This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: August 28, 2008 - This year's presidential campaign already ranks as historic. The success of Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton transformed American politics by demonstrating that high office is no longer the preserve of white males.
Walter Mondale's 1984 selection of Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate played an important role in reaching this stage and it is worth recalling, and learning from, Mondale's example.
Before this year, no woman and no African American had ever come close to being nominated for president. Some members of those demographic groups had sought presidential nominations: Rep. Shirley Chisholm, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sen. Elizabeth Dole, Alan Keyes among them. But none ever had a realistic chance of claiming the prize.
Nor had blacks and women fared much better in terms of receiving vice presidential consideration. Sen. John McCain's selection makes Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin the first woman vice presidential pick since Ferraro.
Gerald Ford had thought about choosing Ambassador Anne Armstrong as his running mate but decided it was too great a gamble. Gen. Colin Powell consistently disclaimed interest. On rare occasions, a presidential candidate included a woman or racial minority on a list of those under consideration but, with one exception, no other presidential candidate ever came close to selecting anyone other than a white male for his running mate.
Mondale was the exception. He decided to open his selection process to include women and minorities in a significant way. He interviewed three women (Ferraro, Mayor Diane Feinstein and Gov. Martha Layne Collins), two African-American men (Mayors Tom Bradley and Wilson Goode), one Hispanic man (Mayor Henry Cisneros) and one white man (Sen. Lloyd Bentsen) for the position. Ferraro, Feinstein, Bradley and Cisneros all received serious consideration.
The demographics of Mondale's process contrasts vividly with all other searches. It was particularly striking since few women or minorities held positions that constitute the traditional source of running mates. There was only one woman governor, Collins, and she had just been elected, but no Democratic women senators, and no African-American Democrats serving as senator or governor.
Two factors shaped Mondale's decision to consider seriously women and minorities.
First, he faced a very difficult campaign against a popular President Ronald Reagan and needed to take some bold action to reshape the political landscape.
Second, considering persons from groups who had been excluded was consistent with Mondale's values. Mondale was determined to make a selection that would open doors and make the political process more inclusive.
Many criticized Mondale for considering people without the experience characteristic of most vice-presidential candidates. Mondale recognized, however, that requiring those credentials would preclude women and minorities from consideration in 1984. Instead, Mondale looked beyond the resumes to see whether those he interviewed had presidential abilities.
Bradley, for instance, had served as mayor of Los Angeles for more than a decade and narrowly missed being elected California's governor. Feinstein was subsequently elected, and three times re-elected, to the U.S. Senate. Ferraro had distinguished herself during her three terms in the House of Representatives and had discharged leadership positions.
Ferraro performed well during the vice-presidential campaign.
Although her campaign became sidetracked due to her husband's initial refusal to disclose his tax returns and stories about various of his business transactions, those stories did not relate to her ability to handle the vice presidency and, in any event, Ferraro answered all questions about those matters in a lengthy press conference. She held her own in the vice-presidential debate with George H.W. Bush.
Mondale, of course, lost in a landslide but not due to Ferraro's inclusion on the ticket.
Yet Mondale's action stood as a powerful metaphor for the proposition that high political office in our governmental system should be open to people of both sexes and of all races and ethnic groups.
- Sixteen women now serve in the Senate, eight times as many as in 1984.
- Eight women serve as state governors whereas only one did in 1984.
- Although fewer African Americans and members of other racial minority groups have won high elective office, those numbers have also increased. And Sen. Obama is running for president.
- Women and minorities have served in high appointive positions in increasing numbers including as secretary of state.
Americans should be united in the belief that political opportunity should be open to all and that we are more likely to meet our nation's problems if we involve all Americans, not just the minority of us who are white males.
Mondale understood and acted upon that value in 1984, and he deserves our thanks.
Joel Goldstein is a professor of law at Saint Louis University School of Law and a recognized expert on the vice presidency.