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CATHY WURZER: We'll have warmer days. Not real hot, but just low 80s, mid 80s on Saturday and Sunday over the weekend. And then really going to get cool here for summer for July.

50/50 chance of rain by Monday. Mid 60s for the high on Monday, upper 60s on Tuesday. We're back into the mid 70s on Wednesday. But, hey, some cool weather here coming for the beginning of the week. 79 now in Saint Paul.

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JOHN WANAMAKER: This is MPR News Presents. And we're off to the Westminster Town Hall Forum for a live broadcast featuring Minnesota's leading statesman, Walter Mondale. 30 years ago this week, Democratic presidential candidate, Walter Mondale, named Geraldine Ferraro his choice for vice president. And they were off to the Democratic National Convention. Mondale will talk with Gary Eichten about politics then and now. Westminster Forum after the news.

LAKSHMI SINGH: From NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh. More people have been killed in an unrelenting exchange of weapons fired between Israel and Gaza. Palestinian authorities say that brings to more than 80, the number of people who lost their lives in three days of Israeli airstrikes against Hamas targets in Gaza. Meanwhile, the Jewish state is reporting more rocket attacks from Gaza. Today, US Secretary of State John Kerry voiced his support for Israel.

JOHN KERRY: No country, no country can accept rocket fire aimed at civilians. And we support completely Israel's right to defend itself against these vicious attacks.

LAKSHMI SINGH: Secretary Kerry addressing the latest Middle East conflict during his visit to Beijing, where he has been meeting with Chinese officials to discuss a number of contentious issues between the US and China, including cyber theft. The New York Times has reported that Chinese hackers broke into the computer networks of the Office of Personnel Management in March with the goal of accessing the files of tens of thousands of federal employees who'd applied for top security clearances. Kerry says it does not appear that any sensitive material was compromised. Separatist Kurdish leaders are no longer attending the Iraqi government's cabinet meetings in Baghdad. NPR's Alice Fordham reports Iraq is becoming increasingly fragmented.

ALICE FORDHAM: The Kurdish part of Iraq is becoming ever more remote from the government in Baghdad. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki accused Kurds of sheltering terrorists and Saddam Hussein loyalists. In response, a Kurdish politician, Rowsch Shaways, called Maliki hysterical and said he must step down.

Kurdish ministers will no longer attend cabinet meetings. Kurdish fighters have taken advantage of the chaos engulfing Iraq to seize territory to which they have long laid claim, including the oil rich city of Kirkuk. Alice Fordham, NPR News, Baghdad.

LAKSHMI SINGH: The US Labor Department says new claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week. NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports a measure of layoff activity has been steadily declining this year.

YUKI NOGUCHI: The number of claims came in at 304,000, a decline of 11,000 from the previous week, and another indication the job market is gaining strength. The filings correlate with layoff activity and have been at their lowest level since before the Great Recession began in late 2007. At the same time, hiring is increasing, pushing the unemployment rate down. Last month, hiring was stronger than expected, and the jobless rate fell to 6.1%, a bigger drop than analysts expected, although overall still historically high. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.

LAKSHMI SINGH: Wholesale stockpiles still rising but did so in May at their weakest pace in months. The Commerce Department reports half percent growth, down from a 1% increase in April. Sales at the wholesale level rose 7/10 of a percent. Dow is down 87 points, more than half a percent at 16,898. This is NPR News.

JOHN WANAMAKER: Support for news comes from Fifth Generation Incorporated, maker of Tito's Handmade Vodka, American made and gluten free. Recipes at titosvodka.com.

From Minnesota Public Radio News, I'm John Wanamaker. Como Zoo officials say three gorillas got out of their enclosure this morning through an unsecured door. A statement from the zoo says the three were always secured within gorilla-proof barriers and posed no threat to visitors, staff, or other animals. The incident occurred shortly before the zoo opened to the public at 10:00 AM. All gorillas had returned to their enclosure by 10:40.

The city of Saint Paul projects it will have a $9.6 million budget gap in 2015. City communications director Tonya Tennessen says Saint Paul has dealt with similar budget gaps over the past few years.

TONYA TENNESSEN: There are going to be some tough decisions that we have to make. Right now, we're in conversations with department heads to try to look for ways to innovate and find ways to reduce costs while maintaining city services. But obviously, we have some big questions to ask as a community.

JOHN WANAMAKER: Mayor Chris Coleman is currently weighing options on closing the gap and will submit a budget proposal in mid-August. He has set up four meetings across the city to solicit ideas from the public on what the city's funding priorities should be. The public meetings start next week. Residents can also weigh in online through Twitter and the city's website.

University of Minnesota president Eric Kaler will get a 5.5% raise next year as part of a five-year contract extension. Kaler will make $785,000 next year under the new deal. By the time his contract runs out in 2020, he will be making more than $987,000. Much of the increase is in the form of supplemental retirement pay. Kaler became president in 2011 and has one year left on his original contract.

Well, some clouds right now up on the Iron Range otherwise, plenty of sunshine. There is going to be a slight chance of thunderstorms across far Western Minnesota later today. Highs today in the mid 70s to low 80s currently. 76 degrees in the Twin Cities. This is Minnesota Public Radio News.

MALE SPEAKER 1: Support for this program comes from the Women's Foundation of Minnesota, championing equality for women and girls through grant making, research, and policy. Providing leadership to end the sex trafficking of Minnesota girls, wfmn.org.

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JOHN WANAMAKER: Welcome to MPR News Presents. I'm John Wanamaker. And now we go off to the Westminster Town Hall Forum coming to you live from Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Minneapolis.

GARY EICHTEN: Good afternoon, and welcome to the Westminster Town Hall Forum. I'm Gary Eichten. Sitting in today for our usual forum moderator, senior minister Tim Hart-Andersen. And it is my distinct pleasure to welcome our guest today, one of the finest public servants in Minnesota, heck, in US history, Mr. Walter Mondale.

[APPLAUSE]

Mr. Mondale, Mr Mondale has one of the most impressive resumes you could imagine, US senator, US ambassador, state attorney general, vice president of the United States. And he was also the Democratic Party's nominee for president back in 1984. And that is what brings us to the forum today.

Truth be told, the 1984 election is usually remembered as a landslide win for incumbent President Ronald Reagan and a crushing defeat for Walter Mondale. But the 1984 election was historic. It was 30 years ago this weekend, on July 12, when Walter Mondale told supporters at the Minnesota State Capitol that he had decided to do what no one else had ever done.

WALTER MONDALE: A year and a half ago, in this chamber, I announced my candidacy for president of the United States.

[APPLAUSE]

One week from today, I expect to be nominated for president of the United States.

[APPLAUSE]

And today, I'm delighted to announce that I will ask the Democratic Convention to nominate Geraldine Ferraro of New York to run with me for the White House.

[CROWD CHEERING]

GARY EICHTEN: For the first time in American history, a woman was being selected to run on a major party ticket for vice president of the United States.

WALTER MONDALE: My campaign, my presidency, will honor basic American values and those who embody them. We must go into the future together as one indivisible community. America is not just for some of us. History speaks to us today. Our founders said in the Constitution, we, the people, not just the rich or men or white but all of us. Our message is that America is for everyone who works hard and contributes to our blessed country.

GARY EICHTEN: Vice President Walter Mondale speaking at the Minnesota State Capitol 30 years ago. Mr. Mondale, of course, would go on to win the party's nomination. And we'll talk about that campaign, including his famous or infamous pledge to raise taxes if elected. We'll take a closer look at lessons learned during the campaign and how those lessons learned might apply to politics today, to the challenges facing America today.

But Mr. Mondale, if you'd be so kind, I wanted to begin today's forum with that historic decision to select Geraldine Ferraro as your running mate. In retrospect, any regrets that you put a woman on the ticket? After all, only one other candidate, John McCain, has followed your lead. It's been 30 years. Did you do the right thing?

WALTER MONDALE: Well, first of all, I didn't do what John McCain did.

[LAUGHTER, CHEERING]

I've got a lot of problems with my record, but that's not one of them.

[LAUGHTER]

Yes, I feel I did the right thing. And I think that the history will sustain me in that decision. I ran-- my whole public life was directed at, I would say, Minnesota values of being open and fair to everyone and giving everyone a chance if they try to be a part of the greatness of American life.

And I began my public career at a time when that was not true in many parts of the country. Where many times the laws themselves prohibited Blacks or minorities or in other ways women from being a part of the wholeness of America. Political parties did the same thing. And I wanted to change that.

That was, I'd say, at the center of my public career. And when I got a chance, I tried to open doors for women as well to end the-- break the glass ceiling, to make it possible for young women to dream of being a part of all aspects of American life. And I believe that Ferraro's selection helped interest women into the potential of that life. Amy Klobuchar, our gifted United States Senator from Minnesota, the first woman United States Senator from Minnesota, the most popular senator from Minnesota. Old Humphrey is turning in his grave.

[LAUGHTER]

And she says that when this occurred, she started thinking about, well, what could I do myself in public life? And I've heard that from so many people. I heard it from a minister here a few years ago, said it made a big difference. And all across the country, in public life, in legislatures, in city halls, in state capitals and Congress, you see more and more women being selected for high positions.

So I think it's been a big change. And it's not just about gender, although that is very much a part of it. It is about the idea that's found in our Constitution of having a country that's really fair and open. And I didn't do it alone. A lot of people were with me.

But if you ask me what I'm proudest of about in my public career, I would say I think we opened a lot of doors. And I think a lot of people are walking through them, and we're a lot better off as a country than we would have been if we kept them locked.

[APPLAUSE]

GARY EICHTEN: Why do you suppose, other than John McCain, no other candidates have named a woman to the ticket? For that matter, no woman has been on the ticket, one in her own right. Why? Why is it?

WALTER MONDALE: Well, maybe we can correct that next time.

[LAUGHTER]

It's been-- we've all lived part of, we know what it is. It's a kind of a cultural resistance, a hangover from past habits, a kind of a reluctance to take a chance, even though around the world, in Israel and England and so on, we've seen many examples of top offices being held by strong women executives that have made a difference. I would say that around the country, you can hear things changing. And I believe that this will change, maybe soon. And we will finally have a woman president of the United States.

Let me make one other point. This argument is not about having a woman or a man or a Black. It's about eliminating discrimination so that you can finally look at the talents of people. 40 years ago, if we were meeting here 15 years ago, you could have asked the same question about whether a Black could be president. We've never had one, don't want one or something like that.

Well, we have one. And I personally think he's a superb president. We broke a ceiling there. And I think we just should keep on looking for talent and giving talent a chance in America. We're the only country that can do this. We've done-- I'd say we get a C mark, C+ something like that. And one of the ways of gaining influence in this world is to let them see us be a real open society.

GARY EICHTEN: I wanted to move along here and talk about another aspect of the campaign, that '84 campaign that's gotten a fair amount of attention. You set a standard, I think it's fair to say, for others when it came to giving women a fair shake in politics. You also set a standard, I think it's fair to say, for telling voters what they may not want to have heard. Here is a clip from your speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention, when you were accepting the party's nomination for president.

WALTER MONDALE: Whoever is inaugurated in January, the American people will have to pay Mr. Reagan's bills. The budget will be squeezed, taxes will go up. And anyone who says they won't is not telling the truth to the American people.

[CROWD CHEERING]

I mean, I mean business. By the end of my first term, I will reduce the Reagan budget deficit by 2/3. Let's tell the truth. That must be done. It must be done. Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did.

GARY EICHTEN: Walter Mondale 30 years ago on July 19, 1984, accepting the Democratic party's nomination for president. Mr. Mondale, is there such a thing as being too honest in politics?

WALTER MONDALE: I've been thinking about that.

[LAUGHTER]

One thing that I've noticed is that whatever the wisdom of my choice, no politician has repeated it again.

[LAUGHTER]

I thought and think that politics is weakened when you don't have the courage to discuss the real issues.

[APPLAUSE]

All the things I said about the deficit were true. Reagan administration said that they were working up a tax bill before my convention. And when I announced what I did, they tried to burn it up and pretend they weren't. But he was working on tax increases while I was talking.

And once he was reelected, I think he had six tax increases over four years. So what you were hearing from me was-- I think what you heard privately in the councils of government but not publicly. So I think I said the right thing. I don't think I lost any votes on it. I think people more or less agreed with that.

But I wasn't allowed to put it into practice. And I noticed this that the successful public leaders who talk about tax increases now tend to talk about raising them on the highest income levels. That's what Obama did. That's what our governor did.

So they placed it in the context of reforming the tax code to make it fairer. So those who are best able to pay, pay some more. So if a politician was asking me what to do now, I'd tell them to think about that.

GARY EICHTEN: You did spawn one of the great lines, though, maybe the greatest single political line ever. You write in your book The Good Fight talking about his campaign contest with Ronald Reagan. "He was selling morning in America. I was selling a root canal."

[LAUGHTER]

But you stood up for what you consider to be your core values.

WALTER MONDALE: Look, if I can just take a minute here. I wouldn't have gone into politics if I didn't believe in some pretty fundamental things. And for me, I thought openness we've discussed this now. The idea that America should be an open society, non-discriminatory, and helpful to people across the board. I really believed in that. I believe in it now.

I believed, as Lincoln once said, that the purpose of government is to do for people what needs to be done, but what they cannot do themselves or do so well for themselves. Lincoln always got it right. And I believe there's a lot of problems in America that will not be solved unless we do it together through the wise use of our government.

My opponent didn't agree with that. He said the government is the problem. He gave several statements about how government just gets in the way. And that old saw is around here today in politics. Government never works.

That's not true. Government can make a mistake. They do. But a lot of the problems-- health care, education, environment go down the list. If you can't use government creatively in that way, you're not going to get it solved.

And one of the things I maintained throughout that election, throughout my public life, was that we needed to consider the creative use of government in solving problems that we had to solve. And that's still true today. I mean, we've got real education problems.

We've got children who don't learn. We've got tremendous environmental problems. We've got transportation problems that I think demonstrably require the creative use of government.

And on the other hand, you've got ideologues, as I put it, that think that government can't work. That would close down government, That put the brakes on anything. And we can see this played out in Washington now.

What's getting done? Nothing. And it's a debate between people like me that say what I just said. And people would say, all of this is wrong. It doesn't help. Just close the government down. It's getting in the way. And that's another thing I worked on hard.

A final thing, and I'll stop with this speech yet, but I wanted to see America become a force for peace, to resolve differences if we could, especially the dangers of nuclear warfare, which is the most dangerous thing in the world even today. And to try to use the enormous moral force of America to try to bring about a reduction in war and to bring about more peaceful opportunities.

My opponent then had opposed every arms control agreement reached by every president of either political party for 40 years. He did not believe in nuclear arms control. He believed in Star Wars, a Hollywood idea where each side would fire their nuclear weapons at each other, and no one would get hurt. Because these things would shoot them down like a 4th of July party or something,

I opposed that and made a big issue out of it and tried to push America back again, where it was a central force in trying to get these things under control before they blew us all up. I say this because I think politics means something. I think what you're for does matter. And I think these great issues are not just farcical. They're real and compelling. And I try to be a positive part of that debate.

GARY EICHTEN: Certainly, one of the most vexing moral dilemmas I suspect leaders are facing right now is what to do with all those children on the border. Do you ship them back from where they came? Presumably, they left because it was so horrible where they were that they were willing to-- or their parents were willing to let them try to endure that trip. But what do you do with those kids?

WALTER MONDALE: We don't have an adequate or even a strong immigration law. We need to have a comprehensive American immigration law that spells out and defines how these problems are solved, who can come into America, on what basis, what kind of rights they have, what they can do in terms of trying to develop citizenship, and what we do about people who cross the border illegally.

Every nation has to have protections at the border. We have anarchy and we have states pursuing different policies. We have, again, a paralyzed Congress that can't seem to get anywhere on this issue. One of the big questions on the other side, if you've noticed, the last couple of years, there's been immigration reform.

And one of the poor guys that talked about it was defeated here, cancer. So I think that we need to push hard again for immigration laws that help answer the kind of questions that you ask. These children are from Honduras and I forget where else.

GARY EICHTEN: Guatemala.

WALTER MONDALE: Yeah. Central America there. And it's something that we're not used to. There was a story yesterday that there being-- that there's so much violence down there. That there's just a gang war going throughout the area that these mothers, in desperation, are trying to send their kids up here hoping that they can live.

And I think we have to be sympathetic to that. These children have to be cared for properly, and I think we're going to do that. It'd be nice if the Congress would help. But I think most of them are here illegally. And we have to find a proper and respectful way of drawing those conclusions and dealing carefully with the results.

Nobody wants these children to suffer any more. America can't be seen as doing that to children. I hope we will never let that happen. But we do have some laws, and they have to be followed.

GARY EICHTEN: Another question then we get to some audience questions here. And this has to do with values. How do you reconcile competing core values? This comes up with the Democrats, I think, a lot. When you talk about good jobs, Democrats have always been talked a lot about providing good jobs and protecting the environment. And so often those two end up butting head to head. How do you reconcile those two?

WALTER MONDALE: First, I'd say have the debate, get into the issues, hold hearings, find out what the truth is and how these issues can be resolved. Agree that we've got to protect our environment. If this global warming continues, if these other things that are driving away at life continue, we're all going to suffer in a profound way, all these bizarre weather patterns that we've seen around the country.

There are certain states that are going to be standing knee deep in water here. This is not just theory or Hollywood. This is real. We've got to do a much better job of protecting the environment from the things that threaten us.

And at the same time, we've got to make certain that the economy grows and there's jobs for Americans. Number one, I'd say a lot of jobs are needed in order to do what I just said. So a lot of jobs can be consistent and essential to the environment. Those like, say, dirty coal producing power plants, which are at the center of our problem should be regulated and adjustments should be forced to be made, so those jobs are consistent with the environment. I think that can be done in a responsible way.

GARY EICHTEN: You're listening to the Westminster Town Hall Forum, broadcast live today from Westminster Presbyterian Church on the Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis. I'm Gary Eichten. Our guest today is former vice president and former presidential nominee Walter Mondale.

Time now for some audience questions. Those of you here at Westminster, just jot down your question and ushers will pick up the cards. We'll get to as many as we can. Those of you listening on the radio or the web, use Twitter or Facebook. On Twitter, it's westminsterthf. On Facebook, go to Westminster Town Hall Forum.

Reminder to join us here at Westminster in September, on Tuesday evening, September 23rd, at 7:00 PM. Tim Hart-Andersen will be back to moderate a forum with philosopher and neuroscientist Sam Harris, who will be talking about waking up, finding spirituality without religion. Information on the entire forum season will be available next month at westminsterforum.org. Mr. Mondale, while we're waiting for the cards to come forth, greatest challenges facing America today?

WALTER MONDALE: Can I introduce a few people in here?

GARY EICHTEN: Sure.

WALTER MONDALE: Arne Carlson is here somewhere, former Minnesota governor Arne Carlson.

[APPLAUSE]

Yeah, I see him. A wonderful example of Minnesota politics at its best, if he could only learn to speak up.

[LAUGHTER]

Associate Justice David Lillehaug, a great justice from Minnesota.

[APPLAUSE]

I want to thank everybody for coming. I thought today would be a day to be alone. Come here maybe 8 or 10 people sitting around there with Gary and I trying to talk. Place is packed and I thank you. And I'm proud of you. And I'm proud of this church.

GARY EICHTEN: Everything that's said here, though, and said on the radio, nobody will actually hear that. So it'll all be between us friends. So if you have anything special you'd want to say, Mr Mondale.

WALTER MONDALE: That has not been my experience with these programs.

[LAUGHTER]

GARY EICHTEN: So in a nutshell, what are the greatest challenges facing America while we wait for these questions?

WALTER MONDALE: Giving the next generation a chance to thrive. Making certain that every child is a part of the fullness of American life. That's education, early childhood education. Trying to reach out so that we don't mutilate their spirit. A great psychologist once said, the deadliest of all possible sins is the mutilation of a child's spirit. I believe that. And I think we should put that at the center.

[APPLAUSE]

I've talked about the environment. But I think that we really better get serious about that, a lot more serious than we are. The global warming issues are starting to really converge. Some scientists are saying it's almost too late. Even if we try to reverse it, we can't.

It's imperiling our health. It's imperiling the future of our country. It is inexcusable because we can act on these things and make a difference. And I hope that we will.

Finally, America's role as a force for peace in the world. I think we're trying. The world continues to be troubled. But I hope that we will continue to put American moral authority behind peace, trying to give peace a chance.

Every day we get another suggestion for another war that will help us. And occasionally-- and I'm not a pacifist. Occasionally, these efforts are necessary because there are some really bad people on the globe. But to the extent we can, the United States should be seen as trying to tilt the deal toward peace, to try to be a force that offers our future to the next generation.

When you think of how many wars we've been through and how much those wars have cost, and how much they've crimped the future of Americans, there's a warning there. It seems to me we've got-- these wars are easy to get into. But they're very hard to get out of. We shoot up our kids. And for what?

Sometimes you can explain it. But I think we ought to be cautious about how we use American power. I think we should get good minds in. I mean, did we know what we were doing when we got into Vietnam? Did we know what we were doing when we got into Iraq? I mean, we need to start thinking about these things before we get into the war. And finally, I would say--

[APPLAUSE]

Finally, I would say the integrity of the American electoral process.

[APPLAUSE]

The right to vote should be clear and protected. Trying to curtail the vote for old people or students or Blacks or whatever is an outrage in this country. We need to keep the voting process open and honest and trustworthy. I think we've done that in Minnesota and God bless us all for that.

But this continues to be a big issue around the country, and that can really hurt us. The final thing I'll throw then I'll keep quiet, money. Money in American politics is really a depressing, dispiriting part of the American scene. For a hundred years, corporations and union treasuries and so on were prohibited from spending money. Those lids are off now.

Wealthy people can spend whatever they want in whatever the way they want without disclosing who they are. All over the country, this attempt to buy the election is apparent. How do you trust this process? At what point do the people think, well, voting doesn't count because this election has been bought.

The president and the Congress-- the court has said that the Congress has the power to prohibit corruption and the appearance of corruption by law in federal election campaigns. I say we're there now. And let's pass laws that close this thing down and clean up American elections.

[APPLAUSE]

GARY EICHTEN: Former Vice President Walter Mondale at the Westminster Town Hall Forum. Along those lines, Mr. Mondale, audience question, what do you say to young people discouraged by political gridlock and the power of money? How do you keep them interested-- get them interested?

WALTER MONDALE: Well, I would say, I would say something like I just said. And I like repeating what I said and ask them to help us clean it up, to get involved in politics and help us change it. Because this is a threat to them. This is their future, more than mine, that's being jeopardized. And help make that difference.

GARY EICHTEN: Let's see. This is under the category, I suppose, of what goes around comes around. A former intern of yours said, you used to ask me this every day when I interned and sat in the back seat. And so I will ask you, Mr. Mondale, what are you reading today?

[LAUGHTER]

WALTER MONDALE: Well, I read an interesting history by Peter Baker of the last years of the Bush administration. I'm starting to read more are about religion and politics. I read a book called the Redeemer, about Jimmy Carter and the evangelical issues that he faced. He got elected partly in '76 because the southern evangelicals supported him. He was defeated, in part, because they turned on him in '80. This whole issue of politics in that part of our country.

I'm in the middle of a wonderful history of Bishop Whipple. Bishop Whipple was the courageous Episcopal bishop in Minnesota during the Civil War. And he was a friend of Lincoln's and was empathetic and tried to get some kind of justice for Indians. And he went to-- they were going to hang 300 Indians in a park in Mankato.

And he went to Lincoln and pleaded with him not to do that, and talked to men to hanging only 38, which is a record, by the way. And the story of what this remarkable religious leader did, the personal courage, the vision that he showed says something about how faith has worked in our state, the history and tradition of that, and what a leader like that can mean to our own better selves.

GARY EICHTEN: What is the role of religion in public life? What should it be?

WALTER MONDALE: I don't believe that any politician should say that he's talking for God.

[APPLAUSE]

But I think we all have, hopefully, our own faith. We have our own values. And our role in politics should be governed by the great questions, by the great principles that our faith teaches us. I've been a member of this Westminster Church for many, many years. Joan and I love this church. But you've never heard me claim that God told me to do something.

There's a lot of civic discussion and serious talk about great issues in this church. Tim Hart-Andersen is a wonderful example of that. That has influenced me, influenced me in what I believe and what I try to do and what's important and how I'd like to be remembered, and all those things that you can't just cut that out of your life. It's part of who you are. And it helps inform your position on public questions. And we need a lot of that.

GARY EICHTEN: Audience member wants to know, do you see any long-term solutions for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Of course, you work so hard on the historic Israeli-Palest-- or Israeli-Egyptian peace agreement back in the '70s. Now the Israelis and Palestinians are exchanging rocket fire again.

WALTER MONDALE: Today, if you read the papers and saw the pictures, it's utterly tragic what's going on. But it's very hard to figure out what to do about it. The Hamas, apparently from Gaza and elsewhere, have gotten possession of missiles, which they've been firing at Israel for several days, directed at innocent people.

And the Israelis are responding. And the words-- the escalation of the war is clearly apparent. And the role of Egypt, which in the past had helped settle these disputes in the past, Egypt is apparently remaining neutral, not doing anything.

We're trying. The UN is trying. But at this point, it's grim. And what does anybody get out of that? I mean, when it's over, the Hamas and Israel will be there.

I pray that somehow this can be settled. My old pal Jimmy Carter, who doesn't get a lot of credit for it, has tried for years to get people to talk together and to resolve it. If it hadn't been for him, we wouldn't have Camp David and the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. So as we look at what might be needed, maybe we can remember what Jimmy Carter has tried.

GARY EICHTEN: It's been about a year now, almost exactly since the Snowden revelations came to light. Audience member wants to know if you would please speak to the issue of open government.

WALTER MONDALE: Well, that's one of the big things I've fought for my whole public career. I was like almost the last living member of the Church Committee. I chaired the subcommittee and domestic intelligence. We shaped I thought a good answer. Set up the foreign intelligence court required that where you wanted to investigate the activities of a private citizen, you had to get a warrant to do so from this private court.

We set up a House and Senate Intelligence Committee. And our idea was to get good intelligence operations that's respectful of American rights. That if you cross that line, if the Fourth Amendment doesn't mean anything anymore, if you do just what you want to privately with American power, private rights are going to be interfered with. The discussion that we need in America will be chilled, and innocent people could well be hurt as they have in the past.

We've been going through this last cycle of about six years when we discovered that our government, contrary to the law, had started what they called bulk multi-data investigations, by which they look at almost everything you send out on the internet and every phone call you make. Maybe not all of you, but most of you. No warrants.

They tell us that they have minimization proceedings. So none of this gets around. But I don't really trust that. And now millions of conversations from millions of Americans without any control whatsoever is ending up in private files of investigators, most of whom have done nothing wrong, most of whom don't deserve this at all.

Most of whom, if you read the Fourth Amendment, which should govern these things, should not be touched at all. That's what the Fourth Amendment says. But that's happening now. Bob Stein and I from the law school just wrote an article that came out in the Minnesota law review a couple of weeks ago calling for restoration of those accountability rules.

Right now, the idea over there seems to be do whatever you can do. And there's a scandal almost every day in Germany where we're investigating one of our best friends tapping your phone and according to the stories the last couple of days, spies investigating our best friend and if you think that's good for our relations.

So we got to get some sensible. We need to go after these bad people, but we need some sensible restraints. It's not just what you can do. It should be what you should do and where that line is drawn. We've become really superb at technology, but our judgment seems to have shrunk in the process.

[APPLAUSE]

GARY EICHTEN: Audience member here at Westminster says should our schools place a greater emphasis on civic education?

WALTER MONDALE: Yes. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has been going all over the country lecturing on why we need more civics in our schooling system. So that young people learn about America, learn about our laws, learn about the issues, see how they can play a role in shaping the public life of our country. One of the things that worries me is all this testing that's going on seems to crimp the teaching of history, of government, and of the arts.

[APPLAUSE]

But a whole person needs that, and we need the whole person. So my answer is yes, in my opinion.

GARY EICHTEN: Here's a question from an audience member says, as a high school senior in 1984, you, Mr. Mondale, was the first person I voted for and still is the best vote that this person cast, apparently.

MALE SPEAKER 2: Please stand up.

[LAUGHTER]

GARY EICHTEN: He or she says, can you recall your first or best vote?

WALTER MONDALE: I cast my first ballot in, I think, 1948 for Harry Truman. And I still feel good about it.

[APPLAUSE]

GARY EICHTEN: Let's see. I wanted to ask you about something you wrote in The Good Fight about investing in people, core of your political philosophy. You say when you look at people as liabilities, and all you see when you see a person is an item on the expense side of the ledger, you don't do much. But if you look at people and just imagine the hope that's there if they get a chance, if they feel good about themselves, well, you can feel hopeful not just about them but about the country. How do you encourage leaders to think about people as something other than an expense?

WALTER MONDALE: Well, I spent a lot of my life debating that point. I think of them in terms of assets, of how we need them, of what they can do for us, of the great talents that they have, which, if trained, can help us build our future. It's the only real future that any of us have in that next generation. And the key to it, of course, is good parenting and good education.

And if you look at that just in terms of here's an outlay, this is money spent, that's one thing. But I think somehow we should find a better way of looking at the asset side of it, what these young people can mean to us. And if you fail, what it can cost.

I mean, a lot of these young people out in our prisons that are failing, that are so frustrated that you have street crimes and the rest. We've got some of that up in North Minneapolis now. I think that there's nothing more expensive, nothing more disheartening, nothing that's more dispiriting, in my opinion, than children that didn't get a chance, that have failed, and just can't get it back in their lives.

Minnesota is doing a lot better than most states on this, and I'm proud of that. I don't want to be misunderstood, but we got a lot of problems, too. And the more we can work on that-- you don't need this speech.

But I heard Governor Dayton at his State of the State Address talking about making public school playgrounds and athletic facilities available to young people during the day and early evening, administered by not teachers but just people who are good at that. I think there are more young kids hanging around with nothing to do, without anything to feel good about. That if we could just use our playgrounds and the rest to get them involved, get them engaged, make them stretch and feel good.

That helped me a lot when I was a young kid, just being able to do things. And a lot of these young kids don't have anything to do. And I think we should work on that too.

GARY EICHTEN: Only about a minute left, Mr. Mondale. But in general, are you pretty optimistic about our future? Are you worried? How do you characterize it?

WALTER MONDALE: Yes, I'm optimistic. I think we've got a great country and a great state. We have wonderful leaders. I'm worried about the issues that we discussed today. It's not a perfect-- it's not utopia.

There are things that need to be reformed and corrected. But let's face it, this is a wonderful country. This is a wonderful state. You couldn't ask for better. And it's good to be alive.

GARY EICHTEN: Do we have the--

[APPLAUSE]

Do we have the kind of leaders we need to get us to that place?

WALTER MONDALE: What's that?

GARY EICHTEN: Do we have the kind of leaders that we need to get to where we want to be?

WALTER MONDALE: We have a lot of good leaders. One of the things I always tell people, what surprises them, there's a lot of wonderful people in government and in politics. Not all of them, but a lot of them-- a lot of them are really trying. They're honest, and they care. Let's get behind them.

GARY EICHTEN: Well, that is all the time we have today. Vice President Walter Mondale, thank you so much. Thank you for being my guest today.

WALTER MONDALE: Thank you very much.

GARY EICHTEN: You're doing a great job.

WALTER MONDALE: Thank you.

[APPLAUSE]

GARY EICHTEN: Former Vice President Walter Mondale.

[APPLAUSE]

Thanks to all of you here at Westminster for joining us, and all of you who've been listening on the radio and the web. Pastor Tim Hart-Andersen will be back in September for our next Westminster Town Hall Forum. I'm Gary Eichten. Good afternoon from Westminster Presbyterian in downtown Minneapolis.

MALE SPEAKER 1: Support for MPR News Presents comes from Medtronic, celebrating people living with medical technology who are giving back to their communities by awarding charitable grants. You can apply for the Bakken Invitation Award at liveongiveon.org. Support for this program comes from Bremer Bank, providing financial solutions and personalized support to help companies achieve their goals. You can learn more about Bremer business banking at bremer.com. Bremer bank, work hard, bank easy.

CATHY WURZER: Friday at Morning Edition, a look at which local businesses will be making money and which ones will not when the Major League Baseball All-Star game comes to town next week. I'm Cathy Wurzer. We'll have that story and meteorologist Mark Seeley tomorrow on Morning Edition.

JOHN WANAMAKER: You've been listening to MPR News Presents. Gary Eichten speaking with former vice president, and former senator, former presidential candidate, Walter Mondale, at the Westminster Town Hall Forum at Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Minneapolis. Tomorrow, more from the Aspen Ideas Festival.

And coming up on The Takeaway, an update on the conflict between Israel and Palestinians in the West Bank. Also, what to do when breast cancer makes a second calling. That's coming up on The Takeaway.

It's a sunny day today with a slight chance of thunderstorms later today in the far western part of the state. Highs today pretty nice, mid 70s to lower 80s. The humidity starts to build tonight, cloudy with a chance of showers and storms, lows low to mid 60s. Tomorrow cloudy in the morning then becoming partly sunny with a chance of lingering showers and storms. Highs mid 70s to mid 80s.

MALE SPEAKER 3: This week on Morning Edition and All Things Considered, why minority groups are more prone to illness than the rest of Minnesota.

FEMALE SPEAKER 1: What can you say to a 13-year-old who gets that stuck in his head that every time he has an asthma attack, he thinks he's going to die?

FEMALE SPEAKER 2: We can't talk about cancer in American Indian communities without addressing the high rates of tobacco and the rates of secondhand smoke exposure in our communities.

MALE SPEAKER 3: The stories behind the health disparities data on Minnesota Public Radio News and mprnews.org.

JOHN WANAMAKER: This is listener supported Minnesota Public Radio News 91.1 KNOW Minneapolis, Saint Paul. You can download our new and improved mobile apps for iPhone and for Android. Well, you really can't argue with an afternoon like this.

Sunny skies, 79 degrees right now in the Twin Cities. Highs today in the low 80s. And then again, a chance of showers and thunderstorms as the humidity builds tonight with showers and thunderstorms likely after midnight. Lows mid 60s. Cloudy with a 50/50 chance of rain tomorrow. Highs in the mid 70s to mid 80s.