Former United States Senator George Mitchell recounted his experiences as chairman of the peace negotiations in Northern Ireland to a large crowd of Dartmouth students and members of the Hanover community in Cook Auditorium last night.
Mitchell, the Senate majority leader from 1989 to 1995, was sent by President Clinton to Northern Ireland -- shortly after completing his last term in Congress -- to act as the President's advisor for affairs concerning the trouble British province.
Both the British and Irish governments were so impressed by Mitchell that they requested he take part in brokering a peace agreement among Northern Ireland's opposing factions, including Catholic republicans and Protestant loyalists.
In 1998, after a long and arduous process, Mitchell, along with the eight leaders of the country's most prominent political parties, reached an accord known as the Good Friday Agreement. The terms of the agreement included the disarmament of various paramilitary organizations -- such as the Irish Republican Army -- and for the establishment of a democratic body to decide the future of Northern Ireland.
According to Mitchell, who served primarily as a mediator during the talks leading up to the agreement, the key to inducing productive discussions among party leaders was to persuade them to relate to each other on a personal level.
He insisted that the group eat their meals together and encouraged them to converse about common interests, such as sports.
"Gradually, they began to see each other less as adversaries and more as human beings," Mitchell said.
Despite the modest success of the talks, Mitchell expressed dismay that the media portrayed party leaders as being in continual disagreement with one another.
One area in which there was a strong consensus among leaders, Mitchell said, was the status of Northern Ireland's economy. All those involved in the talks agreed that further development of the province's struggling economy would be essential in establishing peace in the region.
Mitchell shared with the audience one startling statistic -- one-third of all males in Northern Ireland remain jobless throughout their entire lives -- and he cited a high correlation between unemployment and violence.
"When you have no hope ... there are ingredients for despair and instability," he said.
According to Mitchell, the United States is not immune to some of the problems faced by the British province, citing the high crime rates of this country's urban ghettos.
"We have to make certain that everyone has a chance to participate in our society," he said.
Mitchell, nevertheless, praised the United States for its involvement in the Northern Ireland peace process. The relative success in establishing a framework for peace in the region as well as in other areas of the world, Mitchell claimed, is not due to the nation's wealth or military prowess.
"The United States was a great nation long before it was a great military power," he said.
Instead, the real source of America's influence on the world, according to Mitchell, is its ideals, including those of equal justice and opportunity for all.
Mitchell acknowledged that while these ideals do not always extend to all American citizens, "... our objective as we enter the 21st century is to conduct ourselves as individuals and as a society so that someday it will be true that here in America everyone has a chance."
Mitchell will return to the British Isles this weekend to resume his role in the Northern Ireland peace process.
Mitchell was last year's Commencement speaker.
His lecture was sponsored by the Class of 1930 Fellowship program, in association with the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center.
