Showing 661 - 670 of 5831 Items
Date: 2009-07-13
Creator: J Bennett Johnston
Access: Open access
Biographical Note
Bennett Johnston was born June 10, 1932, in Shreveport, Louisiana. He was graduated from West Point United States Military Academy and served in the Judge Advocate Corps in Germany between 1956 and 1959. He won a seat in the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1964 and in the state Senate in 1968. In 1971, he ran for governor of Louisiana but was defeated in the runoff election. When the U.S Senate seat came up for election in 1972, he ran as a Democrat and won, receiving 54% of the vote, and he was continuously reelected to the Senate until retiring in 1997. He sought the role of majority leader in 1989 but lost to Mitchell. In 1997, he was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame. Since leaving the Senate, he has been a lobbyist in Washington, DC. At the time of this interview, he was serving as a government affairs and public policy advisor for Steptoe & Johnson and for his firm Johnston & Associates.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: coming into the Senate in 1972 and the campaign; the Senate becoming partisan; the Democratic Party in the South; partisanship and changes in the Senate; becoming chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee; disappointments with Carter; the surprise of the 1980 election; the race against Mitchell for majority leader and Mitchell’s victory; Mitchell’s leadership and link to the White House; factions within the Democratic Party; the DG-51 Destroyer Maine-versus-Louisiana issue; the ’91 and ’92 energy bills; the BTU tax; reasons for leaving the Senate; and reflections on Mitchell.
Date: 2008-09-27
Creator: Patrick E Hunt
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Patrick E. Hunt was born on August 19, 1946, in Bangor, Maine, and grew up in Island Falls with his parents, Theodore E. Hunt and Margaret I. Doherty, and his three sisters. Theodore attended Husson College, and operated a restaurant in Island Falls until the 1960s, when he became the village postmaster; Margaret was from Boston, a graduate of Charlestown High School, and of Irish descent from Clonmany County, Donegal. Patrick attended Ricker College, entered the Army in 1968, and served in Korea; he completed his degree in economics at Ricker in 1971. Subsequently, he joined the Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States Department of Justice in Massachusetts, attending evening law school courses, before returning to Island Falls in 1983 to start his own law practice. He was still practicing there at the time of this interview.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: family and educational background; Island Falls, Maine, community; Ed Muskie’s ideas for economic improvements; Drug Enforcement Administration; George Mitchell as U.S. attorney; politic aspects of U.S. Attorney’s Office; family background and Joe Doherty’s Northern Ireland story; George Mitchell’s work in Northern Ireland; thoughts on George Mitchell as president; and politics and economics in Aroostook County.
Date: 2019-06-01
Creator: Michael Jeng
Access: Open access
- Michael Jeng (Class of 1989) describes living in Winthrop Hall and building lifelong friendships with his roommates. He speaks about challenging himself to take classes outside of his Biology and Philosophy majors. He discusses various on-campus jobs, like selling ads for the Orient, and extracurricular activities such as playing squash and tennis. Jeng remembers organizing a 10k run for Bowdoin students against apartheid in support of divestment from South Africa and attending pro-choice rallies in Washington, D.C. He reminisces on volunteering for a variety of organizations, mentioning the Big Brother Little Brother Program. Jeng also reflects on learning more about himself while at Bowdoin, including exploring his sexuality, leading a balanced life, and interacting with people from all walks of life.
Date: 2019-06-01
Creator: Frank Skornia
Access: Open access
- Frank Skornia (Class of 2004) describes how he found his way to Bowdoin, including a Class of 1968 alumnus who mentored him. He discusses pre-Orientation trips and settling in to Hyde Hall. He reminisces about his deep involvement in the technical side of theater, including working for both the Theater department and Masque and Gown, and innovating ways of utilizing the new Wish Theater. Skornia speaks about taking advantage of the wide range of courses and the support of faculty advisors and mentors, and talks about his decision to spend a year abroad at the University of York. He discusses the increasing environmentalism and political tensions of the time, and the atmosphere and feelings on campus surrounding the September 11 Terrorist Attacks.
- This project provides Bowdoin alumni an opportunity to share stories from their time at the College via brief oral history interviews conducted by Special Collections & Archives staff. Interviewees are encouraged to recount stories of what brought them to the College, pre-orientation trip memories, campus life, study abroad, and the people that shaped their Bowdoin experience, from fellow students to faculty and staff.
Date: 2018-06-02
Creator: Paul Todd
Access: Open access
- In this interview, Paul Todd (Class of 1958) recounts how his upbringing in Brewer, Maine, contributed to his decision to enroll at Bowdoin, as well as the College’s influence on his interest and eventual career in physics. He discusses his experience with a 5-year Bowdoin/MIT program, comparing both schools, and identifies the adjustments he made in transitioning to each. Todd tells a hazing story from his time as an Alpha Delta Phi pledge and describes the various social events hosted by the fraternity. He speaks of interactions with close friend and classmate Roger Howell, Jr., as well as anecdotes about some of his favorite professors: William Root, Charles Livingston, and Roy LaCasce. He also touches upon other aspects of campus life, mentioning the Alpha Rho Upsilon fraternity, his time as a violinist with the Brunswick Choral Society, and his involvements with the track and debate teams.
Date: 2008-09-04
Creator: Merton 'Mert' G Henry
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Merton G. “Mert” Henry was born on February 4, 1926, in Hampden, Maine. He lived there with his parents and helped out at his grandfather’s general store while growing up. He moved to South Portland just before starting high school. He deferred attending Bowdoin College until 1946 in order to serve in the Army, which sent him to the Philippines. He majored in history at Bowdoin and was graduated in the class of 1950. He also earned a law degree from Georgetown Law while working on a military history project at the Pentagon during the Korean War. A long-time leader in the Maine Republican Party, he worked for Senator Fredreick G. Payne of Maine and ran his unsuccessful 1958 reelection campaign, losing to Ed Muskie. Since then he has worked at the same law firm, currently under the name of Jensen Baird Gardner & Henry, in Portland, Maine, where he worked with George Mitchell for twelve years between 1965 and 1977.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: the Hampden, Maine community; Armed Services; Bowdoin College and law school in Washington D.C; involvement in Senator Frederick Payne’s campaigns, and Senator Margaret Chase Smith’s campaigns; meeting George Mitchell at Jenson Baird law firm; Mitchell’s campaign for governor in 1974; professional and personal relationship between Henry and Mitchell; advice to Mitchell about accepting his Senate appointment; U.S. Senate campaign (1982); Mitchell’s success as a senator; and changes in politics and campaigning.
Date: 2010-01-21
Creator: Michael 'Mike' M Hastings
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Michael M. Hastings, a native of Morrill, Maine, graduated from Tilton School (NH) in 1968 and Bowdoin College in 1972. Following a year of graduate study in Public & International Affairs at George Washington University, he worked for seven years as a foreign and defense policy aide to Senator William S. Cohen (1973-1980) and for four years for Senator George J. Mitchell (1980-1984). In October 1984, he joined the international staff of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and moved to Africa. Over a span of eight years, he worked as a CRS development administrator in Kenya, Tanzania, Togo and The Gambia. During the same period, he assisted in the provision of emergency food for people displaced by civil wars in the Southern Sudan and Liberia. In 1992, he returned to Maine to direct a “center for excellence,” focusing on aquaculture and economic development. Since 2004, he has worked for the University of Maine as its director of Research and Sponsored Programs. Between 1992 and 2008, he also served on several civic boards and institutions including the Maine Fishermen’s Forum, the Maine Oil Spill Advisory Committee, the Maine Indian Tribal State Commission, the Down East Institute, and the Maine Sea Grant Policy Advisory Committee. Between 1996 and 2001, he was elected three times to be a member of the Town Council of Hampden, Maine, where he resides with his wife, a middle school teacher.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: his transition from Cohen’s staff to Mitchell’s staff; Cohen’s feelings about Hastings’s move to Mitchell’s office; state and national issues; Kahlil Gibran; Cohen’s and Mitchell’s leadership styles with their office staff; the staff atmosphere around Mitchell’s 1982 election; the Mikulski Commission; the 1982 election; Mitchell’s staff, including Jane O’Connor, Regina Sullivan, and Gayle Cory; relationship between the Mitchell staff and the Cohen staff; Men of Zeal and the Iran-Contra scandal; Pat Cadell; Jim Tierney; Mitchell and Arab American groups; John Linnehan; anecdote about placing a large photo of George Mitchell in his Maine campaign office during the 1982 campaign; driving Muskie around; and Margaret Chase Smith coming back to Washington to celebrate her birthday with Mitchell.
Date: 2015-05-01
Creator: Jaepil E Yoon
Access: Open access
- Embargo End Date: 2027-05-15
Date: 2024-01-01
Creator: Eliza Schotten
Access: Embargoed