Not "apparently", Lee Hart did die last week. Here's the story:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/11/us/p ... -dead.html
R.I.P. Walter Mondale
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Big Magilla
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Re: R.I.P. Walter Mondale
Great write-up as usual, Tee.
I didn't notice this (because she's not a national figure) but apparently Gary Hart's wife died last week.
I didn't notice this (because she's not a national figure) but apparently Gary Hart's wife died last week.
"How's the despair?"
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Mister Tee
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Re: R.I.P. Walter Mondale
Before Mondale, the vice-presidency was a joke of an office -- a view expressed as far back as John Adams, most colorfully by John Nance Garner. Certainly the veeps of my childhood conformed to that stereotype: Nixon was the dark underbelly of Eisenhower-era Republicanism, and Agnew, even before he developed his own resignation-worthy scandal, was seen as such a buffoon that people called him Nixon's Nixon. The Dems in between the two treated their number two's with disdain -- LBJ obviously had plenty to offer, but the Kennedys saw him as trash whose only value was carrying Texas...and Johnson echoed that contempt when he said things like "I just reminded Hubert I've got his balls in my pocket".
Mondale (and Carter) swore it would be different with them; the seen-it-all Beltway press knew better. Only it actually happened. The two redefined the idea of the vice-presidency, and they did it for all time -- with the exception of the four years of Dan Quayle, and the recent humiliation of Mike Pence, vice-presidents post-Mondale have been far closer to equal partners with the presidents they served. (For good or ill, as Cheney demonstrated.)
I'm glad you both raised this issue, because it's much kinder to remember Mondale for that than for his later, higher-profile failures. Mondale going up against Reagan in 1984 was a trainwreck you could see coming from miles away, but couldn't stop people from hopping on board. It's not as if any Democrat was going to defeat Reagan, once the economy started booming in time for the election. But Mondale was uniquely positioned to get his ass kicked. Reagan had spent his entire political career running against Hubert Humphrey Democrats, and then, in 1980, he had the luck to run against a star-crossed Jimmy Carter. Mondale was literally the person who best represented both these things. Gary Hart (for whom I rooted/voted in the primaries) would, as I say, have lost as well, but likely not as crushingly. If nothing else, he had a lot more personality than Mondale, who seemed a genuinely good man, but a bland candidate.
And Mondale's awful loss did have the repercussions you both note. It was one thing for McGovern to lose like that -- he was so tarred with the peace movement you'd have thought Abbie Hoffman was his running mate. But Mondale was a standard-issue liberal Dem; if he could get blown out like that, the party, it was thought, must be so far out of step it needed a total overhaul. We're still dealing with the fallout from that decision.
It's also kind to skip by Mondale's last political moment: losing to Norm Coleman when he replaced the late Paul Wellstone in the Senate race after Wellstone's plane crash.
In the end: decent man. Good, historic vice-president. Wrong man at the wrong time when he went for the top job.
Mondale (and Carter) swore it would be different with them; the seen-it-all Beltway press knew better. Only it actually happened. The two redefined the idea of the vice-presidency, and they did it for all time -- with the exception of the four years of Dan Quayle, and the recent humiliation of Mike Pence, vice-presidents post-Mondale have been far closer to equal partners with the presidents they served. (For good or ill, as Cheney demonstrated.)
I'm glad you both raised this issue, because it's much kinder to remember Mondale for that than for his later, higher-profile failures. Mondale going up against Reagan in 1984 was a trainwreck you could see coming from miles away, but couldn't stop people from hopping on board. It's not as if any Democrat was going to defeat Reagan, once the economy started booming in time for the election. But Mondale was uniquely positioned to get his ass kicked. Reagan had spent his entire political career running against Hubert Humphrey Democrats, and then, in 1980, he had the luck to run against a star-crossed Jimmy Carter. Mondale was literally the person who best represented both these things. Gary Hart (for whom I rooted/voted in the primaries) would, as I say, have lost as well, but likely not as crushingly. If nothing else, he had a lot more personality than Mondale, who seemed a genuinely good man, but a bland candidate.
And Mondale's awful loss did have the repercussions you both note. It was one thing for McGovern to lose like that -- he was so tarred with the peace movement you'd have thought Abbie Hoffman was his running mate. But Mondale was a standard-issue liberal Dem; if he could get blown out like that, the party, it was thought, must be so far out of step it needed a total overhaul. We're still dealing with the fallout from that decision.
It's also kind to skip by Mondale's last political moment: losing to Norm Coleman when he replaced the late Paul Wellstone in the Senate race after Wellstone's plane crash.
In the end: decent man. Good, historic vice-president. Wrong man at the wrong time when he went for the top job.
Re: R.I.P. Walter Mondale
I'll defer this to the elder experts on the board. Walter Mondale was Vice President before I was born. He ran for President when I was three.
Some people run for President and even if they lose, they leave a legacy, like Barry Goldwater. Walter Mondale doesn't seem to be one of those people. To be charitable, he seems on paper to be the last of the New Dealers to run for President. He staved off presidential runs by Gary Hart and Jesse Jackson which in hindsight seem more like harbingers of things to come. The DLC was formed in the wake of his failed campaign. In retrospect, his 1984 convention was a pretty remarkable thing for a spectacularly failed campaign. How many historic speeches happened at that convention? Three (not including Walter Mondale's historically poor acceptance speech where he promised to raise taxes)? It introduced Mario Cuomo to the world. It featured a woman on the ticket for the first time. It was the first (and only?) time that super delegates were used to clinch the nomination.
His lasting legacy seems to have been redefining the Vice Presidency, putting an office in the White House, and serving as a governmental advisory partner to the Presidency. I'd love to know what others say about this quality in particular: was the latter unusual beforehand for a running mate? Specifically for the relationships they can provide for the President?
He also seemed like he stayed very, very sharp.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?328827-1/ ... -president
Some people run for President and even if they lose, they leave a legacy, like Barry Goldwater. Walter Mondale doesn't seem to be one of those people. To be charitable, he seems on paper to be the last of the New Dealers to run for President. He staved off presidential runs by Gary Hart and Jesse Jackson which in hindsight seem more like harbingers of things to come. The DLC was formed in the wake of his failed campaign. In retrospect, his 1984 convention was a pretty remarkable thing for a spectacularly failed campaign. How many historic speeches happened at that convention? Three (not including Walter Mondale's historically poor acceptance speech where he promised to raise taxes)? It introduced Mario Cuomo to the world. It featured a woman on the ticket for the first time. It was the first (and only?) time that super delegates were used to clinch the nomination.
His lasting legacy seems to have been redefining the Vice Presidency, putting an office in the White House, and serving as a governmental advisory partner to the Presidency. I'd love to know what others say about this quality in particular: was the latter unusual beforehand for a running mate? Specifically for the relationships they can provide for the President?
He also seemed like he stayed very, very sharp.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?328827-1/ ... -president
"How's the despair?"
R.I.P. Walter Mondale
He was a good liberal and a successful one, only undone by running into the brick wall of the Reagan revolution. And boy, was that a hard hit! One of our best vice presidents.