Showing 131 - 140 of 434 Items
Date: 2008-11-20
Creator: Charles 'Charlie' Jacobs
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Charles “Charlie” Jacobs was born on May 10, 1948, in St. Stephen, New Brunswick. His parents, Isabelle and Stephen Jacobs, were both teachers. He lived mainly in Buxton, Maine, until the age of ten, when his family moved to Bethel. He attended Gould Academy and the University of Maine, Orono, graduating in 1971. At Orono, Jacobs became politically active, joining the student government and supporting Eugene McCarthy’s presidential bid in 1968. After graduation, he worked for Governor Ken Curtis, serving on the Governor’s Council until it was abolished in 1976. He then worked on Senator Muskie’s 1976 Senate campaign, joining the Muskie’s Senate staff shortly thereafter. He stayed in Washington until 1979, when he moved to the Lewiston, Maine, Senate office. When George Mitchell was appointed to Muskie’s seat, Jacobs returned to Washington to serve as Mitchell’s executive assistant, where he remained until late 1983 when he transitioned back to Maine, leaving Mitchell’s employment in the spring of 1984. He later worked for the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) for eleven years and for Maine Governor Angus King.
Summary
Interview includes discussions of: Mitchell’s transition to the Senate; the role of a senator’s executive assistant; Mitchell’s U.S. Senate campaign in 1982; comparing Mitchell with Muskie in terms of personality, office structure, and political talent; the disadvantages of being a junior senator; the Senate office’s organization and small dimension; how Mitchell worked to gain support within the Maine Democratic Party; getting Mitchell back to Maine on the weekends; developments of the 1982 Senate campaign; Mitchell’s jokes; the Elizabeth Taylor joke; Mitchell’s ad campaign beginning in 1981; the likability factor for politicians; Jacobs’s personal relationship with Mitchell; driving for Ed Muskie; Mitchell’s abilities in terms of patience, discipline, and teaching himself about politics; and the honorable tradition of Maine politics.
Date: 2009-05-11
Creator: John L Hilley
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
John L. Hilley was born on October 22, 1947, to Dorothy and William Hilley in Tampa, Florida. His father was in the Air Force, so his family moved frequently. In eleventh grade he attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and went on to Princeton University. He taught for a few years, then returned to Princeton to earn a Ph.D. in economics. He taught at Lehigh University, receiving tenure, then moved to Washington, D.C. He began work at the Congressional Budget Office and then transitioned to the Senate Budget Committee, becoming staff director under Senator Sasser. In January of 1991, he became Senator Mitchell’s chief of staff and continued in that role until Mitchell’s retirement in 1995. He subsequently served briefly as chief counsel to Senator Daschle in the Majority Leader’s Office. From 1996 to 1998, he worked as senior advisor and head of legislative affairs for President Clinton. He has been the executive vice president of the National Association of Securities Dealers and the chairman and CEO of NASDAQ International.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: Hilley’s education; work at the Congressional Budget Office and the Senate Budget Committee; working for Senator Sasser; the role of the budget in legislation; Mitchell’s mental abilities; the majority leadership race; Mitchell’s work ethic and dedication to Maine; the different elements of the majority leader’s work; the activities of the Maine staff, the floor staff, the whip operation, the Senate administrative staff, and the Senate parliamentarian; Mitchell’s and Dole’s agreement to no surprises; the difference between Mitchell and Byrd as leader; the transition from Martha Pope to Hilley as chief of staff and what the chief of staff role entailed; the majority leader’s working with the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee; key senators with whom Mitchell built relationships; Mitchell and Senator Sarbanes sharing cucumber sandwiches; Mitchell’s even-keeled temperament; the staff’s access to Mitchell; staff meetings; when Hilley used Mitchell’s hideaway to take naps after an illness; a maneuver they used to defeat a capital gains tax cut and Senator Bentsen’s loyalty to Mitchell; the first Iraq War; the change in the majority leader’s role when President Clinton came into office; the Clinton administration’s stimulus bill, the subsequent deficit reduction package and how it brought out the partisan divide in the Senate; the Clinton administration’s initial blunders; Hillary Clinton’s health care package; the 1994 crime bill; Mitchell’s relationship with President Clinton and communication with the White House; Mitchell’s office’s relationship with the House; Mitchell’s style of running meetings; Mitchell’s dealings with the press; the budget and the meetings at Andrews Air Force Base; Senator Byrd’s giving John Sununu a dressing down at Andrews Air Force Base; Mitchell’s retirement; Senator Daschle as Mitchell’s successor; Mitchell’s humor; Hilley’s wish that Mitchell had been president; Senator Dole’s humor; the present day lack of moderates in both parties; Harry Reid’s job today and the Obama administration’s endeavors; how the question of who holds the presidency is inextricably linked to what came before.
Date: 2018-06-02
Creator: Mariya Ilyas
Access: Open access
- In this oral history, Mariya Ilyas (Class of 2013) discusses transitioning to Bowdoin and the effect her identity as a Pakistani Muslim woman had on her transition. She talks about her on-campus job, favorite professors, and most memorable classes. Ilyas also describes how her pre-orientation trip sparked a lasting interest in public service that manifested itself in a White House internship, Fulbright Scholarship, and career in diplomacy. She also speaks of her role in beginning the Muslim Student Association, and the support that the College provided. In addition, she recounts how her racial and cultural identities sometimes created instances of discomfort on campus.
Date: 2019-06-01
Creator: Madelena Rizzo
Access: Open access
- Madelena Rizzo (Class of 2014) talks about moving from Pennsylvania to Maine and the central and important role that Bowdoin’s community, including peers, faculty, and staff, played in her college experience. She describes her decision to join the Cross Country and Track teams, as well as other extracurricular activities like working with Amnesty International and babysitting for faculty and staff. Rizzo speaks about her French immersion study-away experience in Poitiers, France, and the following summer she spent back in Maine interning at Long Creek Youth Development Center. In addition, she reflects on the stress of Bowdoin academics and adjusting to life away from home.
Date: 2019-06-01
Creator: Sally Spencer-Thomas
Access: Open access
- Sally Spencer-Thomas (Class of 1989) describes deciding to apply to Bowdoin after feeling valued during her campus visit. Considering fraternities, she recalls both the benefits of making friends through Delta Kappa Epsilon, but also the challenges of the heavy drinking culture and problematic attitudes about sex and relationships. Spencer-Thomas comments on her study-away experience at the University of Stockholm. She reminisces on studying Art and Psychology and mentions her painting sessions in the old morgue at Adams Hall. She reflects on the support of the Bowdoin community since the death of her brother, also an alumnus. Finally, she comments on her multi-generational view of Bowdoin by sharing her impressions of the College through the eyes of her father and son.
Date: 2019-06-01
Creator: Mara Gandal-Powers
Access: Open access
- Mara Gandal-Powers (Class of 2004) discusses adjusting to life far from her home in Maryland and learning how to structure her time at College. She mentions trying out for the tennis team and how that impacted her first year. She reminisces about spending time with friends at nearby beaches, in Brunswick and Portland, and navigating the new Social House system as part of the first class without fraternities. Talking about her major in Women’s Studies, Gandal-Powers mentions her thesis, organizing Bowdoin’s involvement in the March for Women’s Lives, and her major’s impact on her career. Additionally, she reflects on campus’s atmosphere of activism at the time, specifically in reference to the 2000 Presidential Election and the September 11 Terrorist Attacks.
Date: 2019-06-01
Creator: Bruce Blaisdell
Access: Open access
- Bruce Blaisdell (Class of 1969) talks about finding Bowdoin through the advice of a neighbor who was the daughter of Donovan Lancaster, head of the College’s Dining Services. He discusses living away from home for the first time and acclimating to the boisterousness of fraternity life in Phi Delta Psi. He talks about finding a passion for biology and learning to balance his social life with academics. He touches on his on-campus jobs, including being a steward in the fraternity, and extracurricular activities, like the swim team and the Outing Club. He reminisces about the Senior Center Program. Reflecting on the world outside of Bowdoin, Blaisdell mentions the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement and their impact on campus.
Date: 2009-07-27
Creator: Charles L Kinney
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Charles Ludlow Kinney was born in Parksburg, West Virginia, on May 31, 1952. His father, David Whittemore Kinney, was born in Malden, Massachusetts, and his mother was also a Parksburg native. His parents met in the hospital during World War II; Charles is the third of four children. He grew up in Parksburg and was graduated from Georgetown University with a major in foreign service. He worked for Senator Byrd in the Senate Democratic Cloakroom in January of 1974. He was offered a position as a member of the floor staff for then Majority Leader Senator Byrd after taking the bar exam in 1979. When Senator Byrd left the position of majority leader to become chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee in 1988, Kinney was offered a position on his staff. At the same time, the newly appointed majority leader, George Mitchell, offered him a position as a floor staffer, and he assumed that post until 1993. He eventually joined the Washington, DC, law firm Winston & Strawn.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: the Senate in the 1970s; working for Senator Byrd; George Mitchell’s working as an aide for Muskie; Democratic Policy Committee 1979; George Mitchell’s nomination to Muskie’s seat; Mitchell’s becoming majority leader in 1988; working as a floor staffer for Majority Leaders Robert Byrd and George Mitchell; the Republican Party; bipartisan friendships that Mitchell enjoyed during his Senate career; Bob Dole; the Clean Air Act; and Mitchell’s character.
Date: 2018-06-02
Creator: Whitney Sanford
Access: Open access
- In this oral history, Whitney Sanford (Class of 1983) describes her decision to enroll at Bowdoin and her experience with the different aspects of the College’s social scene. She discusses the impact of the liberal arts on her eventual career as a professor at University of Florida and mentions her involvement in Bowdoin’s first women’s rugby team. Sanford also recounts her affiliation with the Theta Delta Chi fraternity, as well as her activity on the women’s field hockey team. She also discusses the impact of the opening of a campus pub on the College’s social structure.
Date: 2009-03-24
Creator: Frederic 'Fred' C Hof
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Frederic C. Hof was born on July 14, 1947, to Alice and Frederic Hof in Brooklyn, New York. Before he was school-age his family moved to Port Washington, New York, on Long Island. In the summer of 1964, after his junior year of high school, he participated in an exchange program and went to Damascus, Syria. He completed high school in Port Washington and then attended the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. At Georgetown he participated in ROTC and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army. He spent 1970 in Vietnam with the 101st Air Mobile Division (now the 101st Airborne), and returned to teach in the Civil Affairs School. He then entered the Foreign Area Officer Program to specialize in the Middle East, and as part of that program he attended the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, and the Foreign Service Institute in Tunis to learn Arabic. He served as the Army attaché in Beirut, Lebanon, and in 1982 he was wounded while crossing the Green Line and was awarded a Purple Heart. He worked in the office of the secretary of defense in the International Security Affairs office. He retired from the Army and took a position at the State Department. He and Richard Armitage opened Armitage Associates, LLC in 1993. In late 2000, he was asked to join the Sharm el-Sheikh Fact-Finding Committee and served on that committee from January 2001 until it completed its report the following May.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: Hof’s education; Hof’s exchange program experience in Damascus, Syria; relations between Americans and Syrians; Hof’s military career in Vietnam, teaching in the Civil Affairs School, the Foreign Area Officer Program, and Lebanon; the role of the Defense Language Institute; working in the office of the secretary of defense; getting wounded in Lebanon and receiving the Purple Heart; working on the commission to investigate the bombing of the barracks in Beirut; working for the State Department under Secretary Baker and Richard Armitage; the effects of transitioning from the first Bush administration to the Clinton administration, and to the second Bush administration in 2001; opening Armitage Associates, LLC; being asked by Laurence Pope to join the Sharm el-Sheikh Fact-Finding Committee; Pope’s reasons for leaving the project; the goals of the fact-finding committee; Hof’s role in the fact-finding committee, the relationship among the members and Mitchell’s role; working with the Israeli government and the change in that relationship when Sharon succeeded Barak; the approach that the working group took to meeting with principal people on both sides; setting up the committee’s visit; Hof’s contact with the Office of the Vice President; security in Gaza; the atmosphere of the visit; writing the Mitchell report; Mitchell’s ability to reconcile different views within the report and achieve a consensus within the group; a sense of a lost opportunity when there was little follow-through on the committee’s recommendations; Mitchell’s appointment to be special envoy to the Middle East; the prospects of a two-state solution and America’s role in it; and Mitchell’s political skill and optimism and how that can be brought to bear in international peacemaking.