George Mitchell

George Mitchell, born in 1933, American lawyer and politician, who served as chairperson of the commission that brokered the April 1998 peace agreement in Northern Ireland.

Mitchell was born in Waterville, Maine. He received his undergraduate education from Bowdoin College and, following his graduation in 1954, served two years in the United States Army. After leaving military service, Mitchell studied law at Georgetown University and received his law degree in 1960. In the 1960s Mitchell was the executive assistant of U.S. senator Edmund Muskie of Maine, who became his political mentor. Mitchell later helped coordinate Muskie's 1968 vice-presidential campaign and his 1972 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.

In 1974 Mitchell ran for governor of Maine and lost. He subsequently worked as an attorney for the U.S. government and served as a federal district court judge. When former U.S. president Jimmy Carter named Muskie secretary of state in 1980, Muskie arranged to have Mitchell serve out the remainder of Muskie’s term in the U.S. Senate. In 1987 Mitchell was named to the Senate committee that investigated the Iran-Contra affair, a scandal in which American government officials illegally sold weapons to Iran. The following year Mitchell was elected Senate majority leader, a position he held until he unexpectedly retired in January 1995.

After Mitchell retired from the Senate, U.S. president Bill Clinton appointed him economic adviser for Northern Ireland. By November 1995 the United Kingdom and the Ireland were embroiled in efforts to negotiate an end to years of fighting between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. The two countries invited Mitchell to chair talks concerning the disarmament of the paramilitary groups in the province. After negotiations stalled and violence resumed, the British and Irish governments agreed to negotiations that included representatives of all the major political parties in Northern Ireland and Ireland. Mitchell was appointed chairperson of these negotiations in June 1996.

Mitchell’s contributions as chairperson of the talks included the Mitchell Principles, which established a commitment to democracy and a rejection of violence as requirements for any group to participate in the talks. On April 10, 1998—almost two years after becoming chairperson of the talks—Mitchell announced that an agreement had been reached. The agreement created a provincial assembly for Northern Ireland, which replaced the direct rule of the province by the British government that had been in effect since 1972. All parties involved in the negotiations agreed that Mitchell's patience and willingness to listen helped keep the process from collapsing. The agreement was accepted by voters in both Northern Ireland and Ireland in voting on May 22, 1998.