George Mitchell

George J. Mitchell (1933) is President Barack Obama's to serve as Special Envoy for Middle East Peace. He has been involved in other peacemaking, including Special Advisor to the President and the Secretary of State for Economic Initiatives in Ireland (1995-2000); chairman, Sharm el-Sheikh International Fact-Finding Committee to examine crisis in Middle East (2000-2001); awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on March 17, 1999.

After being appointed to fill the vacancy left by Edmund Muskie in 1983, served as senator from Maine until 1995. He was Senate Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995.

After graduating from Bowdoin College, he served in the United States Army Counter Intelligence Corps, Berlin, Germany, 1954-1956; admitted to the District of Columbia and Maine bars in 1960 and commenced practice in Portland, Maine, 1965; trial attorney, Antitrust Division, Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., 1960-1962; executive assistant to Senator Edmund S. Muskie 1962-1965; practiced law, Portland, 1965-1977; assistant county attorney for Cumberland County, Maine, 1971; unsuccessful candidate for governor of Maine in 1974; United States Attorney for Maine 1977-1979; United States District Judge for Maine 1979-1980.