George Mitchell, former Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate, and the man who helped broker the peace in Northern Ireland, has been named American Special Envoy to the Middle East.

 

Mitchell is a name synonymous with the Northern Irish peace process since he chaired the talks which led to the Good Friday Agreement. He also served as Chairman of the International Commission on Disarmament in Northern Ireland. “There can be no doubt that without his patience and stamina the outcome could have been very different,” said Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams. For his work on Northern Ireland, Mitchell was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

 

Mitchell, whose grandparents emigrated from Ireland in the 1800s (he is Lebanese on his mother’s side) was first elected to the Senate in 1980.The Maine native graduated from Bowdoin College and the Georgetown University Law Center. Mitchell has served as Chairman of the International Crisis Group, and is the Chancellor of Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland.