George J. Mitchell
Senate Majority Leader
In office January 3, 1989 – January 3, 1995
Deputy	Alan Cranston (1989-1991) Wendell H. Ford (1991-1995)
Preceded by	Robert Byrd
Succeeded by	Bob Dole
2nd Deputy President pro tempore of the United States Senate
In office January 3, 1987 – January 3, 1989
President	John C. Stennis
Leader	Robert Byrd
Preceded by	Hubert Humphrey (1978)
Succeeded by	Vacant
United States Senator from Maine
In office May 17, 1980 – January 3, 1995
Preceded by	Edmund Muskie
Succeeded by	Olympia Snowe
United States Special Envoy for Middle East Peace
In office January 22, 2009 – May 13, 2011
Preceded by	None
Succeeded by	David Hale
United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland
In office January 3, 1995 – January 20, 2001
Preceded by	None
Succeeded by	Richard N. Haass
Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maine
In office October 5, 1979 – May 16, 1980
Nominated by	Jimmy Carter
Preceded by	New seat
Succeeded by	Conrad Keefe Cyr
Personal details
Born	George John Mitchell, Jr. (1933-08-20) August 20, 1933 (age 78) Waterville, Maine, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	Bowdoin College Georgetown University Law Center
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Maronite Catholicism[1]
Military service
Service/branch	United States Army Counterintelligence Corps
Years of service	1954-1956
Rank	First Lieutenant

George John Mitchell, Jr., GBE (born August 20, 1933) is an American politician and businessman. A Democrat, Mitchell was a United States Senator from Maine from 1980 to 1995 and was Senate Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995.

Since retiring from the Senate, Mitchell has taken up a variety of positions in politics and business. He has taken a leading role in negotiations for peace in Northern Ireland and the Middle East, being specifically appointed United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland (1995-2001) by President Clinton and as United States Special Envoy for Middle East Peace (2009-2011) by President Obama. He was a primary architect of the 1996 Mitchell Principles and the 1998 Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, and was the main investigator in two "Mitchell Reports", one on the Arab–Israeli conflict (2001) and one on the use of performance enhancing drugs in baseball (2007).

Mitchell served as chairman of The Walt Disney Company from March 2004 until January 2007, and later as chairman of the international law firm DLA Piper. He was the Chancellor of Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, from 1999 to 2009. Mitchell currently serves as a co-chair of the Housing Commission at the Bipartisan Policy Center.^[2]

Early life[link]

Origins[link]

Mitchell was born in Waterville, Maine. His father, George John Mitchell, Sr. (born Joseph Kilroy),^[3] was of ethnic Irish descent but was adopted by a Lebanese family when he was orphaned;^[4] he was a janitor at Colby College in Waterville, where Mitchell was raised. Mitchell's mother, Mary (née Saad), was a textile worker who emigrated to the United States in 1920 from Bkassine, Lebanon, at the age of eighteen. Because of his origin, Mitchell is recognized as a prominent Arab-American.^[5]

Mitchell was raised a Maronite Catholic and in his childhood served as an altar boy at St. Joseph's Maronite Church in Maine.^[3][6] Throughout junior high school and high school, Mitchell worked as a janitor.^[7] In a family of five children, all three of Mitchell's brothers were athletes and though a talented student, as a child, he found himself overshadowed by his brothers' athletic achievements.^[8]

Education and military service[link]

After graduating from high school at the age of sixteen,^[8] Mitchell attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, where he worked several jobs and played on the basketball team.^[4] He graduated in 1954, intending to attend graduate school and then teach, but instead served in the United States Army from 1954 to 1956, rising to First Lieutenant. In 1961, Mitchell received his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center by attending its part-time program at night. He has since received an honorary LL.D. from Bates College.

Political career[link]

Early legal career[link]

After having performed well academically at Georgetown, Mitchell served as a trial attorney for the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice in Washington from 1960 to 1962, and then as executive assistant to Senator Edmund S. Muskie from 1962 to 1965, where he first gained interest in the political world.^[7] Afterwards, Mitchell practiced law in Portland, Maine, from 1965 to 1977 and was assistant county attorney for Cumberland County, Maine, in 1971.

From Judge to Senator[link]

Senator George Mitchell

In 1974 Mitchell won the Democratic nomination for governor of Maine, defeating Joseph Brennan. He lost in the general election to independent candidate James B. Longley, but was appointed United States Attorney for Maine by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Mitchell served in that capacity from 1977 to 1979 when he was appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Maine. Mitchell served as a federal judge until he was appointed to the United States Senate in May 1980 by the governor of Maine, Joseph Brennan, when Edmund Muskie resigned to become U.S. Secretary of State.

After serving out the remainder of Muskie's term, Mitchell was elected to his first full term in 1982 with approximately 61% of the vote against Congressman David Emery, and rose quickly in the Senate Democratic leadership. He was elected as the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 1984, helping the Democrats regain control of the Senate in 1986 with a net eight new seats and a 55 to 45 majority in the Senate. He served as Deputy President pro tempore in the 100th United States Congress, because of the illness of President pro tempore John C. Stennis, and remains the only Senator other than Hubert Humphrey to have held that post.

In 1988 Mitchell was reelected with 81% of the vote, the largest margin of victory in a Senate election that year and the largest majority ever for a Senator from Maine.

Senate Majority Leader[link]

Mitchell served as Senate Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995. While in this role, Mitchell led the movement to reauthorize the Clean Air Act in 1990 and pass the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Additionally, under his leadership, the Senate approved the North American Free Trade Agreement and the formation of the World Trade Organization.

In 1994, he turned down an appointment by President Bill Clinton to the United States Supreme Court,^[9] to replace the retiring Harry A. Blackmun so that he could continue helping with efforts in the Senate to pass significant health-care legislation. The seat ultimately went to Stephen Breyer. Nevertheless, Congress was not able to pass any significant health-care legislation at the time and Mitchell did not run for reelection in 1994.

Political leanings[link]

For 1994, Mitchell's last year in the Senate, the American Conservative Union gave him a rating of 0.00 on a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 being most conservative.^[10] For the same year, the Americans for Democratic Action gave him a score of 90 on a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 being most liberal.^[11]

After the Senate[link]

In the business world, Mitchell has served as a director of the Walt Disney Company; Federal Express Corporation; Xerox Corporation; Unilever; Staples, Inc.; Starwood Hotels and Resorts; and the Boston Red Sox baseball team. After leaving the Senate, Mitchell joined the Washington, D.C., law firm Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand; he later became the firm's chairman. He was criticized for lobbying on behalf of the firm's Big Tobacco clients.^[12][13] He is also senior counsel to Preti, Flaherty, Beliveau, Pachios, Orlick & Haley in Portland, Maine. He is Partner and Chairman of the Global Board of DLA Piper, US LLP, a global law firm.

In 2007, Mitchell joined fellow former Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Bob Dole, and Tom Daschle to found the Bipartisan Policy Center, a non-profit think tank that works to develop policies suitable for bipartisan support.^[14]

Democratic politics[link]

Senate portrait of Majority Leader George Mitchell

Mitchell was reportedly among those considered by Al Gore as a running mate for his 2000 presidential run. Gore, however, ultimately selected Joe Lieberman.^[15] Had Mitchell been nominated and the Democratic ticket won that year, he would have been the first Arab American to serve as the Vice President of the United States and just the second Vice President from Maine after Hannibal Hamlin. He also was mentioned in both 2000 and in 2004 as a potential Secretary of State for a Democratic administration, due to his role as Senate Leader and the Good Friday agreements.

Education[link]

Since 2002, Mitchell has been a Senior Fellow and Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University's Center for International Conflict Resolution, where he works to help end or avert conflicts between nations. He was the Chancellor of the Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland, until his resignation in April 2009, and namesake of the George J. Mitchell Scholarship, which sponsors graduate study for twelve Americans each year in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. He is the founder of the Mitchell Institute, in Portland, Maine, whose mission is to increase the likelihood that young people from every community in Maine will aspire to, pursue and achieve a college education.^[16] In 2007, he became a visiting Professor in Leeds Metropolitan University's School of Applied Global Ethics, and the University is developing a new Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution bearing his name.^[17]

Mitchell Report (Arab-Israeli conflict)[link]

Mitchell led an American fact-finding commission initiated under President Bill Clinton in 2000 intended to find solutions for solving the situation between Israel and the Palestinians. Mitchell's report, published in 2001, stressed the need for Israel to halt the expansion of its settlements in the Palestinian territories and for the Palestinians to prevent violence. Interest in the report was renewed^[18] when Mitchell was named Special Envoy for Middle East Peace in 2009.

United Nations[link]

Mitchell served as co-chairman (with Newt Gingrich) of the Congressionally mandated Task Force on the United Nations, which released its findings and recommendations on June 15, 2005, after having been formed that January.

World Justice Project[link]

George J. Mitchell serves as an Honorary Co-Chair for the World Justice Project. The World Justice Project works to lead a global, multidisciplinary effort to strengthen the Rule of Law for the development of communities of opportunity and equity.

Northern Ireland peace process[link]

Since 1995, Mitchell has been active in the Northern Ireland peace process, having served as the United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland under President Bill Clinton. He first led a commission that established the principles on non-violence to which all parties in Northern Ireland had to adhere and subsequently chaired the all-party peace negotiations, which led to the Belfast Peace Agreement signed on Good Friday 1998 (known since as the "Good Friday Agreement"). Mitchell's personal intervention with the parties was crucial to the success of the talks. He was succeeded as special envoy by Richard Haass.

For his involvement in the Northern Ireland peace negotiations, Mitchell was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (on March 17, 1999) and the Liberty Medal (on July 4, 1998). In accepting the Liberty Medal, he stated: "I believe there’s no such thing as a conflict that can’t be ended. They’re created and sustained by human beings. They can be ended by human beings. No matter how ancient the conflict, no matter how hateful, no matter how hurtful, peace can prevail."^[19]

Additionally, he was nominated for a Nobel Prize.^{[clarification needed]} For his services to the Northern Ireland peace process, in 1999 Mitchell was invested as an Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE). As custom dictates, Mitchell cannot call himself "Sir George" as he is not a citizen of the United Kingdom or a Commonwealth of Nations country, and as a United States citizen, he can not accept a title of nobility.

Chairman of Disney[link]

On March 4, 2004, Disney's board of directors, on which Mitchell had served since 1995, named him Michael Eisner's replacement as Chairman of the Board after 43% of the company's shares were voted against Eisner's reelection (35% was the minimum for disposal). Mitchell himself received a 24% negative vote,^[20] a fact that led dissident Disney shareholders Roy E. Disney and Stanley Gold to criticize the appointment of Mitchell, whom they saw as Eisner's puppet.

Having already served on the boards of such companies as Xerox, Starwood, Fedex, and Staples, Mitchell assumed his new role at a particularly tumultuous time in the company's history, needing to face such issues as Comcast's hostile takeover attempts and a possible split with Pixar.^[21] Mitchell played an important role in the selection of Robert A. Iger as Eisner's successor as CEO in 2005.^[22] On June 28, 2006, Disney announced that its board had elected one of its members, John Pepper, Jr., former CEO of Procter & Gamble, to replace Mitchell as chairman effective January 1, 2007.^[23]

Baseball's steroids investigation[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: George J. Mitchell

In 2006, Mitchell was tapped by MLB Commissioner Bud Selig to lead an investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs by Major League Baseball players. The investigation derived largely from charges against Barry Bonds, and revelations in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) trials of Victor Conte and Greg Anderson. Selig has said that revelations brought forth in the 2005 book Game of Shadows were, by way of calling attention to the issue, in part responsible for the league's decision to commission an independent investigation. To this day Mitchell is known to have held meetings with only two active players, Jason Giambi, who was ordered to meet Mitchell by Commissioner Selig in light of his public admissions on the issue, and one additional player whose name was initially not made public but was later revealed to be Frank Thomas.^[24] Mitchell did however hold extensive meetings with several known steroid dealers, club attendants, personal trainers, and others who had ties to all players named in the report. Even though the union that protects the players had pressured all but Giambi and Thomas into maintaining the culture of silence that had helped the drug problem remain a secret, there was plenty of other evidence against those named in his report.

Mitchell released a 409-page report of his findings on December 13, 2007.^[25] The report includes the names of 89 former and current players for whom it claims evidence of use of steroids or other prohibited substances exists. This list includes names of Most Valuable Players and All-Stars, such as Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Miguel Tejada, Denny Neagle, Paul Lo Duca, David Justice, Barry Bonds, Eric Gagné, Todd Hundley, Randy Velarde, and Benito Santiago.

Mitchell was criticized for having a conflict of interest with the report as he was a director of the Boston Red Sox, especially because no prime Red Sox players were named in the report,^[26] despite the fact that Red Sox stars David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez were later found to have used performance enhancing substances during the 2003 season, as reported by the New York Times on July 30, 2009.^[27] Likewise, the report was commissioned by Selig, and no members of the Milwaukee Brewers, whom Selig once owned, appeared in the report. The Los Angeles Times reported that Mitchell acknowledged that his "tight relationship with Major League Baseball left him open to criticism".^[28] Mitchell responded to the concerns by stating that readers who examined the report closely "will not find any evidence of bias, of special treatment of the Red Sox".^[28]

Special Envoy for Middle East Peace[link]

This section requires expansion.

Mitchell, together with Benjamin Netanyahu, Mahmoud Abbas, and Hillary Clinton at the start of direct talks on September 2, 2010.

On January 22, 2009, President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed Mitchell as the administration's Special Envoy to the Arab-Israeli peace process, formally known as the "Special Envoy for Middle East Peace".^[29] The appointment was seen as an indication of the new Obama administration's increased focus on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The choice of Mitchell allowed Obama to demonstrate the seriousness and sincerity of his intentions regarding the peace process, without forcing him to immediately embark on a specific initiative before conditions were yet ripe. An analyst at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars said Mitchell's appointment "says to the world, 'I care about this issue; be patient with me.'"^[29] Abraham Foxman, the National Director of the Anti-Defamation League, has stated that, "Sen. Mitchell is fair. He’s been meticulously even-handed."^[30]

Within the first week of his appointment, Mitchell was dispatched to visit Israel, the West Bank, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia for peace discussions in light of the 2008-09 Gaza War between Israel and the Gaza Strip, in which both sides had recently entered into unilateral ceasefires. Mitchell began his meetings in Cairo on January 27, and Obama said his visit was part of the President's campaign promise to listen to both sides of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and negotiate a peace deal. However, in a continuation of a George W. Bush administration policy, Mitchell did not plan to talk to Hamas, a group Israel and the US consider a terrorist organization, but instead focus on talks with the Palestinian National Authority.^[31] Mitchell first met with new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in February 2009^[32] and has met with many notable figures of the Middle East since. In 2010 he led the U.S. delegation to the Palestine Investment Conference.^[33][34]

On May 13, 2011, George Mitchell tendered his resignation from the post of Special Envoy to the Middle East.^[35]

Personal life[link]

Mitchell was married for 26 years until he and his wife, Sally, divorced in 1987. They had a daughter, Andrea. In 1994 he became engaged to Heather MacLachlan, 35, a sports management consultant,^[36] whom he subsequently married in December 1994^[37] and with whom he has a son, Andrew.^[38]

Mitchell was diagnosed with a "small, low grade, and localized" prostate cancer in 2007.^[39]

Books[link]

• Great American Lighthouses (August 1989)
• World on Fire: Saving an Endangered Earth (January 1991)
• Not For America Alone: The Triumph of Democracy and The Fall of Communism (May 1997)
• Making Peace (April 1999 - 1st Edition, July 2000 - Updated)

See also[link]

• Sigma Nu LEADership learning program
• Bill Clinton Supreme Court candidates

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Gould, Alberta. George Mitchell: In Search of Peace. Farmington, Maine: Heritage Pub., 1996

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: George Mitchell

• Special Envoy for Middle East Peace at the U.S. Department of State
• George J. Mitchell at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• George J. Mitchell at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• George J. Mitchell on Charlie Rose
• George J. Mitchell at the Internet Movie Database
• George J. Mitchell collected news and commentary at The Guardian
• George J. Mitchell collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Works by or about George J. Mitchell in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• George J. Mitchell at the Notable Names Database
• Profile: George Mitchell at BBC News, 13 May 2011
• Interview with George J. Mitchell by Don Nicoll, May 2, 2002 – summary sheet, transcript and audio link at Bates College Digital Library
• Interview with George Mitchell^{[dead link]}

¹ Previously appointed to the office by then-Governor Joe Brennan in 1980 following the resignation of Ed Muskie to become Secretary of State

v t e United States Senators from Maine Class 1 Holmes Parris Holmes Shepley Dana Williams Fairfield Moor Hamlin Nourse Hamlin Morrill Hamlin E. Hale Johnson F. Hale Brewster Payne Muskie Mitchell Snowe Class 2 Chandler Sprague Ruggles Evans Bradbury Fessenden Farwell Fessenden Morrill Blaine Frye Gardner Burleigh Fernald Gould White Smith Hathaway Cohen Collins

v t e United States Senate Majority Leaders Lodge • Curtis • Watson • Robinson • Barkley • White • Lucas • McFarland • Taft • Knowland • Johnson • Mansfield • Byrd • Baker • Dole • Byrd • Mitchell • Dole • Lott • Daschle • Lott • Daschle • Frist • Reid

v t e Democratic Party Leaders in the United States Senate Underwood • Robinson • Barkley • Lucas • McFarland • Johnson • Mansfield • Byrd • Mitchell • Daschle • Reid

v t e Deputy Presidents pro tempore of the United States Senate Hubert Humphrey • George J. Mitchell

George may refer to:

People[link]

• See George (given name)
• See George (surname)
• See Saint George (disambiguation)

Places[link]

Australia

• Lake George, New South Wales

Canada

• George's Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador
• George Street, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

South Africa

• George, Western Cape

United States

• George Air Force Base, a former U.S. Air Force base located in California
• George, Iowa
• George, Washington
• George County, Mississippi
• George West, Texas
• Lake George (New York)
• Lake George (town), New York
• Lake George (village), New York

In computing[link]

• GEORGE (computer), early computer built in 1957 by Argonne National Laboratory
• GEORGE (operating system), a range of operating systems (George 1-4) for the ICT 1900 range of computers
• GEORGE, a programming language invented by Dr. Charles Leonard Hamblin for an Australian version of the DEUCE computer in 1958
• Where's George?, a website that tracks the circulation of American currency
• George (robot), a simple humanoid robot built in 1949 by Tony Sale

In popular culture[link]

• george (band), an Australian band
• George Kirrin, Famous Five character known simply as George
• George Nozuka, better known as George, Canadian singer
• George Harrison, the lead guitarist of The Beatles
• George (TV series), a Canadian-Swiss television series
• George of the Jungle, an animated TV program
• George (magazine), a magazine founded by John F. Kennedy, Jr
• Curious George, a series of illustrated books Hans and Margaret Rey and a children's TV program on PBS Kids
• George Shrinks, an American animated television series about a 10 year old boy who is three inches tall
• George Lopez (TV series), a sitcom originally aired on ABC 2002 through 2007

In transport[link]

• Autopilot, affectionately known as "George"
• George (bus service), a bus service in Falls Church, Virginia
• George (ship), an Australian sloop wrecked in 1806
• Kawanishi N1K-J, a Japanese fighter aircraft Allied codenamed "George"
• Society for the Prevention of Calling Sleeping Car Porters "George"

Other uses[link]

• George (magazine)
• George (clothing), a clothing brand sold exclusively in Asda/Wal-Mart stores
• George (vacuum cleaner)
• Hurricane Georges (disambiguation)
• Tropical Storm George (disambiguation)
• George (lobster)

See also[link]

• Giorgi
• Georgia (disambiguation)
• Georgina (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Mitchell may refer to:

People[link]

Places[link]

Australia[link]

• Mitchell, Australian Capital Territory
• Mitchell, Queensland
• Mount Mitchell, Queensland
• Mitchell, Northern Territory
• Division of Mitchell, a federal Australian Electoral Division in north-west Sydney, New South Wales
• Electoral district of Mitchell (South Australia), a state electoral district in South Australia
• Electoral district of Mitchell (Western Australia) a state electoral district in Western Australia

Canada[link]

• Mitchell, Ontario
• Mount Mitchell (Alberta) in Jasper National Park of Canada
• Mitchell, Manitoba
• Mitchell Bay, Nova Scotia
• Mitchell Island, British Columbia
• Mitchell Island (Nunavut)

United Kingdom[link]

• Mitchell, Cornwall
• Mitchell (UK Parliament constituency)

United States of America[link]

• Mitchell, Georgia
• Mitchell, Illinois
• Mitchell, Indiana
• Mitchell, Iowa
• Mitchell, Nebraska
• Mitchell, Oregon
• Mitchell, South Dakota

Companies[link]

• Mitchell Camera Corporation, which manufactured the cameras which shot the majority of Hollywood movies and early television shows from the 1930s-1990s
• Mitchell Corporation, a Japanese video game company
• Mitchell International, Inc., a software and information service provider, located in San Diego, California
• Mitchell (automobile), an automobile built in Racine, Wisconsin from 1903-1923

Film and television[link]

• Mitchell (film), a 1975 action film

Ships[link]

• USC&GS Mitchell, a United States Coast and Geodetic Survey launch in commission from 1919 to 1944
• NOAAS Mount Mitchell (S 222), a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration survey ship in commission from 1970 to 1995 which had previously served in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey as USC&GS Mount Mitchell from 1968 to 1970

Other uses[link]

• B-25 Mitchell, an American World War II-era bomber aircraft
• Billy Mitchell Award, a Civil Air Patrol Cadet Program award
• Mitchell College, a private college, located in New London, Connecticut
• Mitchell movement, a type of duplicate bridge table movement

See also[link]

• Mitchell County (disambiguation)
• Mitchell Township (disambiguation)
• Mount Mitchell (disambiguation)
• Mitchellville (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Charlie Rose
Rose in May 2010
Born	Charles Peete Rose, Jr. (1942-01-05) January 5, 1942 (age 70) Henderson, North Carolina, U.S.
Education	Duke University B.A. (1964) Duke University J.D. (1968)
Occupation	Talk show host Journalist
Years active	1972–present
Notable credit(s)	Charlie Rose, 60 Minutes II, 60 Minutes, CBS News Nightwatch, CBS This Morning
Website
http://www.charlierose.com/

Charles Peete "Charlie" Rose, Jr. (born January 5, 1942)^[1] is an American television talk show host and journalist. Since 1991 he has hosted Charlie Rose, an interview show distributed nationally by PBS since 1993. He has also co-anchored CBS This Morning since January 2012. Rose, along with Lara Logan, has hosted the revived CBS classic Person to Person, a news program during which celebrities are interviewed in their homes, originally hosted from 1953 to 1961 by Edward R. Murrow.^[2]

Early life[link]

Rose was born in Henderson, North Carolina, the only child^[3] of Margaret Frazier and Charles Peete Rose, Sr., tobacco farmers who owned a country store.^[4][5] As a child, Rose lived above his parents' store in Henderson and helped out with the family business from age seven.^[6] Rose admitted in a Fresh Dialogues interview that as a child his insatiable curiosity was constantly getting him in trouble.^[7] A high school basketball star, Rose entered Duke University intending to pursue a degree with a pre-med track, but an internship in the office of Democratic North Carolina Senator B. Everett Jordan got him interested in politics.^[8] Rose graduated in 1964 with a bachelor's degree in history. At Duke, he was a member of the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity. He earned a Juris Doctor from the Duke University School of Law in 1968.^[6] He met his wife, Mary (née King), while attending Duke.^[3][4]

Career[link]

After his wife was hired by the BBC (in New York), Rose handled some assignments for the BBC on a freelance basis. In 1972, while continuing to work at Bankers Trust, he landed a job as a weekend reporter for WPIX-TV. His break came in 1974, after Bill Moyers hired Rose as managing editor for the PBS series Bill Moyers' International Report. In 1975, Moyers named Rose executive producer of Bill Moyers Journal. Rose soon began appearing on camera. "A Conversation with Jimmy Carter," one installment of Moyers's series U.S.A.: People and Politics, won a 1976 Peabody Award. Rose worked at several networks honing his interview skills until KXAS-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth hired him as program manager and gave him the late-night time slot that would become the Charlie Rose show.

Rose worked for CBS News (1984–1990) as the anchor of CBS News Nightwatch, the network's first late-night news broadcast. The Nightwatch broadcast of Rose's interview with Charles Manson won an Emmy Award in 1987.^[4] In 1990, Rose left CBS to serve as anchor of Personalities, a syndicated program produced by Fox Broadcasting Company, but he got out of his contract after six weeks because of the tabloid-style content of the show. Charlie Rose premiered on PBS station Thirteen/WNET on September 30, 1991, and has been nationally syndicated since January 1993. In 1994, Rose moved the show to a studio owned by Bloomberg Television, which allowed for improved satellite interviewing.^[9]

Rose was a correspondent for 60 Minutes II^[10] from its inception in January 1999 until its cancellation in September 2005, and was later named a correspondent on 60 Minutes.^[11]

Rose was a member of the board of directors of Citadel Broadcasting Corporation from 2003 to 2009.^[3] In May 2010, Charlie Rose delivered the commencement address at North Carolina State University.

On November 15, 2011, it was announced that Rose would return to CBS to help anchor CBS This Morning, replacing The Early Show, commencing January 9, 2012, along with co-anchors Erica Hill and Gayle King.

Cameo appearances[link]

Rose has appeared as himself in the 1998 film Primary Colors,^[12] in a 2000 episode of The Simpsons^[13] and in the 2008 movie Elegy.^[14] He and his show were also used in the Wes Anderson film The Royal Tenenbaums. He also appears as himself in the 2011 George Clooney directed film, The Ides of March.

[edit] Accusations of conflict of interest

While hosting the 2002 Coca-Cola Company shareholders' meeting, Rose said "few companies are able to connect as completely with consumers in the way that Coca-Cola is. It is a privilege to be associated with [The Coca-Cola family] ... This is the business of Coca-Cola: being part of a family, being worldwide, doing well and doing good at the same time."^[15] Afterward, Coca-Cola agreed to become what Rose called "a leading underwriter" of The Charlie Rose Show, paying "six or possibly seven figures."^[16] Even the Charlie Rose mugs used on his PBS show feature a Coca-Cola logo on one side.^[17][18] Although CBS News policy bars correspondents from doing commercials and product endorsements, the Washington Post reported CBS was "comfortable" with Rose's actions. Rose insists he "would never do a story on 60 Minutes II about anybody who underwrites my PBS show."^[16]

[edit] Quiet influence

The New York Times reported that Rose encouraged a discussion between the leaders of NBC and Fox, that led eventually to a mutual reduction in ad hominem attacks between Keith Olbermann and Bill O'Reilly on their respective news programs.^[19]

Rose has attended several Bilderberg Group conference meetings, including meetings held in the United States in 2008;^[20] Spain in 2010;^[21] and Switzerland in 2011.^[22] These unofficial conferences hold guests from North America and Western Europe, most of whom are political leaders and businessmen. Details of meetings are closed off to the public and strictly invitation-only, and critics^[who?] speculate the controversial nature of these meetings of highly influential people. Accusations from conspiracy theorists against The Charlie Rose show claim that it has become the US media outlet for Bilderberg.^{[23][unreliable source?]}

Personal life[link]

Rose's twelve-year marriage to Mary Rose (née King) ended in divorce in 1980. Mary is the sister-in-law of Morgan Stanley Chairman John J. Mack. Since 1993, his companion has been socialite and chairman of the New York City Planning Commission and director of the city department of planning Amanda Burden, a stepdaughter of CBS founder William S. Paley.^[24]

On March 29, 2006, after experiencing shortness of breath in Syria, Rose was flown to Paris and underwent surgery for mitral valve repair in the Georges-Pompidou European Hospital. His surgery was performed under the supervision of Alain F. Carpentier, a pioneer of the procedure.^[25] Rose returned to the air on June 12, 2006, with Bill Moyers and Yvette Vega (the show's executive producer), to discuss his surgery and recuperation.

In a 2009 Fresh Dialogues interview, Rose described his life as "great and glorious."^[7] He added, '"I get up every morning with a new adventure. The adventure is fueled by interesting people. I get a chance to control my own destiny. I do something that is immediately either appreciated or not. I get feedback."

Rose owns a 575-acre (2.33 km²) farm in Oxford, North Carolina, an apartment overlooking Central Park in New York City, a beach house in Bellport, New York, an apartment in Washington D.C.^[3] and an apartment in Paris, France.

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (March 2012)

• Charlie Rose Official website of his eponymous show
• Charlie Rose official channel on YouTube
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Charlie Rose at the Internet Movie Database
• Charlie Rose collected news and commentary at the Los Angeles Times
• Charlie Rose collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Charlie Rose at the Notable Names Database
• Charlie Rose shows on Hulu
• celebritynetworth.com, Celebrity Net Worth, Charlie Rose
• Why Business Loves Charlie Rose David A. Kaplan, Fortune, September 28, 2009