George Mitchell Book, Visit & Correspondence

"In 1997, George Mitchell was working towards the peace process in Northern Ireland. His wife was also pregnant at the time and living in the US. George returned to America in October of 1997and his wife gave birth to their son Andrew on October 16th 1997. In his book, Making Peace, published in 1999, George Mitchell discusses how he had numerous hopes and dreams for his child. It led him to wonder how many children were born in Northern Ireland on that day- he made a quick phone call to his Belfast office and asked his staff to find out. It turned out that there were 61 children born on that day in Northern Ireland. My own son Alexander was one of those children. By 2012, Senator George Mitchell wanted to return to Northern Ireland to show his son how Northern Ireland had changed. He decided to make a recording of the visit, and located and visited three of the 61 children who were born on October 16th 1997. My son Alexander was one of those children. George Mitchell came to my home for afternoon tea in March of 2012. George’s son Andrew visited Alexander’s school, Campbell College, in Belfast, which overlooks Stormont. We received a letter from George Mitchell, thanking them for allowing him to visit and saying that the afternoon with the family was a highlight of their visit. He also wrote in his own hand, how Andrew had really enjoyed his visit to Alexander’s school. He also signed a copy of his book for the family. Amongst this collection is the letter from the school allowing Alexander to take the day off from school in order to take part in the documentary, the signed letter from George Mitchell himself, and the copy of the book that he sent the family. "