Showing 11 - 16 of 16 Items
Date: 2010-03-31
Creator: Paul P Maroon
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Paul P. Maroon was born in Waterville, Maine, on January 19, 1932. His father, Sam Maroon, worked for Wyandotte Worsted Mills and his mother, Nimera Maroon, was a homemaker. He attended Waterville High School with George Mitchell and they were childhood friends. He served in the Navy and, upon completing his military service, he attended Husson College. He participated in local (Waterville) fund-raising activities in support of Mitchell’s political campaigns.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: Waterville in the 1930s and 1940s; the Lebanese community in Waterville; Lebanese traditions; family relationship between the Maroons and Mitchells; Robbie Mitchell growing up; anecdotes about being childhood friends with George Mitchell; the 1974 gubernatorial campaign; Mitchell in high school; and anecdote about Mitchell’s popularity among Irishmen.
Date: 2008-04-29
Creator: James 'Jamie' E Kaplan
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
James E. “Jamie” Kaplan was born in Bronxville, New York, on March 6, 1951. He and his two brothers grew up in Nanuet, New York, with his father, a developer and building contractor, and his mother, a public relations and publicity officer for a vocational center in Rockland, New York. Jamie was graduated from Brown University and attended Georgetown University Law School briefly. After returning home and working several jobs, he moved to California to attend the University of California, Berkley Law School in 1975. Upon graduation from law school, he worked as a law clerk for Judge Edward Gignoux, who was the federal district judge for the state of Maine. The following year, he accepted a position as a research associate at Harvard Law School, then practiced law in Washington, DC, at Shea & Gardner. He worked for Senator Mitchell on the Congressional Committee Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair and later moved to Maine to practice law. At the time of this interview he was Executive Director of the Cromwell Center for Disabilities Awareness and living in Brunswick, Maine.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: childhood and educational background; Brown University; Georgetown University Law School; University of California, Berkley Law School; clerking for Judge Edward T. Gignoux; research associate at Harvard Law School; Shea & Gardner Law Firm; meeting George Mitchell; meeting Senator Mitchell’s staff; Iran-Contra; relationship with Senator Mitchell; admiration for Senator Mitchell’s preparation tactics; change in relationship with Senator Mitchell; playing tennis with Mitchell; Mitchell’s competitiveness; and the opportunity to become general counsel to the Senate Committee on Appropriations.
Date: 2009-01-27
Creator: Juris Ubans
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Juris Ubans was born on July 12, 1938, in Riga, Latvia. When Ubans was six years old he and his mother and two brothers fled Latvia while his father remained behind to recover from typhoid fever. In 1950 Ubans, his mother and brothers arrived in the United States, eventually settling in Syracuse, New York. His mother taught languages at Syracuse University, which he and his brothers all attended. He initially studied engineering but eventually decided to pursue art like his father. He spent two years in the army, from 1957 to 1959, and was graduated from Syracuse University in 1966. He subsequently attended Pennsylvania State University to pursue graduate studies in painting. He was hired by the University of Southern Maine, where he taught for forty-one years. At the time of this interview, he had recently retired from teaching but was managing the Fiore Verde Foundation, which he had founded.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: immigrating to the United States from Latvia; the chaos experienced by displaced refugees during World War II; deciding to study art in college; applying for jobs and interviewing at USM; playing tennis with George Mitchell and the relationship that developed among that group; Mitchell’s competitive spirit; playing doubles with Mitchell and John Breaux; what you can tell about a person by playing tennis with them; Ubans’ perspective on politics, especially regarding Russia; Mitchell’s three principles to govern by; Ubans’ 1973 visit to Latvia to see his father; Ubans’ efforts to collect his father’s artwork; the Fiore Verde Foundation; Mitchell’s ability to put issues into their historical context; and the bipartisan respect accorded to Mitchell.
Date: 2008-05-12
Creator: Harold 'Hal' Pachios
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Harold “Hal” Pachios was born July 12, 1936, in New Haven, Connecticut, and grew up in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. He attended Princeton and Georgetown Law. He served for two years on a Navy transport ship, worked for the Peace Corps as a congressional liaison, then held numerous positions in politics and government including at the Democratic National Committee, VISTA, the White House (as associate White House press secretary), the Department of Transportation, and for Senator Edmund S. Muskie's vice presidential campaign. A long time-friend of Mitchell, at the time of this interview he practiced law at Preti Flaherty Beliveau & Pachios, in Portland, Maine.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: meeting and developing a friendship with George Mitchell; social dinners with Mitchell; tennis and golf as a reflection of Mitchell’s focus and concentration; Mitchell’s parents and their family values; Senator Muskie’s influence; decision to run for chairman of the Democratic National Committee; “throw your hat into the ring”; Mitchell’s 1974 gubernatorial campaign; the boating story; dining with Mitchell; Mitchell’s relationship with his brother Robbie; cribbage; difference between Mitchell and other politicians; Mitchell’s love of sports; and Mitchell’s busy schedule.
Date: 2008-11-21
Creator: Christine G Williams
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Christine G. Williams was born January 20, 1952, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Adelaide and Donald Williams, a Methodist minister. She earned a degree in history from Boston University. As a VISTA volunteer she taught on the Rosebud reservation in South Dakota before returning to New England to teach at Brunswick High School in Brunswick, Maine, for the 1975-1976 school year. Subsequently, after teaching in New Hampshire for four years, she was hired by George Mitchell’s U.S. Senate office in 1982 and worked there until 1994, focusing on health care issues in the latter years. She later went to work for the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: teaching social studies; working for Senator Mitchell; changes when Mitchell became chair of the Health Subcommittee of the Finance Committee; Robert Wood Johnson Fellows and staff in Mitchell’s office; involvement in Health Care Reform and the bill they wrote; changes when Mitchell became Senate majority leader; Clinton’s election and what could have been done better for health reform; the task force on the Clinton health reform bill; work on health care legislation and how the bill was finally defeated; other health legislation; the question of bipartisanship; her wedding; Mitchell’s retirement; appreciation and understanding of Maine people, Maine’s health care; ambience of Mitchell’s office and what it was like working there; Mitchell’s temperament, professionalism, and personality; Mitchell’s contributions to the Senate and leadership; Mitchell’s election to majority leader; involvement with the Mitchell Institute scholarship program; Mitchell and long term care; and federal recognition for the Micmacs.
Date: 2009-09-11
Creator: Shepard 'Shep' Lee, George J Mitchell, Harold 'Hal' Pachios
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Shepard (Lifshitz) “Shep” Lee was born in Lewiston, Maine, on November 13, 1926, to Ethel and Joe Lifshitz. His parents were both Russian immigrants, his mother a housewife, and his father an automobile dealer. He attended Lewiston public schools, graduating in 1943. He then attended Bowdoin College, taking military leave from the college between 1945 and 1946 to enlist in the navy. He returned to Bowdoin after his service and graduated in 1947 with a degree in government and economics. At that time he and his brother changed their surname to Lee. Lee returned to Lewiston after graduation and went to work at his father’s automobile dealership. Soon after, he became active in Lewiston-Auburn Democratic politics. In 1956 he was campaign manager for Frank Coffin’s successful U.S. congressional campaign. In 1963, he bought out his father’s partner in the automobile dealership and eventually took over the entire business. Lee was an active Democrat during the political careers of Ed Muskie and George Mitchell. He was a key fund raiser for the Maine Democrats, and he lent many vehicles to campaigning candidates over the course of his career. He retired from his automobile dealership in the late 1990s. George J. Mitchell was born on August 20, 1933, in Waterville, Maine, to Mary Saad, a factory worker, and George Mitchell, a laborer. Senator Mitchell spent his youth in Waterville. After receiving his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College in 1954, he served as an officer in the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps until 1956. In 1960 he earned a law degree from Georgetown University. Mitchell worked for Senator Edmund S. Muskie as executive assistant and as deputy campaign manager during Muskie's 1972 presidential campaign. He later became U.S. senator (D-Maine) 1980-1995, Senate majority leader 1989-1995, and, upon his retirement from the Senate, special advisor on Northern Ireland 1995-1998. Since 1998, Senator Mitchell has served on many boards and committees and has received high profile appointments including: chairman of the Sharm el-Sheikh International Fact-Finding Committee on the crisis between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (2000); overseer of the Red Cross Liberty Fund (2001); lead investigator into the illegal use of performance enhancing substances in Major League Baseball (2006); and special envoy for Palestinian-Israeli affairs (2009-2011). Harold “Hal” Pachios was born July 12, 1936, in New Haven, Connecticut, and grew up in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. He attended Princeton and Georgetown Law. He served for two years on a Navy transport ship, worked for the Peace Corps as a congressional liaison, then held numerous positions in politics and government including at the Democratic National Committee, VISTA, the White House (as associate White House press secretary), the Department of Transportation, and for Senator Edmund S. Muskie's vice presidential campaign. A long-time friend of Mitchell, at the time of this interview he practiced law at Preti Flaherty Beliveau & Pachios, in Portland, Maine.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: personal recollections of Mitchell as a young man; traveling with Senator Muskie on the campaign trail; Senate election night at the Eastland Hotel in Portland Maine (1982); summaries and assessments of Mitchell’s career; interrogating Oliver North during the Iran-Contra congressional hearings; humility among politicians; paternal influence and reminiscences from Mitchell’s childhood; Mitchell’s early reading habits; anecdotes about Mitchell and his brother Robbie; street unrest at the Chicago Democratic Convention (1968) and sharing a cab with Jimmy Breslin; playing tennis and getting exercise; personal security while in the Senate, in Northern Ireland, and privately.