Maxine Isaacs is an American university lecturer and political analyst who served as a member of the press office of Walter Mondale during his tenure in the United States Senate and as deputy press secretary when he was vice president during the Jimmy Carter administration.
[3] Her father was Jewish and experienced antisemitism while growing up in a mostly Polish-American town in Wisconsin where many people harbored pro-Nazi sentiments.
[6][9] In 1971, Isaacs was hired to be legislative assistant, press secretary, and speechwriter for Representative Louis Stokes, a Democrat from Ohio.
[6][7] When Mondale's 1974 exploratory presidential campaign came to an end, she became a freelance writer for NPR and The Africa Report.
[10] In the early 1980s, she ran her own public relations consulting firm, Maximum Inc., in Washington, D.C.[7] In February 1981, she announced the formation of an exploratory committee for Mondale's possible candidacy in the 1984 presidential election.
[9] After his loss to Ronald Reagan, Mondale ended his political career and returned to practicing law.
[5] In 2019, she received the Distinguished Achievement Award from her alma mater, Skidmore College, where she serves as a trustee.
[15] Isaacs also served as a board member of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy.