American politician, diplomat, and judge From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
George John Mitchell Jr. GBE (born August 20, 1933) is an American lawyer, businessman and politician. He is a Democrat. Mitchell served as a United States Senator from Maine from 1980 to 1995 and as Senate Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995.
George Mitchell GBE | |
|---|---|
 | |
| United States Senator from Maine | |
| In office May 17, 1980 – January 3, 1995 | |
| Preceded by | Edmund Muskie |
| Succeeded by | Olympia Snowe |
| Senate Majority Leader | |
| In office January 3, 1989 – January 3, 1995 | |
| Deputy | Alan Cranston (1989-1991) Wendell H. Ford (1991-1995) |
| Preceded by | Robert Byrd |
| Succeeded by | Bob Dole |
| 2nd Deputy President pro tempore of the United States Senate | |
| In office January 3, 1987 – January 3, 1989 | |
| President | John C. Stennis |
| Leader | Robert Byrd |
| Preceded by | Hubert Humphrey (1978) |
| Succeeded by | Vacant |
| United States Special Envoy for Middle East Peace | |
| In office January 22, 2009 – May 13, 2011 | |
| Preceded by | None |
| Succeeded by | David Hale |
| U.S. Special Envoy for Northern Ireland | |
| In office January 3, 1995 – January 20, 2001 | |
| Preceded by | None |
| Succeeded by | Richard N. Haass |
| Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maine | |
| In office October 5, 1979 – May 16, 1980 | |
| Nominated by | Jimmy Carter |
| Preceded by | New seat |
| Succeeded by | Conrad Keefe Cyr |
| Chancellor of Queen's University Belfast | |
| In office 1999–2009 | |
| Preceded by | Sir David Orr |
| Succeeded by | Kamalesh Sharma |
| Personal details | |
| Born | George John Mitchell, Jr. August 20, 1933 Waterville, Maine, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) |
Sally Heath
(m. 1961; div. 1987)Heather MacLachlan (m. 1994) |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | Bowdoin College Georgetown University Law Center |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | United States Army Counterintelligence Corps |
| Years of service | 1954-1956 |
| Rank | First Lieutenant |
Mitchell was born in Waterville, Maine. His father, George John Mitchell, Sr. (born Joseph Kilroy), was of ethnic Irish descent but was adopted by a Lebanese family when he was orphaned.[1]
In 1980, he was elected to the United States Senate. He became Senate Majority Leader in 1989. He briefly was a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maine from 1979 to 1980.
Since retiring from the Senate in 1995, he had a key role in peace talks in Northern Ireland and the Middle East. He appointed United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland (1995–2001) by President Clinton and as United States Special Envoy for Middle East Peace (2009–2011) by President Barack Obama.
He was a primary architect of the 1996 Mitchell Principles and the 1998 Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, and was the main investigator in two "Mitchell Reports", one on the Arab–Israeli conflict (2001) and one on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball (2007).
Mitchell was chairman of The Walt Disney Company from March 2004 until January 2007, and later as chairman of the international law firm DLA Piper. He was the Chancellor of Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, from 1999 to 2009.
Mitchell also was a co-chair of the Housing Commission at the Bipartisan Policy Center.[2]
In 2015, unsealed court documents showed Mitchell's possible involvement with the Jeffrey Epstein child trafficking ring.[3][4]
Mitchell was diagnosed with a "small, low grade, and localized" prostate cancer in 2007.[5]
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