This biography is no longer current; at present, no other official Department of State biographical information is available.
Senator George J. Mitchell entered the U.S. Senate in 1980. In 1988, he was reelected with 81 percent of the vote, the largest margin in Maine history. In January 1989, he became Senate majority leader. He held that position until he left the Senate in 1995.
In 1996, the governments of the United Kingdom and Ireland asked Senator Mitchell to chair the peace negotiations in Northern Ireland. Senator Mitchell led the negotiations for two years, work that ultimately resulted in a historic accord that ended decades of conflict. In May 1998, the agreement was overwhelmingly endorsed by voters in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.
At the request of President Bill Clinton and Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Senator Mitchell served as chairman of an international fact-finding committee on violence in the Middle East. The committee’s recommendation, widely known as The Mitchell Report, was endorsed by the Bush Administration, the European Union, and many other governments.
After leaving the senate, he reentered the private practice of law and in 2005 became the chairman of the international law firm of DLA Piper. He also served as chairman of the Walt Disney Company.
The Senator was also chancellor of The Queen’s University of Northern Ireland. He served as chairman of the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the prevention of crises in international affairs; and as chairman of the Special Commission investigating allegations of impropriety in the bidding process for the Olympic Games. He was the independent overseer of the American Red Cross Liberty Disaster Relief Fund, an organization formed to help victims of the 9/11 attacks.
Senator Mitchell was born and raised in Waterville, Maine. After graduating from Waterville High School he attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. Following his graduation from Bowdoin, Senator Mitchell was stationed in Berlin, Germany, as an officer in the U.S. Army Counter-Intelligence Corps from 1954 to 1956. Following his military service, Senator Mitchell attended and graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center. He enjoyed the practice of law in Portland, Maine, and also served as a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice; as the United States Attorney for Maine; and as a United States District Judge for Maine.
