Senator George J. Mitchell served for several years as chairman of DLA Piper and is now chairman emeritus. Before that he served as a federal judge, as Democratic majority leader in the U.S. Senate, as chairman of peace negotiations in Northern Ireland that resulted in an agreement that ended a historic conflict and, most recently, as U.S. special envoy to the Middle East. His most recent books are The Negotiator: Reflections on an American Life and A Path to Peace.
On St. Patrick’s Day, we celebrate our Irish heritage and our good fortune to be Americans. The success of America is the result of the work of people from every part of the world–of different backgrounds, religions and languages, coming together, committed not to a race or a religion but to an ideal. This is an ideal best expressed by our greatest president, Abraham Lincoln, whose goal was “to form a more perfect union.”