Sen. George Mitchell

Former Senate Majority Leader, George Mitchell recently spoke at the University of Southern Maine. Mitchell has a storied career, and is maybe one of Maine's best known political figures throughout the years. The democrat served from 1980 to 1994. Mitchell was also the first Arab-American Senate Majority Leader.

Sen. Mitchell spoke about the Arab Spring in the Hannaford Lecture hall at USM, and was joined on the stage by University of Southern Maine president, Selma Botman, who is a scholar in middle eastern studies. Before Mitchell got into the heart of the situation currently happening around the world in countries like Israel,  Egypt, and Libya though, he talked a bit about his upbringing in the state of Maine.

Mitchell was originally from Waterville, Maine, where he was raised in a family with four other siblings by his father, a janitor at Colby College, and his mother. His family was extremely poor, and Mitchell told us about how going to college never even entered his mind as he was attending high school. Mitchell told us that he expected to graduate and find a job in one of the local paper mills to support his family.

Luckily though, things soon changed for Mitchell. One of his father's supervisors at Colby College recognized Mitchell's brightness and intellect, and asked Mitchell to travel to Bowdoin College to meet with admissions. While Mitchell was at first hesitant, he made the trip to Brunswick. Mitchell's family was so poor at the time, he was forced to hitch hike all the way from Waterville to Brunswick, but the trip was well worth it.

Mitchell came out of the meeting being accepted by Bowdoin College and placed in several local jobs to help fund the education he didn't believe he'd be able to pay for. The new opportunity afforded to him would not be wasted. Mitchell graduated from Bowdoin College in 1954, then joined the armed forces, serving from 1954-1956. By 1961 Mitchell had received his law degree from the prestigious Georgetown University.

From there Mitchell practiced law both in Washington D.C and Portland, Maine until about 1977, but in 1974 he had gotten his start in politics. He beat out future Maine governor Joesph Brennan for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, but lost in a close election to independent candidate James Longley. This election got his name out into the public though, and when Edmund Muskie resigned from the U.S Senate in 1980, George Mitchell was appointed by Brennan, who was now serving as Maine's governor.

Mitchell had a lucrative career in the US Senate, quickly running to the top ranks in the capital, with accomplishments such as continuing and strengthening Sen. Edmund Muskie's Clean Air Act, but by 1994 Mitchell decided it was time to get out of electoral politics. He has still been seen in American public political life though, conducting investigations for the government (think baseball), leading peace talks in Ireland, and most recently being a special envoy to the Middle East, the topic of the night at USM.

Mitchell gave an impressive lecture that night, and seemed to provide the audience with a wealth of information. Despite not finding success as a special envoy to the Middle East, he didn't seem to have missed a beat, and was definitely an expert on relations between Israelis and Palestinians. He brought a realist attitude to the situation, saying that peace wasn't near, nor was a two state solution, but agreed that a two state solution was the best option for the situation. He gave us valuable insight into what it's like to bargain with the two sides, and said that peace would only be made if "both sides thought they had the best deal."

Ticket Confirmation. Proof I was there.

Mitchell still maintained an incredible presence when speaking and displayed passion for the topic he was speaking about. The story he led into the lecture with, of his upbringing in Maine, was just as interesting as the main topic itself, and painted a vivid picture of what it was like growing up in a poor family, in rural Maine. His story exhibited the toughness and perseverance that has often been attributed to Mainers throughout history.