WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) issued the following statement on the death of Vice President Walter Mondale:

“Today, my heart is heavy. A minister’s child and son of Ceylon, Minnesota, Vice President Mondale was a true public servant in every sense of the word. He was someone who always treated people with dignity and respect, and I was privileged to call him my friend and mentor. Interning in his office as a college student was a life-changing experience – I left that job thinking that someday I myself could run for office.

“Walter Mondale taught me that leadership isn’t all about giving soaring speeches and punchy sound bites – but actually getting things done for people. He always saw his responsibility as an elected leader as bigger than the immediate challenge at any given moment. His broader mission was helping to prepare a new generation of leaders for the next big decision that needed to be made.

“In addition to mentoring so many, Mondale was a tireless public servant for the people of Minnesota and our country. He had true pride in our state – and we saw that pride in everything he did. He handled his work with grace and purpose. He was an advocate and courageous leader on civil rights, and he was a pioneering thinker on family policy and child development. In the early 1970s, he held hearings on child poverty and wrote child development legislation that was far ahead of its time.

“On the wall in the Carter Museum are Mondale’s powerful words: ‘We told the truth. We obeyed the law. We kept the peace.’ Those words summarize his life – he had a strong moral core that defined his every action, from how he treated people to his willingness to fight hard for policy that would improve the lives of Americans. That is the standard that we must hold ourselves to every day.

“Walter Mondale set a high bar for himself, and for his entire life he kept passing it and raising it, passing it and raising it. Our world would be a better place if all followed his example, and he will be sorely, sorely missed.”

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