Mr. Mondale and Mr. Ford will eulogize Mr. Carter from beyond the grave
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From today's Daily Press, behind pay wall
From grave, Mondale to eulogize Carter, who made him vice president
By Peter Baker The New York Times
WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Walter Mondale thought he would still be around to speak at the funeral for former President Jimmy Carter, who was a little more than three years his senior.
But even though Mondale died first, in 2021, he left behind the eulogy he planned to deliver, which will be read by his son Ted Mondale at Carter’s memorial service Jan. 9 at Washington National Cathedral. Former President Gerald Ford, who died in 2006, likewise left a eulogy that will be read by his son, Steven Ford.
In the tribute he left behind, Mondale hailed Carter especially for making human rights the centerpiece of his foreign policy, for promoting environmental measures long before the term “climate change” became widely known and for placing more women in high office than any of his predecessors had — including an appeals court judge named Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Toward the end of their time in office, Mondale said he and Carter talked about how they wanted their tenure to be remembered. “We came up with this sentence, which to me remains an important summary of what we were trying to do: ‘We told the truth, we obeyed the law and we kept the peace,’ ” Mondale wrote. “That we did, Mr. President.”
With Carter’s support, Mondale became arguably the most empowered U.S. vice president in history to that point and a model for all those who followed.
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I’m sorry, who is this Mondale fellow you all are talking about, again?
