Mike Gravel: Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox officeholder
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Mike Gravel
| name = Mike Gravel
| firstname = Mike
| name-first = Mike
| last = Gravel
| name-last = Gravel
| image = Mike Gravel cropped.png
| image = Mike Gravel cropped.png
| jr/sr = United States Senator
| jr/sr = United States Senator
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| successor2 = Michael F. Beirne
| successor2 = Michael F. Beirne
| birth_name = Maurice Robert Gravel
| birth_name = Maurice Robert Gravel
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1930|5|13}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|1930|5|13}}
| birth_place = [[Springfield, Massachusetts|Springfield]], [[Massachusetts]], U.S.
| birth_place = [[Springfield, Massachusetts|Springfield]], [[Massachusetts]], U.S.
| death_date =  
| death_date = {{death date and age|2021|6|26}}
| death_place =  
| death_place = [[Seaside, California]]
| party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] (before 2008; 2010–present)<br />[[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian]] (2008–2010)
| party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] (before 2008; 2010–present)<br />[[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian]] (2008–2010)
| spouse = {{marriage|Rita Martin|1959|1981|end=div}}<br />{{Marriage|Whitney Stewart|1984}}
| spouse = {{marriage|Rita Martin|1959|1981|end=div}}<br />{{Marriage|Whitney Stewart|1984}}
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| rank = [[File:US-O2 insignia.svg|10px]] [[First lieutenant|First Lieutenant]]
| rank = [[File:US-O2 insignia.svg|10px]] [[First lieutenant|First Lieutenant]]
}}
}}
'''Maurice Robert''' "'''Mike'''" '''Gravel''' (born May 13, 1930) is an American politician who served as a [[United States Senate|United States Senator]] from Alaska from 1969 to 1981. A former member of the [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian Party]], he ran for U.S. president in the 2008 election.
'''Maurice Robert''' "'''Mike'''" '''Gravel''' (May 13, 1930 – June 26, 2021) is an American politician who served as a [[United States Senate|United States Senator]] from Alaska from 1969 to 1981. A former member of the [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian Party]], he ran for U.S. president in the 2008 election.


Born and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts, by French-Canadian immigrant parents, Gravel served in the U.S. Army in West Germany, and later graduated from the Columbia University School of General Studies. He moved to Alaska in the late 1950s, becoming a real estate developer and entering politics. He served in the Alaska House of Representatives from 1963 to 1967 and also became Speaker of the Alaska House. Gravel was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1968.
Born and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts, by French-Canadian immigrant parents, Gravel served in the U.S. Army in West Germany, and later graduated from the Columbia University School of General Studies. He moved to Alaska in the late 1950s, becoming a real estate developer and entering politics. He served in the Alaska House of Representatives from 1963 to 1967 and also became Speaker of the Alaska House. Gravel was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1968.
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Gravel was born on May 13, 1930 in Springfield, Massachusetts, one of five children of French-Canadian immigrant parents, Alphonse and Marie (née Bourassa) Gravel.<ref>[http://www.wargs.com/political/gravel.html Mike Gravel genealogy], Wargs.</ref><ref name="cby-182">''Current Biography Yearbook 1972'', p. 182.</ref><ref name="gravel-70">Gravel and Lauria, ''A Political Odyssey'', pp. 69–70.</ref>
Gravel was born on May 13, 1930 in Springfield, Massachusetts, one of five children of French-Canadian immigrant parents, Alphonse and Marie (née Bourassa) Gravel.<ref>[http://www.wargs.com/political/gravel.html Mike Gravel genealogy], Wargs.</ref><ref name="cby-182">''Current Biography Yearbook 1972'', p. 182.</ref><ref name="gravel-70">Gravel and Lauria, ''A Political Odyssey'', pp. 69–70.</ref>


Gravel "decided to become a pioneer in a faraway place,"<ref name="nyt022776" /> and moved to pre-statehood Alaska in August 1956, without funds or a job, looking for a place where someone without social or political connections could be a viable candidate for public office.<ref name="wapo090907" /><ref name="salon050707" /> Alaska's voting age of 19, less than most other states' 21, played a role in his decision,<ref name="nyt070271">{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F20D10FD3A5B1A7493C0A9178CD85F458785F9 |title=Impetuous Senator: Maurice Robert Gravel |author=Warren Weaver, Jr. |newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 2, 1971 |access-date=December 24, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> as did its newness<ref name="wapo090907" /> and cooler climate.<ref name="salon050707" />
Gravel "decided to become a pioneer in a faraway place,"<ref name="nyt022776">{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F30E14F83A58167493C5AB1789D85F428785F9 |title=Senators From Hinterlands Recall Early Years in City; U.S. Senators Recall Their Early Years in City |author=Martin Tolchin |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 27, 1976 |access-date=December 11, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> and moved to pre-statehood Alaska in August 1956, without funds or a job, looking for a place where someone without social or political connections could be a viable candidate for public office.<ref name="wapo090907">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/04/AR2007090401794.html?sid=ST2007101600688 |title=Last |author=Leahy, Michael |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=September 9, 2007 |access-date=December 20, 2007}}</ref><ref name="salon050707">{{cite web |author=Alex Koppelman |url=http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/05/07/mike_gravel/index.html |title=Don't worry, be Mike Gravel |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090627105316/http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/05/07/mike_gravel/index.html |archive-date=June 27, 2009 |website=salon.com |date=May 7, 2007 |access-date=July 4, 2007}}</ref> Alaska's voting age of 19, less than most other states' 21, played a role in his decision,<ref name="nyt070271">{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F20D10FD3A5B1A7493C0A9178CD85F458785F9 |title=Impetuous Senator: Maurice Robert Gravel |author=Warren Weaver, Jr. |newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 2, 1971 |access-date=December 24, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> as did its newness<ref name="wapo090907" /> and cooler climate.<ref name="salon050707" /> Seeing Alaska as a wide-open place with no political establishment or entrenched interests,<ref name="odyssey-136">Gravel and Lauria, ''A Political Odyssey'', p. 136.</ref> Gravel quickly became part of the civic scene there.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/10383606/?terms=%22mike%2Bgravel%22 |title=Democrats Plan Two-Day Drive For Campaign |newspaper=Fairbanks News-Miner |date=October 7, 1957 |page=10 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=April 3, 2019}}</ref><ref name="fnm-statehood">{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/11709894/?terms=%22mike%2Bgravel%22 |title=Alaskan Young Demo Tells Conference Statehood Views |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=Fairbanks News-Miner |date=June 23, 1958 |page=3 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=April 3, 2019}}</ref>
 
Seeing Alaska as a wide-open place with no political establishment or entrenched interests,<ref name="odyssey-136" /> Gravel quickly became part of the civic scene there.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/10383606/?terms=%22mike%2Bgravel%22 |title=Democrats Plan Two-Day Drive For Campaign |newspaper=[[Fairbanks News-Miner]] |date=October 7, 1957 |page=10 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=April 3, 2019}}</ref><ref name="fnm-statehood">{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/11709894/?terms=%22mike%2Bgravel%22 |title=Alaskan Young Demo Tells Conference Statehood Views |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=Fairbanks News-Miner |date=June 23, 1958 |page=3 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=April 3, 2019}}</ref>
 
By early 1958, Gravel was running as Democratic Party primary candidate for a Third Division seat in House of Representative of the territorial legislature<ref name="fdnm-feb58">{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/4530775 |title=Total of 30 Candidates File For Fourth Division Seats |newspaper=Fairbanks News-Miner |date=February 3, 1958 |pages=1, 3 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=April 3, 2019}}</ref> (this was one of the four judicial divisions into which Alaska was sectioned at the time).  Using the slogan "Gravel, the Roadbed to Prosperity", he ran but lost.<ref name="salon050707" /><ref name="odyssey-136">Gravel and Lauria, ''A Political Odyssey'', p. 136.</ref>  At the same time, he was also an advocate for Alaskan statehood.<ref name="fnm-statehood" />
 
== Career after leaving the Senate ==
 
Of his 1980 defeat, Gravel later recalled: "I had lost my career. I lost my marriage. I was in the doldrums for ten years after my defeat,"<ref>Politics1, [http://www.politics1.com/blog-0406a.htm#0417 "P2008: An Interview With Presidential Candidate Mike Gravel"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080102230755/http://www.politics1.com/blog-0406a.htm |date=January 2, 2008 }} by Ron Gunzburger, April 17, 2006.</ref> and "Nobody wanted to hire me for anything important. I felt like I was worthless. I didn't know what I could do."<ref name="wapo090907" /> By his own later description, Gravel was a womanizer, and had an affair while in the Senate, and in December 1980 he and his wife Rita separated.<ref name="odyssey-196">Gravel and Lauria, ''A Political Odyssey'', pp. 196–197.</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://newyork.metromix.com/events/article/q-and-a-mike/492923/content |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010150630/http://newyork.metromix.com/events/article/q-and-a-mike/492923/content |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 10, 2008 |title=Q&A: Mike Gravel |author=Leonard Jacobs |publisher=[[Metromix]] |date=July 8, 2008 |access-date=July 20, 2008}}</ref><ref name="ap121281">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ygcgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CGUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5116,1717191 |title=People in the News |agency=[[Associated Press]] |newspaper=[[Lewiston Journal]] |date=September 12, 1981 |page=14}}</ref> They filed for divorce in September 1981;<ref name="ap121281" /> she would later get all of his Senate pension income.<ref name="salon050707" />
 
=== Return to politics ===
In 1989, Gravel reentered politics.<ref name="salon050707" /> He founded and led The Democracy Foundation, which promotes [[direct democracy]].<ref>[http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0413-11.htm "First Democrat to Announce Candidacy for President on Monday"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061122112654/http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0413-11.htm |date=November 22, 2006 }}, Joe Lauria, CommonDreams New Centre, Published April 13, 2006.</ref> He established the Philadelphia II corporation, which seeks to replicate the original 1787 Constitutional Convention in bringing direct democracy about.<ref name="ni4d-rev" />
 
Gravel led a quixotic effort to get a [[United States Constitution]]al amendment to allow voter-initiated federal legislation similar to state ballot initiatives.<ref name="salon050707" /><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/07/power-people-democracy-foundations-plan-create-fourth-branch-government |title=Power to the People: The Democracy Foundation's Plan to Create a Fourth Branch of Government |author=Jonathan Stein |magazine=[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]] |date=June 29, 2007 |access-date=November 25, 2012}}</ref> 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".
 
In 2001,<!-- need a firmer cite on this --> Gravel became director of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, where he admired institute co-founder Gregory Fossedal's work on direct democracy in Switzerland.<ref name="ni4d-rev">{{cite web |url=http://old.ni4d.us/library/fossedal_direct_democracy_in_switzerland.htm |title=Direct Democracy in Switzerland: A Review |publisher=National Initiative for Democracy |access-date=November 13, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511232809/http://old.ni4d.us/library/fossedal_direct_democracy_in_switzerland.htm |archive-date=May 11, 2011}}</ref> By 2004, Gravel had become chair of the institute,<ref>{{cite web |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20041029205923/http://www.adti.net/background/contacting.html |archive-date=October 29, 2004 |title=Contacting the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution |publisher=Alexis de Tocqueville Institutio] |url=http://www.adti.net/background/contacting.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> and Fossedal (who in turn was a director of the Democracy Foundation) gave the introduction at Gravel's presidential announcement.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2008/gravel/gravel041706b.html |title=Former U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel Announces His Campaign |date=April 17, 2006 |publisher=Democracy in Action}}</ref>
 
In 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'',<ref name="salon050707" /> a journal that endorses Holocaust denial.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://wymaninstitute.org/articles/2003-denialreport.php |title=Holocaust Denial: A Global Survey – 2003 |author=Alex Grobman, Rafael Medoff |publisher=David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies |access-date=December 29, 2009}}</ref> After some controversy over his appearance, Gravel apologized, saying he did not realize the group's ties. Gravel has said repeatedly that he does not share the group's views on the Holocaust,<ref name="pjv">{{cite news |url=http://www.pjvoice.com/v26/26300words.aspx |title=Interview with Senator Mike Gravel |author=Alan Tuttle |publisher=Philadelphia Jewish Voice |date=August 2007 |access-date=January 1, 2008}}</ref> 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 [referring to the ''Barnes Review'' and publisher Willis Carto] nutty as loons if they don't think it happened".<ref name="politics1">{{cite news |url=http://www.politics1.com/blog-0406a.htm |title=An Interview with Presidential Candidate Mike Gravel |author=Ron Gunzburger |publisher=Politics1.com |date=April 17, 2006 |access-date=December 29, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080102230755/http://www.politics1.com/blog-0406a.htm |archive-date=January 2, 2008}}</ref> The group invited Gravel to speak again, but he declined.<ref name="pjv" />
 
Mike and Whitney Gravel lived in Arlington County, Virginia, until 2010 and now reside in Burlingame, California.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mikegravel.us/contact |title=National Contacts |publisher=MikeGravel.us |access-date=March 18, 2013}}</ref> They have the two grown children from his first marriage, Martin Gravel and Lynne Gravel Mosier, and four grandchildren.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gravel2008.us/bio |title=Mike Gravel Biography |publisher=Mike Gravel for President 2008 |access-date=December 29, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071227091525/http://www.gravel2008.us/bio |archive-date=December 27, 2007}}</ref> Whitney Gravel's income has sustained the couple since 1998.<ref name="wapo090907" /> In the 2000s, Gravel suffered poor health, requiring three surgeries in 2003 for [[back pain]] and [[neuropathy]].<ref name="salon050707" /> Due to unreimbursed medical expenses and debts from his political causes, he declared [[personal bankruptcy]] in 2004.<ref name="wapo090907" /><ref name="salon050707" /> He began taking a salary from the non-profit organizations for which he was working; much of that income was lent to his presidential campaign. In 2007, he declared that he had "zero net worth".<ref name="salon050707" />


== 2008 presidential campaign ==
== 2008 presidential campaign ==
=== Democratic Party primaries ===
[[File:Mgravelgrandpa.jpg|thumb|left|Mike Gravel at the launch of his Presidential campaign in April 2006]]
name="salon050707" /> On April 17, 2006,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A01EED8173FF93BA25757C0A9609C8B63 |title=Washington: A 'Maverick' For President |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=April 18, 2006 |access-date=December 24, 2007}}</ref> Gravel became the first candidate for the [[Potential Democratic candidates in the 2008 U.S. presidential election|Democratic nomination]] for [[President of the United States]] in the [[2008 United States presidential election|2008 election]], announcing his run in a speech to the [[National Press Club (USA)|National Press Club]] in [[Washington, D.C.]] Short on campaign cash, he took [[public transportation]] to get to his announcement.<ref>{{cite news |author=Elliot, Philip |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-122070086.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511205241/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-122070086.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 11, 2011 |title=Ex-Alaska Sen. Gravel Runs for President |agency=Associated Press |date=April 17, 2006 |access-date=August 28, 2010 |format=fee required}}</ref> (Gravel called for [[public financing of elections]].<ref name="Q&A">[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2007/10/01/DI2007100101475.html The Candidates: Sen. Mike Gravel: Democratic Candidate for President, Former U.S. Sen. (D-Alaska)], ''Washington Post'' (October 16, 2007).</ref>) Other principal Gravel positions were the [[FairTax]], [[Withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq (2007–2011)|withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq]] within 120 days, a [[single-payer health care|single payer national health care system]], and [[term limits]].
Gravel had opposed the [[Iraq War]] from the beginning,<ref name="Pew" /><ref name="GravelOfficial">[http://new.mikegravel.us/issues How Mike Stands on the Issues] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917034549/http://new.mikegravel.us/issues |date=September 17, 2016 }}, MikeGravel.us (accessed September 7, 2016).</ref> and in 2006 said that U.S. troops in Iraq, as in Vietnam, had "died in vain".<ref name="Pew" /><ref name="Kim" /> He also favored a regional peace initiative, as well as [[reparations (transitional justice)|reparation payments]] for Iraqis.<ref name="Pew" /><ref name="GravelOfficial" /> Gravel also called for a "U.S. corporate withdrawal from Iraq", with reconstruction contracts held by U.S. companies to be turned over to Iraqi firms.<ref name="Pew" /><ref name="GravelOfficial" />
Gravel campaigned almost full-time in [[New Hampshire]], [[New Hampshire primary|the first primary state]], following his announcement. [[Opinion polling for the Democratic Party (United States) 2008 presidential candidates|Opinion polls of contenders for the Democratic nomination]] showed Gravel with 1&nbsp;percent or less support. By the end of March 2007, Gravel's campaign had less than $500 in cash on hand against debts of nearly $90,000.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00423202/285065/ |title=FEC Form 3P for Mike Gravel |publisher=[[Federal Election Commission]] |date=April 15, 2007 |access-date=December 29, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120021914/http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00423202/285065/ |archive-date=November 20, 2008}}</ref>
[[File:YearlyKos 2007 (1046567384) (croppeda).jpg|thumb|right|Gravel (far left) at an August 2007 candidates' forum; frontrunners Edwards, Clinton, and Obama are to the immediate right of the moderator]]
Because of his time in the Senate, Gravel was invited to many of the early Democratic presidential debates. During the initial one at [[South Carolina State University]] on April 26, 2007, he suggested a bill requiring the president to withdraw from Iraq on pain of criminal penalties. He also advocated positions such as opposing preemptive [[Nuclear warfare|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."<ref name="abc042607" /> Regarding his fellow candidates, he said, "I got to tell you, after standing up with them, some of these people frighten me – they frighten me."<ref name="abc042607">[http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3086826 No Breakout Candidate at Democratic Debate], [[ABC News]], April 26, 2007</ref> Media stories said that Gravel was responsible for much of whatever "heat" and "flashpoints" had taken place.<ref name="abc042607" /><ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1713018.ece "Clinton edges ahead after first Democratic debate"], ''[[The Times]]'', April 27, 2007.</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/uselections08/story/0,2066862,00.html Hillary Clinton shines in Democratic candidates' debate], Ewen MacAskill, ''[[The Guardian]]'', April 27, 2007.</ref> Gravel gained considerable publicity by shaking up the normally staid multiple-candidate format; ''[[The New York Times]]''<nowiki>'</nowiki> media critic said that what Gravel had done was "steal a debate with outrageous, curmudgeonly statements."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/us/politics/04tvwatch.html |title=A Show Where Candidates Are More Prop Than Player |author=Alessandra Stanley |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=May 4, 2007 |access-date=December 28, 2007}}</ref> The Internet was a benefit: a [[YouTube]] video of his responses in the debate was viewed more than 225,892 times, ranking seventeenth in most views for week and first among news and politics clips;<ref group="nb">{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gMlHv2lDqA <!--Added by H3llBot--> |title=p. Mike Gravel at the Democratic Debate |work=This video has been removed due to terms of use violation |publisher=[[YouTube]] |access-date=May 4, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070518062818/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gMlHv2lDqA <!--Added by H3llBot--> |archive-date=May 18, 2007}} The YouTube debate clip was also ranked #7 top rated (for week), #23 top favored (for week), #25 most discussed (for week), #4 most linked (for week), and #1 top rated – news and politics (for week).</ref> his name became the fifteenth most searched-for in the [[blogosphere]];<ref>{{cite news |url=http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2007/04/mike_gravel_soo.html |title=Mike Gravel, soon to be a household name |author=Mark Memmott, Jill Lawrence |newspaper=[[USA Today]] |date=April 30, 2007 |access-date=December 28, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071024150656/http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2007/04/mike_gravel_soo.html |archive-date=October 24, 2007}}</ref> and his website garnered more traffic than those of frontrunners [[Hillary Clinton]], [[Barack Obama]], or [[John Edwards]].<ref name="salon050707" /> Gravel appeared on the popular ''[[Colbert Report]]'' on television on May 2,<ref name="salon050707" /> and his campaign and career were profiled in national publications such as ''[[Salon (magazine)|Salon]]''.<ref name="salon050707" /> Two wordless, [[Andy Warhol|Warholesque]] campaign videos, "Rock" and "Fire", were released on YouTube in late May and became hits,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/06/18/mike-gravel-behind-the-music/ |title=Mike Gravel: Behind the Music |author=Lisa Tozzi |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 18, 2007 |access-date=February 15, 2008}}</ref> and eventually gained over 760,000 and 185,000 views respectively.<ref>{{cite video |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rZdAB4V_j8 | title=Mike Gravel – Rock |publisher=[[YouTube]] |date=May 27, 2007 |access-date=February 15, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite video |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRwizmuCnOw | title=Mike Gravel – Fire |publisher=[[YouTube]] |date=May 28, 2007 |access-date=February 15, 2008}}</ref> "Rock," in turn, was given airtime during an episode of ''[[The Daily Show with Jon Stewart]]''. Some thirty-five years after he first achieved the national spotlight, he had found it again.
[[File:Mike Gravel for President 2008 fundraising.png|thumb|left|Gravel's fundraising efforts for the first three quarters of 2007.]]
All this did not improve his performance in the polls; a May 2007 [[CNN]] poll showed him with less than 0.5 percent support among Democrats.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/05/07/schneider.2008.polls/index.html |title=Poll: Liberals moving toward Clinton; GOP race tightens |author=Bill Schneider |publisher=[[CNN.com]] |date=May 7, 2007 |access-date=December 29, 2007 |authorlink=Bill Schneider (journalist)}}</ref> Gravel was in the next several debates, in one case after [[CNN]] reversed a decision to exclude him.<ref>{{cite press release |url=http://www.gravel2008.us/?q=node/471 |title=Gravel Dismisses CNN, WMUR-TV And Union Leader Statement |publisher=Mike Gravel for President 2008 |date=March 19, 2007 |access-date=December 29, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071227034815/http://www.gravel2008.us/?q=node%2F471 |archive-date=December 27, 2007}}</ref> Like some of the other second-tier candidates, Gravel did not get as much time as the leaders; during the June 2, 2007, [[New Hampshire]] debate, which lasted two hours, he was asked 10 questions and allowed to speak for five minutes and 37 seconds.<ref>{{cite press release |url=http://www.gravel2008.us/?q=node/1360 |title=The Mainstream Media Has Gone Underground ... |publisher=Mike Gravel for President 2008 |date=June 5, 2007 |access-date=December 29, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080115074223/http://www.gravel2008.us/?q=node%2F1360 |archive-date=January 15, 2008}}</ref>
During the July 23, 2007, [[CNN-YouTube presidential debate]], Gravel responded to audience applause when he had complained of a lack of airtime and said: "Thank you. Has it been fair thus far?"<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/23/debate.transcript/index.html |title=Part I: CNN/YouTube Democratic presidential debate transcript |publisher=[[CNN.com]] |date=July 24, 2007 |access-date=December 28, 2007}}</ref> Detractors began to liken him to "the cranky uncle who lives in the attic,"<ref name="bsun010708">{{cite news |url=http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2008/01/mike_gravel_tells_teens_do_pot.html |title=Mike Gravel to teens: Say 'yes' to drugs |author=Rick Pearson |newspaper=[[Baltimore Sun]] |date=January 7, 2008 |access-date=January 9, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080109142954/http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2008/01/mike_gravel_tells_teens_do_pot.html |archive-date=January 9, 2008}}</ref> or "the angry old guy that just seemed to want to become angrier."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_8043044 |title=Democratic hopeful Gravel visits Park City |author=Dan Harrie |newspaper=[[The Salt Lake Tribune]] |date=January 22, 2008 |access-date=February 1, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080204231107/http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_8043044 |archive-date=February 4, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Berkeley political scientist David Terr found that moderator [[George Stephanopoulos]] directed roughly five percent of his questions to Gravel;<ref>{{cite news |title=ABC News Debate – Unfair for Kucinich and Gravel |url=http://www.usaelectionpolls.com/2008/articles/dennis-kucinich-mike-gravel-unequal-time-abc-debate.html |publisher=USA Election Polls |date=August 23, 2007 |access-date=April 17, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081103025255/http://www.usaelectionpolls.com/2008/articles/dennis-kucinich-mike-gravel-unequal-time-abc-debate.html |archive-date=November 3, 2008}}</ref> in a poll asking who did the best in the debate, Gravel placed seventh among the eight candidates.<ref name="ABC News Poll">[http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Decision2008/popup?id=3493427 "ABC News Poll"] August 19, 2007, [http://www.abcnews.com/ ABC News]</ref> [[Opinion polling for the Democratic Party (United States) 2008 presidential candidates|National opinion polls of contenders for the Democratic nomination]] continued to show Gravel with one percent or zero percent numbers. By the end of the third-quarter 2007, Gravel had about $17,500 in cash on hand, had collected a total of about $380,000 during the 2008 election cycle,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://query.nictusa.com/pres/2007/Q3/C00423202.html |title=Report for Mike Gravel for President 2008 |publisher=[[Federal Election Commission]] |date=October 17, 2007 |access-date=December 29, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071112090453/http://query.nictusa.com/pres/2007/Q3/C00423202.html |archive-date=November 12, 2007}}</ref> and was continuing to run a threadbare campaign with minimal staff.<ref name="wapo090907" />
[[File:Mikegravelmanchester.JPG|thumb|right|upright|Gravel in [[Manchester, New Hampshire]] on January 6, 2008, two days before the [[New Hampshire Democratic primary, 2008|state's Democratic primary]].]]
Beginning with the October 30, 2007, [[Philadelphia]] event, Gravel was excluded from most of the debates, with the debate sponsors or the [[Democratic National Committee]] saying Gravel's campaign had not met fund-raising, polling, or local campaign organizational thresholds.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/21548813 |title=Democratic rivals target Clinton's vote on Iran |author=Alex Johnson |publisher=[[NBC News]] |date=October 31, 2007 |access-date=December 29, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2007/nov/07/110710306.html |title=CNN keeps Gravel out of Democratic debate in Las Vegas |agency=[[Associated Press]] |newspaper=[[Las Vegas Sun]] |date=November 7, 2007 |access-date=December 29, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080110133508/http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2007/nov/07/110710306.html |archive-date=January 10, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/kucinich-booted-from-iowa-debate-2007-12-12.html |title=Kucinich booted from Iowa debate |publisher=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]] |date=December 12, 2007 |access-date=December 14, 2007}}</ref> For the Philadelphia exclusion, Gravel blamed [[corporate censorship]] on the part of sponsor owner and alleged [[military-industrial complex]] member [[General Electric]] for his exclusion<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gravel2008.us/?q=node/2510 |title=Corporate Censorship! |author=Mike Gravel |publisher=Mike Gravel for President 2008 |date=October 30, 2007 |access-date=December 29, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080114224539/http://www.gravel2008.us/?q=node%2F2510 |archive-date=January 14, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/gravel-vs-msnbc/ |title=Gravel vs. MSNBC |author=Sarah Wheaton |date=October 30, 2007 |access-date=December 29, 2007 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> and mounted a counter-gathering and debate against a video screen a short distance away,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20071030_Democratic_debate_starts_at_9.html |title=The debate is on. Here. Tonight |author=Larry Eichel |publisher=philly.com |date=October 30, 2007 |access-date=December 29, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080107011630/http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20071030_Democratic_debate_starts_at_9.html |archive-date=January 7, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> but he had lost his easiest publicity. In reaction, supporters organized "[[mass donation day]]s" to try to help the campaign gain momentum and funds, such as on December 5, 2007, the anniversary of the [[Repeal of Prohibition]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thepresidentialcandidates.us/2007/12/december-5-is-mass-donation-day-for.html |title=December 5 Is "Mass Donation Day" For Mike Gravel |publisher=The Presidential Candidates |date=December 4, 2007 |access-date=January 4, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120917144440/http://www.thepresidentialcandidates.us/2007/12/december-5-is-mass-donation-day-for.html |archive-date=September 17, 2012}}</ref>
Gravel did not compete in the initial 2008 vote, [[Iowa Democratic caucuses, 2008|the Iowa caucuses]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.whotv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7572270 |title=Second-Tier Dems Hope for Caucus Boost |publisher=[[WHO-TV]] |date=January 3, 2008 |access-date=January 4, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080112125548/http://www.whotv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7572270 |archive-date=January 12, 2008}}</ref> but was still subjected to a false report from [[MSNBC]] that he had pulled out of the race afterward.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.gravel2008.us/content/were-still-race |title=We're Still in the Race! |author=J. Skyler McKinley |publisher=Mike Gravel for President 2008 |date=January 4, 2008 |access-date=January 4, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080105000811/http://www.gravel2008.us/content/were-still-race |archive-date=January 5, 2008}}</ref> Gravel did focus his attention on the second 2008 vote, the [[New Hampshire Democratic primary, 2008|New Hampshire primary]]. There he received about 400 votes out of some 280,000 cast, or 0.14&nbsp;percent,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/state/#NH |title=Election Center 2008: Primary Results for New Hampshire |publisher=[[CNN]] |date=January 9, 2008 |access-date=January 9, 2008}}</ref> before taking time off to improve his health.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2008/01/08/former_alaska_senator_to_keep_campaigning/?rss_id=Boston.com%20--%20Top%20political%20stories |title=Mike Gravel to campaign on |publisher=[[Associated Press]] |date=January 8, 2008 |access-date=January 8, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105161721/http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2008/01/08/former_alaska_senator_to_keep_campaigning/?rss_id=Boston.com%20--%20Top%20political%20stories |archive-date=January 5, 2009}}</ref> He resumed campaigning, but fared no better in subsequent states. By the end of January 2008, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Gravel were the only remaining Democrats from the initial debates still running;<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.dailycal.org/article/100285/candidate_speaks_to_political_science_class |title=Candidate Speaks to Political Science Class |author=Sarah Morrison |newspaper=[[The Daily Californian]] |date=February 7, 2008 |access-date=February 7, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080217131639/http://www.dailycal.org/article/100285/candidate_speaks_to_political_science_class |archive-date=February 17, 2008}}</ref> Gravel vowed to stay in the presidential campaign until November.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/23498 |title=Gravel urges direct democracy at YPU |author=Isaac Arnsdorf |newspaper=[[Yale Daily News]] |date=February 13, 2008 |access-date=February 15, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080216102926/http://yaledailynews.com/articles/view/23498 |archive-date=February 16, 2008}}</ref><ref name="time030408">{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1719305,00.html |title=The Third Democrat in the Race |author=[[Joel Stein]] |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=March 4, 2008 |access-date=March 9, 2008}}</ref> On March 11, 2008, Gravel continued to remain in the Democratic race but additionally endorsed a [[Green Party (United States)|Green Party]] candidate for president, [[Jesse Johnson (West Virginia politician)|Jesse Johnson]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://thirdpartywatch.com/2008/03/11/mike-gravel-endorses-jesse-johnson-green-party-for-president/ |title=Mike Gravel endorses Jesse Johnson (Green Party) for President |publisher=Third Party Watch |date=March 11, 2008 |access-date=March 12, 2008}}</ref> saying he wanted to help Johnson prevail against Green Party rivals [[Cynthia McKinney]] and [[Ralph Nader]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://reason.com/blog/show/125552.html |title=Several Minutes with Mike Gravel |author=David Weigel |magazine=[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]] |date=March 18, 2008 |access-date=March 24, 2008}}</ref> By late March, Gravel had almost no fundraising and was only on the ballot in one of the next ten Democratic primaries.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/elections/article432763.ece |title=Mike Gravel has gone from long shot to no shot for presidency |author=Amy Hollyfield |newspaper=[[St. Petersburg Times]] |date=March 27, 2008 |access-date=May 26, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080402054234/http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/elections/article432763.ece |archive-date=April 2, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>


=== Switch to Libertarian Party ===
=== Switch to Libertarian Party ===
{{main|National Convention 2008}}
{{main|National Convention 2008}}
On March 25, 2008, Gravel announced that he would leave the Democrats and join the [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian Party]],<ref name="lp">{{cite web |url=http://www.lp.org/media/article_573.shtml |title=Former U.S. Senator Mike Gravel joins Libertarian Party ranks |date=March 25, 2008 |access-date=March 25, 2008 |publisher=[[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian Party]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080326190245/http://www.lp.org/media/article_573.shtml |archive-date=March 26, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gravel2008.us/content/personal-message-mike |title=A Personal Message from Mike |author=Mike Gravel |publisher=Mike Gravel for President 2008 |date=March 26, 2008 |access-date=March 26, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080326185824/http://www.gravel2008.us/content/personal-message-mike |archive-date=March 26, 2008}}</ref> saying: "My libertarian views, as well as my strong stance against war, the military industrial complex and American imperialism, seem not to be tolerated by Democratic Party elites who are out of touch with the average American; elites that reject the empowerment of American citizens I offered to the Democratic Party at the beginning of this presidential campaign with the National Initiative for Democracy."<ref name="lp" /> The following day Gravel entered the race for the [[United States Libertarian presidential candidates, 2008|2008 Libertarian presidential nomination]],<ref name="nw033108">{{cite news |url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/129467/ |title=Maverick Mike |author=Sarah Elkins |magazine=[[Newsweek]] |date=March 31, 2008 |access-date=April 1, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080506232848/http://www.newsweek.com/id/129467/ |archive-date=May 6, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> saying that he would have run as a third-party candidate all along except that he needed the public exposure that came from being in the earlier Democratic debates.<ref name="nw033108" /> Gravel's initial notion of running as a [[electoral fusion|fusion candidate]] with other parties was met with skepticism<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.nysun.com/national/barr-gravel-eye-libertarian-nod-for-president/73744/ |title=Barr, Gravel Eye Libertarian Nod for President |author=Josh Gerstein |newspaper=[[The New York Sun]] |date=March 27, 2008 |access-date=May 26, 2008}}</ref> and not pursued.
On March 25, 2008, Gravel announced that he would leave the Democrats and join the [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian Party]],<ref name="lp">{{cite web |url=http://www.lp.org/media/article_573.shtml |title=Former U.S. Senator Mike Gravel joins Libertarian Party ranks |date=March 25, 2008 |access-date=March 25, 2008 |publisher=[[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian Party]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080326190245/http://www.lp.org/media/article_573.shtml |archive-date=March 26, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gravel2008.us/content/personal-message-mike |title=A Personal Message from Mike |author=Mike Gravel |publisher=Mike Gravel for President 2008 |date=March 26, 2008 |access-date=March 26, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080326185824/http://www.gravel2008.us/content/personal-message-mike |archive-date=March 26, 2008}}</ref> saying: "My libertarian views, as well as my strong stance against war, the military industrial complex and American imperialism, seem not to be tolerated by Democratic Party elites who are out of touch with the average American; elites that reject the empowerment of American citizens I offered to the Democratic Party at the beginning of this presidential campaign with the National Initiative for Democracy."<ref name="lp" /> The following day Gravel entered the race for the [[United States Libertarian presidential candidates, 2008|2008 Libertarian presidential nomination]],<ref name="nw033108">{{cite news |url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/129467/ |title=Maverick Mike |author=Sarah Elkins |magazine=Newsweek |date=March 31, 2008 |access-date=April 1, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080506232848/http://www.newsweek.com/id/129467/ |archive-date=May 6, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> saying that he would have run as a third-party candidate all along except that he needed the public exposure that came from being in the earlier Democratic debates.<ref name="nw033108" /> Gravel's initial notion of running as a [[electoral fusion|fusion candidate]] with other parties was met with skepticism<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.nysun.com/national/barr-gravel-eye-libertarian-nod-for-president/73744/ |title=Barr, Gravel Eye Libertarian Nod for President |author=Josh Gerstein |newspaper=The New York Sun |date=March 27, 2008 |access-date=May 26, 2008}}</ref> and not pursued.


As a Libertarian candidate, Gravel faced resistance to his liberal past and unorthodox positions;<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13249 |title=Will the Real Libertarian Please Stand Up? |author=Philip Klein |magazine=[[The American Spectator]] |date=May 21, 2008 |access-date=May 26, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080526112141/http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13249 |archive-date=May 26, 2008}}</ref> nevertheless, he garnered more support than he had as a Democrat, placing second and third in two April 2008 [[straw poll]]s.<ref name="libdebate1">{{cite news |url=http://www.gravel2008.us/content/straw-poll-results |title=Straw Poll Results |publisher=Mike Gravel for President 2008 |date=April 8, 2008 |access-date=April 8, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080409183243/http://www.gravel2008.us/content/straw-poll-results |archive-date=April 9, 2008}}</ref> In the May 25 balloting at the [[2008 Libertarian National Convention]] in [[Denver]], Gravel finished fourth out of eight candidates on the initial ballot, with 71 votes out of a total 618; he trailed former Congressman and eventual winner [[Bob Barr]], author [[Mary Ruwart]], and businessman [[Wayne Allyn Root]].<ref name="lp-vote">{{cite web |url=http://www.lp.org/media/printer_588.shtml |title=Press Releases: Presidential and VP Vote Totals – Updated Live! |publisher=[[Libertarian Party (United States)|LP.org]] |date=May 25, 2008 |access-date=May 25, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528033121/http://www.lp.org/media/printer_588.shtml |archive-date=May 28, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Gravel's position did not subsequently improve and he was eliminated on the fourth ballot.<ref name="lp-vote" /> Afterwards he stated that "I just ended my political career," but he vowed to continue promoting his positions as a writer and lecturer.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/05/25/libertarians-pick-barr-as-presidential-nominee/ |title=Libertarians Pick Barr as Presidential Nominee |publisher=[[Fox News]] |date=May 25, 2008 |access-date=May 25, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528190001/http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/05/25/libertarians-pick-barr-as-presidential-nominee/ |archive-date=May 28, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
As a Libertarian candidate, Gravel faced resistance to his liberal past and unorthodox positions;<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13249 |title=Will the Real Libertarian Please Stand Up? |author=Philip Klein |magazine=The American Spectator |date=May 21, 2008 |access-date=May 26, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080526112141/http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13249 |archive-date=May 26, 2008}}</ref> nevertheless, he garnered more support than he had as a Democrat, placing second and third in two April 2008 straw polls.<ref name="libdebate1">{{cite news |url=http://www.gravel2008.us/content/straw-poll-results |title=Straw Poll Results |publisher=Mike Gravel for President 2008 |date=April 8, 2008 |access-date=April 8, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080409183243/http://www.gravel2008.us/content/straw-poll-results |archive-date=April 9, 2008}}</ref> In the May 25 balloting at the [[2008 Libertarian National Convention]] in Denver, Gravel finished fourth out of eight candidates on the initial ballot, with 71 votes out of a total 618; he trailed former Congressman and eventual winner [[Bob Barr]], author [[Mary Ruwart]], and businessman [[Wayne Allyn Root]].<ref name="lp-vote">{{cite web |url=http://www.lp.org/media/printer_588.shtml |title=Press Releases: Presidential and VP Vote Totals – Updated Live! |publisher=[[Libertarian Party (United States)|LP.org]] |date=May 25, 2008 |access-date=May 25, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528033121/http://www.lp.org/media/printer_588.shtml |archive-date=May 28, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Gravel's position did not subsequently improve and he was eliminated on the fourth ballot.<ref name="lp-vote" /> Afterwards he stated that "I just ended my political career," but he vowed to continue promoting his positions as a writer and lecturer.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/05/25/libertarians-pick-barr-as-presidential-nominee/ |title=Libertarians Pick Barr as Presidential Nominee |publisher=Fox News |date=May 25, 2008 |access-date=May 25, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528190001/http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/05/25/libertarians-pick-barr-as-presidential-nominee/ |archive-date=May 28, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>


== 2008–early 2019 ==
== Death ==
[[File:Mike Gravel by Gage Skidmore.jpg|right|thumb|Gravel speaking about the National Initiative at [[Ball State University]] in February 2010.]]
Gravel died of multiple myeloma at his home in Seaside, California, on June 26, 2021, at age 91.<ref name="USNWR">{{cite news |title=Mike Gravel, Former US Senator for Alaska, Dies at 91 |url=https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2021-06-27/mike-gravel-former-us-senator-for-alaska-dies-at-91 |magazine=US News & World Report |date=June 27, 2021 |agency=Associated Press}}</ref><ref name="nyt-obit">{{cite news |title=Mike Gravel, Unconventional Two-Term Alaska Senator, Dies at 91 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/27/us/politics/mike-gravel-dead.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 27, 2021 |author-first=Adam |author-last=Clymer}}</ref><ref name="wapo-obit">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/mike-gravel-dead/2021/06/27/a496d870-13b4-11e9-90a8-136fa44b80ba_story.html |title=Mike Gravel, gadfly senator from Alaska with flair for the theatrical, dies at 91 |author-first=Chris |author-last=Power |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=June 27, 2021}}</ref>
In June 2008 Gravel endorsed the NYC 9/11 Ballot Initiative, saying the measure would create a "citizens commission rather than a government commission" with subpoena power against top U.S. officials to "make a true investigation as to what happened" regarding the [[September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thevillager.com/villager_268/pentagonpapers.html |title='Pentagon Papers senator' calls for new 9/11 probe |author=Jefferson Siegel |work=[[The Villager (Manhattan)|The Villager]] |date=June 18–24, 2008 |access-date=June 20, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181202043401/http://thevillager.com/villager_268/pentagonpapers.html |archive-date=December 2, 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.democracynow.org/2008/6/17/former_senator_mike_gravel_calls_for |title=Former Senator Mike Gravel Calls for Independent 9/11 Investigation and Prosecution of President Bush and Vice President Cheney |author=[[Amy Goodman]] |work=[[Democracy Now!]] |publisher=[[Pacifica Radio]] |date=June 17, 2008 |access-date=June 22, 2008}}</ref> He later said, "Individuals in and out of government may certainly have participated with the obviously known perpetrators of this dastardly act. Suspicions abound over the analysis presented by government. Obviously an act that has triggered three wars, Afghan, Iraqi and the continuing War on Terror, should be extensively investigated which was not done and which the government avoids addressing."<ref>{{cite web |first1=Sean |last1=Miller |access-date=2019-08-27 |title=Gravel mulls primary challenge to Obama in '12 |url=https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/132995-gravel-mulls-primary-challenge-to-obama-in-12 |date=9 December 2010 |website=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]]}}</ref>


In August 2008 Gravel was speaking to a crowd of supporters of [[Sami Al-Arian]] (who two years earlier had pleaded guilty and been sentenced to prison for a charge of conspiracy in helping [[Palestinian Islamic Jihad]], a "[[specially designated terrorist]]" organization)<ref name="plea">{{cite web |url=http://nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/FeaturedDocs/U.S._v_Al-Arian_pleaagr.pdf |title=Plea Agreement; U.S. v. Al-Arian |date=February 28, 2006 |access-date=March 8, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301162657/http://nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/FeaturedDocs/U.S._v_Al-Arian_pleaagr.pdf |archive-date=March 1, 2012}}</ref><ref name="Laughlin-plea">{{cite news |author=Meg Laughlin |url=http://www.sptimes.com/2006/04/23/Hillsborough/In_his_plea_deal__wha.shtml |title=In his plea deal, what did Sami Al-Arian admit to? |newspaper=[[St. Petersberg Times]] |date=April 23, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sptimes.com%2F2006%2F04%2F23%2FHillsborough%2FIn_his_plea_deal__wha.shtml&date=2012-10-21 |archive-date=October 21, 2012}}</ref> when he was caught on tape saying of Al-Arian's prosecutor, "Find out where he lives, find out where his kids go to school, find out where his office is: picket him all the time. Call him a racist in signs if you see him. Call him an injustice. Call him whatever you want to call him, but in his face all the time."<ref name="fox080508">{{cite news |url=http://video.foxnews.com/v/3911196/find-out-where-he-lives/?playlist_id=87937 |title='Find Out Where He Lives' |publisher=[[Fox News]] |date=December 22, 2009 |access-date=August 28, 2010}}</ref> Gravel was criticized for potentially involving the children of the prosecutor, and Al-Arian's family disavowed the sentiments.<ref name="fox080508" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Barakat |first=Matthew |title=Al-Arian trial postponed as judge questions case |publisher=[[Fox News]] |date=August 8, 2008 |url=http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Aug08/0,4670,AttacksProfessor,00.html |access-date=August 18, 2008}}</ref>
The obituary for him in ''The New York Times'' stated that Gravel was "a two-term Democratic senator from Alaska ... who was perhaps better known as an unabashed attention-getter" who later become known for "mounting long-shot presidential runs".<ref name="nyt-obit" /> The obituary in ''The Washington Post'' was similar, saying that Gravel was "an Alaska Democrat with a flair for the theatrical who rose from obscurity to brief renown" and later "ran quixotic campaigns for the presidency".<ref name="wapo-obit" /> The ''Anchorage Daily News'' quoted Gravel as saying of himself in 1989, "I'm an independent kind of guy. A rough and ready kind of guy. My glands work in a certain way that make me stand up, foolishly sometimes, and fight."<ref name="adn-obit">{{cite news |url=https://www.adn.com/politics/2021/06/27/mike-gravel-former-us-alaska-senator-dies-at-91/ |title=Mike Gravel, who represented Alaska in the U.S. Senate from 1969–1981, dies at 91 |newspaper=Anchorage Daily News |date=June 27, 2021}}</ref>
 
Gravel defended Alaska Governor [[Sarah Palin]] after she was chosen as Republican presidential nominee [[John McCain]]'s running mate in September 2008. He praised Palin's record in standing up to corruption among Alaskan Republicans, thought her national inexperience was an asset not a detriment, and predicted that the "[[Alaska Public Safety Commissioner dismissal|Troopergate]]" investigation into whether she improperly fired a state official would "come out in her favor."<ref name="pac090108">{{cite news |publisher=[[Pacifica Radio]] |work=2008 Election Center |url=http://election411.org/article/id/3601160/interview-mike-gravel |title=Interview with Mike Gravel |date=September 1, 2008 |access-date=March 2, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416131512/http://election411.org/article/id/3601160/interview-mike-gravel |archive-date=April 16, 2009}}</ref> Gravel made clear he would not support or vote for either McCain-Palin or Obama-Biden in the general election.<ref name="pac090108" /> The following year Gravel said that Palin's politics were "terrible, but that doesn't detract from the fact that she's a very talented person". He predicted that Palin would run for president in 2012 and that "she's going to surprise a lot of people"<ref name="pol121109">{{cite news |url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30468.html |title=Mike Gravel says Sarah Palin will run for president |author=Martin, Jonathan |newspaper=[[The Politico]] |date=December 11, 2009 |access-date=December 12, 2009}}</ref> Palin did not run, but Gravel's prediction about "TrooperGate" was accurate as Palin was found not to have violated ethics laws.
 
From mid-2008 through October 2009 Gravel gave several lectures at South Korean universities about the [[Korean National Initiative]], a Korean adaption of the National Initiative Gravel has proposed in the United States.
 
In 2013 by the invitation of [[Hamed Ghashghavi]] the secretary for international affairs of the 3rd [[International Conference on Hollywoodism]] in [[Tehran]], [[Iran]], Gravel attended that event as an [[Iranian government]]-organized anti-[[Hollywood]] conference.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/02/22/mike-gravel-on-movies-sanctions-and-what-we-can-learn-from-iran/ |title=Mike Gravel on movies, sanctions, and what we can learn from Iran |author=Keating, Joshua |magazine=[[Foreign Policy]] |date=February 22, 2013}}</ref> Gravel noted that the conference was attended by "various elements of extremes" but said it was necessary to discuss how the U.S. film industry portrayed Iran in order to prevent "an insane war" between the two nations.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/19/world/middleeast/stung-by-argo-iran-backs-conference-decrying-hollywoodism.html |title=Stung by 'Argo,' Iran Backs Conference Denouncing 'Hollywoodism' |author=Erdbrink, Thomas |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 18, 2013 |access-date=March 1, 2013}}</ref>
 
In May 2013 Gravel was one of several former members of Congress to accept $20,000 from the [[Paradigm Research Group]], an advocacy group for [[Disclosure (ufology)|UFO disclosure]], as part of holding what they termed a Citizen Hearing on Disclosure, modeled after congressional hearings, regarding supposed U.S. government suppression of evidence concerning [[UFO]]s.<ref name="abc-ufo">{{cite news |url=https://news.yahoo.com/blogs/power-players-abc-news/former-sen-mike-gravel-says-white-house-suppressing-112957111.html |title=Out there: Former Sen. Mike Gravel says White House suppressing evidence of ETs |publisher=[[Yahoo! News]]/[[ABC News]] |date=May 3, 2013 |access-date=May 4, 2013}}</ref> Gravel said, "Something is monitoring the planet, and they are monitoring it very cautiously, because we are a very warlike planet,"<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/04/us/politics/panel-convenes-in-washington-to-discuss-aliens.html?_r=0 |title=Visitors From Outer Space, Real or Not, Are Focus of Discussion in Washington |author=Siddons, Andrews |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=May 3, 2013 |access-date=May 4, 2013}}</ref> and, "What we're faced with here is, in areas of the media, and the government too, an effort to marginalize and ridicule people who have specific knowledge."<ref name="abc-ufo" />
 
In December 2014 Gravel was announced as the new CEO of [[KUSH]], a company which makes marijuana-infused products for medicinal and recreational use, and a subsidiary of [[Cannabis Sativa, Inc]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/mike-gravel-kush-marijuana-113878.html |title=Mike Gravel to helm pot products company |author=Kendall Breitman |publisher=[[Politico]] |date=December 30, 2014 |access-date=December 31, 2014}}</ref> He also became an Independent Director of Cannabis Sativa.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cannabissativainc.com/company.php |title=The Team |publisher=Cannabis Sativa, Inc. |access-date=March 6, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316115430/http://cannabissativainc.com/company.php |archive-date=March 16, 2016}}</ref>
 
During the [[Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2016|2016 Democratic presidential primaries]], Gravel praised [[Bernie Sanders]] and [[Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, 2016|his campaign]], saying "Bernie is one of the most gifted politicians I have ever observed. He's a person of great integrity and very clever." Gravel predicted that Sanders would be elected president but would be unable to get his key reforms through Congress, and thus that Sanders and his supporters should back some of the proposals of the National Initiative.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.salon.com/2016/02/21/this_is_the_key_to_bernie_sanders_political_revolution_heres_how_we_beat_gop_obstruction/ |title=This is the key to Bernie Sanders' political revolution: Here's how we beat GOP obstruction |first=Mike |last=Gravel |magazine=[[Salon (magazine)|Salon]] |date=February 21, 2016}}</ref>
 
Gravel has gone further in conspiratorial thinking in relation to the September 11 attacks, saying in 2016 on a conspiracies-oriented radio program: "We killed 58,000 American servicemen in the Vietnam War and all they did was die in vain. What's so unusual about killing 3,000 more in order to develop the grist for the mill to empower into infinity the military industrial complex?" The remarks were later disavowed by even Gravel supporters.<ref>Harry Cheadle, [https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wjm9em/mike-gravel-the-online-left-wing-sensation-is-also-a-911-truther-1 "Mike Gravel the online left wing sensation is also a ..."] Vice.com, March 21, 2019</ref>
 
By 2019 Gravel was living in [[Seaside, California]].<ref name="nytm-2019" /> He was working on a book, at the time titled ''Human Governance'', about his principal idea for direct democracy, a [[Article Five of the United States Constitution|U.S. Constitutional Amendment]] to create a "Legislature of the People" that would circumvent the existing Congress.<ref name="nytm-2019" /><ref name="Atlantic" /> The book was [[self-published]] at the end of the year by [[AuthorHouse]] under the title ''The Failure of Representative Government and the Solution: A Legislature of the People''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.amazon.com/dp/1728339294/ref=rdr_ext_tmb |title=The Failure of Representative Government and the Solution |publisher=Amazon |access-date=January 12, 2020}}</ref>


== Awards and honors ==
== Awards and honors ==
In 2008 Gravel received the [[Columbia University School of General Studies]]' first annual Isaac Asimov Lifetime Achievement Award.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Pianin |first1=Alix |title=GS Honors Students, Alum at Annual Gala |url=http://columbiaspectator.com/2008/03/03/gs-honors-students-alum-annual-gala |access-date=October 10, 2014 |newspaper=[[Columbia Daily Spectator]] |date=March 3, 2008}}</ref>
In 2008 Gravel received the Columbia University School of General Studies' first annual Isaac Asimov Lifetime Achievement Award.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Pianin |first1=Alix |title=GS Honors Students, Alum at Annual Gala |url=http://columbiaspectator.com/2008/03/03/gs-honors-students-alum-annual-gala |access-date=October 10, 2014 |newspaper=Columbia Daily Spectator |date=March 3, 2008}}</ref>


== Writings ==
== Writings ==
* Gravel, Mike. ''Jobs and More Jobs''. Mt. McKinley Publishers, 1968.
* Gravel, Mike. ''Jobs and More Jobs''. Mt. McKinley Publishers, 1968.
* Gravel, Mike. ''[[Citizen Power: A People's Platform]]''. [[Henry Holt and Company|Holt, Rinehart and Winston]], 1972. {{ISBN|0-03-091465-5}}.
* Gravel, Mike. ''Citizen Power: A People's Platform''. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1972. 0-03-091465-5.
** revised and reissued as ''[[Citizen Power: A Mandate for Change]]'', [[AuthorHouse]], 2008. {{ISBN|1-4343-4315-4}}.
** revised and reissued as ''Citizen Power: A Mandate for Change'', AuthorHouse, 2008. 1-4343-4315-4.
* Gravel, Mike and Lauria, Joe. ''A Political Odyssey: The Rise of American Militarism and One Man's Fight to Stop It''. [[Seven Stories Press]], 2008. {{ISBN|1-58322-826-8}}.
* Gravel, Mike and Lauria, Joe. ''A Political Odyssey: The Rise of American Militarism and One Man's Fight to Stop It''. Seven Stories Press, 2008. {{ISBN|1-58322-826-8}}.
* Gravel, Mike and [[David Eisenbach|Eisenbach, David]]. ''The Kingmakers: How the Media Threatens Our Security and Our Democracy''. [[Phoenix Books and Audio|Phoenix Books]], 2008. {{ISBN|1-59777-586-X}}.
* Gravel, Mike and Eisenbach, David. ''The Kingmakers: How the Media Threatens Our Security and Our Democracy''. Phoenix Books, 2008. 1-59777-586-X.
* Gravel, Mike. ''Voice of a Maverick: The Speeches and Writings of Senator Mike Gravel''. [[Brandywine House]], 2008.
* Gravel, Mike. ''Voice of a Maverick: The Speeches and Writings of Senator Mike Gravel''. Brandywine House, 2008.
* Gravel, Mike. Foreword to "Poisoned Power: The Case Against Nuclear Power Plants." [John W. Goffman & Arthur R. Tamplin, Rodale Press, Inc., Emmaus, PA, June 1971].
* Gravel, Mike. Foreword to "Poisoned Power: The Case Against Nuclear Power Plants." [John W. Goffman & Arthur R. Tamplin, Rodale Press, Inc., Emmaus, PA, June 1971].
* Gravel, Mike. ''The Failure of Representative Government and the Solution: A Legislature of the People''. [[AuthorHouse]], 2020. {{ISBN|1-7283-3929-4}}
* Gravel, Mike. ''The Failure of Representative Government and the Solution: A Legislature of the People''. AuthorHouse, 2020. 1-7283-3929-4
 
== Notes ==
{{reflist|2|group="nb"}}


== References ==
== References ==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}
* ''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.
* ''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.
* {{cite book |editor=Moritz, Charles |title=Current Biography Yearbook 1972 |publisher=[[H. W. Wilson Company]] |location=New York |year=1973 <!-- book has no ISBN --> |title-link=Current Biography Yearbook}}


== External links ==
== External links ==
* [[wikipedia:Mike Gravel|Mike Gravel]] on Wikipedia
* [[wikipedia:Mike Gravel|Mike Gravel]] on Wikipedia
* [https://mikegravel.com/ Mike Gravel official website]
* [https://mikegravel.com/ Mike Gravel official website]
* [https://www.gravelinstitute.org/ The Gravel Institute]
{{Wikipedia-CC}}


[[Category:1930 births]]
[[Category:1930 Births]]
[[Category:2021 Deaths]]

Latest revision as of 16:11, 4 July 2021

Mike Gravel
Mike Gravel cropped.png
Personal Details
Education: Assumption College
American International College
Columbia University (BS)
Party: Democratic (before 2008; 2010–present)
Libertarian (2008–2010)
Media
Website: https://mikegravel.com/
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Maurice Robert "Mike" Gravel (May 13, 1930 – June 26, 2021) is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Alaska from 1969 to 1981. A former member of the Libertarian Party, he ran for U.S. president in the 2008 election.

Born and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts, by French-Canadian immigrant parents, Gravel served in the U.S. Army in West Germany, and later graduated from the Columbia University School of General Studies. He moved to Alaska in the late 1950s, becoming a real estate developer and entering politics. He served in the Alaska House of Representatives from 1963 to 1967 and also became Speaker of the Alaska House. Gravel was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1968.

As a senator, Gravel became nationally known for his forceful but unsuccessful attempts to end the draft during the War in Vietnam and for putting the Pentagon Papers into the public record in 1971 at some risk to himself. He conducted an unusual campaign for the Democratic nomination in 1972 for Vice President of the United States, and then played a crucial role in obtaining Congressional approval for the Trans-Alaska pipeline in 1973. He was reelected to the Senate in 1974, but gradually alienated his Alaskan constituents, and his bid for a third term was defeated in a primary election in 1980.

Gravel returned to business ventures and went through difficult times, suffering corporate and personal bankruptcies amid poor health. He has been an advocate of direct democracy and the National Initiative.

In April 2006 Gravel began a run for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States to promote those ideas. His campaign gained an Internet following and national attention due to forceful, humorous, and politically unorthodox debate appearances during 2007, but he found very little support in national polls or the 2008 caucuses and primaries. In March 2008 he left the Democratic Party and joined the Libertarian Party to compete for its presidential nomination and the inclusion of the National Initiative into the Libertarian Platform. At the Libertarian National Convention of 2008, he failed on both counts. He subsequently became an executive for a marijuana products company and continued to speak out about various political issues and candidates.

Launching his bid in April 2019, Gravel ran for president again in the 2020 election, in a campaign designed as a democratic project rather than with the intent to win. He met the donor threshold to qualify for the second of the Democratic Party debates, but was not invited. His campaign ended four months after it began.[1]

Biography

Gravel was born on May 13, 1930 in Springfield, Massachusetts, one of five children of French-Canadian immigrant parents, Alphonse and Marie (née Bourassa) Gravel.[2][3][4]

Gravel "decided to become a pioneer in a faraway place,"[5] and moved to pre-statehood Alaska in August 1956, without funds or a job, looking for a place where someone without social or political connections could be a viable candidate for public office.[6][7] Alaska's voting age of 19, less than most other states' 21, played a role in his decision,[8] as did its newness[6] and cooler climate.[7] Seeing Alaska as a wide-open place with no political establishment or entrenched interests,[9] Gravel quickly became part of the civic scene there.[10][11]

2008 presidential campaign

Switch to Libertarian Party

Main article: National Convention 2008

On March 25, 2008, Gravel announced that he would leave the Democrats and join the Libertarian Party,[12][13] saying: "My libertarian views, as well as my strong stance against war, the military industrial complex and American imperialism, seem not to be tolerated by Democratic Party elites who are out of touch with the average American; elites that reject the empowerment of American citizens I offered to the Democratic Party at the beginning of this presidential campaign with the National Initiative for Democracy."[12] The following day Gravel entered the race for the 2008 Libertarian presidential nomination,[14] saying that he would have run as a third-party candidate all along except that he needed the public exposure that came from being in the earlier Democratic debates.[14] Gravel's initial notion of running as a fusion candidate with other parties was met with skepticism[15] and not pursued.

As a Libertarian candidate, Gravel faced resistance to his liberal past and unorthodox positions;[16] nevertheless, he garnered more support than he had as a Democrat, placing second and third in two April 2008 straw polls.[17] In the May 25 balloting at the 2008 Libertarian National Convention in Denver, Gravel finished fourth out of eight candidates on the initial ballot, with 71 votes out of a total 618; he trailed former Congressman and eventual winner Bob Barr, author Mary Ruwart, and businessman Wayne Allyn Root.[18] Gravel's position did not subsequently improve and he was eliminated on the fourth ballot.[18] Afterwards he stated that "I just ended my political career," but he vowed to continue promoting his positions as a writer and lecturer.[19]

Death

Gravel died of multiple myeloma at his home in Seaside, California, on June 26, 2021, at age 91.[20][21][22]

The obituary for him in The New York Times stated that Gravel was "a two-term Democratic senator from Alaska ... who was perhaps better known as an unabashed attention-getter" who later become known for "mounting long-shot presidential runs".[21] The obituary in The Washington Post was similar, saying that Gravel was "an Alaska Democrat with a flair for the theatrical who rose from obscurity to brief renown" and later "ran quixotic campaigns for the presidency".[22] The Anchorage Daily News quoted Gravel as saying of himself in 1989, "I'm an independent kind of guy. A rough and ready kind of guy. My glands work in a certain way that make me stand up, foolishly sometimes, and fight."[23]

Awards and honors

In 2008 Gravel received the Columbia University School of General Studies' first annual Isaac Asimov Lifetime Achievement Award.[24]

Writings

  • Gravel, Mike. Jobs and More Jobs. Mt. McKinley Publishers, 1968.
  • Gravel, Mike. Citizen Power: A People's Platform. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1972. 0-03-091465-5.
    • revised and reissued as Citizen Power: A Mandate for Change, AuthorHouse, 2008. 1-4343-4315-4.
  • Gravel, Mike and Lauria, Joe. A Political Odyssey: The Rise of American Militarism and One Man's Fight to Stop It. Seven Stories Press, 2008. ISBN 1-58322-826-8.
  • Gravel, Mike and Eisenbach, David. The Kingmakers: How the Media Threatens Our Security and Our Democracy. Phoenix Books, 2008. 1-59777-586-X.
  • Gravel, Mike. Voice of a Maverick: The Speeches and Writings of Senator Mike Gravel. Brandywine House, 2008.
  • Gravel, Mike. Foreword to "Poisoned Power: The Case Against Nuclear Power Plants." [John W. Goffman & Arthur R. Tamplin, Rodale Press, Inc., Emmaus, PA, June 1971].
  • Gravel, Mike. The Failure of Representative Government and the Solution: A Legislature of the People. AuthorHouse, 2020. 1-7283-3929-4

References

  1. ↑ http://www.washingtontimes.com,+The Washington Times. "Gravel meets donor threshold to qualify for Democratic primary debate" (in en-US). https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jul/13/mike-gravel-2020-candidate-meets-donor-threshold-n/. 
  2. ↑ Mike Gravel genealogy, Wargs.
  3. ↑ Current Biography Yearbook 1972, p. 182.
  4. ↑ Gravel and Lauria, A Political Odyssey, pp. 69–70.
  5. ↑ Martin Tolchin (February 27, 1976). "Senators From Hinterlands Recall Early Years in City; U.S. Senators Recall Their Early Years in City" (fee required). The New York Times. https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F30E14F83A58167493C5AB1789D85F428785F9. 
  6. ↑ Jump up to: 6.0 6.1 Leahy, Michael (September 9, 2007). "Last". The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/04/AR2007090401794.html?sid=ST2007101600688. 
  7. ↑ Jump up to: 7.0 7.1 Alex Koppelman (May 7, 2007). "Don't worry, be Mike Gravel". http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/05/07/mike_gravel/index.html. 
  8. ↑ Warren Weaver, Jr. (July 2, 1971). "Impetuous Senator: Maurice Robert Gravel" (fee required). The New York Times. https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F20D10FD3A5B1A7493C0A9178CD85F458785F9. 
  9. ↑ Gravel and Lauria, A Political Odyssey, p. 136.
  10. ↑ "Democrats Plan Two-Day Drive For Campaign". Fairbanks News-Miner: p. 10. October 7, 1957. https://www.newspapers.com/image/10383606/?terms=%22mike%2Bgravel%22. 
  11. ↑ "Alaskan Young Demo Tells Conference Statehood Views". Fairbanks News-Miner. Associated Press: p. 3. June 23, 1958. https://www.newspapers.com/image/11709894/?terms=%22mike%2Bgravel%22. 
  12. ↑ Jump up to: 12.0 12.1 "Former U.S. Senator Mike Gravel joins Libertarian Party ranks". Libertarian Party. March 25, 2008. http://www.lp.org/media/article_573.shtml. 
  13. ↑ Mike Gravel (March 26, 2008). "A Personal Message from Mike". Mike Gravel for President 2008. http://www.gravel2008.us/content/personal-message-mike. 
  14. ↑ Jump up to: 14.0 14.1 Sarah Elkins (March 31, 2008). "Maverick Mike". Newsweek. http://www.newsweek.com/id/129467/. 
  15. ↑ Josh Gerstein (March 27, 2008). "Barr, Gravel Eye Libertarian Nod for President". The New York Sun. http://www.nysun.com/national/barr-gravel-eye-libertarian-nod-for-president/73744/. 
  16. ↑ Philip Klein (May 21, 2008). "Will the Real Libertarian Please Stand Up?". The American Spectator. http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13249. 
  17. ↑ "Straw Poll Results". Mike Gravel for President 2008. April 8, 2008. http://www.gravel2008.us/content/straw-poll-results. 
  18. ↑ Jump up to: 18.0 18.1 "Press Releases: Presidential and VP Vote Totals – Updated Live!". LP.org. May 25, 2008. http://www.lp.org/media/printer_588.shtml. 
  19. ↑ "Libertarians Pick Barr as Presidential Nominee". Fox News. May 25, 2008. http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/05/25/libertarians-pick-barr-as-presidential-nominee/. 
  20. ↑ "Mike Gravel, Former US Senator for Alaska, Dies at 91". US News & World Report. Associated Press. June 27, 2021. https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2021-06-27/mike-gravel-former-us-senator-for-alaska-dies-at-91. 
  21. ↑ Jump up to: 21.0 21.1 "Mike Gravel, Unconventional Two-Term Alaska Senator, Dies at 91". The New York Times. June 27, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/27/us/politics/mike-gravel-dead.html. 
  22. ↑ Jump up to: 22.0 22.1 "Mike Gravel, gadfly senator from Alaska with flair for the theatrical, dies at 91". The Washington Post. June 27, 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/mike-gravel-dead/2021/06/27/a496d870-13b4-11e9-90a8-136fa44b80ba_story.html. 
  23. ↑ "Mike Gravel, who represented Alaska in the U.S. Senate from 1969–1981, dies at 91". Anchorage Daily News. June 27, 2021. https://www.adn.com/politics/2021/06/27/mike-gravel-former-us-alaska-senator-dies-at-91/. 
  24. ↑ Pianin, Alix (March 3, 2008). "GS Honors Students, Alum at Annual Gala". Columbia Daily Spectator. http://columbiaspectator.com/2008/03/03/gs-honors-students-alum-annual-gala. 
  • 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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