etting around Senator Ted Kennedy in Congress is tough, but former senator George Mitchell climbed over him on his first day in the Senate only to lie down next to a sleeping John Warner, former husband of actress Elizabeth Taylor, during a filibuster.
This was among the congressional tidbits Senator Mitchell shared in his speech at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 19 in Dana Auditorium. Mitchell was this year’s last Bryan Series speaker, which has already brought acclaimed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, actor Sidney Poitier, playwright Edward Albee, and author Sherwin Nuland to campus.
“It’s great to have public political figures [on campus],” freshman David Unger said.
Mitchell graduated from Bowdoin College in 1954, and served with the U.S. Army in Berlin until 1956, working as part of the Army’s counter-intelligence corps. He graduated from Georgetown University’s school of law and began working in Washington, D.C. In 1979 he was appointed U.S. District Judge for Maine.
From there, Mitchell was appointed to be the senate representative for Maine in 1980, filling the spot vacated by Edward Muskie, who left the senate to be President Jimmy Carter’s secretary of state.
From 1989 to 1995, Mitchell served as the Senate Majority Leader, and helped to pass the American Disabilities Act and also create both the World Trade Organization, and the North American Free Trade Association.
Mitchell chose not to run for reelection in 1996, and donated the $1 million he had raised for his reelection campaign to scholarship funds in Maine schools.
As chairman of peace negotiations in Northern Ireland he was instrumental in the peace accord that ended the decades of conflict there, receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the U.N. Peace Prize for his work.
He also chaired an international committee attempting to end violence between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
Mitchell’s speech covered the challenges of creating peace that he experienced in both Ireland and the Middle East. He also addressed his belief about the benefits and beauties of the United States.
He outlined his ideas for peace in the Middle East, and the role of the United States in the future.
“There is no such thing as a conflict that cannot end,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell focused on resolving conflict and creating peace, but he is also an environmental activist. His book World on Fire describes the dangers of the greenhouse effect, the first major acid rain bill in Congress and the reauthorization of the Clean Air Act.
He was on the select committee investigating the Iran-Contra scandal, telling Oliver North to “Please remember that it is possible for an American to disagree with you on aid to the Contras and still love God, and still love this country, just as much as you do. Although He is regularly asked to do so, God does not take sides in American politics.”
Departing from past Bryan Series lectures, the audience’s questions were taken before the speech and read to Mitchell by Ty Buckner, Vice President of College Relations. Questions included queries about the current state of NAFTA and Mitchell’s future political plans.
One of Mitchell’s most touching stories recalled his tenure as a district judge in Maine, swearing in new U.S. citizens. When Mitchell asked a young man why he chose to move to the United States, the man responded, “I came here, your honor, because everybody here has a chance.”
Junior Ariel Brandt said Mitchell was “a most engaging, interesting speaker. I liked him better than Ralph Nader.