Former United States Senate majority leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, spoke to a crowd of over 300 Dartmouth students and faculty in Spaulding Auditorium on Monday, giving a lecture titled "America's Role in the World." The United States should address hostility abroad in order to confront the global challenges of the 21st century, including the current economic crisis, global climate change and nuclear proliferation, Mitchell said in his speech.
Commenting on the current U.S. financial crisis, Mitchell called upon the House of Representatives to reconsider the financial bailout plan, which was rejected in Congress on Monday. He added that he believes stability is achieved through economic growth, and spoke of his role as U.S. Special Envoy to Northern Ireland, where he led the negotiations that resulted in the 1998 Belfast Peace Agreement.
"It is an imperfect bill and no one likes it, but it is the best we can do in this situation," Mitchell said. "This is a crisis, and in circumstances like this, we have to do things we don't like."
Cooperation with its international allies helped the U.S. overcome the Great Depression, as well as fascism and communism, in the 20th century, Mitchell said. With the end of the Cold War and "American power ascendant" in the world, he said, other countries have become more wary of the United States, which has stressed its alliances.
"We need to remember that America was a great nation before it was a great military or economic power from the ideals on which it was based," he said. "[Given this], we can make international cooperation the rule, not the exception."
Mitchell cited the U.S.'s response to Iran's nuclear ambitions as an example of how the U.S. can use diplomacy and cooperation to solve international issues.
"It's interesting that the U.S. led us into the nuclear age and now leads efforts in non-proliferation," he said.
The country's next president will face the task of rebuilding America's image abroad, Mitchell added.
"If any of you have traveled abroad recently, you may have seen the extraordinary interest in our presidential election," he said. "It's an example of how U.S. policy has an impact on the rest of the world."
While America's relationship with foreign countries has deteriorated in the past decade, the U.S. is still a "symbol of freedom and opportunity," he said, recalling how as a federal judge he would take time to meet newly naturalized immigrants.
"Our challenge is to conduct ourselves as people and as a society so that a century from now people around the world will still believe [in the American dream]," Mitchell said.
Aside from his involvement in international conflict resolution, Mitchell is perhaps best known for leading the highly publicized investigation into steroid use by Major League Baseball players.
Monday's speech, sponsored by the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding, was part of the Dartmouth Centers Forum lecture series, "Conflict and Reconciliation."
