George J. Mitchell



George John Mitchell Jr GBE (born August 20, 1933) is an American politician, diplomat, and lawyer. A leading member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States Senator from Maine from 1980 to 1995, and as Senate Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995. He briefly served as 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, Mitchell has taken up a variety of diplomatic missions. He held a leading role in negotiations for peace in Northern Ireland and the Middle East, being 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 U.S. 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).

Quotes

 * I formed the conviction that there is no such thing as a conflict that can't be ended. Conflicts are created, conducted and sustained by human beings. They can be ended by human beings.
 * State Department ceremony (2009-01-26), quoted in Robert Burns, "Obama's Mideast envoy brings record of patience," Associated Press (2009-01-27)