The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Former US vice-president Walter Mondale, aged 93
Former US vicepresident Walter Mondale, a liberal icon who lost the most lopsided presidential election after bluntly telling voters to expect a tax increase if he won, has died.
Mr Mondale’s family said he died on Monday in Minneapolis, aged 93.
He served Minnesota as attorney general and a US senator, and followed the trail blazed by his political mentor, Hubert H Humphrey, to the vicepresidency, serving under Democrat Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981.
Mr Mondale’s own try for the White House, in 1984, came at the zenith of Ronald Reagan’s popularity and his selection of Representative Geraldine Ferraro of New York as his running mate made him the first major-party presidential nominee to put a woman on the ticket.
On election day, he carried only his home state and the District of Columbia.
“I did my best,” Mr Mondale said the day after the election, and blamed no one but himself.
He added: “I think you know I’ve never really warmed up to television. In fairness to television, it never really warmed up to me.”
Years later, Mr Mondale said his campaign message had proven to be the right one.
He said: “History has vindicated me that we would have to raise taxes.
“It was very unpopular, but it was undeniably correct.”
Mr Carter said he was “an invaluable partner and an able servant of people of Minnesota, United States and world”.
“Rosalynn and I join all Americans in giving thanks for his exemplary life, and we extend our deepest condolences to his family,” he added.
After his White House years, Mr Mondale served from 1993-96 as President Bill Clinton’s ambassador to Japan, fighting for US access to markets ranging from cars to mobile phones.
He helped avert a trade war in June 1995 over cars and car parts, persuading Japanese officials to give American carmakers more access to dealers and pushing Japanese car firms to buy US parts.
In 2008, he endorsed Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for president. the the the