Former Senator George Mitchell to speak on Northern Ireland conflict at Dartmouth

Posted 05/16/00

Former United States Senator George J. Mitchell will give a lecture titled "At the Brink: Mediating Conflict in Northern Ireland" as a Class of 1930 Fellow on Monday, May 22, at 7:30 p.m. in Cook Auditorium. The Rockefeller Center is sponsoring the lecture, which is free and open to the public.

In his lecture, Mitchell will draw from his experiences as chair of the historic 1998 peace negotiations in Northern Ireland. Under his leadership, negotiators reached an agreement between the governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom and the political parties of Northern Ireland, signaling an end to decades of conflict.

In his 14 years as a Senator, Mitchell was voted "most respected member" six consecutive years by a bipartisan group of senior Congressional aides. During his time in the Senate, Mitchell proved instrumental in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the successful reauthorization of the Clean Air Act, the ratification of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and the creation of the World Trade Organization. In his last six years in office, Mitchell served as Senate Majority Leader.

After leaving the Senate, Mitchell led a commission charged with investigating the allegations of corruption in the selection of Salt Lake City as the site for the 2002 Winter Olympics. He currently serves as the Chairman of the International Crisis Group, a non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention of crises in international affairs, as well as Chairman of the National Health Care Commission created by the Pew Charitable Foundation.

NOTE TO EDITORS AND REPORTERS: A photo of Mitchell is available for digital transmission.