BANGOR, Maine — Former U.S. Sen. George J. Mitchell was optimistic Wednesday about the nation’s future despite his belief that the American people “are fearful, anxious and angry” in part because of the impact of technology at home and abroad.
Mitchell, who served as a federal judge in Bangor from October 1979 to May 1980, remarked on the state of the nation and its politics during the unveiling of his portrait in a third-floor courtroom in the Margaret Chase Smith Federal Building.
“The United States is the world’s dominant power, and it will continue in that position for as far in the future as you can see,” the Waterville native said. “Although we face serious challenges at home and abroad, our military strength is by far the greatest ever assembled in human history, and our economy is still the world’s largest and strongest, but its people are fearful, anxious and angry.”
Mitchell, 82, said that although those facts seem contradictory, the nation’s mood is “understandable, and [it] has occurred regularly in the past both here and around the world.”
While the technological revolution has created great wealth for many, it has not been evenly distributed, he said.
“Many of our fellow citizens are victims, not beneficiaries of the revolution in technology,” Mitchell said. “Neither we, nor any other society, yet, has devised and adopted the policies needed to mitigate the adverse effects that so many of our fellow Americans are now enduring even as the rest of us enjoy unprecedented benefits.
“To do that, we need the unity of our people,” he said. “We need a unity of purpose, and we need a national commitment to make good health, good education and good jobs available to all Americans.”
After his portrait, painted by Irish artist James Hanley of Dublin, was unveiled, Mitchell predicted that fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton would be the next president. He also said that to win against Republican Donald Trump she should “stay positive and keep trying to bring the American people together.”
Mitchell, who in 1998 negotiated a peace accord in Northern Ireland and was a special envoy to the Middle East under Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, said after Wednesday’s event that terrorism at home and abroad would likely continue but could be addressed.
“We have many people in the world with many more problems, and it’s likely there will be many more terrorist acts,” he said. “It’s an inevitable consequence of many factors, but we have the means, I believe, to deal with it. Those means must include military force, but they also must include trying to deal with the conditions that give rise to these actions.”
About 125 people, including all of Maine’s federal judges, U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King, court clerks, law clerks, local lawyers and Mitchell’s former staff attended the unveiling. His wife, Heather Mitchell, and children, Andrew Mitchell and Claire Mitchell, were at his side.
George Mitchell’s son, who will be a freshman at Georgetown University this fall, spoke briefly, and his daughter removed a purple cloth to reveal her father’s likeness.
Former Gov. Joseph Brennan sat in the well of the courtroom. Mitchell said he owed his career to Brennan, who appointed Mitchell to replace Edmund Muskie in the U.S. Senate when President Jimmy Carter appointed Muskie secretary of state.
“However, Joe, today, I was thinking about the fact that if you hadn’t appointed me, I’d be entering my 37th year of service on this court and would have earned a portrait,” Mitchell joked. “As we all know, my judicial career was very short.
“I’ve made the most of it by bragging that I’ve never been overturned, although my children often remind me that at home I’m frequently overruled by a higher court named Heather Mitchell,” he said.
Collins, a Republican, praised the example George Mitchell has set as a leader for herself and others.
“Leadership has been defined as having the wisdom to know what is right, the courage to say what is right, and the strength to do what is right,” she said Wednesday. “The author of that definition is Sen. George Mitchell. More than mere words, it is an example he has set and the life he has led. From Waterville, Maine, to Washington, D.C., and from Northern Ireland to the Middle East, he has devoted his life to the pursuit of justice and dignity for all.”
The portrait, which was paid for with private funds, replaces a large photograph taken in the 1980s that was a closeup of Mitchell’s face. According to courthouse lore, people who did not realize Mitchell served as a federal judge asked why his Senate campaign poster was displayed in the courtroom.