How Walter Mondale revolutionized the vice presidency
Before Joe Biden agreed to accept Barack Obama’s offer to be his running mate in 2008, the senator from Delaware needed a couple of hours alone with Obama to hash out the details. Key to their discussion: a missive written by a man who served as vice president three decades earlier.
Walter Mondale, who died Monday at age 93, was both an adviser and a loyal lieutenant to Jimmy Carter during his presidency and a role model to every vice president who followed him. Biden and Obama met after Mondale sent Biden the formal agreement made with Carter. Biden had wanted to get a good look at it first.