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U.S. Senator

Senator Walter F. Mondale

On December 30, 1964, Mondale was appointed by Minnesota Governor Karl Rolvaag to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by Hubert Humphrey's resignation after being elected Vice President of the United States. In 1966, Mondale defeated Republican candidate Robert A. Forsythe, 53.9% to 45.2%. In 1972, George McGovern offered him an opportunity to be his running mate, which Mondale declined. The voters of Minnesota returned Mondale to the Senate again in 1972 with over 57% of the vote. He served in the 88th, 89th, 90th, 91st, 92nd, 93rd, and 94th congresses.

During his years as a senator, Mondale served on the Aeronautical and Space Sciences Committee; the Finance Committee; the Labor and Public Welfare Committee; the Budget Committee; and the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. He also served as chairman of the Select Committee on Equal Education Opportunity and as chairman of the Intelligence Committee's Domestic Task Force. He additionally served as chairman of the Labor and Public Welfare Committee's subcommittee on Children and Youth, as well as chairman of the Senate subcommittee on social security financing.

Apollo 204 accident

Main article: Apollo 1

In 1967, Mondale served on the Aeronautical and Space Sciences Committee, then chaired by Clinton P. Anderson, when astronauts Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Edward H. White, and Roger Chaffee were killed in a fire on January 27 while testing the Apollo 204 spacecraft. NASA Administrator James E. Webb secured the approval of President Lyndon B. Johnson for NASA to internally investigate the cause of the accident according to its established procedures, subject to Congressional oversight. NASA's proceedure called for the Deputy Administrator (and de facto general manager), Dr. Robert C. Seamans, to appoint and oversee an investigative panel.

In February, a reporter passed a leak to Mondale, of the existence of an internal NASA report issued in 1965 by Apollo program director Samuel C. Phillips, detailing management, cost, delivery and quality problems of the Apollo prime contractor North American Aviation. In the February 27 hearing, Mondale asked Webb if he knew of such a report. Webb had not yet seen the December 1965 written report, so he responded in the negative. Seamans had passed along to Webb, neither the written report, nor the briefing presentation made to him in January 1966 by Phillips and Phillips' boss, Manned Space Flight Administrator George Mueller.

Both Seamans and Mueller had also been called to testify at this session. Mueller denied the report's existence, even though he must have been well aware of it, as he had appended his own strongly-worded letter to the copy sent to North American president Lee Atwood.

But Seamans was afraid Mondale might somehow be in posession of a copy (which he was not), so he admitted that NASA often reviewed its contractors' performance, with both positive and negative results, but that this was nothing extraordinary. Under repeated questioning from Mondale, Webb promised that he would investigate whether this "Phillips Report" existed, and if so, to see if a controlled release could be made to the Congress. Immediately after the hearing, Webb saw the Phillips report for the first time.

The controversy spread to both houses of Congress, and grew (through the efforts of three of Mondale's fellow committee members, Republicans Margaret Chase Smith, Edward Brooke and Charles H. Percy) to include the second-guessing of NASA's original selection in 1961 of North American as the prime Apollo spacecraft contractor, which Webb became forced to defend. The House NASA oversight committee, which was conducting its own hearings and had picked up on the controversy, was ultimately given a copy of the Phillips report.

While the Committee as a whole, believed that NASA should have informed Congress of the Phillips review results in 1966, its final report issued on January 30, 1968, concluded (as had NASA's own accident investigation completed on April 5, 1967), that "the findings of the [Phillips] task force had no effect on the accident, did not lead to the accident, and were not related to the accident." Yet Mondale wrote a minority opinion accusing NASA of "evasiveness, ... lack of candor, ... patronizing attitude exhibited toward Congress, ... refusal to respond fully and forthrightly to legitimate conggressional inquiries, and ... solicitous concern for corporate sensitivities at a time of national tragedy".

Mondale explained his actions in a 2001 interview: "... I think that by forcing a public confrontation about these heretofore secret and deep concerns about the safety and the management of the program, it forced NASA to restructure and reorganize the program in a way that was much safer."

Frank Church intelligence committee

In 1975 Mondale served on the Church Committee, which investigated alleged abuses by U.S. intelligence agencies.

In popular culture

• Bill Murray and Garrett Morris played Mondale on Saturday Night Live in the late 1970s, as did Dana Carvey in the mid-1980s.
• In Aaron Spelling's teen drama, Beverly Hills, 90210 the character Brandon Walsh honored Walter Mondale by naming his car after him.
• In Berke Breathed's Bloom County, a story surrounding around Bill the Cat's run for president, Mondale is briefly Bill's running mate. In another strip, the Meadow Party is depressed because a recent opinion poll put Bill and Opus "Just above Mondale, just below Pitted Prunes."
• In Futurama Season 1 Episode 11 ("Mars University"), Amy Wong mentions him when she says, "Boring! Let's hear about Walter Mondale already." This remark was made to a professor who was drawn to look like Mondale.
• In Futurama Season 2 Episode 7 ("A Head In The Polls"), Walter Mondale' Head is in the "Closet Of Presidential Losers" within the Head Museum.
• One of his ads for his presidential campaign was featured on The Daily Show on March 3, 2008 as a satirical comparison to one of Hillary Clinton's campaign ads.
• In the Simpsons episode "Lisa's First Word", Homer Simpson reads a headline that describes Mondale's "Where's the beef?" comment during the 1984 Presidential Election. Homer laughs approvingly and remarks "No wonder he won Minnesota!"
• In the Simpsons episode, "Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington", a janitor who "looks like" Walter Mondale helps newly elected Congressman Krusty the Clown get a bill to become law using underhanded methods.
• In the Simpsons episode, "Bart vs. Australia", the family flees from Australia to a "laundry ship" named USS Walter Mondale.
• In the American Dad episode, "Stan Knows Best", Stan Smith says "Rubharb" when Hayley moves in with her boyfriend, Jeff. He claimed the word was a subliminal order he supposedly implanted into her subconscious to kill Walter Mondale. However, it is revealed that the word was implanted into Steve's mind. In "The Best Christmas Story Never", Stan goes back in time and alters the past, where Walter Mondale becomes the President instead of Ronald Reagan, and quickly hands over the US to the Soviet Union.
• In an episode of The O.C., "The Case of the Franks", Sandy Cohen, in a flashback, is campaigning for the Mondale campaign. He attempts to give future wife Kirsten a campaign button and states that he would tell her why Mondale and Ferraro wouldn't win, but campaigning for them felt right.
• In the Saved by the Bell episode, "The Election", when Zach has far surpassed Jesse in the polls for class president, Kelly tells Jesse she will go down in history with George McGovern, Walter Mondale, and the Cleveland Indians.
• In the HBO Miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, Mondale is portrayed unflatteringly by actor John Slattery as an enemy of the Apollo program. In a scene depicting a private conversation with NASA Administrator James E. Webb:

WEBB: Do you really want to kill Apollo?

MONDALE: I'm sorry Mr. Webb, but I've got a job to do. And I'm going to do it.

WEBB: With all due humility Senator, what did we do wrong?

MONDALE: Well that's what I'm going to find out.

WEBB: No, I mean, why are you so down on us? You and I are both Democrats. Going to the Moon was Kennedy's dream.

MONDALE: It was one of his dreams. Jack Kennedy had a lot of dreams.

• He was mentioned in the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode, "Prince of Space". The quote from Mike Nelson is "Walter Mondale arrives." The movie they are watching was filmed in Japan.
• St Louis area band, The Mondales, derive their name from his.