(1928–    ), 42d vice-president of the U.S. (1977–81).

Mondale was born on Jan. 5, 1928, in Ceylon, Minn. He studied at Macalester College and at the University of Minnesota Law School and practiced law privately from 1956 to 1960. Appointed in 1960 to fill an unexpired term as Minnesota attorney general, he was subsequently twice elected to that post. When Hubert H. Humphrey resigned from the U.S. Senate on his election as vice-president, Mondale, a protégé, was appointed to the seat. He was elected to the Senate in 1966 and 1972 and became known as a liberal humanitarian, concerned with problems of housing, child welfare, aging, and civil rights. In January 1974 he launched a bid for the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination, but he withdrew ten months later, declaring that he lacked “the overwhelming desire to be president, which is essential for the kind of campaign that is required.” He campaigned vigorously, nevertheless, after the Democratic presidential nominee, Jimmy Carter, chose him as his 1976 running mate. As vice-president, he expanded the office into that of close presidential adviser and troubleshooter. He ran unsuccessfully for reelection with Carter in 1980, and returned to practicing law. He won the party’s presidential nomination after a primary battle in 1984, but he and Geraldine A. Ferraro, his running mate, were defeated by the incumbent, Ronald Reagan, in the general election.

Mondale served in the Clinton administration as U.S. ambassador to Japan (1993–96). When Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) party candidate Paul Wellstone (1944–2002) died in a plane crash in late October 2002 while running for a third term in the U.S. Senate, the DFL drafted Mondale to replace him on the ballot; after a one-week campaign, the former vice-president lost to a Republican, Norm Coleman (1949–    ).

For further information on this person, see the section Collective Biographies.