Showing 1 - 3 of 3 Items
Date: 2010-05-04
Creator: Harold J Decker
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Harold James Decker was born February 23, 1945, in Kalamazoo, Michigan. His parents were Harold and Dena (Bouma) Decker, both children of Dutch immigrants. He was graduated from Kalamazoo College majoring in political science, joined the Army in 1968 and served during the Vietnam War. In 1973, he took his law degree from Southwestern Law School and subsequently practiced law in southern California for six years. He then worked for the pharmaceutical manufacturer Upjohn for eighteen years. In February, 2001, he was asked by Dr. Bernadine Healy to redesign the legal function of the American Red Cross. In this capacity, he worked with Mitchell on the Liberty Disaster Relief Fund created after the September 11 Terrorist Attacks.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: family and educational background; joining the American Red Cross; detailed discussion of Red Cross management and mission; his experience of events on 9/11; Liberty Disaster Relief Fund; why Senator Mitchell was chosen; Decker’s memories of Mitchell’s role in the Iran-Contra hearings; and Senator Mitchell’s approach to and involvement in the Red Cross/ 911 Liberty Fund.
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 Muskie’s 1968 vice presidential campaign; comparing Mitchell and Muskie; end of the 1968 campaign; Mitchell’s talent for compromise; Muskie disliking campaigning story; Mitchell enjoying public service more than Muskie; Mitchell and Dole’s mutual respect; Muskie’s unwillingness to compromise; getting out the vote for Mitchell’s 1974 gubernatorial campaign and the Muskie presidential primary campaign in 1971-1972; difficulties within the 1971-1972 campaign; Berl’s contact with Mitchell as a senator; Mitchell’s ’88 campaign for senate majority leader; Muskie’s staff; social contact with Mitchell; conversation with Mitchell about retiring; Mitchell joining Berl’s 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; Mitchell’s aspirations with regard to major league baseball; looking at broad trends and changes in politics; description of Mitchell.
Date: 2011-06-06
Creator: George J Mitchell
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
George 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).
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: involvement as a board member and chairman of the board at the Walt Disney Co.; personalities on the board; power, and on advising the powerful; meeting with Maine constituents as a U.S. senator and airing differences of opinion; involvement in the Red Cross 9/11 commission and Mitchell’s role as overseer of the Liberty Fund; being in New York on 9/11, witnessing the collapse of one of the World Trade Center towers, and encountering restrictions on travel into Manhattan; challenges in establishing fair criteria for distributing funds to 9/11 victims and their families when claimants had such disparate circumstances; the formation of and circumstances surrounding the Sharm el-Sheikh International Fact-Finding Committee; working relationships among committee members; travel to Berlin, Germany, years after having served there in Army Intelligence; responsibilities that attach to intelligence work, and similar responsibilities that come with being a judge; the Berlin Wall, its collapse, and the failure of Communism; how walls play a role in warring communities (Berlin, Belfast, Palestine); differences and commonalities among peoples around the world; and America’s success as a meritocracy.