Joan Mondale

Joan Adams Mondale
Second Lady of the United States
In office January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981
Preceded by	Happy Rockefeller
Succeeded by	Barbara Bush
Personal details
Born	(1930-08-08) August 8, 1930 Eugene, Oregon, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Walter Mondale
Relations	John Maxwell Adams and Eleanor Jane Hall
Children	Theodore A. Mondale Eleanor Mondale (deceased) William H. Mondale

Joan Adams Mondale (born August 8, 1930) is the wife of Walter Mondale, 42nd Vice President of the United States, Presidential candidate, and later U.S. ambassador to Japan. She has always been a high-profile advocate for the arts, affectionately dubbed 'Joan of Art'.

Family and education

Joan Adams was born in Eugene, Oregon, one of three daughters of the Rev. John Maxwell Adams, a Presbyterian minister, and his wife, the former Eleanor Jane Hall. She attended Media Friends School, an integrated Quaker school in Media, Pennsylvania, a public school in Columbus, Ohio, and later St. Paul Academy and Summit School in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1952, she graduated from Macalester College, St. Paul, where her father was chaplain. After graduation, she worked at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Joan married Minneapolis lawyer Walter "Fritz" Mondale on December 27th 1955, following a blind date, set up by one of Walter's law-school classmates.

The couple had three children:

• Theodore, born October 12th 1957

Minnesota politician, ex-Senator and candidate for State Governor

• Eleanor Jane, January 19th 1960 – September 17th 2011

High-profile television and radio personality, died of brain-cancer at 51

• William Hall, born February 27th 1962

Assistant Attorney General for the State of Minnesota, 1990-2000

Political life

In 1964, Walter replaced Hubert Humphrey as a US Senator, and held the post till 1976, when Democratic presidential candidate Jimmy Carter selected him as running-mate in his successful bid for the Presidency.

Joan then became Second Lady, in succession to Happy Rockefeller, during her husband's term as Vice President from 1977 to 1981, to be succeeded by Barbara Bush.

Out of office during Reagan's first administration, Walter Mondale won the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984. As a prospective First Lady, Joan told Maureen Dowd of the New York Times that she would not talk about recipes or clothes during the campaign, but when her husband's radical views started costing him votes, she published The Mondale Family Cookbook, with recipes like Fettucine à la Pimento Mondale, and declared that she was a "traditional wife and mother and supporter".

Walter was not voted in, and the Mondales returned to Minnesota, where they lived until his term as U.S. Ambassador to Japan (1993-96), after which he resumed his old Minnesota law practice.

'Joan of Art'

Joan has been a lifelong practitioner, patron and advocate of the arts, and her nickname 'Joan of Art' is a sincere tribute.

An accomplished potter, she studied art at college, and then worked in galleries, before moving to Washington as a Senator's wife in 1964, and led guided tours at the National Gallery of Art. In 1972, she wrote a book 'Politics in Art', examining how political commentary is reflected in artworks.

Later, as Second Lady, she turned the Vice Presidential Mansion into a showcase of American art, with works by Rauschenberg, Hopper, Nevelson and Adams. At this time, she also served as chairperson of the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities.

As the U.S. Ambassador's wife in Japan, she enthusiastically promoted inter-cultural understanding through art, redecorating the Embassy with American paintings and organising tours with a bi-lingual guide. She studied Japanese art.and impressed the Mayor of Kyoto by presenting him with a ceramic bowl she had made herself in the traditional Mashiko style.

Now back in her home state, Mrs. Mondale continues to make her own pottery and promote the arts. She serves on the board of the Minnesota Orchestra, Walker Art Center, Macalester College and the National Portrait Gallery. In 2004, The Textile Center in Minneapolis endowed an exhibition space in her honor, the Joan Mondale Gallery, perhaps America's chief showcase for fiber art.