Showing 1 - 10 of 37 Items

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 Mitchell’s victory; Mitchell’s leadership and link to the White House; factions within the Democratic Party; the DG-51 Destroyer Maine-versus-Louisiana issue; the ’91 and ’92 energy bills; the BTU tax; reasons for leaving the Senate; and reflections on Mitchell.

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 “center for excellence,” 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 Fishermen’s 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 Cohen’s staff to Mitchell’s staff; Cohen’s feelings about Hastings’s move to Mitchell’s office; state and national issues; Kahlil Gibran; Cohen’s and Mitchell’s leadership styles with their office staff; the staff atmosphere around Mitchell’s 1982 election; the Mikulski Commission; the 1982 election; Mitchell’s staff, including Jane O’Connor, 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: 2009-02-23

Creator: Mary 'M.C.' C Toker

Access: Open access

Biographial Note

Mary Catherine “M.C.” 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. Mary’s 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 Mitchell’s Senate office as a legislative correspondent. She dealt with foreign affairs issues for Mitchell’s 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. Mary’s 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; Mitchell’s 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; Toker’s job search and how she ended up working for General Mills; Mitchell’s 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; Mitchell’s mentoring relationship to Tom Daschle; Mitchell’s priorities in terms of balancing his different roles; Toker’s surprise at Mitchell’s decision to step down; the Good Friday Agreement; running into Mitchell in Dublin; the effect that having worked for Mitchell has had on Toker’s 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: 2009-09-16

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 governor’s 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; Mitchell’s run for chairman of the Democratic National Committee; Mitchell’s majority leader race; Democratic Steering Committee; DeConcini’s time as chair of the Intelligence Committee; leadership under Byrd, Baker, Dole, and Mitchell; Mitchell’s role in DeConcini’s 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); DeConcini’s reaction to Mitchell’s retirement; being a conservative Democrat; Keating and DeConcini’s retirement from the Senate; and Mitchell’s legacy.

Date: 2009-10-05

Creator: Thomas 'Tom' A Daffron

Access: Open access

Biographial Note

Thomas A. Daffron was born on January 23, 1949, in New York City. He received a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. Prior to going to Washington D.C., he worked as a newspaper reporter. He was chief of staff for Senators Bill Cohen, Fred Thompson, Mo Udall, and Lisa Murkowski, and as a speechwriter for Chuck Percy. He has also worked for International Paper in Maine and for the Baltimore Orioles, and he has been a consultant to Senator Susan Collins. At the time of this interview, he was COO for Jefferson Consulting Group in Washington, D.C.

Summary

Interview includes discussion of: family background and education; fellowship to learn about Congress in Washington, DC; Senator Percy and moderate republicanism; transition to working for Senator Cohen; campaigning on foot with Bill Cohen; the Maine delegation while Daffron was working for Cohen; cooperation among the Maine delegation; Cohen’s run against Hathaway for Senate; reaction in Cohen’s office when Mitchell was selected to fill Muskie’s seat; Mitchell’s entering the Maine delegation; the 1982 election; Mitchell’s rise in leadership; Cohen’s reaction to Mitchell’s rise; tension with the Bush administration; Clean Air Act amendments; Mitchell’s retirement; Daffron’s work with Thompson and Murkowski in the late-‘90s; Daffron’s consulting work for Susan Collins; increased partisanship in the Senate; what makes a good chief of staff for a senator; Mitchell’s legacy; and Iran-Contra.

Date: 2010-02-17

Creator: Diane Dewhirst

Access: Open access

Biographial Note

Diane Dewhirst was born on May 28, 1957, in Framingham, Massachusetts, to Joan Priscilla Audubon and Robert Thornton Dewhirst. She grew up in Boston and Philadelphia. Her father worked in sales for an energy firm. Majoring in journalism at the University of Ohio and then transferring to Northwestern, she was graduated with a degree in political science. She worked on Jimmy Carter’s presidential campaign in 1976, as an intern for Common Cause, the Democratic National Committee, and briefly for ABC News on delegate selection rules, covering the 1984 presidential election. She then became press secretary for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), which George Mitchell chaired, and later joined Mitchell’s press staff, where she served as his communications director for over ten years. At the time of this interview, she was senior advisor to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Summary

Interview includes discussion of: family and educational background; early interest in politics; work on the DNC (Democratic National Committee); meeting Senator Mitchell as a part of the Compliance Review Committee of the DNC; her work for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) under Mitchell; Mitchell and the press; Mitchell’s relationship with the press in Maine; Mitchell’s divorce; and the transition from being a member of the personal staff to the majority leader’s staff; oil spill legislation; spousal impoverishment legislation; and linking clean air issues with the health care debate.

Date: 2010-06-03

Creator: Gary B Myrick

Access: Open access

Biographial Note

Gary Blendon Myrick was born on July 20, 1967, in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, to Carol and Warren Myrick. He attended the University of Maine and worked as a page in the Maine legislature during his final year of undergraduate studies. He worked as an intern in Senator Mitchell’s U.S. Senate office, answering mail and telephones, and in 1990 he was hired as a staff assistant in the personal office, moved to answering phones in Mitchell’s leadership office, and then took a position in the Senate Cloakroom. He earned his law degree from American University. From 1995-2003, he joined the Senate Floor Staff under Senator Tom Daschle. At the time of this interview he was chief of staff for U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Summary

Interview includes discussion of: family and educational background; internship in Senator Mitchell’s office; answering phones in the leadership office; description of the Senate Cloakroom and job responsibilities; majority leader comparisons and changes; Mitchell’s strength of speaking on the Senate floor; transitions from Republican to Democratic White House and vice versa; Mitchell’s decision to retire from the Senate; scheduling; Senator Tom Daschle; Senator Harry Reid; filibusters; and changes in the Senate culture.

Date: 2009-03-16

Creator: Christopher 'Chris' Mann

Access: Open access

Biographial Note

Christopher Mann was born December 19, 1962, in Augusta, Maine. His parents were Alden and Deana Mann. His father was a Maine native who worked for the State Bureau of Banks and Banking as the director of Securities. Chris grew up in Augusta, attended Cony High School and was graduated with a degree in political science from the University of Southern Maine. He worked on Joe Brennan’s 1988 congressional campaign. After that, Mary McAleney offered him a position doing research for the state legislature. He later moved to Washington, D.C., to work in the mailroom for Senator Mitchell’s office and eventually became a legislative correspondent. When Senator Mitchell retired, with the help of Mary McAleney, he went to work for the secretary of the Senate in the bill status office. After two years in that position, he was offered a place as a staffer in then Congressman Baldacci’s office. In 1999, he moved back to Maine to run the Bangor office for Congressman Baldacci. At the time of this interview, he held a position with the Maine Department of Transportation in the Bureau of Planning.

Summary

This interview includes discussion: family and educational background; Augusta, Maine in the 1960s and 70s; State Bureau of Banks and Banking; University of Southern Maine; Public Interest Research Group (PIRG); interning at Senator Mitchell’s office in Portland, Maine; the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade; Mary McAleney; Joe Brennan’s congressional campaign in 1988; the Maine state Senate; working for Senator Mitchell in Washington, D.C.; Maine people on staff in Washington D.C.; George Mitchell as majority leader; being a legislative correspondent; the Catastrophic Healthcare act; health care; Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA); Chris Mann’s responsibilities in Senator Mitchell’s office; the Democratic Party network; working for the secretary of the Senate; the Senate bills status office; working for the minority party; Republican Revolution; division in the Senate; living in rural Maine; Maine Department of Transportation; and Senator Mitchell’s current projects.

Date: 2009-03-31

Creator: John W. Warner

Access: Audio recording permanently restricted

Biographical NoteJohn William Warner was born February 18, 1927, to John W. Warner and Martha Budd Warner. He grew up in Washington, D.C. and was graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1945. He enlisted in the Navy after high school and is a veteran of World War II. After leaving the service he attended Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, graduating in 1949. He attended law school at the University of Virginia but left to serve in the Marines during the Korean War; subsequently, he received his law degree from George Washington University in 1953, served as a law clerk and became an assistant U.S. attorney before going into private practice in 1960, when he also served as a member of Richard Nixon’s advance staff during the 1960 presidential campaign. He married Catherine Conover Mellon in 1967 and they had three children before divorcing in 1973. In 1969, Warner was appointed undersecretary of the Navy, and then in 1972 he rose to be secretary of the Navy, a post he held for two years. President Ford appointed him director of the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration. In 1976, he married Elizabeth Taylor; they divorced in 1982. In 1978, Warner ran unsuccessfully in the Virginia Republican primary for the U.S. Senate; however, when the nominee was killed in a plane crash, he was asked to step in with only ten weeks until the election. Warner managed a narrow victory, earning the nickname “Landslide Johnny,” and remained in the Senate for thirty years, eventually retiring in 2009 as Virginia’s second longest serving senator. At the time of this interview he was a partner at the firm Hogan & Hartson, now Hogan Lovells. SummaryInterview includes discussion of: Warner’s entry into politics in 1960 as a member of then Vice President Nixon’s advance staff; opening Nixon’s Washington, D.C. office in 1968; serving as undersecretary, and later secretary, of the navy; working on the nation’s bicentennial; the 1978 Virginia Senate race; an anecdote about Warner and Mike Mansfield serving in the military; majority and minority leaders descriptions; the role of the filibuster in the Senate and how it has evolved; Mitchell’s Elizabeth Taylor joke and sense of humor in general; how the Republican caucus regarded Mitchell; an anecdote about Washington and Jefferson discussing the role of the Senate in the bicameral system; George Mitchell’s interest in environmental issues and the Clean Air Act; the ISTEA transportation bill; projects, or “pork”; the Gulf War Resolution; Mitchell’s views on military spending and awarding of shipbuilding contracts; BRAC proceedings and the Loring Air Force Base closure; the pendulum of political power; the political shift in 1980 with Reagan’s election; Reagan’s economic policies; how the culture of the Senate has changed; the increased importance of fund-raising; former House members in the Senate; Maine senators and distinguished careers; the Gang of Fourteen; Warner’s role in electing Bill Frist to majority leader; the Clintons’ attempt at health care reform; Warner’s role in encouraging Dole to run for majority leader; Hillary Clinton as a senator; Mitchell’s career since leaving the Senate; the challenges Mitchell faces as special envoy for the Middle East; Warner’s thoughts on leaving the Senate, and his plans for the future at the firm Hogan Lovells.

Date: 2009-04-20

Creator: Thomas 'Tom' A Daschle

Access: Open access

Biographial Note

Thomas Andrew Daschle was born on December 9, 1947, in Aberdeen, South Dakota, to Elizabeth B. Meier and Sebastian C. Daschle. He attended South Dakota State University, being graduated with a degree in political science in 1969. After college he served as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force. He started in politics as a staff member to South Dakota Senator James Abourezk. In 1978, Daschle was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and served for four terms there. In 1986, he ran for the U.S. Senate and won, serving until he lost the seat in the fall 2004 elections; he succeeded George Mitchell as Senate majority leader in the Senate in 1995. He served as a key advisor to Barack Obama in his presidential campaign of 2008 and was nominated to be the secretary of health and human services; his nomination proved controversial, and he withdrew his name from consideration. He has been heavily involved in working for health care reform. At the time of this interview, he served as a policy advisor at the firm Alston & Bird and was a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

Summary

Interview includes discussion of: becoming acquainted with Mitchell; making the move to the Senate from the House; Mitchell’s role as chairman of the 1986 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee; the Senate class of 1986; the Democratic trend in the 1986 elections; working in the Senate compared to working in the House; the similarities between Daschle and Mitchell and the foundation of their friendship; Daschle’s role as co-chair of the Policy Committee; the Policy Committee’s functions and Mitchell’s role in expanding its responsibilities; Mitchell’s interest in baseball; Daschle’s campaign and election to majority leader; the procedure of the Senate leader election; Mitchell’s advice to Daschle as his successor as majority leader and his help in making the transition; Daschle’s surprise at Mitchell’s retirement decision; the 1994 elections; the check scandal that involved the House bank; Byrd’s decision to move from majority leader to chair of the Appropriations Committee; how Mitchell ought to be remembered; the Bipartisan Policy Center; thoughts on how Mitchell would have been as a presidential candidate; and Mitchell’s and Daschle’s mutual interest in hearing and telling funny stories.