George J. Mitchell

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George J. Mitchell, Jr.
United States Senator from Maine
In office May 17, 1980 – January 3, 1995
Preceded by	Edmund Muskie
Succeeded by	Olympia Snowe
17th United States Senate Majority Leader
In office January 3, 1989 – January 3, 1995
Deputy	Alan Cranston Wendell H. Ford (Whips)
Preceded by	Robert Byrd
Succeeded by	Bob Dole
2nd Deputy President pro tempore of the United States Senate
In office 1987 – 1988
President	John C. Stennis
Leader	Robert Byrd
Preceded by	Hubert Humphrey (1978)
Succeeded by	Vacant
United States Special Envoy for the Middle East
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 22, 2009
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	(post created)
United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland
In office 1995 – 2000
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	(post created)
Succeeded by	Richard N. Haass
Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maine
In office 1979 – 1980
Nominated by	Jimmy Carter
Preceded by	(new seat)
Succeeded by	Conrad Keefe Cyr
Born	August 20, 1933 (1933-08-20) (age 75) Waterville, Maine
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	Bowdoin College Georgetown University Law Center
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Roman Catholic (Maronite Rite) [1]

For other persons with a similar name, see George Mitchell.

George John Mitchell, Jr., GBE (born August 20, 1933 in Waterville, Maine) is the American special envoy to the Middle East for the Obama administration. A Democrat, Mitchell was a United States Senator who served as the Senate Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995. He was chairman of The Walt Disney Company from March 2004 until January 2007, and was chairman of the international law firm DLA Piper at the time of his appointment as special envoy. He is the Chancellor of Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland and was the main investigator in both Mitchell Reports.

Contents 1 Early career 2 Political career 3 After the Senate 3.1 Democratic politics 3.2 Education 3.3 Mitchell Report (Arab-Israeli conflict) 3.4 United Nations 4 Northern Ireland Peace Process 5 Chairman of Disney 6 Baseball's steroids investigation 7 Middle East envoy for Barack Obama 8 Electoral history 9 See also 10 Books 11 References 12 Further reading 13 External links

[edit] Early career

Mitchell's father, George John Mitchell, Sr., was of ethnic Irish descent but was adopted by a Lebanese family. He was a janitor at Colby College. Mitchell's mother, Mary Saad, was a textile worker who emigrated to the United States from Bkassine, Lebanon at the age of eighteen. Because of his origin and political ties, he has been recognized as a prominent Arab-American.^[2] He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1954. He served in the United States Army from 1954 to 1956, rising to First Lieutenant. In 1961, Mitchell received his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center by attending their part time program — he has since received an honorary LL.D. from Bates College.

Mitchell was raised a Maronite Catholic and in his childhood served as an altar boy at St. Joseph's Maronite Church in Maine.^[3][4]

He served as a trial attorney for the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice in Washington, 1960–1962, and then as executive assistant to Senator Edmund S. Muskie 1962–1965. Mitchell practiced law in Portland, Maine, 1965–1977 and was assistant county attorney for Cumberland County, Maine in 1971.

[edit] Political career

In 1974 he won the Democratic nomination for governor of Maine, defeating Joseph Brennan. Mitchell lost in the general election to independent candidate James B. Longley, but was appointed United States Attorney for Maine by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Mitchell served in that capacity from 1977 to 1979 when he was appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Maine. Mitchell served as a federal judge until he was appointed to the United States Senate in May 1980 by the governor of Maine, Joseph Brennan, when Edmund Muskie resigned to become U.S. Secretary of State.

He was elected to a full term in 1982 and was reelected in 1988 with 81% of the vote, the largest majority ever for a Senator from Maine. He did not run for reelection in 1994.

He rose quickly in the Senate Democratic leadership. He was elected as the chair of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee in 1984 helping the Democrats gain control of the Senate in 1986. He served as Deputy President pro tempore in 1987–1988, because of the illness of President pro tempore John C. Stennis.

After an impressive performance facing Oliver North at the Iran-Contra affair hearings,^[5] he was elected as Senate Majority Leader in 1988. He then served in this role from 1989 to 1995. Among his accomplishments in this role, Mitchell led the movement to reauthorize the Clean Air Act in 1990 and pass the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Additionally, under his leadership, the Senate approved of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the formation of the World Trade Organization.

In 1994, he turned down an appointment by President Bill Clinton to the United States Supreme Court,^[6] to replace the retiring Harry A. Blackmun so that he could continue helping with efforts in the Senate to pass significant health care legislation. The seat ultimately went to Stephen Breyer.

[edit] After the Senate

After leaving the Senate, Mitchell joined the Washington, D.C. law firm Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand; he later became the firm's chairman. He was criticized for lobbying on behalf of the firm's Big Tobacco clients.^[7][8] He is also senior counsel to Preti, Flaherty, Beliveau, Pachios, Orlick & Haley in Portland, Maine. He is Partner and Chairman of the Global Board of DLA Piper, US LLP, a global law firm. On August 10, 2007, it was reported that Senator Mitchell had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.^[9]

[edit] Democratic politics

Mitchell was reportedly among those considered by Al Gore as a running mate for his 2000 presidential run. Gore, however, ultimately selected Joe Lieberman.^[10] Had Mitchell been nominated and the Democratic ticket won that year, he would have been the first Arab American to serve as the Vice President of the United States and just the second Vice President from Maine after Hannibal Hamlin. He also has been mentioned in both 2000 and in 2004 as a potential Secretary of State for a Democratic administration, due to his role as Senate Leader and the Good Friday agreements.

[edit] Education

Since 2002, Mitchell has been a Senior Fellow and Senior Research Scholar at the Columbia University's Center for International Conflict Resolution, where he works to help end or avert conflicts between nations. He was the Chancellor of the Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland until his resignation in April 2009, and namesake of the George J. Mitchell Scholarship, which sponsors graduate study for twelve Americans each year in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. He is the founder of the Mitchell Institute, in Portland, Maine, whose mission is to increase the likelihood that young people from every community in Maine will aspire to, pursue and achieve a college education. In 2007, he became a visiting Professor in Leeds Metropolitan University's School of Applied Global Ethics, and the University is developing a new Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution bearing his name.^[11]

[edit] Mitchell Report (Arab-Israeli conflict)

Mitchell led an American fact-finding commission initiated under President Bill Clinton in 2000 intended to find solutions for solving the situation in Israel and Palestine. Mitchell's report was published in 2001. It stressed the need for Israel to halt the expansion of its settlements in the Palestinian territories and for the Palestinians to prevent violence.

[edit] United Nations

He served as co-chairman (with Newt Gingrich) of the Congressionally mandated Task Force on the United Nations, which released its findings and recommendations on June 15, 2005 after having been formed that January.

[edit] Northern Ireland Peace Process

Since 1995, he has been active in the Northern Ireland peace process as the United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland. Mitchell first led a commission that established the principles on non-violence to which all parties in Northern Ireland had to adhere and subsequently chaired the all-party peace negotiations, which led to the Belfast Peace Agreement signed on Good Friday 1998 (known since as the "Good Friday Agreement"). Mitchell's personal intervention with the parties was crucial to the success of the talks. He was succeeded as special envoy by Richard Haass.

For his involvement in the Northern Ireland peace negotiations, Mitchell was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom^[12] (on March 17, 1999) and the Liberty Medal (on July 4, 1998). Additionally, he was nominated for a Nobel Prize. For his services to the Northern Ireland peace process, in 1999 Mitchell was invested with an honorary knighthood - the Insignia of a GBE, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire. As custom dicates, Mitchell cannot call himself "Sir George" as he is not a citizen of the United Kingdom or Commonwealth of Nations country.

[edit] Chairman of Disney

On March 4, 2004, Disney's board of directors, on which he had served since 1995, named him Michael Eisner's replacement as Chairman of the Board after 43% of the company's shares were voted against Eisner's reelection (35% was the minimum for disposal). Mitchell himself received a 24% negative vote,^[13] a fact that led dissident Disney shareholders Roy E. Disney and Stanley Gold to criticize the appointment of Mitchell, whom they saw as Eisner's puppet.

Having already served on the boards of such companies as Xerox, Starwood, Fedex, and Staples, Mitchell assumed his new role at a particularly tumultuous time in the company's history, needing to face such issues as Comcast's hostile takeover attempts and a possible split with Pixar.^[14] Mitchell played an important role in the selection of Robert A. Iger as Eisner's successor as CEO in 2005.^[15] On June 28, 2006, Disney announced that its board had elected one of its members, John Pepper, Jr., former CEO of Procter & Gamble, to replace Mitchell as chairman effective January 1, 2007.^[16]

[edit] Baseball's steroids investigation

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: George J. Mitchell

In 2006, Mitchell was tapped by MLB Commissioner Bud Selig to lead an investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs by Major League Baseball players. The investigation largely derived from charges against Barry Bonds, and revelations in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) trials of Victor Conte and Greg Anderson. Selig has said that revelations brought forth in the 2005 book "Game of Shadows" were, by way of calling attention to the issue, in part responsible for the league's decision to commission an independent investigation. To this day he is known to have held meetings with only two active players, Jason Giambi, who was ordered to meet Mitchell by Commissioner Selig in light of his public admissions on the issue, and one additional player whose name was initially not made public but was later revealed to be Frank Thomas.^[17] Mitchell did however hold extensive meetings with several known steroid dealers, club attendants, personal trainers, and others who had ties to all players named in the report. Even though the union that protects the players had pressured all but Giambi and Thomas into maintaining the culture of silence that had helped the drug problem remain a secret, there was plenty of other evidence against those named in his report. There were some claims of bias due to Mitchell's time (Still acting) as director of the Boston Red Sox.^[18]

Mitchell released a 409-page report of his findings on December 13, 2007.^[19] The report includes the names of 89 former and current players for whom it claims evidence of use of steroids or other prohibited substances exists. This list includes names of Most Valuable Players and All-Stars, such as Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Miguel Tejada, Denny Neagle, Paul Lo Duca, David Justice, Barry Bonds, Eric Gagné, Todd Hundley, Randy Velarde, and Benito Santiago.

[edit] Middle East envoy for Barack Obama

On January 22, 2009, President Barack Obama and United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed Mitchell as a special envoy to the Middle East.^[20] The appointment was seen as an indication of the central role the Middle East had assumed under the newly formed Obama administration. The choice also allowed Obama to demonstrate his good intentions regarding the Middle East without being forced to embark on a new initiative when the conditions are not ripe. An analyst at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars said Mitchell's appointment "says to the world, 'I care about this issue; be patient with me.'"^[20] Abraham Foxman, the National Director of the Anti-Defamation League, has stated that, "Sen. Mitchell is fair. He’s been meticulously even-handed."^[21]

Within the first week of his appointment, Mitchell was dispatched to visit Israel, the West Bank, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia for peace talks in light of the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict, in which both sides had recently entered into unilateral ceasefires. Mitchell began his meetings in Cairo on January 27 and Obama said his visit was part of the President's campaign promise to listen to both sides of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and work toward a Middle East peace deal. However, in a continuation of a George W. Bush administration policy, Mitchell did not plan to talk to Hamas, an organization the West has identified as a terrorist organization, but instead focus on talks with the Palestinian Authority.^[22] He was due to arrive at the end of February 2009 to meet first with Israel's newly elected PM Benjamin Netanyahu.^[23]

[edit] Electoral history

U.S. Senate (General Election)
Year	Candidate	Party	Pct	Opponent	Party	Pct
1982	George Mitchell (inc.)1	Democratic	61%	Dave Emery	Republican	39%
1988	George Mitchell (inc.)	Democratic	81%	Jasper Wyman	Republican	19%

¹ Previously appointed to the office by then-Governor Joe Brennan in 1980 following the resignation of Ed Muskie to become Secretary of State

[edit] See also

• Sigma Nu LEADership learning program
• Bill Clinton Supreme Court candidates

[edit] Books

• Great American Lighthouses (August 1989)
• World on Fire: Saving an Endangered Earth (January 1991)
• Not For America Alone: The Triumph of Democracy and The Fall of Communism (May 1997)
• Making Peace (April 1999 — 1st Edition, July 2000 — Updated)

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Gould, Alberta. George Mitchell: In Search of Peace. Farmington, Maine: Heritage Pub., 1996

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: George Mitchell

• Interview with George Mitchell

• George J. Mitchell at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• Interview with George J. Mitchell by Don Nicoll, May 2, 2002 – summary sheet, transcript and audio link at Bates College Digital Library

Legal offices
Preceded by None (new seat)	Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine October 5, 1979 - May 16, 1980	Succeeded by Conrad Keefe Cyr
United States Senate
Preceded by Ed Muskie (D)	United States Senator (Class 1) from Maine May 17, 1980 – January 3, 1995 Served alongside: William S. Cohen	Succeeded by Olympia Snowe (R)
Political offices
Preceded by Hubert Humphrey (D-Minnesota)	Deputy President pro tempore of the United States Senate 1987–1988	Succeeded by Most recent
Preceded by Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia)	United States Senate Majority Leader January 3, 1989 – January 3, 1995	Succeeded by Bob Dole (R-Kansas)
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by (none)	United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland 1995 – 1998	Succeeded by Richard Haass
Preceded by (none)	United States Special Envoy to Middle East January 22, 2009 - present	Succeeded by Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by Edmund Muskie	Democratic nominee for United States Senator from Maine (Class 1) 1982, 1988	Succeeded by Thomas Andrews
Preceded by Lloyd Bentsen Texas	Chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee 1985–1987	Succeeded by John Kerry Massachusetts
Preceded by Robert C. Byrd West Virginia	Senate Democratic Leader 1989–1995	Succeeded by Tom Daschle South Dakota
Business positions
Preceded by Michael Eisner	Disney Chairman 2004–2007	Succeeded by John E. Pepper, Jr.

v • d • e United States Senators from Maine Class 1 Holmes • Parris • Holmes • Shepley • Dana • Williams • Fairfield • Moor • Hamlin • Nourse • Hamlin • Morrill • Hamlin • E. Hale • Johnson • F. Hale • Brewster • Payne • Muskie • Mitchell • Snowe Class2 Chandler • Sprague • Ruggles • Evans • Bradbury • Fessenden • Farwell • Fessenden • Morrill • Blaine • Frye • Gardner • Burleigh • Fernald • Gould • White • Smith • Hathaway • Cohen • Collins

v • d • e United States Senate Majority Leaders Lodge • Curtis • Watson • Robinson • Barkley • White • Lucas • McFarland • Taft • Knowland • Johnson • Mansfield • Byrd • Baker • Dole • Byrd • Mitchell • Dole • Lott • Daschle • Lott • Daschle • Frist • Reid

v • d • e Democratic Party Leaders in the United States Senate Underwood • Robinson • Barkley • Lucas • McFarland • Johnson • Mansfield • Byrd • Mitchell • Daschle • Reid

v • d • e Deputy Presidents pro tempore of the United States Senate Hubert Humphrey • George J. Mitchell

v • d • e Chairmen of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Johnston • Ford • Bentsen • Mitchell • Kerry • Breaux • Robb • Graham • Kerrey • Torricelli • Murray • Corzine • Schumer • Menendez