Former U.S. Vice President and Ambassador to Japan Walter Mondale will deliver the commencement address to graduates of the University’s Law School in a ceremony on Saturday, May 10, in Northrop Auditorium.
Despite having left his Tokyo post earlier this year, Mondale is as busy as ever. President Bill Clinton on March 17 appointed Mondale to co-chair a new bipartisan Education and Awareness Project on Campaign Reform. Mondale is also currently a partner with the Minneapolis law firm of Dorsey and Whitney.
Mondale, a Minnesota native, earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University in 1951 and received a degree from the University Law School in 1956.
Ross Corson, Mondale’s executive assistant, said Mondale is speaking because he is proud to be a graduate of the Law School and is delighted to be back in Minnesota after his tour of duty in Japan.
“The title of his speech is ‘Freedom and Democracy in a Global Perspective,'” Corson said. “It contains reflections on Mondale’s recent experiences in Japan and examines what values are universal in a global society.”
From 1969 to 1977, Mondale was a democratic senator from Minnesota. He left that office to become vice president under President Jimmy Carter.
Mondale ran for the presidency in 1984 against President Ronald Reagan. Mondale lost the election in the largest electoral landslide in U.S. history. Mondale carried only Minnesota and Washington, D.C., in the vote.
Clinton named Mondale his ambassador to Tokyo in 1993.
— Lynne Kozarek