[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 88 (Thursday, May 20, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3189-S3190]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       REMEMBERING WALTER MONDALE

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, the late Walter Mondale is widely known for 
having transformed the role of Vice President, ably taking on many key 
responsibilities that were delegated to him by President Jimmy Carter. 
Less noted are his many accomplishments in this body while he served as 
a Senator from the State of Minnesota.
  Walter Mondale is sometimes described as the paradigm figure of the 
transition between two eras--the FDR Coalition up to the war in Vietnam 
and the social ferment that came after the war. And perhaps this is so, 
but to me, who Fritz Mondale was and what he stood for are just as 
important as when he stood there. The issues he led on then are as 
fresh as today's news and as enduring as our founding documents, issues 
like the concentration and abuse of power or social and economic 
justice and the consolidation of wealth in the pockets and portfolios 
of just a few or the role of government in protecting the little guy 
when powerful market forces run roughshod or the tension between 
freedom and security; even the question of whether a woman ever could 
credibly assume the highest office in the land. Trace any of these 
issues back in time, and you will find Fritz Mondale at earlier 
decision points.
  Fritz Mondale was a good man whose decency elevated every institution 
in which he served. Who he was has everything to do with what he 
achieved. He loved the Senate, and the Senate loved him back. He said 
the Senate ``was like mainlining human nature.''
  One side of Fritz that the public did not see as readily as we did in 
the Senate was his sense of humor--one of the

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best I have ever known. In many a tense moment, his sense of humor 
often defused the tension and restored the spirit of comity that is so 
crucial in getting things done in the Senate. He knew the art of being 
able to disagree without being disagreeable. I wish the American people 
had seen more of that side of Fritz Mondale.
  That was a heady and vibrant legislative era, and Fritz had a hand in 
virtually every major piece of civil rights, education, and childcare 
legislation that emerged from Congress during that period.
  Another of Fritz Mondale's most remarkable and lasting achievements 
in the Senate was to engineer a change in the Senate's rules, to curb 
the abuse of filibusters in thwarting the will of clear majorities of 
the American people. The difficulty in passing the civil rights laws of 
the sixties had gradually convinced more and more Senators that the bar 
for cutting off debate in the Senate was set too high.
  That might not sound difficult, but changing the way the Senate 
operates is something akin to trying to change the weather.
  As a freshman Senator, I had a front seat and a bit part in Fritz's 
highly organized campaign to change the cloture rule. He won the change 
in the cloture rule, and it is not an exaggeration to point out that 
his efforts probably saved the Senate as we know it, and he did it 
without changing the Senate's fundamental character.
  The Senate at its best can be the conscience of the Nation. It takes 
constant work and vigilance to keep our system working as it should for 
the betterment of our society and its people. Keeping faith with these 
fundamentals accounts for much of the legacy of Fritz Mondale.
  It is easy for politicians to appeal to our worst instincts and to 
our selfishness. Political leaders serve best when they appeal to the 
best in us, to lift our sights, summon our will and raise us to a 
higher level.
  Fritz Mondale's farewell message to his staff made clear that this is 
how he thought of himself to the end of his days: as a public servant. 
He represented the best of what public service means.
  Through his own public service Fritz Mondale invested himself in the 
belief that our democracy gives each of us the opportunity to thrive, 
to make justice real, and to make the economy work for all and not just 
for some.
  His legacy in the Senate deserves to be and will be an enduring one.

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