Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (D-Maine) called on "the privileged few," students and faculty at Harvard Law School (HLS), to "ensure hope for the hopeless" during a keynote speech Friday for a two-day symposium on negotiation.

Before the speech, he was presented with the first "Great Negotiator Award" by the HLS Program on Negotiation (PON).

The award recognized Mitchell's lengthy political career, which has included work as a federal judge, a senator and chair of the Northern Ireland peace negotiations that resulted in the Good Friday Agreements of 1998.

During his speech, Mitchell discussed two lessons he learned from his work in Ireland that he said could be beneficial to Americans.

He observed a strong correlation between poverty and violence, which he said was as crucial to Ireland's peace process as any religious or nationalistic quarrels.

"Wherever men and women have no hope, wherever they despair, there are the ingredients of violence," he said.

Mitchell said he fears that many young people incorrectly believe America's international influence stems from its military and economic power, rather than the ideals of "individual liberty, equality and opportunity before the law" that he believes truly set America apart as a great nation.

He said the many immigrants whom he naturalized as a federal judge were drawn here by the idea that, as one boy told him, "In America, everyone has a chance."