Biden eulogizes VP Walter Mondale: 'He reflected the goodness of the American people'

President Joe Biden said farewell to his longtime friend and former Vice-President Walter Monday at a Sunday memorial service held at the University of Minnesota.

The day before he died, the longtime Democratic icon reportedly had private conversations with the president, Vice-President Kamala Harris and former President Jimmy Carter.

Mondale, who had a life of national services previously served in the U.S. military, as a U.S. Senator and Vice-President of the United States under the 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter of Georgia.

He subsequently ran an unsuccessful campaign for president against then Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1984.

He was also the first major presidential candidate from one of the two parties to select a female running mate, New York Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro for vice-president. 

Biden spoke of his “dear friend” as “one of the great giants in American history” and said, “he was loved by the American people because he reflected the goodness of the American people."

The president remembered the former vice-president, who died April 21, as both a supporter and close friend “not on a political level, but on a personal level.”

“He was one of the finest men you’ve ever known and most decent people I ever dealt with and one of the toughest, smartest men I’ve ever worked with,” Biden said. “God bless you, my dear friend.”

During his eulogy, Biden said Mondale, who served as vice president from 1977 to 1981, served as a personal inspiration for him to serve as vice president under Barack Obama.

“Fritz recounted that his greatest strength wasn’t his expertise in a particular policy area. It was the genuine personal relationship he built with President Jimmy Carter,” the president said referring to Mondale by his longtime nickname. 

“Fritz embraced everybody with the belief that everyone’s entitled to be treated with dignity.” That issue of treating others with dignity became one of Biden's first orders when he was sworn into office, instructing his staff to respect one another. 

"I'll fire you on the spot," he told his staff the day after he was sworn in on Jan. 21, 2021. 

Taking a more emotional turn, Biden said Mondale and his then wife, Joan, was instrumental in helping him through some of his most difficult times. 

“They helped me find my purpose in a sea of darkness and pain,” the president said of Mondale, when talking about losses he suffered of his first wife, Neilia and his daughter, Naomi, in a 1972 fatal car crash. His sons, Hunter and Beau had a long recovery. 

The crash happened just after Biden had been elected U.S. Senator and he was so distraught he did not want to go to the nation's capital to serve out his term. Biden said Mondale helped give him the strength to press on and serve his country. 

“The last thing I wanted to do was go to the United States Senate after that," he explained. "We had elected a governor, a Democrat. He could appoint a Democrat. And I had my brother talking to him about who he would appoint. But there was Fritz and Joan. They embraced me." 

Biden said Mondale and other U.S. Senators such as then-Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield all convinced him to continue his career as a Senator and helped distract him from his painful losses. 

“They kept me engaged. They helped me get up when it was easy to give up,” the president said.

In 2007, Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Støre named Mondale as Honorary Consul General of Norway, representing the Norwegian state in the former Senator's home state of Minnesota. 

The former vice-president spent his remaining days in Minnesota with his wife. His daughter, Eleanor was a successful television personality who also hosted radio talk shows in Chicago and Minneapolis. She died of brain cancer in 2011 at the age of 51. 

Four years later in 2015, Mondale's wife passed also to a brain disease. 

Shortly after his wife's death, the American Academy of Neurology gave Mondale the the Public Leadership in Neurology Award for helping raise awareness for brain health.

He is survived by his two sons, Ted, a former Minnesota State Senator and William, a former Assistant Attorney General, also for the family's home state.