Few Minnesotans have led lives of such dynamic public service as those of Walter and Joan Mondale. Their contributions have been significant in policy formation, political reform, and support for the arts.
Walter Mondale is currently senior counsel of the Asia Law Practice Group at the Minneapolis office of the multinational law firm Dorsey & Whitney. His lifelong political and public-service career has been extraordinary, to say the least. He was appointed to fill Hubert Humphrey’s U.S. Senate vacancy in late 1964, then was elected to the seat in 1966 and re-elected in 1972. He was vice president of the United States during Jimmy Carter’s administration. And he was the Democratic Party’s nominee for the presidency in 1984.
While in the Senate, Mondale developed a reputation for diplomacy in working with people with differing interests, and he subsequently became a foreign-policy champion during his vice-presidential term.
President Bill Clinton appointed him United States ambassador to Japan in 1993 at a time when there was tension between the two nations regarding trade and the continuing U.S. military presence in Okinawa and other cities in Japan. During his tenure as ambassador, Mondale worked to reaffirm security relationships with Japan and between the two nations and North Korea. In 1998, Clinton appointed him special envoy to Indonesia.
Mondale currently puts his international leadership experience to work as a member of the advisory board of the Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, where he has established the Mondale Policy Forum for the study of domestic and international issues. He also serves as a director or trustee of the Japan Society, the Mayo Foundation, and the Peace Prize Forum, and is a board member for the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, which promotes cooperation between the U.S. and Asian nations. In addition, he serves on the Dean’s Board of Visitors of the Medical School of the University of Minnesota.
Joan Mondale, meanwhile, has been a strong advocate for the arts for four decades, espousing art’s unifying power as a way of building bridges between different cultures. Her efforts to bring together artists, patrons, and people of different backgrounds earned her the title “Joan of Art.” She has worked for the Boston Museum of Fine Art, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the National Art Gallery. She also served as chairperson of the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities.
During her husband’s ambassadorship, she coordinated the display of artwork from the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles in Japan as part of the Art in Embassies program, which presents American artists’ work and museum pieces throughout the world. A skilled potter, she used her time in Japan to interact with Japanese artists and share her own work with them; some of her pieces became gifts for Japanese officials.
Currently, Joan Mondale serves on the boards of directors of the Minnesota Orchestra, Walker Art Center, Macalester College, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee of the United States Postal Service.
