Editing Walter Mondale (section)

==U.S. Senate (1964–1976)==
[[File:Mondale as Senator.jpg|thumb|Senator Walter F. Mondale]]
On December 30, 1964, [[Governor of Minnesota|Minnesota Governor]] Karl Rolvaag appointed Mondale to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy created by Hubert Humphrey's resignation; Humphrey had stepped down after being elected [[vice president of the United States]]. Mondale was elected to the Senate for the first time in [[1966 United States Senate election in Minnesota|1966]], defeating [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] candidate Robert A. Forsythe by a margin of 53.9% to 45.2%.<ref>{{cite web |title=Minnesota Legislative Manual 1967/1968 |url=https://www.leg.mn.gov/archive/sessions/electionresults/1966-11-08-g-man.pdf |website=Minnesota Legislature |access-date=April 20, 2021 |archive-date=January 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110000742/https://www.leg.mn.gov/archive/sessions/electionresults/1966-11-08-g-man.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

In [[1972 United States presidential election|1972]], Democratic presidential candidate [[George McGovern]] offered Mondale an opportunity to be his vice-presidential running mate; he declined.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lin |first=Judy |title=George McGovern: the personal and political toll of mental illness |url=http://www.today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/george-mcgovern-semel-173090.aspx?ncid=10386 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121211161941/http://www.today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/george-mcgovern-semel-173090.aspx?ncid=10386 |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 11, 2012 |access-date=September 6, 2012 |newspaper=UCLA Today |date=October 7, 2010 |quote=Six colleagues—from [[Ted Kennedy]] to Walter Mondale—turned him down for reasons ranging from "My mother just couldn't take it" (Kennedy, referring to [[Rose Kennedy]]'s grief following the assassinations of her sons [[John F. Kennedy|John]] and [[Robert F. Kennedy|Robert]]) to "I'm getting married tomorrow, and I don't know if my marriage will survive a presidential campaign" ([[Abe Ribicoff]]).}}</ref> That year, Mondale was [[United States Senate elections, 1972|re-elected to the Senate]] with over 57% of the vote,<ref>{{cite web |title=Walter Mondale, Carter VP who played key role in Israel-Egypt peace, dies at 93 |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/walter-mondale-who-had-key-role-in-israel-egypt-peace-as-carter-vp-dies-at-93/ |access-date=April 20, 2021 |website=The Times of Israel |language=en-US |archive-date=April 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420015537/https://www.timesofisrael.com/walter-mondale-who-had-key-role-in-israel-egypt-peace-as-carter-vp-dies-at-93/ |url-status=live}}</ref> even as Republican President [[Richard Nixon]] carried Minnesota.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1972 United States presidential election in Minnesota |url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=1972&f=1&off=0&elect=0&fips=27&submit=Retrieve |url-status=live |access-date=April 20, 2021 |website=Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas |archive-date=February 12, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190212131004/https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=1972&f=1&off=0&elect=0&fips=27&submit=Retrieve}}</ref> He served in the [[88th United States Congress|88th]], [[89th United States Congress|89th]], [[90th United States Congress|90th]], [[91st United States Congress|91st]], [[92nd United States Congress|92nd]], [[93rd United States Congress|93rd]], and [[94th United States Congress|94th congresses]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Walter F. Mondale |url=https://www.congress.gov/member/walter-mondale/M000851 |access-date=April 20, 2021 |website=Congress.gov |archive-date=November 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129174625/https://www.congress.gov/member/walter-mondale/M000851 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Policies===
Mondale worked hard to build up the center of the party on economic and social issues. Unlike his father, a fervent liberal, he was not a crusader for the [[New Deal]]. Instead, he realized that the Democratic base (especially ethnic blue-collar workers) was gradually moving to the right, and he worked to keep their support.<ref>Gillon, p. 151</ref> Mondale showed little or no interest in foreign policy until about 1974, when he realized that some foreign policy knowledge was necessary if he had loftier aspirations than the Senate. He developed a centrist position, avoiding alignment with either the party's hawks (such as [[Henry M. Jackson]]) or its doves (such as McGovern).<ref>Gillon, p. 149–51</ref>

Mondale took a liberal position on civil rights, which proved acceptable in Minnesota, a state with "a minuscule black population".<ref>Gillon, p. 68–69, 111</ref> Mondale was a chief sponsor of the federal [[Fair Housing Act]], which prohibits discrimination in housing and created the [[United States Department of Housing and Urban Development]]'s [[Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity]] as the primary enforcer of the law.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.huduser.org/Periodicals/CITYSCPE/VOL4NUM3/mathias.pdf |title=Fair Housing Legislation: Not an Easy Row To Hoe |year=1999 |website=[[HUD USER]] |access-date=April 20, 2021 |archive-date=October 29, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029200646/http://www.huduser.org/Periodicals/CITYSCPE/VOL4NUM3/mathias.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> During [[Lyndon Johnson]]'s presidency, Mondale supported the [[Vietnam War]]. After Nixon became president in 1969, Mondale began to oppose the war and participated in legislation to restrict Nixon's ability to prolong it. Mondale supported abortion rights.<ref>{{cite book |last=Carlin |first=David R. |title=Can a Catholic be a Democrat? |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NZ6QAQAAQBAJ&pg=PR19 |url-status=live |year=2007 |publisher=Sophia Institute Press |access-date=October 27, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170114050245/https://books.google.com/books?id=NZ6QAQAAQBAJ&pg=PR19 |archive-date=January 14, 2017 |isbn=978-1-933184-19-7}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://millercenter.org/president/carter/essays/vicepresident/1829 |title=American President: A Reference Resource |website=[[Miller Center of Public Affairs]] |access-date=June 16, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319120855/http://millercenter.org/president/carter/essays/vicepresident/1829 |archive-date=March 19, 2015 }}</ref>

===Committees===
Mondale rotated on and off numerous committees, including the [[United States Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences|Aeronautical and Space Sciences Committee]]; the [[United States Senate Committee on Finance|Finance Committee]]; the [[United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions|Labor and Public Welfare Committee]]; the [[United States Senate Committee on the Budget|Budget Committee]]; and the [[United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs|Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee]]. He also served as chairman of the Select Committee on Equal Education Opportunity and the [[United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence|Intelligence Committee]]'s Domestic Task Force. He additionally served as chairman of the Labor and Public Welfare Committee's subcommittee on Children and Youth and the Senate subcommittee on social security financing.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=The Nation: The Straightest Arrow |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,914370,00.html |date=July 26, 1976 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url-access=subscription |access-date=November 4, 2011 |archive-date=January 25, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120125232301/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,914370,00.html |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1975, Mondale served on the Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, chaired by Idaho Senator [[Frank Church]], that investigated alleged abuses by the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] and the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]].<ref name="UK Hosts Historical Reunion of Members of Church Committee">{{cite journal |date=September 14, 2006 |title=UK Hosts Historical Reunion of Members of Church Committee |journal=University of Kentucky News |url=http://news.uky.edu/news/display_article.php?category=1&artid=1568 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080320020134/http://news.uky.edu/news/display_article.php?category=1&artid=1568 |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 20, 2008}}</ref> Documents declassified in 2017 show that the [[National Security Agency]] had created a file on Mondale as part of its monitoring of prominent U.S. citizens whose names appeared in [[Signals intelligence]].<ref>{{cite news |title=National Security Agency Tracking of U.S. Citizens – "Questionable Practices" from 1960s & 1970s |url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/cybervault-intelligence-nuclear-vault/2017-09-25/national-security-agency-tracking-us |access-date=January 3, 2020 |website=National Security Archive |date=September 25, 2017 |archive-date=January 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103044145/https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/cybervault-intelligence-nuclear-vault/2017-09-25/national-security-agency-tracking-us |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Apollo 1 accident (1967) ===
In 1967, Mondale served on the Aeronautical and Space Sciences Committee, then chaired by [[Clinton P. Anderson]], when astronauts [[Gus Grissom]], [[Ed White (astronaut)|Ed White]], and [[Roger Chaffee]] were killed in a fire on January 27 while testing the Apollo 204 (later renumbered [[Apollo 1]]) spacecraft. [[NASA]] Administrator [[James E. Webb]] secured President Lyndon Johnson's approval for NASA to internally investigate the cause of the accident according to its established procedures, subject to Congressional oversight. NASA's procedure called for Deputy Administrator (and de facto general manager) [[Robert C. Seamans]] to appoint and oversee an investigative panel.<ref name=A&A1967>{{cite report |title=Astronautics and Aeronautics 1967 |author=Library of Congress, Science and Technology Division |publisher=Scientific and Technical Information Division – NASA |location=U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. |publication-date=1968 |pages=25, 53–54, 145–148, 175, 257}}</ref>

In February, a reporter leaked to Mondale the existence of [[Phillips Report|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's boss, Manned Space Flight Administrator [[George Mueller (NASA)|George Mueller]].<ref name="wamu">{{Cite episode |title=Washington Goes to the Moon (Part 2) |url=https://beta.prx.org/stories/8722 |access-date=March 15, 2011|series=Soundprint |network=NPR |station=WAMU 88.5 FM |location=Washington D.C. |airdate=May 24, 2001 |transcript=yes |transcript-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110820121354/http://mail.dve.wamu.org/d/programs/special/moon/fire_show.txt |archive-date=September 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927144027/https://beta.prx.org/stories/8722 |url-status=live}}</ref> Both Seamans and Mueller had also been called to testify at this session. Mueller denied the report's existence, though he must have been aware of it, as he had appended his own strongly worded letter to the copy sent to North American Aviation president [[Lee Atwood]].<ref name="phillips_report">{{cite web |last=Garber |first=Steve |title=NASA Apollo Mission Apollo-1 – Phillips Report |website=NASA History Office |date=February 3, 2003 |url=https://history.nasa.gov/Apollo204/phillip1.html |access-date=April 14, 2010 |archive-date=July 14, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714115430/https://history.nasa.gov/Apollo204/phillip1.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

Seamans was afraid Mondale might be in possession of a copy (he was not), so he admitted that NASA often reviewed its contractors' performance, with both positive and negative results, but claimed that was nothing extraordinary. Under repeated questioning from Mondale, Webb promised that he would investigate whether the "Phillips Report" existed, and if so, whether a controlled release could be made to Congress. Immediately after the hearing, Webb saw the Phillips report for the first time.<ref name="wamu" /> The controversy spread to both houses of Congress and grew (through the efforts of Mondale's fellow committee member, Republican [[Margaret Chase Smith]] 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.<ref name="A&A1967" />

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 congressional inquiries, and ... solicitous concern for corporate sensitivities at a time of national tragedy".<ref name="as204_senate">{{Cite journal |last=Anderson |first=Clinton P. |author-link=Clinton P. Anderson |author2=Edward M. Brooke |author3=Charles H. Percy |author4=Walter F. Mondale |title=Apollo 204 Accident |journal=Senate Report |volume=956 |publisher=U.S. Senate |location=Washington, D.C. |date=January 30, 1968 |url=http://klabs.org/richcontent/Reports/Failure_Reports/as-204/senate_956/index.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220043317/http://klabs.org/richcontent/Reports/Failure_Reports/as-204/senate_956/index.htm |archive-date=December 20, 2014}}</ref> 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."<ref name="wamu" />