![]() “It was the first time a vice president was involved in presidential decisions.”ĭean E. “It was a remarkable vice presidency,” Stein said. Historically, vice presidents were seen, but not heard. When Carter won the general election, Mondale ascended to the vice presidency. In 1976, he was tapped by Democratic presidential nominee Jimmy Carter to be his running mate. Senate for 12 years, defeating Republican opponents in 19. Our neighbors who took to the streets over the past few weeks have joined a great cause. “Each generation is tasked with the hard work of serving in the great fight for justice. “The battle for civil rights is a journey, not an end point,” he wrote in a 2020 Star Tribune article. Recent demonstrations protesting the death of George Floyd, inspired Mondale. ![]() “America had never really become racially integrated and just.” “He believed what was happening in America was the unfinished business of the Kerner Commission and Fair Housing Act,” Orfield said. The former vice president, Orfield said, saw a connection between the police killings of Philando Castile and George Floyd and a lack of societal change. “The law was Congress’s effort to remedy a great historical evil: the large-scale exclusion and isolation of blacks from white communities,” he wrote.īut, Mondale noted, the Fair Housing Act “suffered from neglect,” which allowed “the evil of residential segregation” to grow in many places, including Minnesota. In 2018, he wrote an assessment on the law’s impact for the New York Times. Throughout his life, Mondale tracked the impact of the Fair Housing Act. Larson Professor of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Law and the director of the Institute on Metropolitan Opportunity. “He thought it was one of the great achievements of his life,” said Myron Orfield, the Earl R. In that position, he supported the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and co-authored the Fair Housing Act of 1968, shepherding that landmark legislation into law against great odds. Mondale’s rise to national prominence began in 1964 when Minnesota Governor Karl Rolvaag appointed him to the U.S. ![]() Supreme Court cited the brief Mondale championed. In its unanimous decision upholding a Sixth Amendment right to counsel, the U.S. Mondale recruited 21 other attorneys general to join him in a Gideon v. Instead of focusing solely on his home state, he led an effort to oppose Florida’s decision to end state-funded legal representation for criminal defendants unable to afford an attorney. Mondale’s career got its first boost in 1960 when Governor Orville Freeman appointed the young lawyer to the post of Minnesota attorney general. He graduated cum laude from the Law School in 1956. During his free time, Mondale worked on the political campaigns of rising stars such as Hubert Humphrey and Orville Freeman.Īfter graduation from the University in 1951, Mondale served two years in the U.S. Paul, where he met his future wife-Joan Adams-before transferring to the University. He began his collegiate studies at Macalester College in St. ![]() Raised on the prairie in southwest Minnesota, Mondale was the son of a Methodist minister and a music teacher. Mondale '56 with then dean Bob Stein '61 at the Law School's centennial celebration in 1988 “During his busy, celebrated and honorable life, he always found time for the Law School,” said Robert Stein ‘61, Everett Fraser Professor of Law and Distinguished Global Professor. When he retired from public life, Mondale remained active, including maintaining a vibrant practice at the Dorsey law firm, pursuing social justice issues, and volunteering his time and expertise to causes he loved. When Bill Clinton won the White House in 1992, he asked Mondale to represent the United States as its ambassador to Japan, a position which Mondale held until 1996. In 1984, he made history by picking a woman-Geraldine Ferraro of New York-as his running mate, a first for a major party presidential ticket. senator, he pushed for the passage-and helped write-the 1968 Fair Housing Act. As Minnesota attorney general, he opposed Florida’s effort to strip legal representation from indigent defendants. Throughout his amazing career, Mondale remained an unpretentious, yet forceful advocate for civil rights, human rights and the American labor movement. In addition, he led with a remarkable degree of warmth and humility that always put his fellow citizens and the common good first.”Īdded Jenkins, “We have lost a giant and a deeply loyal friend.” “As a politician, public servant, diplomat, and lawyer, Walter Mondale exemplified the values of leadership and service that we seek to foster at Minnesota Law. “We are heartbroken by the news of Vice President Mondale’s death,” said Garry W. senator, and ambassador to Japan, died April 19 at the age of 93. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |