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Mike Gravel
File:Graveldnc07.jpg

United States Senator from Alaska
In office January 3, 1969 – January 3, 1981
Preceded by	Ernest Gruening
Succeeded by	Frank Murkowski
3 Speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives
In office 1965–1966
Preceded by	Bruce Biers Kendall
Succeeded by	William K. Boardman

Personal details
Born	(1930-05-13) May 13, 1930 (age 94) Springfield, Massachusetts
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Rita Martin (divorced) Whitney Stewart Gravel
Profession	Real estate development, author
Signature	File:Gravelsign.JPG

Maurice Robert "Mike" Gravel (IPA: /gɹəˈvɛl/) (born May 13, 1930), is a former Democratic United States Senator from Alaska for two terms, from 1969 to 1981. He is primarily known for his efforts in ending the draft following the Vietnam War and for having put into the public record the Pentagon Papers in 1971. He is currently a candidate for the 2008 Democratic nomination for President of the United States.

Early life

Gravel was born in Springfield, Massachusetts to French-Canadian immigrant parents, Marie Bourassa and Alphonse Gravel, a painting contractor. There, he was raised in a working class neighborhood and educated in parochial schools as a Roman Catholic, attending Assumption College Preparatory School. He has a sister, Marguerite, who became a nun.

Gravel studied for one year at American International College in Springfield,, then enlisted in the United States Army in 1951 and served in West Germany as a Special Adjutant in the Communication and Intelligent Services and as a Special Agent in the Counter Intelligence Corps until 1954. A dyslexic, who talks about his learning disability openly, he attended Columbia University's School of General Studies in New York City, where he studied economics and received a B.S. in 1956. He drove a taxicab to support himself.

Gravel moved to Alaska in 1956, without funds or a job, looking for a place where he could be a viable candidate for public office. He found work in several areas, including real estate sales, brakeman for the Alaska Railroad, and a successful property developer on the Kenai Peninsula.

Gravel married Rita Jeannette Martin, who had been Anchorage's "Miss Fur Rendezvous" of 1958, on April 29, 1959. They had two children, Martin Anthony Gravel and Lynne Denise Gravel, born circa 1960 and 1962 respectively. Meanwhile, he ran unsuccessfully for the territorial legislature in 1958. He went on a national speaking tour concerning tax reform in 1959, sponsored by the Jaycees. He ran unsuccessfully for the Anchorage City Council in 1960. He ran for the Alaska House of Representatives representing Anchorage in 1962 and won.

State legislator

Gravel served in the Alaska House of Representatives from 1963 to 1966, winning re-election in 1964. During 1965 and 1966, he served as the Speaker of the House. He did not run for re-election in 1966, instead choosing to run for Alaska's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, losing to incumbent Democrat Ralph Rivers.

In 1968 he ran against the 81-year-old incumbent Democratic Senator Ernest Gruening, a popular former governor of the Alaska Territory who was considered one of the fathers of Alaska's statehood, for his party's nomination to the U.S. Senate. Gravel's campaign was based on his youth, his heavy use of well-produced television advertisements, and by being deliberately ambiguous about his Vietnam policy (Gruening had been one of only two Senators to vote against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.) Gravel unexpectedly beat Gruening in a tight result in the primary and went on to win the general election, gaining 45% of the vote against 37% for Republican Elmer E. Rasmuson and 18% for Gruening, who ran a write-in campaign as an Independent.

Senator

Gravel served on the Environment and Public Works Committee throughout his Senate career. He also served on the Finance and Interior Committees and he chaired the Energy, Water Resources, and Environmental Pollution subcommittees.

Nuclear issues

In the late 1960s and early 1970s the Pentagon was in the process of performing calibration tests for a nuclear warhead that, upon investigation, was revealed to be obsolete. The Cannikin tests involved the detonation of nuclear bombs under the seabed of the North Pacific at Amchitka Island, Alaska. Gravel opposed the tests in Congress and organized worldwide environmental opposition to their continuation. The program was halted after the second test.

Nuclear power was considered an environmentally clean alternative for the commercial generation of electricity and was part of a popular national policy for the peaceful use of atomic energy in the 1950s and 1960s. Gravel publicly opposed this policy in 1970. He used his office to organize citizen opposition to the policy and to persuade Ralph Nader's organization to join the opposition.

Vietnam War and foreign policy

Alaskan issues

Mike Gravel and Whitney Gravel with their dog Ginger

In 1973, Gravel introduced an amendment to empower the Congress to make the policy decision about the construction of the Alaska Pipeline. The amendment passed the Senate by a single vote. The pipeline has been responsible for 20% of the U.S. oil supply.

Gravel opposed the Alaskan fishing industry in advocating American participation in the formation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). For two years he opposed legislation that permitted the U.S. to unilaterally take control of the 200-mile waters bordering its land mass. The legislation was passed, and the United States has signed but never ratified the UNCLOS.

He helped secure a private grant to facilitate the first Inuit Circumpolar Conference in 1977, attended by Inuit representatives from Alaska, Canada, and Greenland. These conferences now also include representatives from Russia.

In the early 1970s Gravel supported a demonstration project that established links between Alaskan villages and the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, for medical diagnostic communications.

Gravel authored and secured the passage into law of the General Stock Ownership Corporation (GSOC), Subchapter U of the Tax Code, as a prerequisite to a failed 1980 Alaskan ballot initiative that would have paid dividends to Alaskan citizens for Pipeline-related revenue.

Run for Vice President

Gravel actively campaigned for the office of Vice President of the United States during the 1972 presidential election. At the 1972 Democratic National Convention, he was nominated by Bettye Fahrenkamp, the national committeewoman of Alaska. The senator then addressed the convention and won 226 delegate votes, coming in third behind Senator Thomas Eagleton of Missouri, who was convention Presidential nominee George McGovern's choice, and Frances "Sissy" Farenthold of Texas, in chaotic balloting after many delegates were unsatisfied by McGovern's choice.

Re-election to Senate in 1974

In 1974 Gravel was re-elected to the Senate, winning 58% of the vote against 42% for Republican C. R. Lewis.

Loss of Senate seat in 1980

In 1980 Gravel was challenged for the Democratic Party's nomination by State Representative Clark Gruening, the grandson of the man Gravel had defeated in a primary 12 years earlier. Gruening won the primary. As an incumbent candidate in 1968, Gravel had never established a firm party base; a group of Democrats, including future governor Steve Cowper, led the campaign against Gravel, with Gravel's actions against 1978 and 1980 lands bills in Alaska a major issue. Another factor may have been Alaska's primary system, which allows unlimited cross-over voting across parties and from its large unaffiliated electorate. In any case, Gravel would later concede that by the time of his defeat, he had alienated "almost every constituency in Alaska." Gruening went on to lose in the general election to Republican Frank Murkowski.

Career after leaving the Senate

Mike Gravel with campaign finance reform activist and friend Ethel *Granny D* Haddock

Gravel took the 1980 defeat hard, recalling years later: "I had lost my career. I lost my marriage. I was in the doldrums for ten years after my defeat." Sometime in the early 1980s, he and his first wife Rita were divorced; she would later be the recipient of all of his Senate pension income.

During the 1980s, Gravel was a real estate developer in Anchorage and Kenai, Alaska, a consultant, and a stockbroker. One of his real estate ventures, a condominium business, was forced to declare bankruptcy and a lawsuit ensued.

Beginning in 1989 he reentered the world of politics. He became founder and head of The Democracy Foundation, which promotes direct democracy.

Gravel led an effort to get a United States Constitutional amendment to allow voter-initiated federal legislation similar to state ballot initiatives. He argued that Americans are able to legislate responsibly, and that the Act and Amendment in the National Initiative would allow American citizens to become "law makers".

Gravel married his second wife, Whitney Stewart Gravel, circa 1984; they live in Arlington County, Virginia. They have the two grown children from his first marriage, Martin Gravel and Lynne Gravel Mosier, and four grandchildren. In the 2000s, Gravel suffered from serious health issues, requiring three surgeries in 2003 for back pain and neuropathy; in 2004 he declared personal bankruptcy. After that, he began taking a salary from the non-profit organizations he was working for. Much of that income was lent to his presidential campaign; in 2007, he declared that he has "zero net worth."

Barnes Review controversy

In June 2003 Gravel gave a speech on direct democracy at a conference hosted by the American Free Press. The event was cosponsored by the Barnes Review, a journal that endorses Holocaust denial. Gravel has said repeatedly that he does not share such a view, stating "You better believe I know that six million Jews were killed. I've been to the Holocaust Museum. I've seen the footage of General Eisenhower touring one of the camps. They're nutty as loons if they don't think it happened". The newspaper had intended to interview Gravel about the National Initiative. Senator Gravel recounts the background to the event:

"He liked the idea of the National Initiative. I figured it was an opportunity to discuss it. Whether it is the far right, far left, whatever, I'll make my pitch to them. They gave me a free subscription to American Free Press. They still send it to me today. I flip through it sometimes. It has some extreme views, and a lot of the ads in it are even more extreme and make me want to upchuck. Anyways, sometime later, Carto contacted me to speak at that Barnes Review Conference. I had never heard of the Barnes Review, didn't know anything about it or what they stood for. I was just coming to give a presentation about the National Initiative. I was there maybe 30 minutes. I could tell from the people in the room (mainly some very old men) that they were pretty extreme. I gave my speech, answered some questions and left. I never saw the agenda for the day or listened to any of the other presentations."

Writings

During his first term in the Senate, Gravel wrote a book titled Citizen Power, in which he advocated the implementation of numerous ideas:

a guaranteed annual income (dubbed the "Citizen's Wage"),

public financing of elections,

progressive tax with no deductions or exemptions,

steps against the military-industrial complex (which he calls the "Warfare State"),

a national law to do away with voter registration and other barriers to voting,

abolition of the death penalty,

universal health care, school vouchers,

a drastic reduction in government secrecy, and an end to America's imperialistic foreign policy.

The book also contained the complete text of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the complete platform adopted by the Populist Party during the 1892 presidential election.

Political positions

Main article: Political positions of Mike Gravel

Mike Gravel has announced positions on issues relevant to the upcoming Presidential election and matters of general political controversy in the American context. Regarding health care Gravel has stated that he is an advocate for 'a national, universal single-payer not-for-profit health care system' in the United States. In veterans affairs he has proposed to index veteran health care entitlements to take full account of increases in the costs of care and medicine. He supports a drug policy that legalizes and regulates all drugs, treating drug abuse as a medical issue, rather than a criminal matter. With regards to immigration he has declared that he favors a guest worker program. Senator Gravel supports the FairTax proposal that calls for eliminating the IRS and the income tax and replacing it with a progressive national sales tax of between 19 and 23 percent on newly manufactured items and services. Senator Gravel has advocated that carbon energy should be taxed to provide the funding for a global effort to bring together the world's scientific and engineering communities to develop energy alternatives to significantly reduce the world’s energy dependence on carbon. Senator Gravel in principle does not object to the use of embryonic stem cells for medical research purposes. He is avowedly pro-choice on the issue of abortion and women's reproductive rights. He supports constitutional amendments towards direct democracy.

Some of his political leanings and convictions may also be learned from the content of his 1972-published manifesto, Citizen Power.

Presidential bid in 2008

Template:Future election candidate

Main article: Mike Gravel presidential campaign, 2008 Further information: United States presidential election, 2008 Further information: Official and Potential 2008 United States presidential election Democratic candidates

Mike Gravel at the launch of his Presidential campaign in April 2006

On April 17 2006, Gravel became a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2008 election, announcing his run in a speech to the National Press Club. Short on campaign cash, he took public transportation to get to his announcement.

Gravel's campaign is based primarily on his ardent support for direct democracy (the National Initiative), but also emphasizes his support for a national sales tax and abolition of the IRS, immediate withdrawal from the war in Iraq, a single payer national health care system, and term limits during his campaign.

Although Gravel's campaign has been little-noticed by the national media, he has campaigned almost full time in New Hampshire, the first primary state, since his announcement. He addressed the Democratic National Committee's Winter Convention in early February 2007 and was one of the participants in the Democratic Presidential Candidates forum in Carson City, Nevada later the same month.

Through February 2007, opinion polls of contenders for the Democratic nomination have all shown Gravel with a 1% or less support level. At the end of March 2007, his campaign had less than $500 in cash on hand against debts of nearly $90,000.

On April 26 2007 he took part in the first Democratic presidential debate at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, South Carolina. During the debate he suggested a Democratic bill criminalizing the war in Iraq. He also advocated positions such as opposing preemptive nuclear war. He stated that the Iraq War had the effect of creating more terrorists and that the "war was lost the day that George Bush invaded Iraq on a fraudulent basis". Overall, Gravel gained considerable publicity by shaking up the normally staid multiple-candidate format. However, it did not improve his performance in the polls; a May 2007 CNN poll showed him with less than 0.5 percent support among Democrats.

In early March, Gravel was not invited to an upcoming New Hampshire Presidential Debate. It was a joint effort from CNN, Hearst owned WMUR-TV and the Union Leader. After the South Carolina Presidential Debate and heavy lobbying from supporters, CNN reversed its decision. During the June 2 debate, which lasted two hours, he was asked 10 questions and allowed to speak for five minutes and 37 seconds.

Again on July 23 during the CNN-YouTube Presidential Debate, Gravel complained of a lack of airtime, asking, "Has this been fair so far?"

In August, 2007, at a gay pride event in New Hampshire, he was asked where he stood on gays in the military, and responded, "When Clinton got to be President, well, the first he's doing is standing there on two legs waffling back and forth, oh, don't tell us you're gay. What are you talking about? If you had any knowledge of history, ancient history, in Sparta they encouraged homosexuality because they fight for the people they love. And if it's your partner and you love them, you're prepared to die for them, and that's the same ethic you see in the military today. It's not the country. It's my partner. Go see the movies on war, and it's always the person next to me who is in my foxhole with me. Well, I got to tell you, extend that a little further and you'll see why the Spartans trained their people to be homosexuals, because they're better fighters."

This tended to fly in the face not only of ancient Greek history, the history of Sparta and most of the documented behavior of gays in the military, but contradicts the assertion by most gay and lesbian groups that homosexuality is not learned behavior.

References

Battle, Robert. "The Ancestors of Mike Gravel". WARGS.com. Retrieved 2007-05-02.
^ "No Shortcuts to the Top (2)", World Voice News, April 30, 2007. Accessed July 20, 2007.
^ Jo-Ann Moriarty, "Springfield native has sights set on top job", The Republican, February 19, 2007. Accessed July 7, 2007.
James Stuart Olson, Dictionary of the Vietnam War, Greenwood Press, 1988, p. 174 ff. ISBN 0313249431.
http://www.gravel2008.us/draft
Democracy Now, broadcast of forum on "How the Pentagon Papers Came to be Published...", July 2, 2007
^ Stephen Haycox, Gravel entry in American Legislative Leaders in the West, 1911-1994, Greenwood Press, 1997. ISBN 031330212X. p. 126.
^ Alex Koppelman, "Don't worry, be Mike Gravel", Salon.com, May 7, 2007. Accessed July 4, 2007.
Democracy in Action (April 17 2007). "Interview with Former U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel". National Press Club. Retrieved 2007-04-29. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
^ Current Biography Yearbook 1972, H.W. Wilson Co., published in collection 1986, p. 184.
Approximate birth years of children from ages in various online people records databases.
^ Robert KC Johnson, "Not Many Senators Have Found Themselves in Joe Lieberman's Predicament", History News Network, August 7, 2006. Accessed July 7, 2007.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0043-4078(196909)22%3A3%3C456%3AT1EIA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-U
http://ni4d.us/people/gravel2.htm
The Nation, "The Foregone Convention", July 24, 1972
^ Wallace Turner, "Side Issues Figure in Tricky Alaska Primary", The New York Times, July 6, 1982. Accessed July 7, 2007.
Politics1, "P2008: An Interview With Presidential Candidate Mike Gravel" by Ron Gunzburger, April 17, 2006
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, Mike Gravel profile
"First Democrat to Announce Candidacy for President on Monday", Joe Lauria, CommonDreams New Centre, Published April 13, 2006
Kerry Eleveld, "Mike Gravel's big splash?", The Advocate, July 3, 2007. Accessed July 7, 2007.
http://www.gravel2008.us/bio
http://wymaninstitute.org/articles/2003-denialreport.php
http://www.politics1.com/blog-0406a.htm
http://www.gravel2008.us/issues#healthcare
http://www.gravel2008.us/issues
Philip Elliot, "Ex-Alaska Sen. Gravel Runs for President", Associated Press, April 17, 2006. Accessed March 10, 2007.
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00423202/285065/ FEC Quarterly filing for April quarter 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/05/07/schneider.2008.polls/index.html
http://www.gravel2008.us/?q=node/471

The Pentagon Papers Senator Gravel Edition. Vol. Five. Critical Essays. Boston. Beacon Press, 1972. 341p. plus 72p. of Index to Vol. I–IV of the Papers, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, editors.

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Speeches and debates

Political offices
Preceded byBruce Biers Kendall	Speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives 1965-1966	Succeeded byWilliam K. Boardman
Preceded byErnest Gruening	U.S. senator (Class 3) from Alaska 1969–1981 Served alongside: Ted Stevens	Succeeded byFrank Murkowski
Preceded byErnest Gruening	Democratic Party nominee for Senator from Alaska (Class 3) 1968 (won), 1974 (won)	Succeeded byClark Gruening

v t e United States senators from Alaska
Class 2	Bartlett Stevens Begich Sullivan
Class 3	Gruening Gravel F. Murkowski L. Murkowski

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