Showing 1 - 10 of 15 Items
Date: 2009-02-27
Creator: Kent Conrad
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Kent Conrad was born on March 12, 1948, in Bismarck, North Dakota, to Abigail and Gaylord Conrad. After graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1966, he attended Stanford University; he later received an MBA from George Washington University. After college, Conrad became an assistant to the North Dakota tax commissioner. He became tax commissioner in 1980, a job he held until 1986, when he successfully ran for the Senate as a Democrat representing North Dakota, when George Mitchell was chair of the DSCC. In 1992, he chose not run for reelection because of a campaign promise he made that he would not run for reelection if the budget deficit had not fallen by the end of his first term. However, the other North Dakota Senate seat became vacant and Conrad won a special election to fill that vacancy in December of 1992. At the time of this interview he was still in the Senate, serving on the Finance Committee, the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, the Joint Committee on Taxation, the Committee on Indian Affairs, and as chairman of the Budget Committee.
Summary
Interview includes discussions of: the Muskie presidential campaign; Conrad’s Senate campaign of 1986; Mitchell as chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and his decision to give the maximum possible support to Conrad; the Clean Air Act; North Dakota’s interest as a coal state and the difficulties that posed for Conrad when Mitchell wanted him to get behind the Clean Air Act; Mitchell’s leadership qualities such as patience and determination; Mitchell’s role in balancing the budget under the Clinton administration; Mitchell’s skill in questioning witnesses; Mitchell’s sense of humor and how that served him well as a senator; Conrad’s recommendation to then Senator Obama regarding the importance of reaching out to Mitchell; and the prospects for Mitchell in his new post as special envoy to the Middle East.
Date: 2010-12-20
Creator: George J Mitchell
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
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).
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: being appointed to and chairing the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee; Democratic U.S. Senate races (1986); Iran-Contra congressional hearings and his interrogation of witness Col. Oliver North; writing Men of Zeal with Sen. William S. Cohen; Senate Democratic leadership and his role in it; challenges he faced as Senate majority leader, and relations with then minority leader Robert J. “Bob” Dole; the concept of compromise in the legislative process, especially concerning the Clean Air Act; admiration for and dealings with Senator Robert C. Byrd; congressional Democratic leadership relations with President George H.W. Bush regarding “read my lips—no new taxes.”
Date: 2008-08-19
Creator: George J Mitchell
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
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).
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: early legal career; working for the Justice Department; working on Edmund S. Muskie’s Senate staff; Jensen, Baird law firm (1966-1977); divorce case story; assistant county attorney; chairman of the Maine Democratic Party (1965-1968); Democratic National Committeeman from Maine (1968-1977); U.S. attorney for Maine (1977-1979); drug cases and antique case; federal judge (1979-1980); Ed and Marshall Stern; 1968 Muskie vice presidential campaign; 1980 appointment to Senator Muskie’s Senate seat and Joseph Brennan; Larry Benoit; Paul Ziffren fund-raising story; 1974 Maine gubernatorial campaign; Tax Equity Act; Finance Committee appointment story; and relationship with Maine newspapers/press.
Date: 2009-04-29
Creator: Thomas 'Tom' D Gallagher
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Thomas D. Gallagher was born on September 6, 1954, in Redfield, South Dakota, to Ray and Theresa Gallagher. His father was a lawyer and was active in the Veterans of Foreign Wars, serving as its national commander in 1969-1970. Tom attended the University of South Dakota and later received a master’s degree in public policy from the Kennedy School at Harvard University. He moved to Washington, D.C. to work for the Congressional Research Service from 1978-1980. He became a staff member of the Senate Budget Committee when Senator Muskie was its chairman. He started working for Senator Mitchell in early 1981 as a legislative assistant on the Finance Committee, where he remained for about four years. He then took a job at the International Trade Commission. At the time of this interview, he was senior managing director of International Strategy and Investment.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: Gallagher’s father’s involvement in the Veterans of Foreign Wars and how this spurred Gallagher’s interest in public affairs; the path Gallagher took to Washington, D.C.; working for the Congressional Research Service; working on the Senate Budget Committee staff for Senator Muskie; John McEvoy’s recommendation of Gallagher to work for Mitchell; Finance Committee issues; the political considerations between Budget and Finance; Mitchell’s working relationship with Gallagher and other staff; working on a bill on alternative energy tax credits; working with state staff to learn Maine issues; Mitchell’s relationship with Senator Dole; the fate of Democrats in the 1980 election; an anecdote about Mitchell being kicked out of a Delta Air Lines lounge and the company’s subsequent apology; Mitchell’s judge-like demeanor; the 1982 U.S. Senate campaign and election; the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982, and the Foreign Investment and Real Property Tax Act of 1980; Senator Long as a mentor to Mitchell; Social Security reform; the looming need for Tax Reform; Reagan’s economic policies; the partisanship of Senate staffers; the difference between being part of a committee staff or member staff; “psychic remuneration”; how Mitchell positioned himself to become part of the Senate leadership; and the skills that Mitchell has that have contributed to his success.
Date: 2009-07-10
Creator: L. Joe Wishcamper
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Lyndel “Joe” Wishcamper was born August 18, 1942, in Amarillo, Texas, to Joe Henry Wishcamper and Mildred Louise (Pierce) Wishcamper. He attended Yale University and later earned his law degree at Harvard Law School. He practiced law in New York, then transitioned to the investment and real estate businesses. He worked with Max Cardmen, who was instrumental in creating 221.B.3, one of the first government subsidized housing projects; during the Nixon era, this project morphed to become the Section 8 program in 1974. Wishcamper was involved in George Mitchell’s 1982 U.S. Senate campaign. He was involved in the Section 8 program in Portland, Maine, renovating many buildings to be used as subsidized housing, in part working with the Tax Reform of 1986. At the time of this interview, he was president of Wishcamper Industries, which is based in Maine.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: family and educational background; Wishcamper’s legal career; 221.B.3 housing project; Section 8 housing; Nixon administration; playing tennis with the Senator; Mitchell’s U.S. Senate appointment (1980); U.S. Senate campaign (1982); Mitchell’s role in the low income housing tax credit; Tax Reform of 1986; and entrepreneurship in Maine.
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: 2009-08-11
Creator: Steven S Symms
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Steven Symms was born on April 23, 1938, in Nampa, Idaho. He earned his degree in agriculture in 1960 from the University of Idaho. He served in the Marines for three years, worked as a private pilot and a farmer, and was editor of the Idaho Compass. In 1972 he ran as a Republican candidate for Congress, serving for four terms in the House of Representatives until 1980, when he ran for the U.S. Senate and served two terms. After leaving the Senate, he founded the consulting firm Symms, Lehn Associates, Inc. At the time of this interview, he was a partner at Parry, Romani, DeConcini & Symms, a lobbying firm in Washington, D.C.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: Symms’s relationship with Senator Mitchell; Symms’s serving on the Environment and Public Works committee and the Senate Finance Committee with Mitchell; his and Mitchell’s work together on highway programs; their differences on the 1986 tax reform bill; partisanship; Mitchell’s efforts to get Amtrak to Portland, Maine, from Boston; the 1982 gas tax; Symms’s reaction when Mitchell was selected majority leader; characterizations of majority leaders Baker, Dole, Byrd, and Mitchell; Symms’s run against Frank Church; Symms’s decision to go from the House to the Senate; being a Republican minority in the Senate; New Republicans in the 1980s; how media has changed legislation; abortion as an issue in Congress; and Mitchell’s role in the Tower nomination.
Date: 2009-07-17
Creator: William 'Bill' W Bradley
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
William Warren “Bill” Bradley was born July 28, 1943, in Crystal City, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. His parents were Warren and Susan Bradley, a banker and a teacher respectively. He excelled academically and athletically, as a basketball player, through high school. He entered Princeton in 1961, and in 1964 he was a member of the gold-medal Olympic basketball team before going on to be named the 1965 NCAA Player of the Year during his senior year. He won a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford for two years. Upon returning to the U.S., he played professional basketball for the New York Knicks from the 1967-1968 season until his retirement in 1977. Subsequently, he determined to run for the U.S. Senate from New Jersey; he was elected in 1978 and re-elected in 1984 and 1990. He left the Senate in 1997, and in 1999 he announced his candidacy for the 2000 presidential election. Failing to win the Democratic nomination, he supported Al Gore. He has published six non-fiction books, is a corporate director of Starbucks, and is a partner at the investment bank Allen & Company in New York City.
Summary
Interview includes discussions of: the bipartisan group in the U.S. Senate class of 1978; Bradley’s appointments to the Finance Committee and Energy and Natural Resources Committee; getting to know Mitchell on the Finance Committee; debating the 1986 tax bill; Mitchell’s election to majority leader; Finance issues when Reagan was coming into office and the 1980s; Mitchell’s major contributions as a legislator; Mitchell’s involvement with health care; the frustration surrounding the Iran-Contra investigation; Mitchell as a great majority leader; Bradley’s public statement that “politics was broken;” Bradley’s run for president and Mitchell’s help; contacts with Mitchell and his appointment by Obama; and the trip to the Soviet Union with Mitchell.
Date: 2010-03-17
Creator: Richard 'Dick' A Gephardt, Thomas 'Tom' J O'Donnell
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Richard Andrew “Dick” Gephardt was born on January 31, 1941, in St. Louis, Missouri. He earned a B.S. from Northwestern University in 1962 and a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1965. He was active in local Democratic politics and city government until 1976, when he was elected the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Missouri’s 3rd District until 2004, when he retired from the House and sought, unsuccessfully, the Democratic nomination for president, a nomination he also sought but failed to win in 1977. He served as House majority leader from 1989 to 1995 and minority leader from 1995 to 2003. After leaving the House, he founded the consulting and lobbying firm Gephardt Group Government Affairs, where he served as president and CEO at the time of this interview. Thomas J. “Tom” O’Donnell, a Brooklyn native, earned a B.A. in political science at SUNY Brockport and a Ph.D. from American University. He served as House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt’s chief of staff from 1989-1997, acting as Gephardt’s lead strategist for the Budget Summit Agreement of 1990 and the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, among other legislative affairs. From 1997-2007, O’Donnell served as a partner at Doak, Carrier, O’Donnell and Goldman (DCO), a political consulting media firm. At the time of this interview, he was managing partner of Gephardt Government Affairs.
Summary
Interview includes discussion of: first impressions on meeting Mitchell; 1990 budget summit, tax reform, and “Read my lips—no new taxes”; legislative initiatives during the Clinton administration; health care proposals from the Clinton White House in 1994; Edward Kennedy’s and Patrick Moynihan’s roles in the health care debate; Mitchell’s attributes and his abilities as majority leader; crime bill of 1994.
Date: 2009-11-20
Creator: Robert 'Bob' M Rozen
Access: Open access
Biographial Note
Robert Martin “Bob” Rozen was born on December 11, 1955, in Richmond, Kentucky, to Morris and Rosalyn (Eilenberg) Rozen. He majored in Soviet studies at Miami University (Ohio), graduating in 1977; he earned his law degree at George Washington University. He interned for Senator Wendell Ford as a legislative assistant for the Senate Finance Committee and then continued to work for him after law school. He also earned a master’s in tax law from Georgetown University. He worked on Senator Mitchell’s staff addressing tax, trade, and financial service issues.
Summary
Interview includes discussion: capital gains; Mitchell’s work to block the decrease in the capital gains tax in 1989; Mitchell’s work to pass Clinton’s health care reform plan in 1994; Mitchell’s and Moynihan’s relationship; shuttle diplomacy on health care legislation; reconciliation, and Senator Byrd’s role; Mitchell’s leadership style; Mitchell’s work with Paul Sarbanes; Mitchell and Don Riegle; Mitchell and Maine’s interests; relationship between Senators Mitchell and Cohen and their staffs; and appointment of a woman as secretary of state in 1996.