Mondale Ferraro Star

White text and white star on blue background above red and white wavy stripes

This button was for the 1984 U.S. presidential campaign of Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro. Mondale had served as vice president under Jimmy Carter from 1977-1981. He chose Ferraro, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 9th district, as his running mate. This marked the first time a woman had been a nominee on a major party's presidential ticket. Mondale and Ferraro lost the 1984 election to President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H.W. Bush, who won re-election by carrying 49 of the 50 U.S. states. Mondale and Ferraro carried only his home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia. Their 13 electoral college votes was the lowest total of any major presidential ticket since Alf Landon and Frank Knox earned 8 electoral votes in 1936 against Franklin D. Roosevelt and John Nance Garner.

Mondale attended Macalester College and the University of Minnesota, and served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. He was Minnesota Attorney General in the early 1980s and U.S. Ambassador to Japan from 1990-1993. Ferraro attended Marymount Manhattan College and earned her J.D. from Fordham University in New York. She served as U.S. Ambassador to the UN Commission on Human Rights from 1993-1996 during the Clinton administration.