Briefly a Judge, Mitchell Often Resembles One

To the extent that most Americans have any impressions of the Senate's new majority leader, they were probably formed at a dramatic moment during the congressional investigation into the Iran-contra affair when Sen. George J. Mitchell (D-Maine) delivered a stern lesson on constitutional government to Marine Lt. Col. Oliver L. North.

Responding to North's plea that Congress not abandon the Nicaraguan contras "for the love of God and for the love of country," Mitchell said: "However important and noble an objective, and surely democracy abroad is important and is noble, it cannot be…