Although 2008 was the year when America demonstrated that presidential politics was accessible to African-Americans and women, it was the 1984 campaign when the doors were first pushed open. And the two people most responsible for the change were Walter F. Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro. Their campaign is most often recalled for the magnitude of their electoral defeat yet an enduring part of its legacy was its commitment to the principle that presidential politics was not simply a preserve of white males.
Prior to 1984, the pool of candidates for national tickets consisted entirely of white men. Margaret Chase Smith and Shirley Chisholm had conducted largely symbolic presidential candidacies and Gerald Ford had considered choosing Anne Armstrong as his 1976 running mate before deciding the gamble was too great. But women and minorities were not really viewed as serious contenders.
That changed in 1984. Mondale's career was identified with opening doors to excluded groups and characteristically he insisted that his vice-presidential selection process include women and minorities. Those he seriously considered included two African-Americans, Mayors Tom Bradley and Wilson Goode, three women, Ferraro, Mayor Dianne Feinstein and Governor Martha Collins, and one Hispanic, Mayor Henry Cisneros among others. Since Mondale decided to imitate the process by which Jimmy Carter had chosen him eight years earlier, those being considered were announced in advance and appeared for publicized interviews.
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