MINNEAPOLIS — In a service that attracted activists, politicians, family and friends, former Vice President Walter Mondale was hailed Sunday as a revered public servant who put principle over politics, and love of nation over self gain.
The event, which featured praise from senators to longtime activists, was headlined by President Joe Biden, who flew in on Air Force One earlier Sunday afternoon.
Biden, who has previously cited Mondale as "one of our nation's most dedicated patriots and public servants," saluted his "friend of five decades."
“He united people, sharing the light, the same hopes — even when we disagreed, he thought that was important...It’s up to each of us to reflect that light that 'Fritz' was all about," Biden said.
The event was hosted at the University of Minnesota's Northrop Auditorium, and featured musical performances from the university's marching band, as well as performances of "Annie" and "Tomorrow."
Mondale was a graduate of the university and its law school, which they named in his honor.
The American political titan was born in Ceylon, Minnesota in 1928, and died of natural causes at the age of 93 on April 19, 2021, in Minneapolis — his service had been delayed by COVID-19 Pandemic.
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Also in attendance were some of Minnesota's top elected officials.
Senator Tina Smith called Mondale a “bona fide political celebrity” who still dedicated time to races large and small back in their home state.
Senator Amy Klobuchar described once being an intern who climbed under chairs and a table to carry out a furniture inventory when Mondale was vice president.
“That was my first job in Washington. And, thanks to Walter Mondale, this was my second," Klobuchar said of being a senator, noting that Mondale encouraged her to run and taught “the pundits in Washington how to say my name.”
Democratic Gov. Tim Walz said Minnesota may be better known as Mondale's home state than its moniker “The Land of 10,000 Lakes,” and praised Mondale's intellect, humility, humor and optimism.
“He embodied a sense of joy. He lived his life every single day,” Walz said. “At 91, he was still fishing for walleye. Unlike me, he was catching some."
Minnesota civil rights icon Josie Johnson spoke of what a good listener Mondale was and how he championed inclusiveness.
A booklet given to attendees for the “afternoon of remembrance and reflection” quoted from Mondale’s 2010 book, “The Good Fight": “I believe that the values of the American people — our fundamental decency, our sense of justice and fairness, our love of freedom — are the country’s greatest assets, and that steering by their lodestar is the only true course forward.”
Its back cover showed Mondale’s face next to the slogan, “We told the truth. We obeyed the law. We kept the peace,” which Klobuchar described as being memorialized after the then-vice president said those words at the end of the Carter administration.
Mondale followed a trail blazed by his political mentor, Hubert H. Humphrey, serving as Minnesota attorney general before replacing Humphrey in the Senate. He was Carter's vice president from 1977 to 1981.
Mondale also lost one of the most lopsided presidential elections ever, to Ronald Reagan in 1984. He carried only Minnesota and the District of Columbia after bluntly telling voters to expect a tax increase if he won. But he made history in that race by picking Rep. Geraldine Ferraro, of New York, as his running mate, becoming the first major-party nominee to put a woman on the ticket.
Mondale remained an important Democratic voice for decades afterward, and went on to serve as ambassador to Japan under President Bill Clinton. In 2002, at 74, he was drafted to run for the Senate again after Sen. Paul Wellstone was killed in a plane crash shortly before the election. Mondale lost the abbreviated race to Republican Norm Coleman.
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