Showing 121 - 130 of 3065 Items
Date: 2009-05-08
Creator: Kenneth 'Ken' M Cole III
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Kenneth M. Cole III was born November 3, 1943, in Portland, Maine, to Kenneth Cole, Jr. and Lena T. Cole. He lived in Windham, Maine, moving to Bernardsville, New Jersey, with his family during his fifth-grade school year. His father worked for Boy Scouts of America. Ken was graduated from Bowdoin College in 1969, then attended law school at Cornell. He returned to Maine to work as a law clerk at Jensen Baird Gardner & Henry in 1971, becoming a lawyer for the firm in 1972. He has been practicing at the firm for thirty-seven years and worked with Mitchell there in the 1970s. He has been active on the Windham town council. He was on the Republican National Committee from 1990 to 2004 and served as chairman of the Maine Republican Party in 1994, representing the party as a lawyer several times. He has run for other offices since then and continues to be in contact with Senator Mitchell.
Summary
This interview includes discussion of: childhood; Bowdoin College; Boy Scouts of America; Cornell Law School; Jensen Baird Gardner & Henry law firm; Coleās legal career; Maine Republican Party; zoning acts in Maine; Plum Creek; George Mitchellās legal career; Republican and Democratic politics in Maine; Republican National Committee; Maine work ethic; Mitchellās senatorial career; Governor Haley Barbour; running for district attorney general; Mitchellās public transformation; and Mitchellās politics.
Date: 2010-01-21
Creator: Michael 'Mike' M Hastings
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Michael M. Hastings, a native of Morrill, Maine, graduated from Tilton School (NH) in 1968 and Bowdoin College in 1972. Following a year of graduate study in Public & International Affairs at George Washington University, he worked for seven years as a foreign and defense policy aide to Senator William S. Cohen (1973-1980) and for four years for Senator George J. Mitchell (1980-1984). In October 1984, he joined the international staff of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and moved to Africa. Over a span of eight years, he worked as a CRS development administrator in Kenya, Tanzania, Togo and The Gambia. During the same period, he assisted in the provision of emergency food for people displaced by civil wars in the Southern Sudan and Liberia. In 1992, he returned to Maine to direct a ācenter for excellence,ā focusing on aquaculture and economic development. Since 2004, he has worked for the University of Maine as its director of Research and Sponsored Programs. Between 1992 and 2008, he also served on several civic boards and institutions including the Maine Fishermenās Forum, the Maine Oil Spill Advisory Committee, the Maine Indian Tribal State Commission, the Down East Institute, and the Maine Sea Grant Policy Advisory Committee. Between 1996 and 2001, he was elected three times to be a member of the Town Council of Hampden, Maine, where he resides with his wife, a middle school teacher.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: his transition from Cohenās staff to Mitchellās staff; Cohenās feelings about Hastingsās move to Mitchellās office; state and national issues; Kahlil Gibran; Cohenās and Mitchellās leadership styles with their office staff; the staff atmosphere around Mitchellās 1982 election; the Mikulski Commission; the 1982 election; Mitchellās staff, including Jane OāConnor, Regina Sullivan, and Gayle Cory; relationship between the Mitchell staff and the Cohen staff; Men of Zeal and the Iran-Contra scandal; Pat Cadell; Jim Tierney; Mitchell and Arab American groups; John Linnehan; anecdote about placing a large photo of George Mitchell in his Maine campaign office during the 1982 campaign; driving Muskie around; and Margaret Chase Smith coming back to Washington to celebrate her birthday with Mitchell.
Date: 2009-05-06
Creator: Sheila P Burke
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Sheila Burke was born and raised in San Francisco, California. She earned a B.S. in nursing at the University of San Francisco (class of 1973) and a masterās degree in public administration from Harvard University. She started working for Senator Dole in May of 1977 to handle health issues on the Senate Finance Committee. A Democrat from California, she was hired due to her prior experience as a nurse with a hands-on understanding of patient care. She became deputy chief of staff in the leaderās office when Senator Dole became minority leader in 1985 and rose to chief of staff in 1986, remaining in that role for ten years until Doleās retirement; she served a dual role as secretary of the Senate from January to June of 1995. From 1996-2000, she was executive dean and lecturer in public policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In 2000, she joined the Smithsonian Institution, where she rose to the position of deputy secretary and COO until 2007. At the time of this interview, she was a member of the faculty at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and lecturer at Georgetown Universityās Public Policy Institute. She is married and has three children.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: George Mitchell and the Senate Finance Committee; Burkeās interest in working for Dole and how she came to be hired; first impressions of George Mitchell; the relationships between Senators Dole and Mitchell, Burke and Martha Pope; tax battles on the Finance Committee; Mitchellās approach to legislating; Doleās transition to leader; balancing Senate staff and leader staff interests; the easy working relationship between Dole and Mitchell as leaders and how that compared with Senator Byrd; health care reform and difficult issues surrounding the debate; the issues that Dole and Mitchell had in common and where they differed; Doleās and Mitchellās relationships to the White House; the role of partisanship and values; Burkeās experience of being criticized by conservatives in the Senate and the press; Mitchellās expressing his sympathy for Burke on the occasion of Senator Packwoodās resignation; Burkeās reaction to Mitchellās decision to retire; the Dole-Mitchell era in the Senate and how those two leaders maintained one anotherās trust, elevated the discourse, and were evenly matched; where the Republican Party of 2009 will look for leadership; and Burkeās wish that Mitchell could return to work on the present attempt at health care reform.
Date: 2009-09-16
Creator: Dennis W DeConcini
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Dennis W. DeConcini was born on May 8, 1937, in Tucson, Arizona. He was graduated from the University of Arizona in 1959 and earned his law degree in 1963. He worked as a lawyer on the Arizona governorās staff until 1967, when he founded the law firm DeConcini, McDonald, Yetwin & Lacy and where he remains as a partner. He was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Democrat from Arizona in 1976 and served until 1995; he sat on the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee as well as subcommittees on Defense, Energy and Water Development, and Foreign Operations. He sponsored an amendment on the Panama Canal Treaty of 1977 and is known as a member of the Keating Five. President Clinton appointed him to the Board of Directors of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, where he served from 1995 to1999.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: Senate class of 1976; democratic ideology; CODEL to the Soviet Union with George Mitchell; the Helsinki Commission; Mitchellās run for chairman of the Democratic National Committee; Mitchellās majority leader race; Democratic Steering Committee; DeConciniās time as chair of the Intelligence Committee; leadership under Byrd, Baker, Dole, and Mitchell; Mitchellās role in DeConciniās 1988 reelection; first impressions of Mitchell; the role of the filibuster in the Senate; Mitchell and the Intelligence Committee; Mitchell and the NRA; North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA); DeConciniās reaction to Mitchellās retirement; being a conservative Democrat; Keating and DeConciniās retirement from the Senate; and Mitchellās legacy.
Date: 2008-09-04
Creator: Merton 'Mert' G Henry
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Merton G. āMertā Henry was born on February 4, 1926, in Hampden, Maine. He lived there with his parents and helped out at his grandfatherās general store while growing up. He moved to South Portland just before starting high school. He deferred attending Bowdoin College until 1946 in order to serve in the Army, which sent him to the Philippines. He majored in history at Bowdoin and was graduated in the class of 1950. He also earned a law degree from Georgetown Law while working on a military history project at the Pentagon during the Korean War. A long-time leader in the Maine Republican Party, he worked for Senator Fredreick G. Payne of Maine and ran his unsuccessful 1958 reelection campaign, losing to Ed Muskie. Since then he has worked at the same law firm, currently under the name of Jensen Baird Gardner & Henry, in Portland, Maine, where he worked with George Mitchell for twelve years between 1965 and 1977.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: the Hampden, Maine community; Armed Services; Bowdoin College and law school in Washington D.C; involvement in Senator Frederick Payneās campaigns, and Senator Margaret Chase Smithās campaigns; meeting George Mitchell at Jenson Baird law firm; Mitchellās campaign for governor in 1974; professional and personal relationship between Henry and Mitchell; advice to Mitchell about accepting his Senate appointment; U.S. Senate campaign (1982); Mitchellās success as a senator; and changes in politics and campaigning.
Date: 2009-07-13
Creator: J Bennett Johnston
Access: Open access
Biographical Note
Bennett Johnston was born June 10, 1932, in Shreveport, Louisiana. He was graduated from West Point United States Military Academy and served in the Judge Advocate Corps in Germany between 1956 and 1959. He won a seat in the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1964 and in the state Senate in 1968. In 1971, he ran for governor of Louisiana but was defeated in the runoff election. When the U.S Senate seat came up for election in 1972, he ran as a Democrat and won, receiving 54% of the vote, and he was continuously reelected to the Senate until retiring in 1997. He sought the role of majority leader in 1989 but lost to Mitchell. In 1997, he was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame. Since leaving the Senate, he has been a lobbyist in Washington, DC. At the time of this interview, he was serving as a government affairs and public policy advisor for Steptoe & Johnson and for his firm Johnston & Associates.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: coming into the Senate in 1972 and the campaign; the Senate becoming partisan; the Democratic Party in the South; partisanship and changes in the Senate; becoming chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee; disappointments with Carter; the surprise of the 1980 election; the race against Mitchell for majority leader and Mitchellās victory; Mitchellās leadership and link to the White House; factions within the Democratic Party; the DG-51 Destroyer Maine-versus-Louisiana issue; the ā91 and ā92 energy bills; the BTU tax; reasons for leaving the Senate; and reflections on Mitchell.
Date: 2008-09-27
Creator: Patrick E Hunt
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Patrick E. Hunt was born on August 19, 1946, in Bangor, Maine, and grew up in Island Falls with his parents, Theodore E. Hunt and Margaret I. Doherty, and his three sisters. Theodore attended Husson College, and operated a restaurant in Island Falls until the 1960s, when he became the village postmaster; Margaret was from Boston, a graduate of Charlestown High School, and of Irish descent from Clonmany County, Donegal. Patrick attended Ricker College, entered the Army in 1968, and served in Korea; he completed his degree in economics at Ricker in 1971. Subsequently, he joined the Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States Department of Justice in Massachusetts, attending evening law school courses, before returning to Island Falls in 1983 to start his own law practice. He was still practicing there at the time of this interview.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: family and educational background; Island Falls, Maine, community; Ed Muskieās ideas for economic improvements; Drug Enforcement Administration; George Mitchell as U.S. attorney; politic aspects of U.S. Attorneyās Office; family background and Joe Dohertyās Northern Ireland story; George Mitchellās work in Northern Ireland; thoughts on George Mitchell as president; and politics and economics in Aroostook County.
Date: 2010-02-24
Creator: John E Baldacci
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
John Elias Baldacci was born January 30, 1955, in Bangor, Maine. He attended the University of Maine, Orono, was a member of the Bangor city council from 1978 to 1981, and served in the Maine state senate from 1982 to 1994. In 1994 he was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. House of Representative and served four terms from 1995 to 2003. In 2003, he became governor of Maine and at the time of the interview was still serving in that capacity. Baldacciās grandmother and George Mitchellās mother were sisters.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: Baldacciās family connection to Mitchell; Baldacciās motherās recollections of Mitchell as a child; Mitchellās appointment to the Senate and Governor Brennanās role; Baldacciās Lebanese background; the relationship between Baldacciās grandmother and Mitchellās mother; Baldacciās hiring people who had been on Mitchellās staff to work for him; and Baldacciās grandmotherās youth in Lebanon.
Date: 2009-02-23
Creator: Mary 'M.C.' C Toker
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Mary Catherine āM.C.ā Toker was born on August 13, 1959, in Miami, Florida, to Donald L. Toker and Mary Brennan Toker. Her father was a physician for the U.S. Public Health Service, and Mary Toker grew up in various locales around the world, including London, Hong Kong, and Japan. By the time she went to high school, her family had settled in Washington, D.C. After high school she attended Mount St. Maryās College in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and pursued a degree in international studies. She interned with the Department of Defense, where she worked on various policies regarding U.S. relations with other countries. She went to Maine to work on the 1982 Democratic coordinated campaign, and in 1984 she worked on the Mondale presidential campaign in New England. She then returned to D.C. in 1985 and began to work for Mitchellās Senate office as a legislative correspondent. She dealt with foreign affairs issues for Mitchellās office and moved to the deputy president pro tempore office when Mitchell moved there. She was involved in reviewing the schedule of visitors to ensure that Mitchell personally met with as many Maine constituents as possible and that VIPs were handled appropriately. In 1988, she left the Senate office to work for General Mills, where she served as vice president of government relations at the time of this interview.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: living abroad as a child; attending Mount St. Maryās College; interning with the Department of Defense; working on the Maine Democratic coordinated campaign in 1982; working for the Mondale presidential campaign; working as a legislative correspondent; Star Wars (Strategic Defense Initiative); how correspondence in the Senate office was managed; out-of-state correspondence; the importance of handling the mail because Mitchell might know the letter writer; Mitchellās role on the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee; becoming deputy president pro tempore; the esprit de corps of the Senate office; Monday morning legislative meetings; making sure that people from Maine who came to the Senate office got to see Mitchell; adjusting to the cramped office environment; Tokerās job search and how she ended up working for General Mills; Mitchellās election to majority leader; issues that Toker deals with for General Mills; the role of lobbyists as stakeholders helping legislators; how Mitchell gathered information to prepare to deal with issues; anecdote about how Senator Durenberger came running down the hall to give Mitchell a congratulatory hug after he was elected to majority leader; Mitchellās mentoring relationship to Tom Daschle; Mitchellās priorities in terms of balancing his different roles; Tokerās surprise at Mitchellās decision to step down; the Good Friday Agreement; running into Mitchell in Dublin; the effect that having worked for Mitchell has had on Tokerās subsequent career; how the job of lobbyists and the Senate have changed over the years; increasing partisanship in the Senate; and how Toker believes Mitchell should be remembered.
Date: 2009-02-09
Creator: Berl Bernhard
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Berl Bernhard was born in New York City on September 7, 1929, to Morris and Celia (Nadele) Bernhard. He grew up in New Jersey, then attended Dartmouth College, graduating in 1951, and took his law degree at Yale Law School in 1954. His law career began in Washington as a law clerk to Luther Youngdahl. In the late 1950s he took a position on the Civil Rights Commission, and he was appointed staff director by John Kennedy in 1961. In 1963 he returned to private practice and in 1965 became counsel to the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. He met George Mitchell while working on Senator Muskie's 1968 vice presidential campaign. He served as national campaign manager for Senator Muskie's 1972 presidential campaign, accompanying the Muskie on his trips to Israel and the Soviet Union. From 1980 to 1981 he served as senior advisor to Muskie when he became secretary of state. He is a senior partner at DLA Piper law firm in Washington, D.C. He has given further interviews with the Muskie Oral History Project at Bates College and the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas.
Summary
Interview includes discussions of: working with George Mitchell on Muskieās 1968 vice presidential campaign; comparing Mitchell and Muskie; end of the 1968 campaign; Mitchellās talent for compromise; Muskie disliking campaigning story; Mitchell enjoying public service more than Muskie; Mitchell and Doleās mutual respect; Muskieās unwillingness to compromise; getting out the vote for Mitchellās 1974 gubernatorial campaign and the Muskie presidential primary campaign in 1971-1972; difficulties within the 1971-1972 campaign; Berlās contact with Mitchell as a senator; Mitchellās ā88 campaign for senate majority leader; Muskieās staff; social contact with Mitchell; conversation with Mitchell about retiring; Mitchell joining Berlās law firm; Mitchell as chair of the firm; the matter of Mitchell being considered for secretary of state; investigating the American Red Cross Liberty Fund; Mitchellās aspirations with regard to major league baseball; looking at broad trends and changes in politics; description of Mitchell.