Active in politics throughout his adult life, Walter F. (Fritz) Mondale (born 1928) served consecutively as Minnesota attorney general, U.S. senator, and U.S. vice president under Jimmy Carter. He lost the 1984 presidential election to incumbent Ronald Reagan, carrying only 13 electoral votes.

Born on January 5, 1928, in Ceylon, Minnesota, Walter Frederick Mondale was the second son of the marriage of Theodore and Claribel (Cowan) Mondale. A Methodist clergyman, the elder Mondale moved his family to a succession of small Minnesota towns before settling in 1937 in Elmore, near the Iowa border. The Mondales' home life was marked by strong moral and religious standards, but also by a tolerant and optimistic spirit.

In school Walter Mondale starred on the football, basketball, and track teams; was an accomplished debater and singer; and was president of his class. Upon graduation in 1946 he enrolled at Macalester College, working in summers as a farm laborer...