Former Senator Builds Paths to Peace in Trying Times

With the closure of its Washington campus and stringent budget cuts, the John F. Kennedy School of Government (KSG) has had a turbulent year. The problems there, however, seem mild compared to those that KSG Class Day speaker Senator George J. Mitchell has tackled in recent years.

Mitchell has risen to international prominence in the last seven years by leading delicate negotiations in Northern Ireland and in the Middle East. The Mitchell Plan which he designed in 1996 has been the basis for the return of home rule to Northern Ireland and consequently for vastly improved relations between the feuding Protestant and Catholic communities.

But prior to turning to the international sphere, the Maine native served in all three branches of government in the United States, working his way up through the legal and political system to eventually serve as the Democrat Senate majority leader for six years.

And today, Mitchell will speak about his experiences to KSG graduates ready to embark on their own careers in public service.

From Waterville to Washington

Mitchell—who is often mistakenly thought to be of Irish descent—was in fact born to Lebanese parents on August 20, 1933 in a rundown distinct of Waterville, Me. His father, who worked as a janitor at Maine’s Colby College, instilled in Mitchell the love of American democracy that led to his political career.

“[My father] believed, deeply and totally, that there is no limit to how far and high one can go in America,” Mitchell wrote in 1997. “And he was right.”

Motivated by his parents’ strong emphasis on education as a route for advancement, Mitchell held a variety of jobs—ranging from an advertising salessperson to a truck driver—in order to pay his way through Bowdoin College. He graduated in 1954 and, after a stint in U.S. Army counter intelligence, received a law degree from Georgetown University in 1960.

“George comes from very, very humble origins,” said former Senator Warren B. Rudman (R—N.H.), who has worked closely with Mitchell since they served together on a Senate committee investigating the Iran-Contra scandal in 1987. “[He is] the son of working people who went on to have an extraordinary career without many of the advantages that a number of successful Americans have.”

After working in Washington, D.C. for five years, including two as an attorney in the Justice Department, Mitchell returned to Maine and entered a private law firm.

But despite his law career, Mitchell’s true interests never strayed far from Democratic politics.

After an unsuccesful bid for the governorship of Maine in 1974, he served as a federal judge, en route to succeeding his political mentor Edmund Muskie (D—Me.) as a U.S. senator.

Once he arrived in Washington, Mitchell worked tirelessly to pass environmentally friendly legislation, including the controversial reauthorization of the Clean Air Act in 1990.

And after his prominent role in the Iran-Contra investigations, Mitchell was appointed the Senate majority leader in 1988, capping off his distinguised senatorial career before his retirement in 1995.

“I am incredibly proud to have represented the people of Maine in the Senate for almost 15 years, keeping their trust and confidence amid a period of political skepticism and cynicism,” Mitchell says.

Diplomatic Rainmaker

While Mitchell’s service in the U.S. government was impressive in its own right, his most memorable achievements have come in the international sphere.

Mitchell, however, did not always seem destined to become a diplomatic mediator. In fact, at the time of his retirement from the Senate in 1995, he was rumored to be on the brink of becoming the new commissioner of Major League Baseball.

Instead, President Bill Clinton appointed Mitchell as his economic envoy to Northern Ireland, a cover for American involvement in peace talks desired by Irish republicans, but feared by both unionists and the British government.

But soon Mitchell was able to maneuver himself into the chairmanship of the all-party negotiations, winning praise from all sides for his courageous and impartial leadership of the talks.

After 22 months of arduous negotiation, Mitchell was able to force through the Good Friday Agreement, granting bipartisan home rule to Northern Ireland, and pointing the way towards paramilitary weapons decommissioning.

Mitchell’s devotion to bringing peace to the long-troubled area was apparent. From February 1995 to May 1998 he spent three days a week in Britain for negotiations, travelling back and forth to his legal job in Washington D.C. and his family in New York.

Even former British Prime Minister John Major, initially skeptical about the merits of American interference in the process, was won over by Mitchell.

“George Mitchell is a softly-spoken and patient man, widely respected in the U.S. Senate,” Major wrote in his autobiography. “He was well placed to persuade the [terrorists] to give up violence for good, and to commit themselves to the process of democracy.”

Unparalleled Patience

After his work in Northern Ireland, Mitchell has more recently attempted to revive the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians—although with less success.

Again commissioned by President Bill Clinton, Mitchell chaired the Sharm El-Sheikh fact-finding committee. Its findings, released on April 30 last year as the Mitchell Report, called for the renewal of talks and security cooperation between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority. Moreover, it urged Israel to freeze all growth in the settlements, in exchange for the Palestinian Authority’s condemnation and prevention of terrorist attacks on Israel.

Unlike in Northern Ireland, however, Mitchell was unable to kickstart a faltering peace process. In spite of using the same techniques he brought to bear in Northern Ireland—as he explained, “being patient and persevering, always understanding the motivation of all the participants”—Mitchell could not persuade both sides to come back to the negotiating table.

“The culture of peace, carefully nurtured over the previous decade has been completely shattered,” he said with regret. “In its place have come growing despair and a belief in the inevitability of violence.”

According to Rudman, who served on the Sharm El-Sheikh committee, the declining situation in the region has distressed the usually-successful Mitchell.

“George is terribly disappointed, as had both parties followed the Mitchell Plan in spirit and in fact, there could have been a resolution,” Rudman says. “Unfortunately the hatred was just too great to allow for serious compromise.”

But Rudman says that Mitchell’s skills as a diplomat are as keen as ever.

“He has extraordinary skills in both fact finding and negotiating and unparalelled level of patience in resolving problems,” Rudman says.

And KSG Dean Joseph S. Nye commended Mitchell’s long and varied career in the public sector as a worthy example for graduating students to emulate.

“His service at the state and federal level, and in both the legislative and executive branches, represents the distinguished public service that we hope our graduates will aspire to achieve,” Nye says.

—Staff writer Anthony S.A. Freinberg can be reached at freinber@fas.harvard.edu.