George J. Mitchell

The fourth of five children, George Mitchell Jr. was born in 1933 in Waterville, Maine. His father, the orphaned son of Irish immigrants, was a laborer and janitor. Mitchell's mother, who had emigrated from Lebanon as a young girl, worked the overnight shift at a local textile mill. "My mother was probably the most important person in my life," says Mitchell. "She was very energetic, very supportive."

All the children were expected to help out financially. They took buses to vegetable fields and picked beans and peas for less than $1 a day. As a teenager, Mitchell and his older brothers cleaned the local Boys Club at night.

Mitchell attended parochial school. His father, who left school at an early age, was determined for his children to be educated. "Each of us did get a college degree," says Mitchell. After graduating from high school at the age of 16, Mitchell attended Bowdoin College. He worked his way through with a succession of jobs, including dormitory proctor, fraternity steward, and truck driver. During summers, he worked on construction crews during the day and then did a shift as a night watchman in a mill.

After graduation, he spent two years in the U.S. Army and then attended Georgetown University Law School, where in 1961 he earned a law degree. He served two years at the U.S. Justice Department before becoming executive assistant to Sen. Edmund Muskie (D-ME).

In 1965, Mitchell returned to Maine to enter private law practice. He became active in Democratic politics, rising to become Democratic national committeeman from Maine, a post he held until 1977.

That year, President Jimmy Carter appointed Mitchell as U.S. attorney for Maine; two years later, he was named a U.S. District Court judge. He resigned the judgeship, however, to accept a Senate appointment to complete Muskie's term when Muskie became secretary of state.

In 1982, Mitchell won the Senate seat in his own right and became Senate majority leader in 1989, serving in the position until 1995. He earned national recognition for his leading role in the Iran-Contra hearings, about which he and fellow Maine Senator William Cohen (R-ME) co-authored a book, Men of Zeal.

In 1997, Mitchell published Not for America Alone, which chronicles the triumph of democracy and the fall of communism. He also served as co-independent chairman of peace talks between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, which culminated in a peace accord. Those talks formed the basis of Mitchell's 1999 book, Making Peace.

Mitchell advises young people to do their best at their current jobs rather than look beyond to the next job. "When I became a federal judge, I never dreamed I'd become a senator, then I thought I probably wouldn't be re-elected, and I never dreamed I'd be majority leader," says Mitchell, who recommends public service as a career to young people. "I think everyone has an obligation to participate in some form of public activity to give something back to the society from which most of us have received so much."

Mitchell adds that his Horatio Alger Award has meant a great deal to him and says, "The work being done to help educate America's deserving youth is commendable."