Minnesota’s Walter Mondale was close advisor, influence on Jimmy Carter

Minnesotans have a special connection to President Jimmy Carter. His vice president, Walter Mondale, was one of us.

Mondale and Carter had a close relationship during Carter’s presidency — working together on human rights, the environment and foreign affairs. Mondale even officed at the White House, a first for a Vice President at that time.

Although Mondale and Carter were close, their relationship wasn’t always sunny.

University of Minnesota Professor Larry Jacobs, who worked closely with Mondale, spoke with MPR News host Emily Reese about Mondale and Carter’s relationship.

Below is a transcript of their conversation, edited for clarity.

How would you characterize Mondale’s relationship with Carter?

Deeply, deeply respectful. Walter Mondale and Jimmy Carter shared a passion for human rights and for the importance of the environment. Mondale stood by Carter thick and thin.

Mondale took the VP slot with the understanding that he would be a close advisor to Carter. How did that change what happened during Carter’s time in office?

Walter Mondale received all the information flowing in the White House. Now that may sound trivial, but information is power and before Mondale, the vice president was outside of that flow of information, they were not significant or important players.

So, with Carter relying on Mondale, he had a very important role in all sorts of areas. For instance, one of the Carter accomplishments was to formalize the relationship with China, and it was Walter Mondale who traveled to Beijing and China to work out the terms of that remarkable relationship. And the story goes on and on.

Here in Minnesota, we see the impact of the Carter-Mondale relationship with the generations of Hmong. The U.S. Navy was deployed by Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale to rescue Hmong, who were left to drift in the ocean, many dying, and then Walter Mondale helped to create opportunities in Minnesota for the resettlement of Hmong.

Was there a moment that policy conversations between the two became blunt, or did they ever have any sort of power struggle between the two?

There wasn’t a power struggle, but there were certainly differences of perspective. Jimmy Carter was a fiscal conservative by nature. He really disdained what he saw as waste. Walter Mondale, who was a professional in Washington, had been there for years before he became vice president, understood that Congress needed to have a role in how money was spent, and that became a tug-of-war.

Do you know if they stayed in touch after they left the White House?

Absolutely. They stayed in touch for the rest of their shared lives, with Jimmy Carter visiting here, Walter Mondale traveling to Georgia. On one of Mr. Mondale’s trips to Georgia.

I accompanied them, and we spent a couple days in the Carter Center, and it was really kind of a special experience to see those two working together, the collaboration, the shared respect and the ongoing personal ties between the two of them.

They were very different politicians, Jimmy Carter being the first deep southern governor to be elected president since the Civil War, and Walter Mondale, coming from a northern state that had taken a leading role on civil rights and progressive legislation, but they shared a deep faith. Their fathers were both ministers.

They both were kind of moral politicians that believed in right and wrong, and human rights was at the core of their shared values.

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