History Commons^™

Interview With Chris Mann By Mike Hastings, Christopher 'Chris' Mann

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Christopher Mann was born December 19, 1962, in Augusta, Maine. His parents were Alden and Deana Mann. His father was a Maine native who worked for the State Bureau of Banks and Banking as the director of Securities. Chris grew up in Augusta, attended Cony High School and was graduated with a degree in political science from the University of Southern Maine. He worked on Joe Brennan’s 1988 congressional campaign. After that, Mary McAleney offered him a position doing research for the state legislature. He later moved to Washington, D.C., to work in the mailroom for Senator Mitchell’s …

Interview With Bob Tyrer By Brien Williams, Robert 'Bob' S. Tyrer

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Robert Stanley “Bob” Tyrer was born on April 30, 1957, in Hamilton, Ohio, to James and Margaret Tyrer. He grew up in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan. In 1974 he became interested in the Watergate hearings and went to listen to then Congressman Cohen give a talk in Birmingham, Michigan. In 1975 he began college at George Washington University and volunteered in Cohen’s congressional office. He worked on Cohen’s 1978 Senate campaign and stayed in Maine to manage the Bangor office, completing his last year of college at the University of Maine. He returned to Washington, D.C. as …

Interview With Mary Catherine Toker By Brien Williams, Mary 'M.C.' C. Toker

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Mary Catherine “M.C.” Toker was born on August 13, 1959, in Miami, Florida, to Donald L. Toker and Mary Brennan Toker. Her father was a physician for the U.S. Public Health Service, and Mary Toker grew up in various locales around the world, including London, Hong Kong, and Japan. By the time she went to high school, her family had settled in Washington, D.C. After high school she attended Mount St. Mary’s College in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and pursued a degree in international studies. She interned with the Department of Defense, where she worked on various policies regarding U.S. …

Interview With Anita Jensen By Diane Dewhirst, Anita Jensen

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Anita Holst-Jensen was born in Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz), East Germany, on March 16, 1945, to Rasma Rasmanis and Arvids Lusis. Her mother emigrated from Latvia in September of 1944, and Jensen was born in a displaced persons camp, where she lived until she was four years old. Her family eventually emigrated to Australia in 1949, settling in Victoria. Jensen received all of her schooling in Australia and went to university in Melbourne. She married Henning Holst-Jensen, and in 1966 they moved to Perth. When immigration into the United States became possible in 1968, they relocated to the Washington, D.C. …

Interview With Jeff Peterson By Brien Williams, Jeffrey 'Jeff' W. Peterson

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Jeffrey Ward Peterson was born on March 23, 1954, in Lexington, Massachusetts, to Jean H. and Dr. Merrill D. Peterson. He grew up in Lexington until age ten, then moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1964. He attended Bowdoin College and studied away for a semester at American University, where he held an internship with the Senate Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations. After graduation he worked in Maine for two years, married, and moved to Seattle, Washington, to attend the University of Washington Graduate School of Public Affairs, where he earned a master’s degree while working part-time for the Environmental …

Interview With Joanne Hoffmann By Brien Williams, Joanne A. Hoffmann

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Joanne Amnott Hoffmann was born April 23, 1936, in Lewiston, Maine. Her father was the chief of police in Lewiston, and her mother was a housewife. Joanne graduated from Lewiston High School and continued her education at the Auburn School of Commerce, learning shorthand and typing. She became a legal secretary, first working for Harris Isaacson and then for the firm of Clifford & Clifford under William Clifford. In 1959, she moved to Washington, DC, as Senator Muskie’s personal secretary. She stayed in the Senate office until 1965, when she married Frank “Nordy” Hoffmann, a Washington lobbyist and …

Interview With Sharon Sudbay By Mike Hastings, Sharon A. Sudbay

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Sharon Sudbay was born on October 10, 1958, in Portland, Maine, to Rita Madonna Joyce and Charles Clifford Sudbay, Jr. She grew up on Munjoy Hill in Portland and graduated from Portland High School. She attended the University of New Hampshire and worked as a telephone operator throughout her college years; she was graduated with a degree in political science in 1980. She volunteered on Harold Pachios’s 1980 congressional campaign and learned FEC reporting. She worked on Joe Brennan’s 1982 gubernatorial campaign and organized fund raisers. She was hired to work for Mitchell’s 1982 campaign and stayed on …

Interview With Rich Arenberg By Brien Williams, Richard 'Rich' A. Arenberg

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Richard A. “Rich” Arenberg, the son of Bernard and Mary Arenberg, was born on October 16, 1945, in Norwich Connecticut. He was a campus activist during his undergraduate years at Boston University, and worked on some local campaigns, including the campaign of Tom Atkins, the first African American city councilor in Boston. He received a Ph.D. in political science also from Boston University and has a background in survey research. He worked as the issues director for Paul Tsongas’s first congressional campaign in Massachusetts and continued on Tsongas’s congressional and Senate staff until Tsongas retired from the Senate …

Interview With Steve Hart By Brien Williams, W. 'Steve' Stephen Hart

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Walter Stephen Hart was born January 17, 1955, in Washington, DC, to Peter William Hart and Mary Jane Strauss Hart; his parents were librarians. He attended Arizona State University, where he earned a degree in mass communications. He worked at a radio station in New Hampshire and covered the 1980 presidential primaries. He returned to school at Ball State, graduating with a degree in journalism and a minor in public relations, after which he moved to Maine, where his wife was working. He worked for Maine congressional candidate Phil Merrill in the 1982 primary, and after Merrill lost …

Interview With Lee Lockwood By Brien Williams, Lee E. Lockwood

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Lee Enfield Lockwood was born February 17, 1946, in Cumberland, Maryland, to Sarah and Sam Enfield. She grew up in Houston, Texas, attending a local public elementary school and a private high school. She was graduated from Duke University in 1968 with a major in political science. She moved to Washington, DC, and was hired onto Senator Muskie’s staff. She worked for Muskie from 1969 to 1978, first sorting and reading the mail and eventually handling speech writing and legislation. She worked for Senator Mitchell when he was majority leader, handling correspondence in his Senate office from 1989-1993. …

Interview With Joan Pedersen By Andrea L’Hommedieu, Joan S. Pedersen

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Joan (Speed) Pedersen was born on February 11, 1940, in Boston, Massachusetts. Her mother was a legal secretary for an attorney’s office and her father worked in distribution for Firestone Tire. She grew up in West Roxbury, a heavily Irish Catholic part of Boston. She married and moved to Cape Cod, and later to Maine. From 1982-1984, she worked in Senator Mitchell’s field office in Lewiston, Maine, serving constituents. She later worked for Senator William S. Cohen and Representative John E. Baldacci.

Summary
Interview includes discussion of: growing up in Boston in the 1940s and 1950s; work as …

Interview With Christine Williams By Brien Williams, Christine G. Williams

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Christine G. Williams was born January 20, 1952, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Adelaide and Donald Williams, a Methodist minister. She earned a degree in history from Boston University. As a VISTA volunteer she taught on the Rosebud reservation in South Dakota before returning to New England to teach at Brunswick High School in Brunswick, Maine, for the 1975-1976 school year. Subsequently, after teaching in New Hampshire for four years, she was hired by George Mitchell’s U.S. Senate office in 1982 and worked there until 1994, focusing on health care issues in the latter years. She later went to …

Interview With Charlie Jacobs By Andrea L’Hommedieu, Charles 'Charlie' Jacobs

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Charles “Charlie” Jacobs was born on May 10, 1948, in St. Stephen, New Brunswick. His parents, Isabelle and Stephen Jacobs, were both teachers. He lived mainly in Buxton, Maine, until the age of ten, when his family moved to Bethel. He attended Gould Academy and the University of Maine, Orono, graduating in 1971. At Orono, Jacobs became politically active, joining the student government and supporting Eugene McCarthy’s presidential bid in 1968. After graduation, he worked for Governor Ken Curtis, serving on the Governor’s Council until it was abolished in 1976. He then worked on Senator Muskie’s 1976 Senate …

Interview With Tom Bertocci By Mike Hastings, Thomas 'Tom' A. Bertocci

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Tom Bertocci was born in Lewiston, Maine, on February 17, 1945. His father was Salvatore Theodore “Ted” Bertocci, the son of Italian immigrants who came to the United States in 1912. Two of Tom’s uncles became professors at Bates College, where they met Ed Muskie. Tom’s father worked at Bath Iron Works, and met Tom’s mother, Margaret True Allen of Auburn, Maine, through his brothers. Tom was graduated from Morse High School and Wesleyan University. He became involved with the Chewonki Foundation during his college years, when he worked there as a camp counselor. He taught history at …

Interview With Jeanne Hollingsworth By Mike Hastings, Jeanne Hollingsworth

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Jeanne Hollingsworth was born in McCook, Nebraska, on September 18, 1948, to Barbara (Davis) and John Robert Hollingsworth. She spent her early years in Holbrook, Nebraska, on her father’s cattle ranch with five siblings. The family moved to Kearney, Nebraska, when she was twelve, and from there they moved to Kitchener-Waterloo, Canada, where Jeanne attended high school and her father was in the furniture business. She attended North Georgia Military College for two years and became interested in politics because of the Vietnam War and the peace movement. She traveled for some years between Maine and Georgia, finally …

Interview With Charlie Micoleau By Andrea L’Hommedieu, Charles 'Charlie' J. Micoleau

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Charles J. “Charlie” Micoleau was born on February 2, 1942, in Englewood, New Jersey. He attended Bowdoin College, graduating in 1963. He earned a master’s degree in international relations at Johns Hopkins University in 1965 and received his J.D. from George Washington University in 1977. Micoleau worked in Maine for an anti-poverty program in 1965, and eventually worked his way into the Maine Democratic Party ranks. He was a scheduler for Senator Muskie’s 1970 campaign and was his administrative assistant from 1975 to 1977. From 1984 through 1992, he was a member of the Democratic National Committee. At …

Interview With Marcia Gartley By Mike Hastings, Marcia Ann Gartley

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Marcia Ann (Bacha) Gartley was born on October 2, 1952, in Bradford, Pennsylvania. She grew up in Rixford, Pennsylvania, in the Appalachian Mountains, with her mother Mary, her father George, and three brothers. Her father worked in the Pennsylvania oil fields. She attended the University of Pittsburgh, majoring in political science. She moved to Maine in the 1970s and in 1987 began to work in Senator George Mitchell’s Presque Isle office as a case worker. She has remained active in Aroostook County Democratic politics, serving as city chair, county chair, and treasurer. She has also worked for Governor …

Interview With Janet Dennis By Andrea L’Hommedieu, Janet M. Dennis

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Janet Mary Dennis was born on September 5, 1945, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Clemenza Rowlandson Sullivan and William Aloysius Sullivan. Her father was a postal inspector and her mother was a parochial schoolteacher. Janet grew up in Waterville, Maine, and was the youngest of five children. She attended Thomas College. In May of 1965, she spent a year as Senator Muskie’s secretary in Washington, D.C., and then became the office manager in Muskie’s Waterville and Augusta state Senate offices. She also did work for the Senate Public Works Committee on the Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution under …

Interview With Jim Case By Andrea L’Hommedieu, James 'Jim' W. Case

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
James W. “Jim” Case was born on June 21, 1945, in Chicopee, Massachusetts. His father was a firefighter and his mother was a homemaker who raised seven children; Jim was the fourth of five boys. His family was Irish-German Catholic, and his parents were involved in local politics. He grew up in a blue-collar mill town with a good public educational system; he attended Clark University, where he majored in psychology. He was drafted in November 1968 at the height of the Vietnam War and served two years as an administrator in a physical therapy clinic at an …

Interview With Barry Valentine By Andrea L’Hommedieu, Barry L. Valentine

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Barry Lee Valentine was born September 12, 1943, in Emporia Kansas. He grew up in York Harbor, Maine, attended York High School, and received a degree in engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. During college he took part in ROTC and after graduation joined the Air Force, serving as a pilot in Vietnam. He left the Air Force in 1972 and returned to Maine, where he helped run an airfield and became involved in politics because a neighbor ran for a seat in the Maine state legislature. He was the York county coordinator for the Maine public power campaign …

Interview With Jan Barrett By Andrea L’Hommedieu, Janet 'Jan' P. Barrett

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Jan (Plourde) (Welch) Barrett was born and raised in Lewiston, Maine. Her father was in the military and, although she and her mother traveled with him, they always returned to Lewiston-Auburn and stayed with her grandparents, the Duponts, owners of Sonny Boy Bread. She attended St. Louis School until the eighth grade and was graduated from Lewiston High School in 1965. Barrett attended two years at the Chandler's School for Women in Boston. After college, she stayed in Boston for work, meeting Don Nicoll after graduation; a few months later he offered her a job on Senator Muskie’s …

Interview With Jeff Nathanson By Mike Hastings, Jeffrey 'Jeff' Nathanson

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Jeffrey “Jeff” Nathanson was born on July 10, 1958, in Biddeford, Maine, to Toby Yetta Nathanson and Jon Allen Nathanson. His family owned a fast food drive-in called Toby’s Drive-In, near Thornton Academy, along with a food stand in Old Orchard Beach; his parents sold Toby’s in 1997. Jeff attended Thornton Academy, graduating in 1976, and continued his education at Williams College; he majored in biology with a minor in environmental studies, graduating in 1980. He worked on Harold Pachios’s congressional campaign. Through Jim Case, he was hired as a part-time elevator operator for Senators Mitchell and Byrd …

Interview With Larry Benoit By Mike Hastings, Robert 'Larry' L. Benoit

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Robert Laurent “Larry” Benoit was born on August 20, 1948, to Robert Barry Benoit and Inez Frances Benoit. He grew up in the Portland, Maine, area, attended Cape Elizabeth High School, and entered the University of Southern Maine, where he concentrated in U.S. history and received a B.S. in education in 1970. He was a self-taught mechanic but became involved in politics at a young age, running for a vacant seat in the House of Representatives while still in college. After graduating, he took time off to travel and visit family and was then approached in 1971 to …

Round Table Interview With Mike Hastings, Anita Jensen, Estelle Lavoie, And Mary Mcaleney By Andrea L’Hommedieu, Michael 'Mike' M. Hastings, Anita Jensen, Estelle Lavoie, Mary E. Mcaleney

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Michael M. Hastings, a native of Morrill, Maine, graduated from Tilton School (NH) in 1968 and Bowdoin College in 1972. Following a year of graduate study in Public & International Affairs at George Washington University, he worked for seven years as a foreign and defense policy aide to Senator William S. Cohen (1973-1980) and for four years for Senator George J. Mitchell (1980-1984). In October, 1984, he joined the international staff of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and moved to Africa. Over a span of eight years, he worked as a CRS development administrator in Kenya, Tanzania, Togo and …

Interview With Clyde Macdonald (2) By Mike Hastings, Clyde Macdonald

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Clyde MacDonald, Jr. was born in 1929 in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, to Nellie MacDonald and Clyde MacDonald, Sr., who were both of Canadian descent. The oldest of four children, Clyde enlisted in the Army and served in Germany during the Korean War. After his military discharge, he became interested in politics at the local level. He attended Portland Junior College for two years and then Bates College for two years. He later earned a doctorate at the University of Maine while teaching undergraduate classes there. During that period, he became active in local Democratic politics and found …

Interview With Estelle Lavoie By Andrea L’Hommedieu, Estelle A. Lavoie

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Estelle Lavoie was born in Lewiston, Maine, on November 23, 1949, and grew up there, the youngest of three children. Her father worked as a building contractor until his death in 1964, after which her mother worked part-time as a bank teller. Estelle attended Lewiston public schools and was graduated from Bates College (class of 1971), spending her junior year studying in Switzerland. At the end of 1972, she went to work for Governor Ken Curtis. By September of 1973, she had been hired as part of Senator Ed Muskie’s staff, working first as a caseworker and eventually …

Interview With Clyde Macdonald (1) By Mike Hastings, Clyde Macdonald

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Clyde MacDonald, Jr. was born in 1929 in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, to Nellie MacDonald and Clyde MacDonald, Sr., who were both of Canadian descent. The oldest of four children, Clyde enlisted in the Army and served in Germany during the Korean War. After his military discharge, he became interested in politics at the local level. He attended Portland Junior College for two years and then Bates College for two years. He later earned a doctorate at the University of Maine while teaching undergraduate classes there. During that period, he became active in local Democratic politics and found …

Interview With Mary Mcaleney By Andrea L’Hommedieu, Mary E. Mcaleney

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Mary Elizabeth McAleney was born on March 18, 1945, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Her mother, Helen Irene (Twombly) McAleney, was a Works Progress Administration worker, and her father, William McAleney, was a U.S. Customs officer. Mary came from a strongly Democratic Maine family and was politically active from a young age. She was sent from her home near Vanceboro, Maine, to St. Joseph’s boarding school in South Portland, and from there she went to Merrimac College. After her graduation, she taught high school in Maine, first at St. Joseph’s and then at Catherine McAuley High School. After eight years …

Interview With Jamie Kaplan By Andrea L’Hommedieu, James 'Jamie' E. Kaplan

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
James E. “Jamie” Kaplan was born in Bronxville, New York, on March 6, 1951. He and his two brothers grew up in Nanuet, New York, with his father, a developer and building contractor, and his mother, a public relations and publicity officer for a vocational center in Rockland, New York. Jamie was graduated from Brown University and attended Georgetown University Law School briefly. After returning home and working several jobs, he moved to California to attend the University of California, Berkley Law School in 1975. Upon graduation from law school, he worked as a law clerk for Judge …

Interview With Mike Hastings (1) By Andrea L’Hommedieu, Michael 'Mike' M. Hastings

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Michael M. Hastings, a native of Morrill, Maine, graduated from Tilton School (NH) in 1968 and Bowdoin College in 1972. Following a year of graduate study in Public & International Affairs at George Washington University, he worked for seven years as a foreign and defense policy aide to Senator William S. Cohen (1973-1980) and for four years for Senator George J. Mitchell (1980-1984). In October 1984, he joined the international staff of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and moved to Africa. Over a span of eight years, he worked as a CRS development administrator in Kenya, Tanzania, Togo and …