Mitchell, George (John) (1933- )

US Democrat politician, former leader of the majority party in the Senate (1989-95) and peace broker in Northern Ireland and the Middle East. A talented, liberal lawyer, he entered the Senate in 1980. He served on the Senate committee that investigated the Irangate affair from 1986, achieving national fame through his skilful interrogation of Oliver North. On retiring from the Senate in 1995, Mitchell divided his time between legal practice and using his skills of alliance building to eventually broker the Good Friday Agreement in the Northern Ireland peace process in 1998, and a follow-up agreement in November 1999. In May 2001, Mitchell chaired a United Nations (UN) commission in an effort to galvanize negotiations in the Israel-Palestine peace process.

Born in Waterville, Maine, Mitchell served as a successful attorney in private and public practice during the 1960s and 1970s, and as Maine district judge 1979-80. He was initially appointed to the Senate, replacing his mentor Edmund Muskie, in 1980, but was subsequently elected. As Democrat Senate leader from 1989, he opposed President George Bush's capital gains tax cut and approach in the Gulf War with Iraq.

He wrote books on his Irangate and Northern Ireland work, Men of Zeal (1988; with William Cohen) and Making Peace (1999).