Graduating from university is an important milestone  for anyone. It can change the course of your life.  But, in the case of George Mitchell, it may well have changed the course of history. 

His success in chairing the Northern Ireland peace talks in 1998 brought international acclaim, but many would be unaware that he was born into poverty, before access to higher education changed everything.

“The area we grew up in was crowded and heavily industrialised. Today it would be called a slum, but we didn’t think of it that way,” he said of his childhood in Waterville, Maine, during the era of the Great Depression.

“It was a very noisy place. There were railroad tracks just a few feet away. The nearby river was really a stinking open sewer. On the river there was a textile mill and a paper mill. You could hear the massive saws and smell the chemicals, especially the sulphur, for miles. You could hear the clatter of the textile looms round the clock.

Mitchell family photo, 1949 (from left to right: John, George, Barbara, Paul and Robert).

“But there was no TV or social media then and everyone we knew lived as we did, so it didn’t seem so bad. And the people in the town were warm and friendly.

“My parents were poor and worked very hard, but what kept them going was a dream that their children would receive the education and have the chances they never had. I started working when I was six or seven, delivering newspapers, shovelling snow, mowing lawns – we all had a strong work ethic, but my parents instilled in us the importance of education.”

Senator Mitchell’s mother was a migrant from Lebanon, his father the son of Irish immigrants. Born in 1933, he was raised in a close-knit family with three brothers and a sister, amid what he recalls as a “wonderful” community despite the hardships.

Leaving home for Bowdoin College in Maine at the age of 17 was the first time he ever slept through the night “without the sound and feel of a passing train”, but it was also a “daunting experience,” he said. “My parents didn’t own a car while I was growing up, so we never really went anywhere. It was 1950 and at college some of the students in the upper grades had served in the Second World War. I felt quite inadequate, in terms of my age, size and experience, but you grow and adapt and learn.”

George Mitchell in his graduation year at Bowdoin College.

He paid his way through college by working part-time jobs and taking part in the US army’s Reserve Officer Training Corps. After graduating, he was obliged to serve two years, and was assigned to a US Military Intelligence post in Cold War Berlin.

Despite plans to become a history teacher, he later studied law at Georgetown University in Washington, attending evening classes while working full time during the day. The change in direction was the first of a series in his career, sparked by chance encounters and unexpected opportunities.

“Almost everything that happened didn’t develop in the way I planned it. I never did become a history teacher. I became a lawyer. And, never once thinking about entering politics, I accidentally found myself in politics. My advice is, always have a plan, and do the best you possibly can, but be prepared to be flexible when unexpected opportunities come along. That’s what happened in my life.”

Fifteen years in the US Senate followed, including six as majority leader. Other opportunities emerged, including taking up the role of Chairman of Disney. But arriving in Belfast as the US President’s representative, then being asked by the leaders of the UK and Ireland to chair the peace talks, was perhaps the most unexpected twist.

Last year, a quarter of a century after the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement effectively brought an end to the Troubles, the Senator delivered a powerful address at the anniversary conference at Queen’s.

“It was the first speech I’d given in person to a large audience in three years. I had been very sick. I still am. But while it was very difficult in a physical sense, it was one of the most moving experiences of my life.

“I hope the people of Northern Ireland will see themselves as I see them: good people, working hard, struggling to do what’s right, even as they disagree on what’s right. That was the message of my speech. I think the reason it resonated with people is because it’s true.

“Implementing change like this takes a long time, but the agreement has become a symbol of the possibility of ending strife. I get asked all the time, what it means for other conflicts around the world. My answer is always the same: it is an example of what is possible.”

Education, he said, is an important route to delivering real change to society. This echoes groundbreaking work at Queen’s, where one third of students come from communities that traditionally face barriers to accessing higher education.

Over the years, Senator Mitchell also maintained a focus on education in Maine, where he set out to attend graduations at every high school in the state. “There are about 150 of them. They all graduate on two weekends in June, so it took me about 12 years.”

The experience inspired him to create a scholarship programme so that students in need of support could secure a university qualification. Since its inception, it has helped more than 3,600 Maine students to graduate from college. “You’ve got to reach out and find these youngsters, who have innate talent but don’t realise it. You’ve got to try to build up their confidence.

“I met thousands of these kids. I saw in their eyes and heard in their voices mirror images of myself at their age: insecure, uncertain, lacking in resources, lacking in confidence, lacking in any belief in themselves. But education can change lives… it’s a truly great thing.

“Higher education may not be for everyone, but it should be readily available to those who want it. As I’ve said often, no one should be guaranteed success but everyone should have a fair chance to succeed, to go as far and as high as their talent and willingness to work will take them.”

View Senator Mitchell's keynote speech at the Agreement 25 Conference here.