Editing Walter Mondale (section)

== Early life ==
Walter Frederick Mondale was born on January 5, 1928, in [[Ceylon, Minnesota]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Mondale, Walter Frederick |url=https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/M000851 |access-date=April 20, 2021 |website=[[Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]]}}</ref> to Theodore Sigvaard Mondale, a [[Methodism|Methodist]] minister, and Claribel Hope (née Cowan), a part-time music teacher.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/carter/essays/vicepresident/1829 |title=American President: Walter Mondale |publisher=Millercenter.org |access-date=July 20, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130704011945/http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/carter/essays/vicepresident/1829 |archive-date=July 4, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/389066/Walter-Mondale |title=Walter Mondale |access-date=July 20, 2010 |archive-date=April 28, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150428121338/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/389066/Walter-Mondale |url-status=live}}</ref> Walter's half-brother [[Lester Mondale]] became a [[American Unitarian Association|Unitarian]] minister.<ref>{{cite news |last=Schafer |first=Ed |title=Lester Mondale Treasures Privacy |work=The News and Courier |location=Charleston, SC |date=February 18, 1977 |page=16-A}}</ref> Mondale also had two brothers, Clarence, known as Pete (1926–2014), and William, known as Mort (1934-2022). His paternal grandparents were [[Norwegian Americans|Norwegian]] immigrants, with some distant [[German Americans|German]] ancestry.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter/peopleevents/p_mondale.html |title=Jimmy Carter|work=American Experience |publisher=PBS |access-date=July 20, 2010 |archive-date=September 12, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090912182733/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter/peopleevents/p_mondale.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Mondale's paternal grandfather Frederik Mundal had emigrated from [[Norway]] with his family in 1856, eventually settling in southern Minnesota in 1864.<ref>Lewis, p. 6</ref> The surname ''Mondale'' was [[Americanization (immigration)|Americanized]] from that of Mundal, a valley and town in the [[Fjærland]] region of Norway.<ref name="nytobit" /> His mother was born in [[Iowa]], the daughter of an immigrant father, Robert Cowan, who was born in [[Seaforth, Ontario]]; she was of [[Scottish Americans|Scottish]] and [[English Americans|English]] descent.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ancestry of Walter Mondale |url=http://www.wargs.com/political/mondale.html |website=Wargs.com |access-date=February 20, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120215142938/http://www.wargs.com/political/mondale.html |archive-date=February 15, 2012}}</ref>

In his youth, Mondale's family thought the names "Walter" and "Frederick" were too stilted for a boy, so they called him "[[Fritz]]", a common German and [[Scandinavia]]n diminutive form of Friedrich or Frederick.<ref>{{cite news |last=Rosenbaum |first=David E. |date=July 16, 1976 |title=A Hard-Nosed Dreamer |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/07/16/archives/a-hardnosed-dreamer.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York, NY |page=46 |via=[[The New York Times#TimesMachine|TimesMachine]]}}</ref> Due to the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]], Mondale grew up in poverty. His family moved from Ceylon to [[Heron Lake, Minnesota|Heron Lake]] in 1934, and to [[Elmore, Minnesota|Elmore]] in 1937.<ref>Lewis, p. 11</ref> Throughout his youth, Mondale was influenced heavily by his father's religious beliefs, including support for the civil rights movement.<ref>Lewis, p. 12</ref> In 1948, his father died of a stroke.<ref>Lewis, p.17</ref> Mondale attended public schools and then Macalester College for two years before transferring to the University of Minnesota, from which he graduated ''[[Latin honors|cum laude]]'' with a Bachelor of Arts degree in [[political science]] in 1951.<ref name=congressbio>{{cite web |title=Mondale, Walter Frederick, (1928 – ) |url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=m000851 |work=[[Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]] |access-date=August 11, 2011 |archive-date=September 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180922001113/http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=M000851 |url-status=live}}</ref>

As Mondale could not afford to attend law school, he enlisted in the [[United States Army]] in 1951, shortly after graduating.<ref name="Yearbook">{{cite book |date=1979 |title=Current Biography Yearbook |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5PoZAAAAYAAJ&q=%22He+spent+the+next+two+years+at+Fort+Knox,+Kentucky,+serving+first+in+the+crew+of+an+armored+reconnaissance+vehicle,+then+as+a+specialist+in+education+programs.%22 |location=Bronx, NY |publisher=H. W. Wilson Company |page=304 |access-date=February 12, 2020 |archive-date=April 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420220618/https://books.google.com/books?id=5PoZAAAAYAAJ&q=%22He+spent+the+next+two+years+at+Fort+Knox%2C+Kentucky%2C+serving+first+in+the+crew+of+an+armored+reconnaissance+vehicle%2C+then+as+a+specialist+in+education+programs.%22 |url-status=live}}</ref> He served with the [[3rd Armored Division Artillery (United States)|3rd Armored Division Artillery]] at [[Fort Knox]], Kentucky, during the [[Korean War]], first as an armored reconnaissance vehicle crewman, and later as an education programs specialist and associate editor of the unit's newsletter, ''Tanker's Dust''.<ref name="Yearbook"/><ref>{{cite news |last=Pilgrim |first=Eric |date=April 20, 2021 |title=Fort Knox alum, former Vice President Walter Mondale dies at age 93 |url=https://www.army.mil/article/245426/fort_knox_alum_former_vice_president_walter_mondale_dies_at_age_93 |work=Army.mil |publisher=U.S. Army Office of Public Affairs |location=Washington, DC}}</ref> He attained the rank of [[Corporal#United States|corporal]] and was discharged in 1953.<ref name="Yearbook"/> Mondale enrolled at the [[University of Minnesota Law School]], aided by the [[G.I. Bill]], and graduated ''cum laude'' with a [[Bachelor of Laws]] in 1956. In law school, he served on the ''[[Minnesota Law Review]]'' and as a [[law clerk]] for [[Minnesota Supreme Court]] Justice [[Thomas F. Gallagher]]. In 1955, Mondale married Joan Adams, whom he met on a blind date. He then practiced law in Minneapolis for four years before entering politics.<ref>Gillon, p. 59</ref>