Walter Mondale transformed the role of the U.S. vice-president
Published April 20, 2021
BILL ALKOFER/AFP/Getty Images
Walter F. Mondale, the former U.S. senator, vice-president, presidential nominee and ambassador who died Monday night at the age of 93, will be remembered for being at once the last and the first.
He was the last Democrat of the old New Deal tradition, drawing on the support of working-class people and the striving while harbouring a devout belief in the role of government programs to ease the harshness of life. Today’s Democrats have a far different profile and have witnessed the flight of blue-collar voters to the Donald Trump Republicans.