Showing 11 - 14 of 14 Items
Date: 2008-11-08
Creator: Thomas 'Tom' A Bertocci
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Tom Bertocci was born in Lewiston, Maine, on February 17, 1945. His father was Salvatore Theodore “Ted” Bertocci, the son of Italian immigrants who came to the United States in 1912. Two of Tom’s uncles became professors at Bates College, where they met Ed Muskie. Tom’s father worked at Bath Iron Works, and met Tom’s mother, Margaret True Allen of Auburn, Maine, through his brothers. Tom was graduated from Morse High School and Wesleyan University. He became involved with the Chewonki Foundation during his college years, when he worked there as a camp counselor. He taught history at the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut, then earned a masters degree in education at the University of Wisconsin while becoming increasing interested in activism and politics. He became the first director of the Chewonki Foundation’s Maine Reach School, where he led a citizen action project with students to help on George Mitchell’s 1974 campaign for governor. He returned to Wisconsin as a full-time graduate assistant and co-authored Skills in Citizen Action with Fred Newman. In 1979, he returned to Maine to work for the Maine Audubon Society’s campaign opposing repeal of Maine’s bottle bill. In the spring of 1980, he was hired as a field representative and driver in Mitchell’s Rockland, Maine, field office, where he remained until Mitchell retired in 1995. He married his wife, Portland native Cindy Stanhope, in 1981. He died on April 4, 2010, at his home after a prolonged illness.
Summary
Interview includes discussions of: family background and education; growing up in Bath, Maine; the basketball team at Morse High School and the New England Championships; association with the Chewonki Foundation as a counselor and academic director; summer jobs; attending Wesleyan College and teaching at the Hotchkiss School; his political philosophy (transitioning from the Republican to the Democratic Party), and views on politics and education; graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; working on McCarthy’s campaign in 1968; co-authored Skills in Citizen Action; involvement in Wisconsin politics; working for the Maine Audubon Society; getting the job as Mitchell’s field representative in Rockland; the offices in Rockland and Waterville; helping with the Midcoast counties’ issues such as Bath Iron Works, fishing, the Windjammers, and Martin Marietta’s Thomaston kiln and solvent incineration controversy; involvement in Mitchell’s Maine gubernatorial campaign (1974); Mitchell’s Maine visits as senator; travel, especially driving Mitchell around the state; Mitchell’s geographic knowledge; Mitchell’s personality and leadership qualities; Mitchell’s interactions with his administrative staff and his relationship with Bertocci; Mitchell’s retirement from the U.S. Senate; and an anecdote about Senator John Glenn’s visit to Maine relating to Cindy Bertocci’s father, Joe Stanhope.
Date: 2009-11-16
Creator: Edward 'Ed' L King
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Edward L. “Ed” King was born November 7, 1928, in Fort Worth, Texas, to Edgar L. and Zula Mae (Birch) King. He served in the Army during World War II and the Korean War and was a career officer from 1945 to 1969. He became executive director of the Coalition for National Defense and Military Policy and testified often before the U.S. House and Senate. He was hired by Senator Mike Mansfield, and in 1975 he became Maine Senator Bill Hathaway’s administrative assistant. He also worked for Senators Tsongas, Byrd, and Mitchell, focusing most specifically on Central America issues. He also worked for Mitchell on the Democratic Policy Committee and on foreign policy issues, staying on with Senator Majority Leader Tom Daschle after Mitchell’s retirement and himself retiring in early 1997. King is the author of The Death of the Army: A Pre-Mortem (1972).
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: family and educational background; military career; knowledge of foreign policy issues, especially in Central America; working with several senators: Mansfield, Byrd, Tsongas, Mitchell, Hathaway; Iran-Contra and Oliver North; Democratic Policy Committee; traveling with Senator Mitchell: Mexico; issues in Haiti, Spain, Russia, China and MFN (Most Favored Nation); description of staff working relationships with Senator Mitchell and how the offices functioned; Mitchell’s memory and ability at extemporaneous speech; trademark issue; White House visits with Mitchell during Bush I and Clinton presidencies; Mitchell’s personal attributes and effective negotiating; and the relationship between Senators Dole and Mitchell.
Date: 2009-01-10
Creator: Sharon A Sudbay
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Sharon Sudbay was born on October 10, 1958, in Portland, Maine, to Rita Madonna Joyce and Charles Clifford Sudbay, Jr. She grew up on Munjoy Hill in Portland and graduated from Portland High School. She attended the University of New Hampshire and worked as a telephone operator throughout her college years; she was graduated with a degree in political science in 1980. She volunteered on Harold Pachios’s 1980 congressional campaign and learned FEC reporting. She worked on Joe Brennan’s 1982 gubernatorial campaign and organized fund raisers. She was hired to work for Mitchell’s 1982 campaign and stayed on after the election to organize town hall meetings and handle casework in Portland; she worked for Mitchell until he retired from the Senate in 1994. She also worked on his 1988 reelection campaign and Governor Brennan’s 1990 reelection campaign. After Senator Mitchell left the Senate, she took a job with Jim Mitchell on his congressional race and later worked in a consulting firm with him.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: growing up in Portland, Maine, on Munjoy Hill; Sudbay’s Irish family; Portland High School; going to school at the University of New Hampshire and deciding to major in political science; watching the 1972 national conventions; how Sudbay’s grandfather worked the longshore with Joseph Brennan; working as a telephone operator; working on Harold Pachios’s congressional campaign and submitting the campaign’s FEC reports; coordinating fund raisers, including one for Joe Brennan that brought Ted Kennedy up to Maine; working on the 1982 Mitchell campaign handling finances; the office at the corner of Congress and High Street; collecting voter lists from around the state; campaign finance rules; the Brennan people and the Mitchell people; an anecdote about doing visibility with Mike Hastings and Bill Anderson; going to Senator Mitchell’s swearing-in; handling casework for Mitchell in Portland; her mother’s reaction to Sudbay’s decision to work on Mitchell’s campaign; the hearings in Maine on Social Security; working for Jim Mitchell’s congressional primary campaign and working with him at the Public Affairs Group; Sudbay’s consulting firm and her work on bringing natural gas to Maine; her trip to Morocco; Mitchell and Sudbay’s involvement in the Boys and Girls Clubs; Mitchell’s work on the Irish peace accords and the Olympics corruption investigation; an anecdote about driving Mitchell and Muskie to a McDonald’s and their ensuing conversation about Jeffersonian democracy; an anecdote about picking up some groceries for Mitchell and his putting “something chocolate” on the list; Sudbay’s plans to go to President Obama’s inauguration; and President Clinton’s inauguration.
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.