Mondale Retirement Opens Up Key Post

Walter F. Mondale’s announcement that he will retire next month after three years as U.S. ambassador to Japan throws open yet another key post in the second Clinton administration.

“I would have liked him to stay on for the new Clinton administration,” said Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, adding that the Japanese people will be “shocked and saddened” by the news.

Publicly and privately, Americans and Japanese gave Mondale high marks, both for his quick grasp of trade issues and for his deft and sensitive handling of the firestorm created by last year’s rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan girl involving three U.S. servicemen.

The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo said in a statement that Mondale wanted to finish up his official duties by mid-December. The former senator and vice president under Jimmy Carter plans to practice law in Minnesota; he has told friends he would also like to help his son, Teddy Mondale, run for governor of the state in 1998.

“There’s a new administration, new government here in Japan, new secretary of state coming up, and I think relations here are in good shape,” Mondale said.

“I miss my grandchildren,” he added.

Mondale’s resignation was not unexpected, and Tokyo was abuzz this morning with speculation about a successor. The Japanese establishment, including the Foreign Ministry, opinion makers and the business elite, have been openly lobbying for former House Speaker Thomas S. Foley. Washed out of his Washington state congressional seat in the GOP tidal wave of 1994 after 30 years in office, Foley is now practicing law in Washington, D.C.

A longtime friend of Japan who was decorated by the Japanese emperor in the spring, Foley is seen here as knowledgeable, well-connected and sympathetic on trade issues.

“The Japanese establishment has been communicating to Washington its hope and expectation that Foley will be chosen to be the ambassador, so it’ll be interesting to see just how much influence the Japanese establishment has on the choice President Clinton makes,” said a well-placed American observer of Japan.

But such lobbying could backfire, warned Tadashi Yamamoto, head of the Japan Center for International Exchange and a longtime friend of Foley. “If the Japanese government people want him, they should be quiet,” Yamamoto said.

Foley could not be reached for comment.

Tokyo is known to be cool if not hostile to Richard Holbrooke, who was a strong contender for the ambassador’s job in 1993 and is seen here as a possible successor if Clinton does not tap him as secretary of state or national security advisor. Former Sens. Bill Bradley and Sam Nunn have also been mentioned as possible candidates for the job.