The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“REMEMBERING WALTER MONDALE” mentioning Patrick J. Leahy was published in the Senate section on pages S3189-S3190 on May 20.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
REMEMBERING WALTER MONDALE
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, the late Walter Mondale is widely known for having transformed the role of Vice President, ably taking on many key responsibilities that were delegated to him by President Jimmy Carter. Less noted are his many accomplishments in this body while he served as a Senator from the State of Minnesota.
Walter Mondale is sometimes described as the paradigm figure of the transition between two eras--the FDR Coalition up to the war in Vietnam and the social ferment that came after the war. And perhaps this is so, but to me, who Fritz Mondale was and what he stood for are just as important as when he stood there. The issues he led on then are as fresh as today's news and as enduring as our founding documents, issues like the concentration and abuse of power or social and economic justice and the consolidation of wealth in the pockets and portfolios of just a few or the role of government in protecting the little guy when powerful market forces run roughshod or the tension between freedom and security; even the question of whether a woman ever could credibly assume the highest office in the land. Trace any of these issues back in time, and you will find Fritz Mondale at earlier decision points.
Fritz Mondale was a good man whose decency elevated every institution in which he served. Who he was has everything to do with what he achieved. He loved the Senate, and the Senate loved him back. He said the Senate ``was like mainlining human nature.''
One side of Fritz that the public did not see as readily as we did in the Senate was his sense of humor--one of the best I have ever known. In many a tense moment, his sense of humor often defused the tension and restored the spirit of comity that is so crucial in getting things done in the Senate. He knew the art of being able to disagree without being disagreeable. I wish the American people had seen more of that side of Fritz Mondale.
That was a heady and vibrant legislative era, and Fritz had a hand in virtually every major piece of civil rights, education, and childcare legislation that emerged from Congress during that period.
Another of Fritz Mondale's most remarkable and lasting achievements in the Senate was to engineer a change in the Senate's rules, to curb the abuse of filibusters in thwarting the will of clear majorities of the American people. The difficulty in passing the civil rights laws of the sixties had gradually convinced more and more Senators that the bar for cutting off debate in the Senate was set too high.
That might not sound difficult, but changing the way the Senate operates is something akin to trying to change the weather.
As a freshman Senator, I had a front seat and a bit part in Fritz's highly organized campaign to change the cloture rule. He won the change in the cloture rule, and it is not an exaggeration to point out that his efforts probably saved the Senate as we know it, and he did it without changing the Senate's fundamental character.
The Senate at its best can be the conscience of the Nation. It takes constant work and vigilance to keep our system working as it should for the betterment of our society and its people. Keeping faith with these fundamentals accounts for much of the legacy of Fritz Mondale.
It is easy for politicians to appeal to our worst instincts and to our selfishness. Political leaders serve best when they appeal to the best in us, to lift our sights, summon our will and raise us to a higher level.
Fritz Mondale's farewell message to his staff made clear that this is how he thought of himself to the end of his days: as a public servant. He represented the best of what public service means.
Through his own public service Fritz Mondale invested himself in the belief that our democracy gives each of us the opportunity to thrive, to make justice real, and to make the economy work for all and not just for some.
His legacy in the Senate deserves to be and will be an enduring one.
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