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Walter Mondale (in 2015)
Photo: Joshua Roberts / REUTERS
Walter F. "Fritz" Mondale is dead. The former Vice President of the USA, Senator and Ambassador died on Monday, as his family has now announced.
He was 93 years old.
Jimmy Carter brought Mondale to his side in 1976.
Mondale was an outsider who campaigned for marginalized groups and fought for the introduction of various welfare programs.
What made him so valuable: He secured the Democrats the support of the most powerful trade unions and the liberals of the north and east coast.
And so the New York Times ruled at the time: "The strongest team the Democrats could ever put together." In fact, Carter and Mondale won the elections.
Mondale revolutionized the office of Vice President in the following years (1977 to 1981).
He was the first to have his own office in the White House.
He was practically next door to Carter every day and was involved in every decision.
"Nothing propinques like propinquity" ("Nothing brings you together like closeness") - he is said to have said several times about his collaboration with Carter.
It was Mondale who upgraded the office of vice president and turned the reservists into activists during the president's lifetime: since Mondale has been the vice advisor to the head of state, troubleshooter and, last but not least, an integral part of the government.
(Read more about the role of the Vice President here.)
Your own candidacy was less successful
In 1984 he applied for the post of chief in the White House.
He ran with Geraldine Ferraro as a runner-up, the first woman on this ticket in the history of the major US parties.
He made headlines in the election campaign, however, with the statement that citizens would have to be prepared for tax increases in the coming legislative period.
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Mondale with Geraldine Ferraro (1984)
Photo: Jack Smith / AP
In the end there was a crushing defeat against Ronald Reagan, only in his home state Minnesota and in the District of Columbia could Mondale win.
13 out of 538 voters represented a historical deficit.
Then Mondale looked for the guilt in himself, but also declared: "I did my best."
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