U.S. delegation. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v22/d138 [^16]: Walter F. Mondale, address to the U.N. Conference on Indochinese Refugees (the United Nations Meeting on Refugees and Displaced Persons in South-East Asia), Geneva, July 21, 1979, prepared text (Office of the Vice President), Minnesota Historical Society, Mondale papers. http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00697/pdf/UNSpeech19790721.pdf [^17]: Refugee Act of 1980, Pub. L. 96-212, 94 Stat. 102, approved Mar. 17, 1980. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-94/pdf/STATUTE-94-Pg102.pdf [^18]: Minnesota Public Radio archive, "Carter and Mondale celebrate the opening of Mondale Hall" (May 17, 2001). https://archive.mpr.org/stories/2001/05/17/carter-and-mondale-celebrate-opening-mondale-hall [^19]: Humphrey School of Public Affairs, "Humphrey School Mourns Death of Former Vice President Walter Mondale" (Apr. 19, 2021). https://www.hhh.umn.edu/news/humphrey-school-mourns-death-former-vice-president-walter-mondale [^20]: Doug Grow, "Bill Clinton to headline DFL's renamed Humphrey-Mondale Dinner," MinnPost (May 31, 2012). https://www.minnpost.com/political-agenda/2012/05/bill-clinton-headline-dfls-renamed-humphrey-mondale-dinner/ [^21]: National Archives, signature page of the enrolled Refugee Act of 1980 (S. 643), image — signatures of the Speaker, of the President pro tempore of the Senate and of the President, approved Mar. 17, 1980 (image examined for this article). https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2015/11/refugee-act-signature-page.jpg [^22]: Laws of Minnesota 1981, ch. 210 (S.F. No. 876), approved May 15, 1981 — repeals Minnesota Statutes 1980, chapter 43 and enacts chapter 43A: § 1 [43A.01] subd. 2 (the affirmative-action policy), § 13 [43A.13] subd. 7 ("expanded certification"), § 19 [43A.19] (the statewide affirmative action program), § 53 [43A.47] (transitional provisions). https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/1981/0/Session+Law/Chapter/210/ "All rights, privileges, liabilities and obligations possessed or created under chapter 43" [^23]: Minn. Stat. § 43A.191, "Agency Affirmative Action Programs," with history line. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/43A.191 [^24]: Minnesota record, Mondale corpus files (Mondale_Correction_Note, the steelman, positioning and killshot essays, the Refugee Act and "October 1979" deep dives, the Somalia and Layout files, the DFL 1960s file, the 100-claims list and the record rows), as checked in the Mondale fact sheet of Oct. 28, 2026. [^25]: Minnesota record, *How Minnesota Got Here — Minnesota's Administrative Discrimination Regime* (merged master, footnoted; compiled June 12, refreshed June 19, 2026), preface and §0 — the discipline (structural claims about institutions; individuals in official capacity only; verdicts reserved to the grand jury, the court and the Division) and the two readings built to be cited by both sides. [^26]: Minnesota record, *The Instrument No One Will Name* (densified companion, June 18, 2026), opening register and method note — combative to the game, critical of each team, neutral on the players; judges the container, never the merits; "symmetric or void". [^27]: Senate and House roll calls reported in the Mondale fact sheet from the Voteview database (Voteview.com, reproductions of the official roll calls). The site's rules bar this project's retrieval tool, so the roll calls are not cited as findings here; each is listed as an open item for confirmation against the bound Congressional Record. [^28]: Associated Press obituary, "Walter Mondale, liberal icon and Carter's vice president, dies at 93," PBS NewsHour (Apr. 2021). https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/walter-mondale-jimmy-carters-vice-president-dies-at-93 [^29]: Federal Judicial Center, "Lord, Miles Welton" — attorney general of Minnesota 1955–1960; U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota 1961–1966. https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/lord-miles-welton [^30]: *Gideon v. Wainwright*, 372 U.S. 335 (1963), U.S. Reports, counsel listing — the brief for twenty-two States and Commonwealths as amici curiae. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USREPORTS-372/pdf/USREPORTS-372-335.pdf [^31]: *Comprehensive Child Development Act of 1971*: Joint Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Employment, Manpower, and Poverty and the Subcommittee on Children and Youth, Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, on S. 1512 (May 13 and 20, 1971), part 1 — bill print: introduced Apr. 5, 1971 by Mr. Mondale for himself and others. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-92shrg63121Op1/pdf/CHRG-92shrg63121Op1.pdf [^32]: Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, Pub. L. 92-261, 86 Stat. 103, § 2 — amends the Title VII definition of "person" to include governments, governmental agencies and political subdivisions. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-86/pdf/STATUTE-86-Pg103.pdf [^33]: Education Amendments of 1972, Pub. L. 92-318, 86 Stat. 235, approved June 23, 1972 — Title VIII, § 801; Title IX. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-86/pdf/STATUTE-86-Pg235.pdf [^34]: Education Amendments of 1972, Pub. L. 92-318, 86 Stat. 235, Title IX, § 901 — sex discrimination in federally funded education programs. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-86/pdf/STATUTE-86-Pg235.pdf [^35]: Wikipedia, "Education Amendments of 1972" (secondary) — legislative history: Senate passage 88–6 (Mar. 1, 1972); Senate agreement to the conference report 63–15 (May 24, 1972). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_Amendments_of_1972 [^36]: University of Minnesota Law Library, *Walter F. Mondale — Spokesman for Reform and Justice in the U.S. Senate* (digital exhibit), "Filibuster / Cloture" — S. Res. 4 (Mondale and Pearson) and Mondale's statements. https://mondale-librarycollections.law.umn.edu/filibuster-cloture [^37]: U.S. Senate, "Filibuster and Cloture" — the 1975 change to three-fifths of all senators duly chosen and sworn. https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/filibusters-cloture.htm [^38]: U.S. Senate, Leader's Lecture Series, Walter F. Mondale (Sept. 4, 2002). https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/Leaders_Lecture_Series_Mondale.htm [^39]: U.S. Senate, "Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (The Church Committee)" — chairman Frank Church; members including Walter Mondale. https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/investigations/church-committee.htm [^40]: *FRUS, 1977–1980*, vol. XVII, pt. 1, doc. 11 — summary of conclusions of the Policy Review Committee meeting of Apr. 11, 1977 on Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa (participants include the Vice President). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v17p1/d11 [^41]: *FRUS, 1977–1980*, vol. XVII, pt. 1, doc. 18 — memorandum from Vice President Mondale to President Carter, May 12, 1977, on his May 11 meeting with Somali Ambassador Addou. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v17p1/d18 [^42]: *FRUS, 1977–1980*, vol. XVII, pt. 1, doc. 30 — memorandum from Denis Clift to Vice President Mondale, Sept. 27, 1977, on his meeting with President Gouled of Djibouti. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v17p1/d30 [^43]: *FRUS, 1977–1980*, vol. XVII, pt. 1, doc. 33 — memorandum from Clift to Vice President Mondale, Oct. 27, 1977, "Aid to Djibouti": Gouled's Sept. 27 request for help with refugees from the Ogaden war. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v17p1/d33 [^44]: *FRUS, 1977–1980*, vol. XVII, pt. 1, doc. 62 — minutes of the National Security Council meeting of Feb. 23, 1978 on the Horn of Africa. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v17p1/d62 [^45]: *FRUS, 1977–1980*, vol. XVII, pt. 1, doc. 65 — record of the Special Coordination Committee meeting of Mar. 2, 1978 (the Vice President present for the first part; near-verbatim transcription). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v17p1/d65 [^46]: *FRUS, 1977–1980*, vol. XVII, pt. 1, doc. 76 — Special Coordination Committee meeting, Mar. 27, 1978 (participants). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v17p1/d76 [^47]: *FRUS, 1977–1980*, vol. XVII, pt. 1, doc. 108, with the editors' note on the Aug. 22, 1980 exchange of notes with Somalia. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v17p1/d108 [^48]: *FRUS, 1977–1980*, vol. XIII, doc. 264 — Vice President Mondale's meeting with Deng Xiaoping, Beijing, Aug. 27, 1979. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v13/d264 [^49]: National Archives, *Pieces of History*, "On Display: The Refugee Act of 1980" (Nov. 20, 2015) — the act's provisions and images of its first and signature pages. https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2015/11/20/on-display-the-refugee-act-of-1980 [^50]: Jimmy Carter, "Refugee Act of 1980 Statement on Signing S. 643 Into Law" (Mar. 18, 1980), American Presidency Project. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/refugee-act-1980-statement-signing-s-643-into-law [^51]: MNopedia, "Indochinese Refugee Resettlement Office, 1975–1986." https://www.mnopedia.org/group/indochinese-refugee-resettlement-office-1975-1986 [^52]: Office of the Historian, *FRUS, 1977–1980*, vol. X, Iran: Revolution, January 1977–November 1979 — status "Being Cleared." https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v10 [^53]: National Archives, "1980 Electoral College Results" — Carter and Mondale, 49. https://www.archives.gov/electoral-college/1980 [^54]: Walter F. Mondale, "Address Accepting the Presidential Nomination at the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco" (July 19, 1984), American Presidency Project. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-accepting-the-presidential-nomination-the-democratic-national-convention-san [^55]: Mark Zdechlik, "Mondale accepts nomination," Minnesota Public Radio (Oct. 31, 2002). https://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200210/31_zdechlikm_mondale/ [^56]: Associated Press, "Walter Mondale, Carter's vice president, dies at 93" (Apr. 19, 2021), as published by KLKN-TV — the family's statement that he died in Minneapolis. https://www.klkntv.com/walter-mondale-carters-vice-president-dies-at-93/ [^57]: Forum News Service, "Walter Mondale memorial service set for spring in Minneapolis" (2022) — died in Minneapolis on Apr. 19, 2021. https://www.inforum.com/news/minnesota/walter-mondale-memorial-service-set-for-spring-in-minneapolis [^58]: University of Minnesota Law School, "History" — 2001: Walter F. Mondale Hall dedicated. https://law.umn.edu/about/history [^59]: Humphrey School, directory, "Larry Jacobs" — Walter F. and Joan Mondale Chair for Political Studies since 2005. https://www.hhh.umn.edu/directory/larry-jacobs [^60]: Minn. Stat. § 161.14, subd. 59, "Walter F. Mondale Drive" (2008 c 287 art 1 s 11). https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/161.14 [^61]: Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, "Mission, Values and Legacy" — school history: predecessors from 1936, the Humphrey Institute, Adams (1976–79), Cleveland founding dean (1980), renamed 2011. https://www.hhh.umn.edu/mission-values-and-legacy [^62]: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, agency record "Metropolitan Council" — chairs, including Ted Mondale, 1999–2003. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/agencies/detail?AgencyID=1047 [^63]: University of Minnesota News Service, "HHH Public Affairs Institute to be Established at U of M" (July 28, 1977), University Digital Conservancy scan. https://conservancy.umn.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/598c4d8b-a968-4199-8d04-df0a1d718fff/content [^64]: Minnesota Historical Society, *Walter F. Mondale Papers* (finding aid 00697) — 985.15 cubic feet. http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00697.html [^65]: Minnesota record, *How Minnesota Got Here — Minnesota's Administrative Discrimination Regime* (merged master, footnoted; compiled June 12, refreshed June 19, 2026), §0 and §6 — the defense (inheritance and immunization) and prosecution (structurally compromised apparatus; receivership argument) readings, and the third reading both foreclose.