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In the early morning of April 20, I awoke in Taiwan to a dreaded phone call from Minnesota to learn about the passing of Walter âFritzâ Mondale, the former vice president to President Jimmy Carter. Born in Ceylon, a small town in southern Minnesota, Mondale lived to 93 â having served as a Minnesota attorney general, United States senator and ambassador to Japan.Â
Indeed, Mondale and I hardly had anything in common â except we were destined to share history through Ceylon and Taiwan.
Like Mondale, I was born in Ceylon. Mine was a British colony, which later changed its name to Sri Lanka in 1972. Ceylon, Minnesota has its own British legacy. A group of local men ran out of beer one wintry night and found out that liquor in the general store in Chanhassen sold out. Their disappointment led them to purchase âCeylon tea;â thus, happily renaming Chanhassen to Ceylon in 1899.
Walter Mondale through the years Former Vice President Walter Mondale was admired for his diplomacy, humor and decency. April 19, 2021 3:37pm
SCROLL Copy shortlink: Duane Braley, Star Tribune Sen. Walter F. Mondale clasped hands and bowed his head in a prayer line Thursday in Unity Unitarian Church, St. Paul, during a rally for civil rights demonstrators in Selma, Ala. in 1965. Earl Seubert, Star Tribune In this October 24, 1965 photo, Walter Mondale posed with Sen. Hubert Humphrey. Viewing his first-year record as a Senator, Mondale was proudest of his work in the private deliberations of the Senate Agriculture Committee. When Mondale stressed his advocacy in committee of the Feed Grains Price Support Program, he illustrated his personal concept of the effective role of a freshman Senator.
Todayâs Highlight in History:
On Jan. 29, 1979, President Jimmy Carter formally welcomed Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping to the White House, following the establishment of diplomatic relations.
On Jan. 29:
In 1820, King George III died at Windsor Castle at age 81; he was succeeded by his son, who became King George IV.
In 1845, Edgar Allan Poeâs famous narrative poem âThe Ravenâ (âOnce upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary.â) was first published in the New York Evening Mirror.
In 1919, the ratification of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which launched Prohibition, was certified by Acting Secretary of State Frank L. Polk.