George J. Mitchell

**George John Mitchell Jr.**  (born August 20, 1933) is an American lawyer, businessman and politician. He is a Democrat. Mitchell served as a United States Senator from Maine from 1980 to 1995 and as Senate Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995.

## Early life

Mitchell was born in Waterville, Maine. His father, George John Mitchell, Sr. (born Joseph Kilroy), was of ethnic Irish descent but was adopted by a Lebanese family when he was orphaned.

## Political career

In 1980, he was elected to the United States Senate. He became Senate Majority Leader in 1989. He briefly was 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 in 1995, he had a key role in peace talks in Northern Ireland and the Middle East. He 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 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).

## Post Senate career

Mitchell was chairman of The Walt Disney Company from March 2004 until January 2007, and later as chairman of the international law firm DLA Piper. He was the Chancellor of Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, from 1999 to 2009.

Mitchell also was a co-chair of the Housing Commission at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

In 2015, unsealed court documents showed Mitchell's possible involvement with the Jeffrey Epstein child trafficking ring.

## Health

Mitchell was diagnosed with a "small, low grade, and localized" prostate cancer in 2007.

In August 2020, he was diagnosed with leukemia.

## Infobox (officeholder)

- **name**: George Mitchell
- **birth name**: George John Mitchell, Jr.
- **image**: George Mitchell in Tel Aviv July 26, 2009.jpg
- **jr/sr**: U.S. Senator, United States Senator
- **state**: Maine
- **term start**: May 17, 1980
- **term end**: January 3, 1995
- **predecessor**: Edmund Muskie
- **successor**: Olympia Snowe
- **order1**: Party leaders of the United States Senate, Senate Majority Leader
- **term start1**: January 3, 1989
- **term end1**: January 3, 1995
- **deputy1**: Alan Cranston (1989-1991)
Wendell H. Ford (1991-1995)
- **predecessor1**: Robert Byrd
- **successor1**: Bob Dole
- **order2**: 2nd President pro tempore of the United States Senate, Deputy President pro tempore of the United States Senate
- **term start2**: January 3, 1987
- **term end2**: January 3, 1989
- **president2**: John C. Stennis
- **leader2**: Robert Byrd
- **predecessor2**: Hubert Humphrey (1978)
- **successor2**: _Vacant_
- **order4**: Presidency of Barack Obama, United States Special Envoy for Middle East Peace
- **term start4**: January 22, 2009
- **term end4**: May 13, 2011
- **predecessor4**: None
- **successor4**: David Hale (diplomat), David Hale
- **order5**: United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland, U.S. Special Envoy for Northern Ireland
- **term start5**: January 3, 1995
- **term end5**: January 20, 2001
- **predecessor5**: None
- **successor5**: Richard N. Haass
- **order6**: United States District Court for the District of Maine, Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maine
- **term start6**: October 5, 1979
- **term end6**: May 16, 1980
- **nominator6**: Jimmy Carter
- **predecessor6**: _New seat_
- **successor6**: Conrad Keefe Cyr
- **office7**: List of Chancellors of Queen's University Belfast, Chancellor of Queen's University Belfast
- **term start7**: 1999
- **term end7**: 2009
- **predecessor7**: David Orr (businessman), Sir David Orr
- **successor7**: Kamalesh Sharma
- **birth place**: Waterville, Maine, Waterville, Maine,  United States, U.S.
- **party**: Democratic Party (United States), Democratic
- **spouse**:

- **children**: 3
- **alma mater**: Bowdoin College
Georgetown University Law Center
- **profession**: Lawyer
- **branch**: United States Army Counterintelligence Corps (United States Army), Counterintelligence Corps
- **serviceyears**: 1954-1956
- **rank**:  First Lieutenant (United States), First Lieutenant