Showing 231 - 240 of 388 Items

Date: 2008-08-19

Creator: George J Mitchell

Access: Open access

Biographical NoteGeorge J. Mitchell was born on August 20, 1933, in Waterville, Maine, to Mary Saad, a factory worker, and George Mitchell, a laborer. Senator Mitchell spent his youth in Waterville. After receiving his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College in 1954, he served as an officer in the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps until 1956. In 1960 he earned a law degree from Georgetown University. Mitchell worked for Senator Edmund S. Muskie as executive assistant and as deputy campaign manager during Muskie's 1972 presidential campaign. He later became U.S. senator (D-Maine) 1980-1995, Senate majority leader 1989-1995, and, upon his retirement from the Senate, special advisor on Northern Ireland 1995-1998. Since 1998, Senator Mitchell has served on many boards and committees and has received high profile appointments including: chairman of the Sharm el-Sheikh International Fact-Finding Committee on the crisis between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (2000); overseer of the Red Cross Liberty Fund (2001); lead investigator into the illegal use of performance enhancing substances in Major League Baseball (2006); and special envoy for Palestinian-Israeli affairs (2009-2011). SummaryInterview includes discussion of: early legal career; working for the Justice Department; working on Edmund S. Muskie’s Senate staff; Jensen, Baird law firm (1966-1977); divorce case story; assistant county attorney; chairman of the Maine Democratic Party (1965-1968); Democratic National Committeeman from Maine (1968-1977); U.S. attorney for Maine (1977-1979); drug cases and antique case; federal judge (1979-1980); Ed and Marshall Stern; 1968 Muskie vice presidential campaign; 1980 appointment to Senator Muskie’s Senate seat and Joseph Brennan; Larry Benoit; Paul Ziffren fund-raising story; 1974 Maine gubernatorial campaign; Tax Equity Act; Finance Committee appointment story; and relationship with Maine newspapers/press.

Date: 2011-03-21

Creator: George J Mitchell

Access: Open access

Biographical NoteGeorge J. Mitchell was born on August 20, 1933, in Waterville, Maine, to Mary Saad, a factory worker, and George Mitchell, a laborer. Senator Mitchell spent his youth in Waterville. After receiving his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College in 1954, he served as an officer in the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps until 1956. In 1960 he earned a law degree from Georgetown University. Mitchell worked for Senator Edmund S. Muskie as executive assistant and as deputy campaign manager during Muskie's 1972 presidential campaign. He later became U.S. senator (D-Maine) 1980-1995, Senate majority leader 1989-1995, and, upon his retirement from the Senate, special advisor on Northern Ireland 1995-1998. Since 1998, Senator Mitchell has served on many boards and committees and has received high profile appointments including: chairman of the Sharm el-Sheikh International Fact-Finding Committee on the crisis between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (2000); overseer of the Red Cross Liberty Fund (2001); lead investigator into the illegal use of performance enhancing substances in Major League Baseball (2006); and special envoy for Palestinian-Israeli affairs (2009-2011). SummaryInterview includes discussion of: health care issues, beginning with the Clinton administration in 1992; legislative battles relating to the economy during the Clinton administration; contacts with Senator John Chaffee while Mitchell was a federal prosecutor in Maine during the ‘70s, and their subsequent friendship and common interests in health care legislation; industry opposition to proposed health care legislation, and increasing Republican distaste even for their own health care bill; parallels between the Clinton health care legislative process and that of the Obama administration; speculation on the future of health care reform; Hillary Clinton’s involvement in and efforts on behalf of the failed health care legislation in the early ‘90s; environmental issues and how those relate to health care; legislative efforts in the Senate relating to Clean Water and Clean Air; the substantial improvements to waterways as a result of the Clean Water acts, citing Maine as an example; the history of federal legislative and executive influences on Clean Water, and the staying power of that legislation; Mitchell’s affection for Senator Muskie; Acadia National Park boundary issues, and how dealing with those sharpened his negotiating skills; transitioning to fill Senator Muskie’s Senate seat; affection for Mt. Desert Island as a summer getaway locale; administrative staff, particularly Mainers, and their importance in Senate affairs; immigrant family history, growing up in Waterville, Maine, and how those experiences influenced his career; his father’s adoption; the role of the Maronite rite of the Catholic Church in family life; Mitchell’s inferiority in athletics compared to his brothers’ abilities; detailed recollections of his parents, their personalities, and their interests; food, cooking, and hospitality in the Waterville Mitchell household; reestablishing train service between Boston and Portland, Maine.

Date: 2009-07-10

Creator: Fred Wertheimer

Access: Open access

Biographical NoteFred Wertheimer was born on January 9, 1939, in Brooklyn, New York. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Harvard Law School. From 1981 to 1995 he served as president of Common Cause, a nonpartisan citizens’ lobby, and he worked with Senator Mitchell on campaign finance reform issues while he was president of Common Cause. At the time of this interview he was president of Democracy 21, a nonprofit organization that promotes the government reform of campaign finance, lobbying, and ethics. He is married to Linda Wertheimer, the senior national correspondent for National Public Radio. SummaryInterview includes discussion of: Wertheimer’s first impressions of Mitchell when they began working on campaign finance issues together; the state of campaign finance reform in the 1980s and early 1990s; process of creating the bill to ban soft money; working with Mitchell on campaign finance reform; Mitchell’s relationship with Senator Boren; and Mitchell’s toughness and integrity.

Date: 2008-08-05

Creator: David G Lemoine

Access: Open access

Biographical NoteDavid George Lemoine was born on May 25, 1957, in Waterville, Maine. His mother, Margaret Marden Lemoine, grew up on a potato farm in Freedom, Maine, and his father, George Macalese Lemoine, was a native of Waterville and a veteran of the Korean War. David grew up in Waterville and was graduated from Waterville High School in 1975. He attended Colby College and earned a degree in government in 1979. He worked as an intern in Senator Muskie’s Washington, D.C. office until Muskie was appointed secretary of state in May of 1980. When George Mitchell was appointed to Muskie’s vacated Senate seat, Lemoine continued as a member of his staff. He worked on the 1982 U.S. Senate reelection campaign, focusing on the Voter Checklist Project in Maine. Later he attended the University of Maine Law School, graduating in 1988. He served three terms in the Maine state legislature representing Old Orchard Beach, and at the time of this interview was in his second term as state treasurer for the state of Maine. SummaryInterview includes discussion of: Waterville, Maine; Colby College; 1974 Maine gubernatorial campaign; Senator Muskie’s Washington, D.C. office; working as a doorman in the Senate; Mitchell’s Senate appointment; the Voter Checklist Project; 1982 U.S. Senate campaign; Mitchell family gatherings in Waterville; Mitchell’s 1982 stump speech; a story similar to the “cow joke”; the state of Maine’s legislative and governing structure; and World Affairs Council of Maine’s International Leadership Award.

Date: 2010-03-31

Creator: Paul P Maroon

Access: Open access

Biographical NotePaul P. Maroon was born in Waterville, Maine, on January 19, 1932. His father, Sam Maroon, worked for Wyandotte Worsted Mills and his mother, Nimera Maroon, was a homemaker. He attended Waterville High School with George Mitchell and they were childhood friends. He served in the Navy and, upon completing his military service, he attended Husson College. He participated in local (Waterville) fund-raising activities in support of Mitchell’s political campaigns. SummaryInterview includes discussion of: Waterville in the 1930s and 1940s; the Lebanese community in Waterville; Lebanese traditions; family relationship between the Maroons and Mitchells; Robbie Mitchell growing up; anecdotes about being childhood friends with George Mitchell; the 1974 gubernatorial campaign; Mitchell in high school; and anecdote about Mitchell’s popularity among Irishmen.

Date: 2010-03-11

Creator: Andrea C Maker

Access: Open access

Biographical NoteAndrea (Cianchette) Maker was born in 1956 in Waterville, Maine, and grew up in Pittsfield, Maine. She came from a large, politically active family of both Democrats and Republicans. Her family’s construction business, Cianbro, evolved and grew during her childhood. While in college in New Hampshire, Maker interned for Bill Cohen. She attended the University of Maine School of Law for two years, then completed her third year at American University in Washington, D.C. During her third year of law school she worked for Senator Mitchell in the mailroom, drafting responses to atypical letters. After law school, Maker became a lobbyist representing clients in the Maine legislature on a number of issues. At the time of this interview she served on the board of the Susan Curtis Foundation and worked at Martin’s Point Health Care. SummaryInterview includes discussion of: family and educational background; Pittsfield, Maine; Cianchette Brothers construction company (Cianbro): Chuck, Bud, and Lunk; growing up in Pittsfield; her father’s (Chuck’s) political life and friendship with Mitchell; shadowing Mitchell in 1977; Paula Silsby; law school; working in the mailroom of George Mitchell’s office; Gayle Cory and Christine Williams; an anecdote about having Mitchell over for dinner; Maker’s uncles in politics, Carl, Ival, Peter, Norris and Kenneth Cianchette; interning for Bill Cohen and a comparison between working for Cohen and for Mitchell; working with Susan Collins and Mike Hastings while in Cohen’s office; and Mitchell’s career and legacy.

Date: 2014-11-14

Creator: Connie Smith

Esther Attean

Martha Proulx

Penthea Burns

Sharon Tomah

Luke Joseph

Access: Open access

Date: 2014-02-10

Creator: Anonymous

Access: Open access

Date: 2008-06-09

Creator: Estelle A Lavoie

Access: Open access

Biographical NoteEstelle Lavoie was born in Lewiston, Maine, on November 23, 1949, and grew up there, the youngest of three children. Her father worked as a building contractor until his death in 1964, after which her mother worked part-time as a bank teller. Estelle attended Lewiston public schools and was graduated from Bates College (class of 1971), spending her junior year studying in Switzerland. At the end of 1972, she went to work for Governor Ken Curtis. By September of 1973, she had been hired as part of Senator Ed Muskie’s staff, working first as a caseworker and eventually as his legislative assistant. She attended law school at American University from 1978 to 1981 and transitioned to Senator Mitchell’s staff when he assumed Muskie’s Senate seat. She left Mitchell’s staff in the fall of 1983 and joined the law firm of Preti, Flaherty, Beliveau & Pachios the following June. Her practice has evolved from health law to other political practice issues. She served on the Democratic State Committee from 1986 to 1990 and was a delegate to the 1988 National Convention. SummaryInterview includes discussions of: meeting Senator Mitchell; Mitchell’s appointment to the Senate; Indian Land Claims Settlement case and its importance to the State of Maine; other colleagues on the Mitchell staff and their job responsibilities; Mitchell’s retention of Senator Muskie’s staff; leadership styles of Senators Muskie and Mitchell; conceptualizing and forming the George Mitchell Scholarship and Research Institute; and Mitchell’s strengths including: intelligence, compassion, gratitude, modesty, speaking ability, hard work, and dedication.

Date: 2014-08-06

Creator: Anonymous

Access: Open access