Mike Gravel: Difference between revisions

| 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}}

| education = Assumption College<br>American International College<br>Columbia University (BS)

'''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 member of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]], he ran for U.S. president in the [[2008 United States presidential election|2008 election]] and in the [[2020 United States presidential election|2020 election]].  

Launching his bid in April 2019, Gravel [[Mike Gravel 2020 presidential campaign|ran for president again]] in the [[2020 United States presidential election|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 [[2020 Democratic Party presidential debates and forums|the Democratic Party debates]], but was not invited. His campaign ended four months after it began.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Gravel meets donor threshold to qualify for Democratic primary debate|url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jul/13/mike-gravel-2020-candidate-meets-donor-threshold-n/|last=http://www.washingtontimes.com|first=The Washington Times|website=The Washington Times|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-12}}</ref>

==Early life, military service, education==

His parents were part of the [[Quebec diaspora]],<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Thernstrom|2=|editor-first=Stephan|title=Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|year=1980|isbn=978-0-674-37512-3|url=https://archive.org/details/harvardencyclope00ther}} pp. 392, 398.</ref> and he was raised in a [[working class|working-class]] neighborhood<ref name="repub">{{cite news|first=Jo-Ann |last=Moriarty |url=http://www.masslive.com/metrowest/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1171877454218870.xml&coll=1&thispage=1|title=Springfield native has sights set on top job|newspaper=[[The Republican (Springfield, Massachusetts)|The Republican]]|location=Springfield|date=February 19, 2007 |accessdate=July 7, 2007}}</ref> during the [[Great Depression]],<ref name="gravel-70"/> speaking only French until he was seven years old.<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|accessdate=December 20, 2007 |authorlink=Michael Leahy (author)}}</ref> Calling him "Mike" from an early age,<ref name="cby-182"/> his father valued work above all else, while his mother stressed the importance of education.<ref>Gravel and Lauria, ''A Political Odyssey'', p. 74.</ref>

Gravel was educated in [[parochial school]]s as a [[Roman Catholic]].<ref name="cby-182"/> There he struggled, due to what he later said was undiagnosed [[dyslexia]],<ref name="wapo090907"/><ref>{{cite news|publisher=[[Democracy Now!]]|title=How the Pentagon Papers Came to be Published by the Beacon Press: A Remarkable Story Told by Whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, Dem Presidential Candidate Mike Gravel and Unitarian Leader Robert West|date=July 2, 2007|url=http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/02/1331255|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703224833/http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07%2F07%2F02%2F1331255|archivedate=July 3, 2007}}</ref> and was [[Grade retention|left back]] in third grade.<ref>Gravel and Lauria, ''A Political Odyssey'', p. 83.</ref> He completed elementary school in 1945<ref>Gravel and Lauria, ''A Political Odyssey'', p. 81.</ref> and his class voted him "most charming personality".<ref name="cby-182"/> A summer job as a [[soda jerk]] led to Gravel handing out campaign fliers for local candidates on his boss's behalf; Gravel was immediately impressed with "the awesomeness of political office."<ref name="cby-182"/><ref name="wapo090907"/>

Gravel then boarded at [[Assumption Preparatory School]] in [[Worcester, Massachusetts]],<ref name="cby-182"/> where his performance was initially mediocre.<ref name="nyp070371">{{cite news|title=unknown|author=Dudar, Helen|newspaper=[[New York Post]]|date=July 3, 1971}}</ref> Then an English teacher, the [[Assumptionist]] Edgar Bourque, gave him personal attention, improving Gravel's language skills and instructing him in public speaking.<ref name="nyp070371"/> Gravel's grades improved measurably in his final year<ref name="nyp070371"/> and he graduated in 1949.<ref>Gravel and Lauria, ''A Political Odyssey'', pp. 105, 128.</ref> He has a sister, Marguerite, who became a [[Marianites of Holy Cross|Holy Cross nun]],<ref name="cby-182"/> but Gravel himself struggled with the Catholic faith.<ref name="uu121007">[http://www.uuworld.org/ideas/articles/59987.shtml Mike Gravel's Unitarian Universalism], by Doug Muder, ''UUWorld'', December 10, 2007. Accessed December 19, 2007.</ref> He studied for one year at [[Assumption College (Worcester)|Assumption College]], a Catholic school in Worcester, then transferred for his sophomore year to [[American International College]] in Springfield.<ref name="cby-182"/> Journalist [[I. F. Stone]] and philosopher [[Bertrand Russell]] strongly influenced Gravel in their willingness to challenge assumptions and oppose social convention and political authority.<ref>Gravel and Lauria, ''A Political Odyssey'', pp. 105, 107–108.</ref>

Around May 1951, Gravel saw that he was about to be drafted and instead enlisted in the U.S. Army for a three-year term so that he could get into the [[Counterintelligence Corps (United States Army)|Counterintelligence Corps]].<ref name="gravel-108">Gravel and Lauria, ''A Political Odyssey'', pp. 108–110.</ref> After basic training and counterintelligence school at [[Fort Holabird]] in [[Maryland]] and in [[South Carolina]], he went to [[Officer Candidate School (U.S. Army)|Officer Candidate School]] at [[Fort Benning]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]].<ref name="gravel-108"/> While he expected to be sent off to the [[Korean War]] when he graduated as a [[Second Lieutenant#United States|second lieutenant]] in early 1952, he was instead assigned to [[Stuttgart]], [[West Germany]], as a <!--not sure about this title or unit--> Special Adjutant in the Army's Communications Intelligence Service.<ref name="gravel-108"/> In Germany, Gravel conducted surveillance operations on civilians and paid off spies.<ref name="gravel-108"/> After about a year, he transferred to [[Orléans]], [[France]], where his French language abilities (if not his Quebecois accent) allowed him to infiltrate [[French Communist Party|French communist]] rallies.<ref name="gravel-108"/> He worked as a Special Agent in the Counterintelligence Corps until 1954,<ref name="repub"/> eventually becoming a [[first lieutenant]].<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 |accessdate=December 11, 2007|format=fee required}}</ref>

Following his discharge, Gravel entered the [[Columbia University School of General Studies]] in [[New York City]], where he studied [[economics]] and received a B.S. in 1956.<ref name="westbio">Stephen Haycox, Gravel entry in ''American Legislative Leaders in the West, 1911–1994'', Greenwood Press, 1997, p. 126; {{ISBN|0-313-30212-X}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://gs.columbia.edu/notable-alumni|title=Notable Alumni|publisher=[[Columbia University]]|accessdate=July 14, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715014713/https://gs.columbia.edu/notable-alumni|archive-date=July 15, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> He moved to New York "flat broke"<ref name="nyt022776"/> and supported himself by working as a bar boy in a hotel,<ref name="nyt022776"/> driving a [[taxicab]],<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> and working in the investment bond department at [[Bankers Trust]].<ref name="nyt022776"/> During this time he left the Catholic religion.<ref name="uu121007"/>

==Move to Alaska==

[[Image:AnchorageThirdAvenue.jpg|thumb|right|Gravel opened a small ground-floor real estate office on the north side (left) of Third Avenue in [[Downtown (Anchorage)|downtown]] [[Anchorage]] (center), opposite the Anchorage Westward (now Hilton Anchorage) Hotel (right).<ref name="odyssey-134"/> The [[Chugach Mountains]] are in the distance.]]

Gravel "decided to become a pioneer in a faraway place,"<ref name="nyt022776"/> and moved to [[Alaska Territory|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 administration|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 |accessdate=December 24, 2007|format=fee required}}</ref> as did its newness<ref name="wapo090907"/> and cooler climate.<ref name="salon050707"/> Broke when he arrived, he immediately found work in [[real estate]] sales until winter arrived.<ref name="odyssey-134">Gravel and Lauria, ''A Political Odyssey'', pp. 134–135.</ref> Gravel then was employed as a [[brakeman]] for the [[Alaska Railroad]], working the snow-clearing train on the Anchorage-Fairbanks run.<ref name="odyssey-134"/> Subsequently, he opened a small real estate brokerage in Anchorage (the Territory of Alaska not requiring a license) and saved enough so as not to have to work the railroad again.<ref name="odyssey-134"/> The firm was named the M. R. Gravel Real Estate Company.<ref name="mn-wed"/>  Gravel joined the [[Anchorage Unitarian Universalist Fellowship]], <!--when exactly? --> and would continue a sporadic relationship with the movement throughout his life.<ref name="uu121007"/>

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.  By October 1957 he was a Division Chairman for Anchorage for the Democratic Central Committee in the territory,<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]] | accessdate=April 3, 2019}}</ref> and by June 1958 he was president of the Alaska Young Democrats organization.<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]] | accessdate=April 3, 2019}}</ref>  He also became active in the [[United States Junior Chamber]] (Jaycees), and by early 1958 his duties included handing out awards for farmer of the year.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/10309892/?terms=%22mike%2Bgravel%22 | title=Farmer of the Year from Fairbanks (caption) | newspaper=[[Fairbanks News-Miner]] | date=March 4, 1958 | page=8 | via=[[Newspapers.com]] | accessdate=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 [[Alaska Territorial Legislature|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]] | accessdate=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 [[Alaska Statehood Act|Alaskan statehood]].<ref name="fnm-statehood"/>

Gravel went on a 44-state national speaking tour concerning [[tax reform]] in 1959, sponsored by the Jaycees, and often dressing as [[Paul Revere]].<ref name="westbio"/><ref name="atl-revere"/><ref name="twi-revere"/><ref name="chi-revere"/>  Gravel was selected from some two thousand applications for this position.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/4514391/?terms=%22mike%2Bgravel%22 | title=Tax Fighter To Arrive | newspaper=[[Fairbanks News-Miner]] | date=December 16, 1958 | page=3 | via=[[Newspapers.com]] | accessdate=April 22, 2019}}</ref>  The tour received a good amount of local newspaper coverage at its various stops, with Gravel's first name sometimes given as Mike and other times as Maurice.<ref name="atl-revere"/><ref name="twi-revere">{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/363574033/?terms=%22maurice%2Bgravel%22 | title=Alaska JC Touring For Tax Reforms | newspaper=[[The Herald-Palladium|The Herald-Press]] | location=St. Joseph, Michigan | date=February 18, 1959 | page=6 | via=[[Newspapers.com]] | accessdate=April 22, 2019}}</ref> The tour's general message was an urging of "lower taxes, more efficiency in government and a system of taxation moderate at all levels of income."<ref name="atl-revere">{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/398050553/?terms=%22mike%2Bgravel%22%2B%22paul%2Brevere%22 | title='Paul Revere' is Here, Doesn't Like Taxation | newspaper=[[The Atlanta Constitution]] | date=March 6, 1959 | page=16 | accessdate=April 2, 2019 | via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> At several stops Gravel stated that the "tide of socialism" had to be stopped.<ref name="atl-revere"/><ref name="chi-revere">{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/372461105/?terms=%22maurice%2Bgravel%22 | title='Paul Revere' From Alaska Urges Tax Cut | newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]] | date=February 20, 1959 | page=9 | via=[[Newspapers.com]] | accessdate=April 22, 2019}}</ref>  He elaborated at another stop, "It is part of our Jaycee creed that economic justice can best be won by free men through free enterprise. We really want to see that free enterprise become our inheritance."<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/363574424/?terms=%22maurice%2Bgravel%22 | title=Alaska Jaycee Sparks Plan For Tax Reform | newspaper=[[The Herald-Palladium|The Herald-Press]] | location=St. Joseph, Michigan | date=February 21, 1959 | page=5 | via=[[Newspapers.com]] | accessdate=April 22, 2019}}</ref>  The tour was scheduled to conclude in Washington, D.C., on [[Tax Day]], April 15, with petition signatures accumulated for reform to be presented to U.S. lawmakers:<ref name="twi-revere"/> dressed as Revere, Gravel rode with the petition to the steps of the [[U.S. Capitol]].<ref>Gravel and Lauria, ''A Political Odyssey'', p. 141.</ref>

The tour over, Gravel married Rita Jeannette Martin at the First Methodist Church of Anchorage on April 29, 1959.<!-- Montana paper says Apr 25 but both CBY and Gravel-Lauria say April 29  --><ref name="cby-184"/><ref name="mn-wed"/>  She was a native of Montana who had attended [[Billings Business College]] before moving to Alaska two years prior and becoming a secretary in the office of the Anchorage city manager.<ref name="mn-wed">{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/354707867/?terms=%22maurice%2Bgravel%22%2Banchorage | title=Marriage Vows Spoken by Rita Martin and Maurice R. Gravel | newspaper=[[The Montana Standard]] | date=May 17, 1959 | page=9B | via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>  She had also been named Anchorage's "[[Miss Fur Rendezvous]]" of 1958.<ref name="cby-184">''Current Biography Yearbook 1972'', p. 184.</ref>  They would have two children, Martin Anthony Gravel and Lynne Denise Gravel,<ref name="cby-184"/> born c. 1960 and 1962 respectively.<ref name="nyt070271"/>

Gravel ran without avail for the City Council in [[Anchorage, Alaska|Anchorage]] in 1960.<ref name="salon050707"/> During this time, he had become a successful real estate agent; after the 1960 election, he became a property developer in a mobile home park on the outskirts of Anchorage.<ref name="odyssey-142">Gravel and Lauria, ''A Political Odyssey'', pp. 142–143.</ref> After a partner ran into financial difficulty, however, the project went into [[Chapter 11 bankruptcy]], and Gravel was forced out in 1962.<ref name="odyssey-142"/>

==State legislator==

With the support of Alaska wholesale grocer Barney Gottstein and supermarket builder Larry Carr,<!-- Gravel/Lauria says this happened after 1962 election--><ref name="cby-182"/><ref name="nyt070271"/> Gravel ran for the [[Alaska House of Representatives]] representing Anchorage in 1962, initially assigned the 10th and then 8th districts.<ref group="nb">The [[Alaska Constitution]] as ratified in 1956 had originally placed Anchorage in District 10, and given the community eight seats in the House based upon the [[1950 United States Census]]. The reapportionment and redistricting proclamation of [[List of governors of Alaska|Governor]] [[William A. Egan]], dated December 7, 1961, placed Anchorage into District 8 (due to the elimination of two districts earlier in the order), and given the community 14 seats in the House based upon the [[1960 United States Census]]. See {{cite book|editor1-first=Elaine B.|editor1-last=Mitchell|title=Alaska Blue Book|edition=First|year=1973|publisher=[[Alaska Department of Education & Early Development|Alaska Department of Education]], [[Alaska State Library|Division of State Libraries]]|location=[[Juneau]]|pages=201–203|chapter=Documents Section – The [[Alaska Constitution|Constitution of the State of Alaska]]}} This change occurred immediately prior to Gravel's election to the House. These districts were without designated seats. Therefore, it is impossible to determine a direct predecessor or successor, especially with the higher turnover of legislative seats which existed at the time. Gravel served from District 8 with: William H. Sanders (1963–1964); Bennie Leonard, [[Keith H. Miller]], James C. Parsons, Jack H. White, William C. Wiggins (1963–1965); Homer Moseley (1963–1966); [[Salty Dawg Saloon#History|Earl D. Hillstrand]], Joseph P. Josephson, [[Bruce B. Kendall]], Carl L. Lottsfeldt, John L. Rader, Harold D. Strandberg (1963–1967); [[George M. Sullivan]] (1964–1965); [[Era Aviation#History|Carl F. Brady]], [[Carrs Safeway Alaska Division#History|Bernard J. "Pop" Carr, Sr.]], Gene Guess, M. Daniel Plotnick, Charles J. Sassara, Jr., [[Ted Stevens]] (1965–1967); William J. Moran (1966–1967). See {{cite book|title=Alaska Legislature Roster of Members 1913–2010|url=http://w3.legis.state.ak.us/docs/pdf/ROSTERALL.pdf}}</ref> Alaska had very crowded primaries that year: Gravel was one of 33 Democrats, along with 21 Republicans, who were running for the chance to compete for the 14 House seats allocated to the 8th district.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/16421668/?terms=%22mike%2Bgravel%22%2Banchorage | title=Complete List of Primary Election Candidates | first=Ward | last=Sims | agency=[[Associated Press]] | newspaper=[[Fairbanks Daily News-Miner]] | date=May 11, 1962 | page=3 | via=[[Newspapers.com]] | accessdate=June 11, 2019}}</ref> Gravel made it through the primary, and in November eight Republicans and six Democrats were elected to the House from the district, with Gravel finishing eighth overall and third among with Democrats, with 8,174 votes.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/16426880/?terms=mike%2Bgravel | title=Control of House May Rest in Absentee Vote | agency=[[Associated Press]] | newspaper=[[Fairbanks Daily News-Miner]] | date=November 8, 1962 | page=7 | via=[[Newspapers.com]] | accessdate=June 11, 2019}}</ref> Gottstein became Gravel's main financial backer during most of his subsequent campaigns.<ref name="wapo-feud"/>

Gravel served in the [[Alaska House of Representatives]] from January 28, 1963 to January 22, 1967, winning reelection in 1964. In his first term, he served as a minority member on two House committees: Commerce, and Labor and Management.<ref>{{cite book|title=Session Laws of Alaska, 1963|chapter=State Officials|year=1963|publisher=Office of the Alaska Secretary of State|location=Juneau|page=viii}}</ref>

He coauthored and sponsored the act that created the [[Alaska State Commission for Human Rights]].<ref name="cby-182"/> Gravel was the chief architect of the law that created a regional high school system for rural Alaska; this allowed [[Alaska Natives]] to attend schools near where they lived instead of having to go to schools run by the [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]] in the lower 48 states.<ref name="cby-182"/>

During the half-years that the legislature was not in session, Gravel resumed his real estate work.<ref name="odyssey-144">Gravel and Lauria, ''A Political Odyssey'', pp. 143–144, 149.</ref> With Gottstein and Carr's backing, he became quite successful as a property developer on the [[Kenai Peninsula]].<ref name="cby-182"/><ref name="nyt022776"/><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2008/gravel/gravel041706int.html|title=Interview with Former U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel|author=Democracy in Action|publisher=[[National Press Club (USA)|National Press Club]]|date=April 17, 2007|accessdate=April 29, 2007}}</ref>

During 1965 and 1966, he served as the Speaker of the House, surprising observers by winning that post.<ref name="nyt070271"/> Gravel convinced former Speaker [[Warren A. Taylor]] to not try for the position against him by promising Taylor chairmanship of the Rules Committee, then reneged on the promise.<ref name="odyssey-146">Gravel and Lauria, ''A Political Odyssey'', pp. 145–146.</ref> Gravel denied later press charges that he had promised but not delivered on other committee chairmanships.<ref name="odyssey-146"/><ref name="wapo-zelnick">{{cite news | title=What Makes Mike Gravel Run? | author=Zelnick, C. Robert | newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] | date=June 27, 1971 | page=B1}}</ref><ref name="gruening"/> As Speaker he antagonized fellow lawmakers by imposing his will on the legislature's committees<ref name="nyt070271"/> and feuded with [[Alaska State Senate]] president [[Robert J. McNealy]].<ref name="wapo-zelnick"/>

Gravel did not run for reelection in 1966, instead choosing to run for [[Alaska's At-large congressional district|Alaska's seat]] in the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]], losing the primary to four-term incumbent Democrat [[Ralph Rivers]]<ref name="salon050707"/> by 1,300 votes<ref name="nyt070271"/> and splitting the Democratic party in the process.<ref name="nyt070271"/> Rivers lost the general election that year to Republican state Senator [[Howard Wallace Pollock]].

Following his defeat, Gravel returned to the real estate business in Anchorage.<ref name="nyt070271"/>

==U.S. Senator==

===Election to Senate in 1968===

In 1968 he ran against the 81-year-old incumbent Democratic Senator [[Ernest Gruening]], a popular former [[List of Governors of Alaska|governor]] of the [[Alaska Territory]] who was considered one of the fathers of Alaska's statehood,<ref name="salon050707"/> for his party's nomination to the [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]]. Gravel's campaign was primarily based on his youth rather than issue differences.<ref name="nyt070271"/><ref name="gruening">{{cite book | first=Ernest | last=Gruening | authorlink=Ernest Gruening | title=Many Battles: The Autobiography of Ernest Gruening | publisher=Liveright | location=New York | year=1973 | isbn=978-0-87140-565-4 | pages=510–511}}</ref> He hired [[Joseph Napolitan]], the first self-described [[political consultant]], in late 1966.<ref name="nyt070271"/> They spent over a year and a half planning a short, nine-day primary election campaign that featured the slogans "Alaska first" and "Let's do something about the state we're in", the distribution of a collection of essays titled ''Jobs and More Jobs'', and the creation of a half-hour, well-produced, glamorized biographical film of Gravel, ''Man for Alaska''.<ref name="cby-182"/><ref name="salon050707"/><ref name="nyt070271"/><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-14321217.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511205248/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-14321217.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=May 11, 2011 | title=Great slogans: reading between the lines of America's best political rhymes and mottos | author=[[Ron Faucheux]] | magazine=[[Campaigns & Elections]] | date=June 1993 | accessdate=February 2, 2008 | format=fee required}}</ref> The film was shown twice a day on every television station in Alaska, and carried by plane and shown on home projectors in hundreds of [[Alaska Native]] villages.<ref name="cby-182"/><ref name="nyt070271"/><ref name="gruening"/> The heavy showings quickly reversed a 2–to–1 Gruening lead in polls into a Gravel lead.<ref name="nyt070271"/> Gravel visited many remote villages by seaplane and showed a thorough understanding of the needs of the bush country and the fishing and oil industries.<ref name="cby-182"/><ref name="cby-183"/> He also benefited by being deliberately ambiguous about his Vietnam policy.<ref name="cby-183">''Current Biography Yearbook 1972'', p. 183.</ref> Gruening had been one of only two Senators to vote against the [[Gulf of Tonkin Resolution]] and his opposition to President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]'s war policies was harming him among the Democratic electorate;<ref name="chinn"/> according to Gravel, "all I had to do was stand up and not deal with the subject, and people would assume that I was to the right of Ernest Gruening, when in point of fact I was to the left of him."<ref name="salon050707"/> In ''Man for Alaska'', Gravel argued that "the liberals" would come to West Germany's defense if it was attacked, and that the same standard should apply to the United States' allies in Asia. During the campaign he also claimed that he was "more in the mainstream of American thought on Vietnam" than Gruening, despite the fact that he had written to Gruening to praise his antiwar stance four years earlier.<ref name=jacobin>{{cite web |url=https://jacobinmag.com/2019/05/mike-gravel-democratic-primary-anti-imperialism |title=Mike Gravel Should Be on the 2020 Debate Stage |last=Marcetic |first=Branko |date=May 29, 2019 |website=[[Jacobin (magazine)]] |access-date=May 30, 2019}}</ref>

Gravel beat Gruening in the primary by about 2,000 votes.<ref name="chinn"/><ref name="hnn080706">{{cite news | first=Robert KC | last=Johnson | url=http://hnn.us/articles/28947.html | title=Not Many Senators Have Found Themselves in Joe Lieberman's Predicament | publisher=[[History News Network]] | date=August 7, 2006 | accessdate=July 7, 2007}}</ref> Gruening found "the unexpected defeat hard to take" and thought that some aspects of his opponent's biographical film had misled viewers.<ref name="gruening"/> In the general election, Gravel faced [[United States Republican Party|Republican]] [[Elmer E. Rasmuson]], a banker and former mayor of Anchorage.<ref name="chinn"/> College students in the state implored Gruening to run a [[write-in campaign]] as an [[political independent|Independent]], but legal battles prevented him from getting approval for it until only two weeks were left.<ref name="chinn"/> A late appearance by anti-war presidential candidate [[Eugene McCarthy]] did not offset Gruening's lack of funds and endorsements; meanwhile, Gravel and Rasmuson both saturated local media with their filmed biographies.<ref name="chinn"/> On November 5, 1968, Gravel won the general election with 45 percent of the vote to Rasmuson's 37 percent and Gruening's 18 percent.<ref name="chinn">{{cite journal |last=Chinn |first=Ronald E. |title=The 1968 Election in Alaska |date=September 1969 |journal=[[The Western Political Quarterly]] |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=456–461 |doi=10.2307/446336 |jstor=446336}}</ref>

===Senate assignments and style===

[[Image:Mikegravel.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Senator Mike Gravel]]

When Gravel joined the Senate in January 1969, he requested and received a seat on the [[United States Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs|Interior and Insular Affairs Committee]], which had direct relevance to Alaskan issues.<ref name="cby-183"/> He also got a spot on the [[United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works|Public Works Committee]],<ref name="cby-183"/> which he held throughout his time in the Senate.<ref>{{cite book | title=Congressional Quarterly Almanac 96th Congress 1st Session 1979 | volume=34 | publisher=[[Congressional Quarterly]] | year=1980 | pages=}}</ref> Finally, he was a member of the [[United States Senate Select Committee on Small Business|Select Committee on Small Business]].<ref name="cq-alm-69">{{cite book | title=Congressional Quarterly Almanac 91st Congress 1st Session 1969 | volume=25 | publisher=[[Congressional Quarterly]] | year=1970 | pages=52–55, 587}}</ref> In 1971 he became chair of the Public Works Committee's Subcommittee on Public Buildings and Grounds,<ref name="cby-183"/> and by 1973 he was chair of its Subcommittee on Water Resources,<ref name="cq-alm-73">{{cite book | title=Congressional Quarterly Almanac 93rd Congress 1st Session 1973 | volume=29 | publisher=[[Congressional Quarterly]] | year=1974 | pages=42–44 <!--doublecheck-->}}</ref> then later its Subcommittee on Environmental Pollution.<!--TODO find exact cite for this --> Gravel was also initially named to the [[Joint Committee on Congressional Operations]].<ref name="cby-183"/> By 1973 Gravel was off the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee and the Select Small Business Committee and instead a member of the [[United States Senate Committee on Finance|Finance Committee]],<ref name="cq-alm-73"/> and by 1977 was chair of that body's Subcommittee on Energy and Foundations.<ref>{{cite book | title=Congressional Quarterly Almanac 95th Congress 1st Session 1977 | volume=32 | publisher=[[Congressional Quarterly]] | year=1978 | pages= }}</ref> By 1973 he had also been on the ad hoc [[United States Senate Special Committee to Study Secret and Confidential Government Documents|Special Committee to Study Secret and Confidential Government Documents]].<ref name="cq-alm-73"/>

By his own admission, Gravel was too new and "too abrasive" to be effective in the Senate by the usual means of seniority-based committee assignments or negotiating deals with other senators,<ref name="nyt070271"/><ref name="nyt102671"/> and was sometimes seen as arrogant by the more senior members.<ref name="nyt070271"/> He instead relied on attention-getting gestures to achieve what he wanted, hoping national exposure would force other senators to listen to him.<ref name="nyt102671"/> As part of this he voted with Southern Democrats to keep the Senate [[filibuster]] rule in place,<ref name="nyt070271"/> and accordingly supported [[Russell Long]] and [[Robert Byrd]] but opposed [[Ted Kennedy]] in Senate leadership battles.<ref name="nyt070271"/> In retrospective assessment, [[University of Alaska Anchorage]] history professor Stephen Haycox said, "Loose cannon is a good description of Gravel's Senate career. He was an off-the-wall guy, and you weren't really ever sure what he would do."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.miamiherald.com/540/story/375972.html |title=Gravel the Firebrand |author=David Westphal |newspaper=[[The Miami Herald]] |date=January 13, 2008 |accessdate=January 16, 2008|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080704152947/http://www.miamiherald.com/540/story/375972.html |archivedate = July 4, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Nuclear issues and the Cold War===

In the late 1960s and early 1970s the [[United States Department of Defense|U.S. Department of Defense]] was in the process of performing tests for the [[nuclear weapon|nuclear warhead]] for the [[LIM-49A Spartan|Spartan]] [[anti-ballistic missile]]. Two tests, the [[Amchitka#Milrow and Cannikin tests|"Milrow" and "Cannikin" tests]], were planned, involving the [[nuclear testing|detonation of nuclear bombs]] under [[Amchitka Island]] in Alaska. The Milrow test would be a one-megaton calibration exercise for the second and larger five-megaton Cannikin test, which would measure the effectiveness of the warhead. Gravel opposed the tests. Before the Milrow test took place in October 1969, he wrote that there were significant risks of earthquakes and other adverse consequences and called for an independent national commission on nuclear and seismic safety;<ref>{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FA0F11F9355E1B7493C3AA178CD85F4D8685F9 |title=Risks in Alaska Tests |at=Letters to the Editor |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 31, 1969 |accessdate=December 30, 2007|format=fee required | first=Mike | last=Gravel}}</ref> he then made a personal appeal to President Nixon to stop the test.<ref name="nyt082371">{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FB081FFD3D591A7493C1AB1783D85F458785F9 |title=Underground A-Test Is Still Set For Aleutians but Is Not Final |author=Richard D. Lyons |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 23, 1971 |accessdate=December 30, 2007|format=fee required}}</ref>

After Milrow was conducted, there was continued pressure on the part of [[environmental group]]s against going forward with the Cannikin test, while the [[Federation of American Scientists]] claimed that the warhead being tested was already obsolete.<ref name="nyt082371"/> In May 1971 Gravel sent a letter to [[U.S. Atomic Energy Commission]] hearings held in Anchorage in which he said the risk of the test was not worth taking.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F1071FFF395B14728FDDA90B94DD405B818BF1D3 |title=Witnesses Oppose Aleutian H-Blast |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=May 30, 1971 |accessdate=December 30, 2007|format=fee required}}</ref> Eventually a group not involving Gravel took the case to the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]], which declined to issue an injunction against it,<ref name="time_nov15">{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,903217,00.html|title=The Amchitka Bomb Goes Off |date=November 15, 1971 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |accessdate=October 9, 2006}}</ref> and the Cannikin test took place as scheduled in November 1971.<ref name="time_nov15"/> Gravel had failed to stop the tests (notwithstanding his later claims during his 2008 presidential campaign).<ref group="nb">Gravel claimed during his 2008 presidential campaign that "the Pentagon was performing five calibration tests ... [Gravel] succeeded in halting the program after the second test, limiting the expansion of this threat to the marine environment of the North Pacific." See {{cite news |url=http://www.gravel2008.us/legislature |title=Mike Gravel's Legislative Accomplishments |publisher=Mike Gravel for President 2008 |accessdate=December 30, 2007 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071226194400/http://www.gravel2008.us/legislature |archivedate=December 26, 2007 }} In reality, the Milrow and Cannikin tests were the only ones planned and both of them were carried out. See {{cite news |url=http://jcgi.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,905376,00.html |date=July 17, 1971 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |title=Round 2 at Amchitka |accessdate=December 30, 2007 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

In 1971 Gravel voted against the Nixon administration's proposed anti-ballistic missile system, the [[Safeguard Program]], having previously vacillated over the issue, suggesting that he might be willing to support it in exchange for federal lands in Alaska being opened up for private oil drilling. His vote alienated Senator [[Henry M. Jackson|Henry "Scoop" Jackson]], who had raised funds for Gravel's primary campaign.<ref name=jacobin /><ref name="wapo-feud"/>

[[Nuclear power]] was considered an environmentally clean alternative for commercial generation of electricity and was part of a popular national policy for the [[Atoms for Peace|peaceful use of atomic energy]] in the 1950s and 1960s.<ref name="nyt071670">{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F70614F8385C1B7493C4A8178CD85F448785F9 |title=Atomic Power: A Bitter Controversy; Atomic Power: A Bitter and Growing Controversy |author=Anthony Ripley |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 16, 1970 |accessdate=December 31, 2007 | format=fee required}}</ref> Gravel publicly opposed this policy; besides the dangers of nuclear testing, he was a vocal critic of the Atomic Energy Commission,<ref name="nyt071670"/> which oversaw American nuclear efforts, and of the powerful [[United States Congress Joint Committee on Atomic Energy]], which had a stranglehold on nuclear policy and which Gravel tried to circumvent.<ref name="nyt071670"/> In 1971 Gravel sponsored a bill to impose a moratorium on nuclear power plant construction and to make power utilities liable for any nuclear accidents;<ref>{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FA0D1FFA3A55127B93C5A81789D85F458785F9 |title=Senator Seeks to Block Atom Plants |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 17, 1971 |accessdate=December 31, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> in 1975 he was still proposing similar moratoriums.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F20614FB3A5E157493CBAB178CD85F418785F9 |title=Nuclear Power Development Encounters Rising Resistance With Curbs Sought in a Number of States |author=Gladwin Hill |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 29, 1975 |accessdate=December 31, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> By 1974 Gravel was allied with [[Ralph Nader]]'s organization in opposing nuclear power.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.newspaperarchive.com/LandingPage.aspx?type=glpnews&search=nader%20%22mike%20gravel%22%20%22dream%20of%20a%20nation%22&img=39259683 |title=Nuclear Neighbor |publisher=[[Cedar Rapids Gazette]] |date=January 20, 1974 |format=fee required}}</ref>

Six months before [[U.S. Secretary of State]] [[Henry Kissinger]]'s July 1971 secret mission to the [[People's Republic of China]] (P.R.C.), Gravel introduced legislation to [[diplomatic recognition|recognize]] and normalize relations with China, including a proposal for unity talks between the P.R.C. and the [[Republic of China]] (Taiwan) regarding [[China and the United Nations|the Chinese seat on the U.N. Security Council]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/144452802.html?dids=144452802:144452802&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Jan+29%2C+1971&author=&pub=The+Washington+Post%2C+Times+Herald++(1959-1973)&edition=&startpage=A12&desc=Sen.+Gravel+Urges+U.S.+to+Back+Taiwan-Red+China+Unity+Talks |title=Sen. Gravel Urges U.S. to Back Taiwan-Red China Unity Talks |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=January 29, 1971 |accessdate=December 31, 2007 |format=fee required |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080112014345/https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/144452802.html?dids=144452802%3A144452802&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS%3AAI&date=Jan%2B29%2C%2B1971&author=&pub=The%2BWashington%2BPost%2C%2BTimes%2BHerald%2B%2B%281959-1973%29&edition=&startpage=A12&desc=Sen.%2BGravel%2BUrges%2BU.S.%2Bto%2BBack%2BTaiwan-Red%2BChina%2BUnity%2BTalks |archivedate=January 12, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He reiterated his position in favor of recognition, with four other senators in agreement, during Senate hearings in June 1971.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F70814FC3854127B93C7AB178DD85F458785F9 |title=5 SENATORS BACK PEKING SEAT IN U.N.; 4 Urge Admission Even at Cost of Ousting Taiwan |author=Terence Smith |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 24, 1971 |accessdate=December 23, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref>

===Vietnam War, the draft, and the Pentagon Papers===

Although he did not campaign against the Vietnam War during his first Senate campaign, by the end of 1970 Gravel was speaking out against United States policy in southeast Asia: in December of that year he persuaded [[William Fulbright]] to join him in a spontaneous two-day filibuster against a $155 million military aid package to Cambodia's [[Khmer Republic]] government in the [[Cambodian Civil War]].<ref name=jacobin /><ref>Gravel and Lauria, ''A Political Odyssey'', p. 179.</ref>

President [[Richard Nixon]] had [[1968 United States presidential election|campaigned in 1968]] on a promise to end the [[Conscription in the United States|U.S. military draft]],<ref name="evans">{{cite web |url=http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/VolArm.html |title=The All-Volunteer Army After Twenty Years: Recruiting in the Modern Era |author=Thomas W. Evans |publisher=[[Sam Houston State University]] |date=Summer 1993 |accessdate=December 31, 2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130808222147/http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/VolArm.html |archivedate=August 8, 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Ambrose | first=Stephen | authorlink=Stephen Ambrose | title=Nixon, Volume Two: The Triumph of a Politician | publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] | year=1989}} pp. 264–266.</ref> a decision endorsed by the February 1970 report of the [[Gates Commission]].<ref name="evans"/><ref name="griffith">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/?id=yMLjkonemcsC&pg=PA61 |last=Griffith |first=Robert K., Jr. |title=U.S. Army's Transition to the All-volunteer Force, 1868–1974 |publisher=DIANE Publishing |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-7881-7864-1 | pages= [https://books.google.com/books?id=yMLjkonemcsC&pg=PA40 40–41, 51] }}</ref>

The existing draft law was scheduled to conclude at the end of June 1971, and the Senate faced a contentious debate about whether to extend it as the [[Vietnam War]] continued.<ref name="nyt060571">{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F40F1EFB3D5A1A7493C7A9178DD85F458785F9 |title=Senators Reject Limits on Draft; 2-Year Plan Gains |author=[[David E. Rosenbaum]] |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 5, 1971 |accessdate=December 29, 2007 |format=fee required }}</ref> The [[Nixon administration]] announced in February 1971 that it wanted a two-year extension to June 1973, after which the draft would end;<ref name="nyt020371">{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F50C12FD3A55127B93C1A91789D85F458785F9 |title=Stennis Favors 4-Year Draft Extension, but Laird Asks 2 Years |author=[[David E. Rosenbaum]] |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 3, 1971 |accessdate=December 30, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/143742302.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI | title=Laird Briefs Hill On Volunteer Army | author=Robert C. Maynard | newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] | date=February 3, 1971 | accessdate=February 9, 2008 | format=fee required | page=A12}}</ref> Army planners had already been operating under the assumption of a two-year extension, after which an [[all-volunteer force]] would be in place.<ref name="griffith"/> Skeptics such as [[Senate Armed Services Committee]] chairman [[John Stennis]] thought this unrealistic and wanted a four-year extension,<ref name="nyt020371"/> but the two-year proposal is what went forward in Congress.<ref name="nyt060571"/> By early May 1971, Gravel had indicated his intention to [[filibuster]] the draft renewal legislation, halting conscription and thereby bringing U.S. involvement in the war to a rapid end.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F60E11F6345F127A93CBA9178ED85F458785F9 |title=Congress vs. President |author=John W. Finney |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=May 9, 1971 |accessdate=December 31, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> During this period he also supported efforts to mobilize and influence public opinion against the war, endorsing the [[Lists of protests against the Vietnam War#1971|"Vietnam War Out Now" rallies]] in Washington D.C. and San Francisco on April 24, 1971,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kifner |first1=John |author-link1=John Kifner |date=March 28, 1971|title=Antiwar Rallies Set for Capital |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/03/28/archives/antiwar-rallies-set-for-capital-coalition-planning-protests-to-stop.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|edition=New York|page=16 |access-date=May 31, 2019}}</ref> and financing a broadcast campaign by the antiwar group War No More with a personal loan.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Coast Drive Slated by Antiwar Group |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/04/11/archives/coast-drive-slated-by-antiwar-group.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=4 |date=April 11, 1971 |access-date=May 31, 2019 }}</ref> In June 1972 he escorted a group of over 100 antiwar protesters, including psychiatrist [[Robert Jay Lifton]], actress [[Candice Bergen]], theater producer and director [[Joseph Papp]] and medic [[Benjamin Spock]], into the United States Capitol; the group was arrested after blocking a hallway outside the Senate chamber.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=111 Foes of War Arrested in Capitol As Hall Is Blocked |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/06/28/archives/111-foes-of-war-arrested-in-capitol-as-hall-is-blocked.html |work=[[The New York Times]]|page=11 |date=June 28, 1972 |access-date=May 31, 2019 }}</ref>

By June 1971, some Democratic senators opposed to the war wanted to limit the renewal to a one-year extension, while others wanted to end it immediately;<ref name="nyt060571"/> Gravel reiterated that he was one of the latter, saying, "It's a senseless war, and one way to do away with it is to do away with the draft."<ref name="nyt060571"/> A Senate vote on June 4 indicated majority support for the two-year extension.<ref name="nyt060571"/> On June 18 Gravel announced again his intention to counteract that by filibustering the renewal legislation,<ref name="nyt062271">{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FA081EF73B5B1A7493C0AB178DD85F458785F9 |title=Filibustering the Draft |author=Mike Gravel |at=Letters to the Editor |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 22, 1971 |accessdate=December 29, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> defending the practice against those who associated it only with blocking [[Civil Rights Movement|civil rights]] legislation.<ref name="nyt062271"/> The first filibuster attempt failed on June 23 when, by three votes, the Senate voted [[Cloture#United States|cloture]] for only the fifth time since 1927.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F70B1EFF3854127B93C6AB178DD85F458785F9 |title=Senate Votes Closure in Draft Debate, 65 to 27 |author=[[David E. Rosenbaum]] |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 24, 1971 |accessdate=December 29, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref>

Protracted negotiations took place over House conference negotiations on the bill, revolving in large part around Senate Majority Leader [[Mike Mansfield]]'s eventually unsuccessful amendment to tie renewal to a troop withdrawal timetable from Vietnam; during this time the draft law expired and no more were conscripted.<ref name="nyt092271">{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F50B10FD385C1A7493C0AB1782D85F458785F9 |title=Senate Approves Draft Bill, 55–30; President to Sign |author=[[David E. Rosenbaum]] |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=September 22, 1971 |accessdate=December 29, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> On August 5, the Nixon administration pleaded for a renewal before the Senate went on recess, but Gravel blocked Stennis's attempt to limit debate, and no vote was held.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F60C1EF8395C1A7493C4A91783D85F458785F9 |title='72 Draft Lottery Assigns No. 1 to Those Born Dec. 4 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 6, 1971 |accessdate=December 30, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> Finally on September 21, 1971, the Senate invoked cloture over Gravel's second filibuster attempt by one vote, and then passed the two-year draft extension.<ref name="nyt092271"/> Gravel's attempts to stop the draft had failed<ref name="nyt102671"/> (notwithstanding Gravel's later claims that he had stopped or shortened the draft, taken at face value in some media reports, during his 2008 presidential campaign).<ref group="nb">During Gravel's 2008 presidential campaign, he would claim that, "In 1971, Senator Mike Gravel (D-Alaska), by waging a lone five-month filibuster, singlehandedly ended the draft in The United States thereby saving thousands of lives." See {{cite web |url=http://www.gravel2008.us/draft |title=Mike Gravel and the Draft |publisher=Mike Gravel for President 2008 |accessdate=December 30, 2007|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080117044622/http://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FA081EF73B5B1A7493C0AB178DD85F458785F9 |archivedate = January 17, 2008|url-status=dead}} A 2006 article in ''[[The Nation]]'' stated that "It was Gravel who in 1971, against the advice of Democratic leaders in the Senate, launched a one-man filibuster to end the peacetime military draft, forcing the administration to cut a deal that allowed the draft to expire in 1973." See {{cite news |url=http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0415-24.htm |title=Pentagon Papers Figure Bids for Presidency |author=John Nichols |magazine=[[The Nation]] |date=April 15, 2006 |accessdate=December 20, 2007|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080117044622/http://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FA081EF73B5B1A7493C0AB178DD85F458785F9 |archivedate = January 17, 2008|url-status=dead}} Neither of these assessments is correct. From the beginning of the draft review process in February 1971, the Nixon administration wanted a two-year extension to June 1973, followed by a shift to an all-volunteer force – see {{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F50C12FD3A55127B93C1A91789D85F458785F9 |title=Stennis Favors 4-Year Draft Extension, but Laird Asks 2 Years |author=[[David E. Rosenbaum]] |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 3, 1971 |accessdate=December 30, 2007 |format=fee required}}; for confirmation, see {{cite news | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,905414,00.html | title=Once More, "Greetings" | magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | date=October 4, 1971 | accessdate=February 2, 2008}} – and this is what the September 1971 Senate vote gave them. Gravel's goal had been to block the renewal of the draft completely, thereby ending conscription past June 1971. See {{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FA081EF73B5B1A7493C0AB178DD85F458785F9 |title=Filibustering the Draft |author=Mike Gravel |at=Letters to the Editor |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 22, 1971 |accessdate=December 29, 2007 |format=fee required}} In Gravel's 2008 memoir, he conceded that he failed to bring about the immediate end of the war that he wanted, and that Nixon had gotten the two-year extension he had originally asked for. However, Gravel wrote that he had never trusted Nixon's pledge to only extend the draft for two years, and that when Nixon let the draft expire in 1973 it was the threat of a renewed filibuster that caused him to stick to the pledge. See Gravel and Lauria, ''A Political Odyssey'', p. 180. No other accounts support this interpretation; in fact, Nixon had first become interested in the idea of an all-volunteer army during his time out of office, and he saw ending the draft as an effective way to undermine the anti-Vietnam war movement, since he believed affluent youths would stop protesting the war once their own possibility of having to fight in it was gone. See {{cite news | url=https://www.politico.com/story/2012/01/us-military-draft-ends-jan-27-1973-072085 | title=U.S. military draft ends, Jan. 27, 1973 | first=Andrew | last=Glass | work=[[Politico]] | date=January 27, 2012 | accessdate=March 19, 2019}} and Ambrose, ''Nixon, Volume Two: The Triumph of a Politician'', pp. 264–266.</ref>

Meanwhile, on June 13, 1971, ''[[The New York Times]]'' began printing large portions of the [[Pentagon Papers]].<ref name="nyt061371a">{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F10B1FFD3D5813748DDDAA0994DE405B818BF1D3 |title=Vietnam Archive: Pentagon Study Traces 3 Decades of Growing U. S. Involvement |author=[[Neil Sheehan]] |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 13, 1971 |accessdate=December 30, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> The papers were a large collection of secret government documents and studies pertaining to the [[Vietnam War]], of which former [[United States Department of Defense|Defense Department]] analyst [[Daniel Ellsberg]] had made unauthorized copies and was determined to make public.<ref name="usc-timeline">{{cite web |url=http://www.topsecretplay.org/index.php/content/timeline |title=Timeline |work=Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers |publisher=[[Annenberg Center for Communication]] at [[University of Southern California]] |accessdate=December 30, 2007}}</ref> Ellsberg had for a year and a half approached members of Congress – such as [[William Fulbright]], [[George McGovern]], [[Charles Mathias]], and [[Pete McCloskey]] – about publishing the documents, on the grounds that the [[Speech or Debate Clause]] of the [[U.S. Constitution|Constitution]] would give congressional members [[Parliamentary immunity|immunity from prosecution]], but all had refused.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rudenstine |first=David |title=The Day the Presses Stopped: A History of the Pentagon Papers Case |url=https://archive.org/details/daypressesstoppe0000rude |url-access=registration |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-21382-1}} pp. 46, 391.</ref> Instead, Ellsberg gave the documents to the ''Times''.

The [[United States Department of Justice|U.S. Justice Department]] immediately tried to halt publication, on the grounds that the information revealed within the papers harmed the national interest.<ref name="usc-timeline"/> Within the next two weeks, a federal court [[injunction]] halted publication in ''The Times''; ''[[The Washington Post]]'' and several other newspapers began publishing parts of the documents, with some of them also being halted by injunctions; and the whole matter went to the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] for arguments.<ref name="usc-timeline"/> Looking for an alternate publication mechanism, Ellsberg returned to his idea of having a member of Congress read them, and chose Gravel based on the latter's efforts against the draft;<ref name="wapo090907"/> Gravel agreed where previously others had not. Ellsberg arranged for the papers to be given to Gravel on June 26<ref name="wapo090907"/> via an intermediary, ''Washington Post'' editor [[Ben Bagdikian]].<ref name="beacon-hist">{{cite web |url=http://www.beacon.org/client/pentagonpapers.cfm |title=Beacon Press & the Pentagon Papers: History |publisher=[[Beacon Press]] |date=October 22, 2006 |accessdate=December 30, 2007}}</ref> Gravel used his counter-intelligence experience to choose a midnight transfer in front of the [[Mayflower Hotel]] in the center of Washington.<ref name="uu2001">{{cite news |url=http://www.uuworld.org/ideas/articles/6394.shtml |title=A courageous press confronts a deceptive government |author=Warren R. Ross |magazine=[[UU World]] |date=September–October 2001 |accessdate=December 30, 2007}}</ref>

On the night of June 29, 1971, Gravel attempted to read the papers on the floor of the Senate as part of his filibuster against the draft, but was thwarted when no quorum could be formed.<ref name="nyt063071">{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F60617FC395C1A7493C2AA178DD85F458785F9 |title=Gravel Speaks 3 Hours; Senator Reading Study to Press |author=[[David E. Rosenbaum]] |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 30, 1971 |accessdate=December 30, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> Gravel instead convened a session of the Buildings and Grounds subcommittee that he chaired.<ref name="nyt063071"/> He got New York Congressman [[John G. Dow]] to testify that the war had soaked up funding for public buildings, thus making discussion of the war relevant to the committee.<ref name="prados">{{cite book | editor-last=Prados | editor-first=John | editor2-last=Porter | editor2-first=Margaret Pratt | title=Inside the Pentagon Papers | publisher=[[University Press of Kansas]] | year=2004 | location=Lawrence, Kansas | isbn=978-0-7006-1325-0 | page= 60}}</ref> He began reading from the papers with the press in attendance,<ref name="nyt063071"/> omitting supporting documents that he felt might compromise national security,<ref name="nyt070171">{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F70B14FC3A5B1A7493C3A9178CD85F458785F9 |title=Action by Gravel Vexes Many Senators |author=John W. Finney |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 1, 1971 |accessdate=December 30, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> and declaring, "It is my constitutional obligation to protect the security of the people by fostering the free flow of information absolutely essential to their democratic decision-making."<ref name="nyt070171"/>

He read until 1 a.m., until with tears and sobs he said that he could no longer physically continue,<ref name="nyt070171"/> the previous three nights of sleeplessness and fear about the future having taken their toll.<ref name="wapo090907"/> Gravel ended the session by, with no other senators present, establishing [[unanimous consent]]<ref name="prados"/> to insert 4,100 pages of the Papers into the [[Congressional Record]] of his subcommittee.<ref name="nyt102671"/><ref name="usc-timeline"/> The following day, the Supreme Court's ''[[New York Times Co. v. United States]]'' decision ruled in favor of the newspapers<ref name="usc-timeline"/> and publication in ''The Times'' and others resumed. In July 1971 [[Bantam Books]] published an inexpensive paperback edition of the papers containing the material ''The Times'' had published.<ref name="nyt081871">{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F50D14F9355B1A7493CAA81783D85F458785F9 |title=Church Plans 4-Book Version of Pentagon Study |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 18, 1971 |accessdate=December 30, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref>

Gravel, too, wanted to privately publish the portion of the papers he had read into the record, believing that "immediate disclosure of the contents of these papers will change the policy that supports the war."<ref name="beacon-hist"/> After being turned down by many commercial publishers,<ref name="beacon-hist"/> on August 4 he reached agreement with [[Beacon Press]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.beacon.org/client/client_pages/images/stair_ltr.jpg |title=Letter from Gravel to Beacon Press |publisher=[[Beacon Press]] |date=August 4, 1971 |accessdate=December 30, 2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080109013445/http://www.beacon.org/client/client_pages/images/stair_ltr.jpg |archivedate=January 9, 2008 }}</ref> the publishing arm of the [[Unitarian Universalist Association]], of which Gravel was a member.<ref name="nyt102671"/> Announced on August 17<ref name="nyt081871"/> and published on October 22, 1971,<ref name="beacon-hist"/> this four-volume, relatively expensive set<ref name="nyt081871"/> became the "Senator Gravel Edition", which studies from [[Cornell University]] and the [[Annenberg Center for Communication]] have labeled as the most complete edition of the Pentagon Papers to be published.<ref>{{cite journal |title = The Pentagon Papers: A Critical Evaluation |first = George McT. |last = Kahn | journal = [[American Political Science Review]] |volume = 69 |issue = 2 |pages=675–684 |date=June 1975 |doi = 10.2307/1959096 |jstor=1959096}}</ref><ref name="usc-resources">{{cite web |url=http://www.topsecretplay.org/index.php/content/resources |title=Resources |work=Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers |publisher=[[Annenberg Center for Communication]] at [[University of Southern California]] |accessdate=December 30, 2007}}</ref> The "Gravel Edition" was edited and annotated by [[Noam Chomsky]] and [[Howard Zinn]], and included an additional volume of analytical articles on the origins and progress of the war, also edited by Chomsky and Zinn.<ref name="usc-resources"/> Beacon Press then was subjected to a [[FBI]] investigation;<ref name="uu2001"/> an outgrowth of this was the ''[[Gravel v. United States]]'' court case, which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled upon in June 1972;<ref name="uu2001"/> it held that the [[Speech or Debate Clause]] did grant immunity to Gravel for his reading the papers in his subcommittee, did grant some immunity to Gravel's congressional aide, but granted no immunity to Beacon Press in relation to their publishing the same papers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://law.jrank.org/pages/12642/Gravel-v-United-States.html |title=Gravel v. United States |publisher=Jrank.org |accessdate=December 30, 2007}}</ref> The Senate Democratic Caucus backed Gravel in the case, but due to Republican opposition it did not pay Gravel's legal fees, leaving him owing $25,000 (the equivalent of $150,000 in 2019, adjusted for inflation).<ref name=jacobin />

The events of 1971 changed Gravel in the following months from an obscure freshman senator to a nationally visible political figure.<ref name="nyt102671">{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F30A12F73D5E127A93C4AB178BD95F458785F9 |title=Fame Travels With Senator Gravel, the Man Who Read Pentagon Papers Into the Record |author=[[David E. Rosenbaum]] |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 26, 1971 |accessdate=December 24, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> He became a sought-after speaker on the college circuit as well as at political fundraisers,<ref name="nyt102671"/> opportunities he welcomed as lectures were "the one honest way a Senator has to supplement his income."<ref name="nyt102671"/> But his speaking tours caused him to accrue one of the worst absentee records in the Senate.<ref name=jacobin /> The Democratic candidates for the [[1972 United States presidential election|1972 presidential election]] sought his endorsement.<ref name="nyt102671"/> In January 1972 Gravel endorsed [[Maine]] Senator [[Ed Muskie]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F00D16F83C591A7493C7A8178AD85F468785F9 |title=More Muskie Support |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=January 15, 1972 |accessdate=December 24, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> hoping that his support would help Muskie with the party's left wing and in ethnic [[French-Canadian]] areas during [[New Hampshire primary|the first primary contest in New Hampshire]]<ref name="nyt102671"/> (Muskie won, but not overwhelmingly, and his campaign faltered soon after). In April 1972 Gravel appeared on all three networks' nightly newscasts to decry the Nixon administration's reliance on [[Vietnamization]] by making reference to the secret [[National Security Study Memorandum]] 1 document, which stated it would take 8–13 years for the [[Army of the Republic of Vietnam]] to defend [[South Vietnam]].<ref name="ftp">{{cite book | last=Oudes | first=Bruce | title=From the President: Richard Nixon's Secret Files | publisher=[[Harper & Row]] | year=1989 | isbn=978-0-06-091621-3 | url=https://archive.org/details/from00bruc }} p. 428.</ref> Gravel made excerpts from the study public,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FB081FFB3455127B93C4AB178FD85F468785F9 | title=1969 Study Shows War Policy Split | author=[[Tad Szulc]] | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=April 26, 1972 | format=fee required}}</ref> but Senators [[Robert P. Griffin]] and [[William B. Saxbe]] blocked his attempt to read NSSM 1 into the Congressional Record.<ref name="ftp"/>

In 1970 Gravel co-sponsored legislation to establish a [[guaranteed minimum income]], entitling poor families to up to $6,300 a year (the equivalent of $42,000 in 2019 after adjustment for inflation). He subsequently voted for a "work bonus" program, which would have entitled low-income working families with dependent children if they were paying Social Security or [[Railroad Retirement Board|Railroad Retirement]] taxes to a non-taxable bonus of up to 10 percent of their wages.<ref name=jacobin /><ref>{{cite report |date=October 3, 1973 |title=Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, and Welfare: Matters for Committee Consideration in Connection with H.R. 3153 |url=https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/social%2024.pdf |publisher=[[US Government Printing Office]] |page=1|access-date=May 31, 2019}}</ref> Gravel also supported extending Social Security to all federal employees and introduced a campaign finance reform bill in 1971 that would have enacted full disclosure of campaign financing, placed limits on large donations, media spending and individual candidate spending.<ref name=jacobin />

===Run for vice president in 1972===

Gravel actively campaigned for the office of [[Vice President of the United States]] during the [[1972 United States presidential election|1972 presidential election]], announcing on June 2, 1972, over a month before the [[1972 Democratic National Convention]] began, that he was interested in the nomination should the choice be opened up to convention delegates.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F10910F63B591A7493C1A9178DD85F468785F9 |title=Senator Gravel to Seek Vice-Presidential Spot |agency=[[Associated Press]] |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 3, 1972 |accessdate=December 23, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> Toward this end he began soliciting delegates for their support.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F70A11FA345A137B93CAAB178DD85F468785F9 |title=Uncommitted Delegate in the Spotlight |author=Steven V. Roberts |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 28, 1972 |accessdate=December 23, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> He was not alone in this effort, as former [[Governor of Massachusetts]] [[Endicott Peabody]] had been running a quixotic campaign for the same post<ref name="nyt070972">{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F20F10FB3E5E127A93CBA9178CD85F468785F9 |title=The Air Went Out Of the Whoopee Cushions |author=James M. Naughton |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 9, 1972 |accessdate=December 23, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> since the prior year. Likely presidential nominee [[George McGovern]] was in fact considering the unusual move of naming three or four acceptable vice-presidential candidates and letting the delegates choose.<ref name="nyt070972"/>

On the convention's final day, July 14, 1972, McGovern selected and announced Senator [[Thomas Eagleton]] of [[Missouri]] as his vice-presidential choice.<ref name="nyt071472">{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F00910F93C5A137A93C6A8178CD85F468785F9 |title=Impassioned Plea: Dakotan Urges Party to Lead the Nation in Healing Itself McGovern Names Eagleton Running Mate; Calls Nixon 'Fundamental Issue' |author=[[Max Frankel]] |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=July 14, 1972 |accessdate=December 23, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> Eagleton was unknown to many delegates and the choice seemed to smack of traditional [[ticket balancing]] considerations.<ref name="nyt071472"/><ref name="nation-72"/> Thus there were delegates willing to look elsewhere. Gravel was nominated by [[Bettye Fahrenkamp]], the [[Democratic National Committee]]woman from Alaska.<ref>{{cite book | editor=Sheila Hixson |editor2=Ruth Rose | title=The Official Proceedings of the Democratic National Convention, 1972 | publisher=[[Democratic National Committee]] | year=1972}} p. 8.</ref> He then seconded his own nomination, breaking down in tears at his own words<ref name="wapo090687">{{cite news | url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8026532.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511205252/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8026532.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=May 11, 2011 | title=Filling Nostalgia Gap with Democratic Stars of the Past 20 Years | author=[[David S. Broder]] | newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] | date=September 6, 1987 | accessdate=February 2, 2008}}</ref> and maybe trying to withdraw his nomination.<ref name="wapo090687"/> In any case he won 226 delegate votes, coming in third behind Eagleton and [[Frances Farenthold|Frances "Sissy" Farenthold]] of Texas, in [[1972 United States presidential election#The vice presidential vote|chaotic balloting]]<ref name="nation-72">{{cite news | magazine=[[The Nation]] | url=http://ssl.thenation.com/doc/19720724/sherrill/2 | title=The Foregone Convention | date=July 24, 1972 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://archive.today/20060614054654/http://ssl.thenation.com/doc/19720724/sherrill/2 | archivedate=June 14, 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3903470 |title=The Worst Acceptance Speech? |author=Ken Rudin |work=Political Junkie |publisher=[[NPR]] |date=September 27, 2004 |accessdate=November 19, 2007}}</ref> that included several other candidates.

Gravel attracted some attention for his efforts: writer [[Norman Mailer]] said he "provided considerable excitement" and was "good-looking enough to have played leads in B-films",<ref>{{cite book |last=Mailer |first=Norman |authorlink=Norman Mailer |title=St. George and the Godfather |url=https://archive.org/details/stgeorgegodfathe0000mail |url-access=registration |publisher=[[Arbor House]] |year=1983 |isbn=978-0-87795-563-4}}</ref> while ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' correspondent [[Hunter S. Thompson]] said Gravel "probably said a few things that might have been worth hearing, under different circumstances".<ref name="hst72">{{cite book |last=Thompson |first=Hunter S. |authorlink=Hunter S. Thompson |title=Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 |publisher=[[Popular Library]] |location=New York |year=1973|title-link=Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 }} pp. 319–320.</ref> Yet the process was doubly disastrous for the Democrats. In the time consumed by nominating and seconding and all the vice-presidential candidates' speeches, the attention of the delegates on the floor was lost<ref name="hst72"/> and McGovern's speech was pushed to 3:30&nbsp;a.m.<ref name="hst72"/> The haste with which Eagleton was selected led to surprise when his past [[Treatment of mental disorders|mental health treatments]] were revealed; he withdrew from the ticket soon after the convention, to be replaced by [[Sargent Shriver]].

===Reelection to Senate in 1974===

Several years earlier, Alaska politicians had speculated that Gravel would have a hard time getting both renominated and elected when his first term expired,<ref name="nyt102671"/> given that he was originally elected without a base party organization and tended to focus on national rather than local issues.<ref name="nyt102671"/>

Nonetheless, after receiving support from national and local labor leaders, securing key [[Earmark (politics)|earmarks]], and producing another half-hour TV [[advertorial]],<ref name=jacobin /> in 1974 Gravel was reelected to the Senate,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F00613FB3D5B147B93C5A9178AD95F408785F9 |title=Alaska Governor's Contest in Doubt |author=Wallace Turner |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 7, 1974 |accessdate=December 23, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> with 58 percent of the vote to 42 percent for Republican State Senator [[C. R. Lewis]], who was a national officer of the [[John Birch Society]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F00B1EF93C5B1A7493C3A8178AD85F408785F9 |title=John Birch Official Seeks to Replace Gravel in Alaska |agency=[[United Press International]] |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=January 11, 1974 |accessdate=December 23, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref>

===Second term===

Gravel's reelection campaign left him $65,000-$75,000 in debt. In 1975 ''The Washington Post'' reported on a memo by his executive assistant laying out a fundraising strategy to tackle this, including raising funds from oil companies, meeting with previous donors and "inquir[ing] into the governmental priorities of these people and their groups in the coming session", as well as obtaining further speaking fees to reduce his personal debt. This was followed by a number of stories about links between Gravel, lobbyists and fundraisers, including one that was widely publicized in Alaska about his holding a share in a Colorado resort with two Washington lobbyists he was working with on land and energy legislation. Gravel had been open about the investment and had opposing views to one of the lobbyists on nuclear power. In 1980 the ''[[Wall Street Journal]]'' published details about his fundraising activities, including writing to individuals and PACs in the oil industry, pledging to kill off proposals for a [[windfall profits tax]] on the sector, and traveling in the Middle East with the business partner of one of his donors to sell Alaskan land to businessmen. Gravel suggested that critics of his fundraising were "naive".<ref name=jacobin />

In 1975 Gravel introduced an amendment to cut the number of troops overseas by 200,000, but it was defeated on a [[voice vote]].<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Lázár |first=Péter |date=June 2003 |title=The Mansfield Amendments and the U.S. Commitment in Europe, 1955-1975 |type=MA |publisher=[[Defense Technical Information Center]]|url=https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a417566.pdf |access-date=May 31, 2019}}</ref>

In September 1975 Gravel was named as one of several Congressional Advisers to the Seventh Special Session of the United Nations, which met to discuss problems related to economic development and international economic cooperation.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/?id=tYTQAAAAMAAJ&q=gravel | title=Report by Congressional Advisers to the Seventh Special Session of the United Nations | publisher=United States Congress | date=1976 | page=6}}</ref>

In June 1976 Gravel was the focus of a federal investigation into allegations that he was involved in a sex-for-vote arrangement. Congressional staff clerk [[Elizabeth Ray]] (who had already been involved in a sex scandal that led to the downfall of Representative [[Wayne Hays]]) said that in August 1972 she had sex with Gravel aboard a houseboat on the [[Potomac River]], under the instruction of Representative [[Kenneth J. Gray]], her boss at the time.<ref name="nyt061276">{{cite news | url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F10912FE3F5B167493C0A8178DD85F428785F9 | title=U.S. Studies Charge Of Sex-for-Vote Bid | author=Crewdson, John M. | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=June 12, 1976}}</ref> Gray allegedly wanted to secure Gravel's support for further funding for construction of the [[National Visitor Center]] in Washington, a troubled project that was under the jurisdiction of subcommittees that both members chaired.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F50B13FB3D5A107B93C1A8178DD85F428785F9 | title=Miss Ray Said to Link Tryst to Building Project | agency=[[Associated Press]] |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=June 13, 1976}}</ref><ref name="time102582">{{cite news | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,953582-1,00.html | title=In Washington, D.C.: Last Stop for Union Station | author=[[Maureen Dowd]] | magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | date=October 25, 1982}}</ref> Another Congressional staffer said she witnessed the boat encounter, but Gravel said at the time that he had never met either of the women.<ref name="nyt061276"/><ref>{{cite news | url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F20B10F83C5A167493C6A8178DD85F428785F9 | title=Rep. Howe Held on Sex Charge in Utah; Gravel Denies Sex on Boat With Miss Ray | author=Oelsner, Lesley | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=June 14, 1976}}</ref> Gravel and Gray strongly denied that they had made any arrangement regarding legislation,<ref name="nyt061276"/> and neither was ever charged with any wrongdoing.<ref name="nyt050878">{{cite news | url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F20F12F6395413728DDDA10894DD405B888BF1D3 | title=Now Washington Wants Its Station Back | author=[[Steven Rattner]] |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=May 8, 1978}}</ref> Decades later Gravel wrote that he had indeed had sex with Ray, but had not changed any votes because of it.<ref name="odyssey-196"/>

Gravel and his main financial backer, Gottstein, had a falling out in 1978, during the Congressional debate over whether to allow a controversial sale of U.S. [[F-15]] fighter aircraft to Saudi Arabia. An ardent backer of Israel, Gottstein opposed the sale and asked Gravel to vote against it. But Gravel not only voted for it but made an emotional speech attacking the anti-sale campaign.<ref name="wapo-feud">{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1979/09/30/the-great-alaska-feud/58a42ecf-d387-4815-9b1b-4afd3ae120c9/ | title=The Great Alaska Feud | first=Nicholas | last=Lehmann | newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] | date=September 30, 1979}} Also available as [https://www.newspapers.com/image/240947746/?terms=%22Barney%2BGottstein%22%2B%22mike%2Bgravel%22 "Senatorial Feud Overshadows Alaska Lands Bill Fight"], ''[[The Hartford Courant]]'', October 5, 1979.</ref> Gravel wrote in 2008 that it was the only time Gottstein had ever asked him for a favor, and the rupture resulted in their never speaking to each other again.<ref>Gravel and Lauria, ''A Political Odyssey'', pp. 144, 202.</ref>

===Alaskan issues===

By 1971 Gravel was urging construction of the much-argued [[Trans-Alaska pipeline]], addressing [[Natural environment|environmental]] concerns by saying that the pipeline's builders and operators should have "total and absolute" responsibility for any consequent environmental damage.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F30D12F63454127B93CAA81789D85F458785F9 |title=Senator Supports Pipeline; Would Make Operator Liable |agency=[[United Press International]] |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 18, 1971 |accessdate=December 29, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> Two years later the debate over the pipeline came to a crux, with ''[[The New York Times]]'' describing it as "environmentalists [in] a holy war with the major oil companies."<ref name="nyt071473">{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F50E15F9385C1A7A93C6A8178CD85F478785F9 |title=Senate, 61–29, Blocks Bid to Delay Alaska Pipeline |author=Edward Cowan |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 14, 1973 |accessdate=December 30, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> In February 1973 the [[U.S. Court of Appeals]] blocked the issuance of permits for construction;<ref>{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F50812FA3C54137A93C2A81789D85F478785F9 |title=U.S. Court Blocks Permits to Build Alaskan Pipeline |agency=[[Reuters]] |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 10, 1973 |accessdate=December 30, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> Gravel and fellow Alaskan Senator [[Ted Stevens]] reacted by urging Congress to pass legislation overturning the court's decision.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F20F1EF73C5C1A7A93C4A81789D85F478785F9 |title=Morton Hints Congress Bid To Clear Alaskan Pipeline |agency=[[United Press International]] |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 16, 1973 |accessdate=December 30, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> Environmentalists opposed to the pipeline, such as the [[Environmental Defense Fund]] and the [[Sierra Club]]<ref name="nyt071873"/> then sought to use the recently passed [[National Environmental Policy Act]] to their advantage;<ref name="nyt071473"/> Gravel designed an amendment to the pipeline bill that would immunize the pipeline from any further court challenges under that law,<ref name="nyt071473"/> and thus speed its construction. Passage of the amendment became the key battle regarding the pipeline. On July 17, 1973, in a dramatic roll-call vote, the Gravel amendment was approved as a 49–49 tie was broken in favor by Vice President [[Spiro Agnew]].<ref name="nyt071873">{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FB0613FD3859137A93CAA8178CD85F478785F9 |title=Senate, 77–20, Votes For Alaska Pipeline; Court Test Barred, With 49-to-49 Tie Broken by Agnew |author=Edward Cowan |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 18, 1973 |accessdate=December 30, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> The actual bill enabling the pipeline then passed easily;<ref name="nyt071873"/> Gravel had triumphed.

In opposition to the Alaskan [[fishing industry]], Gravel advocated American participation in the formation of the [[United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea]]. For two years he opposed legislation that established a {{convert|200|mi|km|adj=on}} [[Exclusive Economic Zone]] for marine resources. He was one of only 19 senators to vote against Senate approval for the expanded zone in 1976,<ref name="nyt012976">{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F30913FC385A1A7493CBAB178AD85F428785F9 |title=Senate Approves a 200-Mile Limit on Fishing Rights |author=David Binder |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=January 29, 1976 |accessdate=December 31, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> saying it would undermine the U.S. position in Law of the Sea negotiations and that nations arbitrarily extending their fishing rights limits would "produce anarchy of the seas."<ref name="nyt012976"/> The legislation was passed, and the United States has signed but never [[ratification|ratified]] the Law of the Sea treaty.

Gravel accumulated a complicated record on Indian affairs during his time in the Senate. During his first year in the Senate Gravel urged abolition of the [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]], criticizing the agency for the pace of development of schools in Alaska, its paternalistic attitudes and the culturally inappropriate nature of its education, and advocating greater shared decision-making between the federal government and native communities in Alaska.<ref name="cq-alm-69"/><ref>{{cite report |year=1969 |title=Indian Education, 1969. Part 1, Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Indian Education of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, U.S. Senate, 91st Congress, 1st Session on Policy, Organization, Administration, and New Legislation Concerning the American Indians (Washington, D.C., Feb. 18,19,24, and Mar. 27, 1969; Fairbanks, Alaska, Apr 11, 1969) |url=https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED089889.pdf |publisher=[[United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare]] |pages=261–266 |access-date=May 20, 2019}}</ref> Later, he evolved past this view; 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. In 1971, he fended off accusations from Alaskan natives that he was not spending enough time working on their [[Aboriginal title|land claims]].<ref name=jacobin /> Gravel helped secure a private grant to facilitate the first [[Inuit Circumpolar Council|Inuit Circumpolar Conference]] in 1977,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ebenhopson.com/papers/1976/AFNConfabSpeech.html |title=Speech Before the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention |author=Eben Hopson |publisher=ebenhopson.com |date=October 22, 1976 |accessdate=December 31, 2007}}</ref> attended by [[Inuit]] representatives from Alaska, [[Canada]], and [[Greenland]]. These conferences now also include representatives from [[Russia]]. In 1977, Gravel helped lead an effort to have the [[U.S. Interior Department]] rename [[Mount McKinley]] to Denali;<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,947952,00.html | title=Pique over the Continent's Tallest Peak | magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | date=November 7, 1977 | accessdate=February 2, 2008}}</ref> this eventually led to [[Denali National Park]] being [[Denali–Mount McKinley naming dispute|so named]]. Subsequently, Gravel proposed a never-built "Denali City" development above the [[Tokositna River]] near the mountain, to consist of a giant [[Teflon]] dome enclosing hotels, golf courses, condominiums, and commercial buildings.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-91517275.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511205244/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-91517275.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=May 11, 2011 | title=In Alaska, Big Schemes Often Yield Empty Dreams | author=Joel Connelly | newspaper=[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]] | date=September 13, 2002 | accessdate=February 2, 2008 | format=fee required}}</ref>

A key, emotional issue in the state at the time was "locking up Alaska", making reference to allocation of its vast, mostly uninhabited land.<ref name="nyt082680"/>

In 1978 Gravel blocked passage, via procedural delays<ref name="nyt082680">{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FA0F17FF355F12728DDDAF0A94D0405B8084F1D3 |title=Polls Indicate Gravel Is in Trouble In Alaska's Senate Primary Today |author=Wallace Turner |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 26, 1980 |accessdate=December 11, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> such as walking out of [[United States Congress Conference committee|House–Senate conference committee]] meetings,<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,912207,00.html | title=Birth and Death In the Night | magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | date=October 30, 1978 | accessdate=February 2, 2008}}</ref> of a complex bill which represented a compromise on land use policy. The bill would have put some of Alaska's vast federal land holdings under state control while preserving other portions for federal parks and refuges;<ref name="salon050707"/> the action would earn Gravel the enmity of fellow Alaska Senator [[Ted Stevens]].<ref name="salon050707"/> In 1980, a new lands bill came up for consideration, that was less favorable to Alaskan interests and more liked by environmentalists; it set aside {{convert|127000000|acre|km2}} of Alaska's {{convert|375000000|acre|km2}} for national parks, conservation areas, and other restricted federal uses.<ref name="time112480">{{cite news | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,952829-1,00.html | title=Ah, Wilderness! Ah, Development! | magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | date=November 24, 1980 | accessdate=February 2, 2002}}</ref> Gravel blocked it, as not ensuring enough future development in the state.<ref name="time112480"/> A new compromise version of the bill came forward, which reduced the land set aside to {{convert|104000000|acre|km2}}.<ref name="nyt082680"/> Representing Alaskan interests, Gravel tried to stop the bill, including by filibuster.<ref name="salon050707"/> But the Senate voted for cloture and passed the bill.<ref name="time112480"/><ref name="nyt082880"/> Frustrated, Gravel said, "the legislation denies Alaska its rights as a state, and denies the U.S. crucial strategic resources,"<ref name="time112480"/> and opined that the Senate was "a little bit like a tank of barracudas."<ref name="nyt082680"/>

In 1978 Gravel authored and secured the passage into law of the [[General Stock Ownership Corporation]], that became Subchapter U of the Tax Code under the [[Internal Revenue Code of 1954]].<ref name="kelso-dates">{{cite web |url=http://www.kelsoinstitute.org/important-dates.html |title=Important Dates in the History of Binary Economics |publisher=[[Kelso Institute]] |year=2000 |accessdate=December 31, 2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080108135352/http://www.kelsoinstitute.org/important-dates.html |archivedate=January 8, 2008 }}</ref><ref name=gauche>{{cite journal |title=Binary Economic Modes for the Privatization of Public Assets |first=Jerry N. |last=Gauche |year=2000 |journal=[[Journal of Socio-Economics]] |volume = 27 |issue = 3 |pages=445–459 |url=http://kelsoinstitute.org/pdf/binaryeconomicmodes.pdf |accessdate = December 31, 2007 |doi=10.1016/S1053-5357(99)80098-5}}</ref> While that was originally done as a prerequisite to a failed 1980 Alaskan [[ballot initiative]] that would have paid dividends to Alaskan citizens for pipeline-related revenue,<ref name="gauche"/> it also turned out to be significant in the development of [[binary economics]].<ref name="kelso-dates"/>{{clarify|date=November 2012}}

===Loss of Senate seat in 1980===

{{Main|1980 United States Senate election in Alaska}}

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. One of Gruening's supporters was Gravel's former backer Gottstein.<ref name="wapo-feud"/> Several factors made Gravel vulnerable. As an insurgent candidate in 1968 Gravel had never established a firm party base.<ref name="hnn080706"/> Not liking to hunt or fish, he was also always culturally suspect in the state.<ref>Gravel and Lauria, ''A Political Odyssey'', p. 192.</ref><ref name="pol121109"/> A group of Democrats, including future governor [[Steve Cowper]],<ref name="nyt070682">Wallace Turner, [https://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=FB0613F9385F0C758CDDAE0894DA484D81 "Side Issues Figure in Tricky Alaska Primary"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', July 6, 1982. Retrieved July 7, 2007.</ref> led the campaign against Gravel, with Gravel's actions in respect to the 1978 and 1980 Alaskan lands bills a major issue,<ref name="salon050707"/><ref name="nyt082880"/> especially given that the latter's dénouement happened but a week before the primary.<ref name="nyt082680"/> The sources of Gravel's campaign funds, some of which came from [[political action committee]]s outside the state, also became an issue in the contest.<ref name="nyt082880"/> Another factor may have been Alaska's [[blanket primary]] system of the time,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.elections.alaska.gov/doc/forms/H42.pdf | title=Alaska's Primary Election History | publisher=[[Alaska Division of Elections]] | date=September 1, 2009 | accessdate=March 21, 2011}}</ref> which allowed unlimited voting across party lines and from its many independents;<ref name="nyt070682"/> Republicans believed Gruening would be an easier candidate to defeat in the general election.<ref name="nyt082880"/>

Gruening won the bitterly fought<ref name="nyt082880"/> primary with about 55 percent of the vote to Gravel's 44 percent.<ref name="nyt082880">{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FB0817FA355F12728DDDA10A94D0405B8084F1D3 |title=Gravel Loses a Bitter Fight In Senate Primary in Alaska |author=Wallace Turner |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 28, 1980 |accessdate=December 10, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> Gravel later conceded that by the time of his defeat, he had alienated "almost every constituency in Alaska."<ref name="salon050707"/>

Gruening lost the [[general election]] to Republican [[Frank Murkowski]]. Gravel was the last Democrat to represent Alaska in Congress for 28&nbsp;years, until Anchorage Mayor [[Mark Begich]] defeated Stevens, by then an aged, iconic figure who had just been convicted of seven felonies for taking unreported gifts, in a [[United States Senate election in Alaska, 2008|very close and protracted election result]] in mid-November 2008.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/18/AR2008111803227.html?hpid%3Dtopnews&sub=AR | title=Ted Stevens Loses Battle For Alaska Senate Seat | author=Kane, Paul | newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] | date=November 19, 2008 | accessdate=November 19, 2008}}</ref> (Stevens's conviction was subsequently vacated due to prosecutorial misconduct.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/03/special-election-alaska-senate-seat-appears-unlikely/ | title=Special 'Rerun' Alaska Senate Election Highly Unlikely | author=Berger, Judson | publisher=[[Fox News]] | date=April 3, 2009 | accessdate=April 5, 2009 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090405102824/http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/03/special-election-alaska-senate-seat-appears-unlikely/ | archivedate=April 5, 2009 }}</ref>)

==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 | accessdate=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"/>

During the 1980s Gravel was a real estate developer in [[Anchorage, Alaska|Anchorage]] and [[Kenai, Alaska]],<ref>''[[Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]]'', [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=G000388 Mike Gravel profile]</ref> a consultant, and a stockbroker.<ref name="salon050707"/> One of his real estate ventures, a condominium business, was forced to declare bankruptcy and a lawsuit ensued.<ref name="salon050707"/> In 1986 Gravel worked in partnership with [[Merrill Lynch|Merrill Lynch Capital Markets]] to buy losses that financially troubled [[Alaska Native Corporation]]s could not take as tax deductions and sell them to large national companies looking for tax writeoffs.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ASAfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=iKcEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1228,3229509&dq=mike+gravel&hl=en | title=Native corporations offer tax loopholes | author=Swardson, Anne | agency=[[The Washington Post]] | newspaper=[[Anchorage Daily News]] | date=October 22, 1986 | page=C–4}}</ref> Gravel also learned [[computer programming]] at some point but never practiced it.<ref name="nytm-2019"/>

In 1984 Gravel married his second wife, Whitney Stewart Gravel, a former administrative assistant for Senator [[Jacob Javits]].<ref name="wapo090907"/><ref>Gravel and Lauria, ''A Political Odyssey'', p. 243.</ref>

===Return to politics===

[[Image:gravelcouple.JPG|thumb|right|Mike and Whitney Gravel with their dog Ginger]]

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 [[Constitutional Convention (United States)|1787 Constitutional Convention]] in bringing direct democracy about.<ref name="ni4d-rev"/>

Gravel led a quixotic effort to get a [[United States Constitution]]al [[Constitutional amendment|amendment]] to allow voter-initiated federal legislation similar to state ballot [[initiative]]s.<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 | accessdate=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]] | accessdate=November 13, 2010 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511232809/http://old.ni4d.us/library/fossedal_direct_democracy_in_switzerland.htm | archivedate=May 11, 2011 }}</ref> By 2004, Gravel had become chair of the institute,<ref>{{cite web|archiveurl=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20041029205923/http://www.adti.net/background/contacting.html |archivedate=October 29, 2004 |title=Contacting the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution |publisher=[[Alexis de Tocqueville Institution]] |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]] |accessdate=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 |accessdate=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 |accessdate=December 29, 2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080102230755/http://www.politics1.com/blog-0406a.htm |archivedate=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 | accessdate=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 |accessdate=December 29, 2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071227091525/http://www.gravel2008.us/bio |archivedate=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==

{{Main|Mike Gravel 2008 presidential campaign}}

===Democratic Party primaries===

[[Image:Mgravelgrandpa.jpg|thumb|left|Mike Gravel at the launch of his Presidential campaign in April 2006]]

At the start of 2006 Gravel decided the best way he could promote [[direct democracy]] and the [[National Initiative]] was to run for president.<ref 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 |accessdate=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 | accessdate=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 |accessdate=December 29, 2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120021914/http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00423202/285065/ |archivedate=November 20, 2008 }}</ref>

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 |accessdate=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]] |accessdate=May 4, 2007 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070518062818/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gMlHv2lDqA <!--Added by H3llBot--> |archivedate=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 |accessdate=December 28, 2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071024150656/http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2007/04/mike_gravel_soo.html |archivedate=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 | accessdate=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 |accessdate=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 |accessdate=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.

[[Image: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 |accessdate=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 |accessdate=December 29, 2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071227034815/http://www.gravel2008.us/?q=node%2F471 |archivedate=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 |accessdate=December 29, 2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080115074223/http://www.gravel2008.us/?q=node%2F1360 |archivedate=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 |accessdate=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 |accessdate=January 9, 2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080109142954/http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2008/01/mike_gravel_tells_teens_do_pot.html |archivedate=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 | accessdate=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 |accessdate=April 17, 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081103025255/http://www.usaelectionpolls.com/2008/articles/dennis-kucinich-mike-gravel-unequal-time-abc-debate.html |archivedate=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 |accessdate=December 29, 2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071112090453/http://query.nictusa.com/pres/2007/Q3/C00423202.html |archivedate=November 12, 2007 }}</ref> and was continuing to run a threadbare campaign with minimal staff.<ref name="wapo090907"/>

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 |accessdate=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 |accessdate=December 29, 2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080110133508/http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2007/nov/07/110710306.html |archivedate=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 |accessdate=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 |accessdate=December 29, 2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080114224539/http://www.gravel2008.us/?q=node%2F2510 |archivedate=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 |accessdate=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 |accessdate=December 29, 2007|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080107011630/http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20071030_Democratic_debate_starts_at_9.html |archivedate = 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 |accessdate=January 4, 2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120917144440/http://www.thepresidentialcandidates.us/2007/12/december-5-is-mass-donation-day-for.html |archivedate=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 |accessdate=January 4, 2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080112125548/http://www.whotv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7572270 |archivedate=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 |accessdate=January 4, 2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080105000811/http://www.gravel2008.us/content/were-still-race |archivedate=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 |accessdate=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 |accessdate=January 8, 2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=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 |archivedate=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 |accessdate=February 7, 2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080217131639/http://www.dailycal.org/article/100285/candidate_speaks_to_political_science_class |archivedate=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 | accessdate=February 15, 2008 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080216102926/http://yaledailynews.com/articles/view/23498 |archivedate = 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 | accessdate=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 | accessdate=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 | accessdate=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 | accessdate=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===

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|accessdate=March 25, 2008|publisher=[[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian Party]]|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080326190245/http://www.lp.org/media/article_573.shtml |archivedate = 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 |accessdate=March 26, 2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080326185824/http://www.gravel2008.us/content/personal-message-mike |archivedate=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 | accessdate=April 1, 2008|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080506232848/http://www.newsweek.com/id/129467/ |archivedate = 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 | accessdate=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 |accessdate=May 26, 2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080526112141/http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13249 |archivedate=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 | accessdate=April 8, 2008 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080409183243/http://www.gravel2008.us/content/straw-poll-results | archivedate=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 |accessdate=May 25, 2008|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080528033121/http://www.lp.org/media/printer_588.shtml |archivedate = 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 | accessdate=May 25, 2008|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080528190001/http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/05/25/libertarians-pick-barr-as-presidential-nominee/ |archivedate = May 28, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==2008–early 2019==

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 | accessdate=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 | accessdate=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|accessdate=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 |accessdate=March 8, 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301162657/http://nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/FeaturedDocs/U.S._v_Al-Arian_pleaagr.pdf |archivedate=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 |archiveurl=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 |archivedate=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 | accessdate=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 | accessdate = August 18, 2008}}</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 |accessdate=March 2, 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416131512/http://election411.org/article/id/3601160/interview-mike-gravel |archivedate=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 | accessdate=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.

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 | accessdate=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 | accessdate=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 | accessdate=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|accessdate=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. | accessdate=March 6, 2016 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316115430/http://cannabissativainc.com/company.php | archivedate=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>

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>

==2020 presidential campaign==

{{Main|Mike Gravel 2020 presidential campaign}}

On March 19, 2019, Gravel announced that he was considering running in the [[2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries|2020 Democratic primaries]]. He said, "The goal will not be to win, but to bring a critique of American imperialism to the Democratic debate stage." An [[exploratory committee]] was formed, with filing a statement of organization with the [[Federal Election Commission]] on that same day.<ref name="Gravel">{{cite web| url=https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/gravel-2020-810542/| title=88-Year-Old Mike Gravel Is the Latest Teen Sensation| last=Bort| first=Ryan| date=March 20, 2019| work=[[Rolling Stone]]| accessdate=March 27, 2019}}</ref><ref group="nb">1. Mike Gravel for President Exploratory Committee. 2. Date: March 19, 2019. 3. FEC Committee ID #: C00699637 This committee is a Principal Campaign Committee. Candidate: Mike Gravel. Party: Democratic Party. Office Sought: President. Signed: Elijah Emery. Date Signed: March 19, 2019. Official Committee URL: mikegravel.org. See: {{cite web| title=FEC Form 1 · Statement of Organization · Filing FEC-1320193| website=docquery.fec.gov| url=http://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/C00699637/1320193/| publisher=Federal Election Commission| location=Washington, D.C.| accessdate=March 27, 2019}}</ref> The filing was the idea of a group of teenagers, led by [[David Oks]] and [[Henry Williams (activist)| Henry Williams]], inspired by the podcast ''[[Chapo Trap House]]'', and done with Gravel's consent (after a week spent convincing him of the idea's merits), but without his involvement.<ref name="nytm-2019"/><ref>{{cite web| last=Montellaro| first=Zach| title='Do you know how old I am?': Teens draft Gravel to run for president| url=https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/20/mike-gravel-president-chapo-trap-house-1230332| work=Politico| date=March 20, 2019| accessdate=March 27, 2019}}</ref> Intrigued by the group's commitment to amplifying his long-held policy goals, Gravel (who would be {{age in years and months|1930|5|5|2021|1|20}} old on [[United States presidential inauguration|Inauguration Day]] in 2021) said he planned to meet with them in April, and to discuss a [[2020 United States presidential election|2020 White House run]] with his wife.<ref>{{cite web| last=Kamisar| first=Ben| title=Mike Gravel explains his viral moment| url=https://www.nbcnews.com/card/mike-gravel-explains-his-viral-moment-n985431| date=March 20, 2019| accessdate=March 27, 2019 | publisher=NBC News}}</ref> On April 2, 2019, Gravel filed to officially run for office.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mike-gravel-filed-run-president-campaign-says|author=Frank Miles|date=April 3, 2019|title=Mike Gravel has filed to run for president but intends to drop out after debates, campaign says|access-date=April 4, 2019|publisher=Fox News}}</ref><ref name=officialstatement>{{cite web|url=http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/512/201904029145981512/201904029145981512.pdf|title=Statement of Candidacy|date=2019|website=docquery.fec.gov|format=PDF}}</ref> The campaign called itself the "#Gravelanche".<ref name="GravelWithdraw">{{cite web|url=https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/455914-gravel-to-form-liberal-think-tank-after-suspending-campaign|title=Gravel to form liberal think tank after suspending campaign|date=August 2, 2019|work=The Hill|last=Bonn|first=Tess}}</ref>

Gravel's initial stated goal was merely to qualify for debates by getting the required 65,000 small donors.<ref name=Atlantic/><ref name="fox-win"/> He discouraged people from voting for him<ref name=Atlantic/> and said his preferences were [[Bernie Sanders]] and [[Tulsi Gabbard]], both of whom favor a non-interventionist foreign policy.<ref name=huffpo>{{Cite news|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mike-gravel-2020-campaign-ends_n_5d277ea5e4b0bd7d1e195918|title=Mike Gravel Ends Unorthodox 2020 Campaign, Endorses Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard|last=Shen-Berro|first=Julian|date=August 7, 2019|publisher=[[Huffington Post]]|language=en|access-date=August 7, 2019}}</ref><ref name=Atlantic>{{cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/04/mike-gravels-unlikely-democratic-presidential-campaign/586837/ |title=Mike Gravel's Plan to Rock the Democratic Primary |last=Graham |first=David |magazine=[[The Atlantic]] |date=April 10, 2019 |accessdate=April 11, 2019 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410230515/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/04/mike-gravels-unlikely-democratic-presidential-campaign/586837/ |archivedate=April 10, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> But on April 29, Gravel's campaign said he was running to win, not just to participate in debates.<ref name="fox-win">{{cite news | url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/2020-democratic-gravel-says-hes-now-running-to-win | title=2020 long-shot Mike Gravel changes plans, says he's now 'running to win' | first=Paul | last=Steinhauser | publisher=[[Fox News]] | date=April 29, 2019}}</ref> In a subsequent interview, though, Gravel emphasized the virtue of Sanders and Gabbard in some order as a presidential ticket.<ref name="hill-att">{{cite news | url=https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/443099-mike-gravel-says-sanders-gabbard-would-be-ideal-2020-dem-ticket | title=Mike Gravel says Sanders, Gabbard would be 'ideal' 2020 Dem ticket | first=Julia | last=Manchester | newspaper=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]] | date=May 10, 2019}}</ref> Statements like these caused [[Vox (website)|Vox]] to call Gravel "2020's oddest Democratic presidential candidate".<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/5/27/18638687/mike-gravel-2020-democratic-presidential-candidates | title=Mike Gravel, 2020's oddest Democratic presidential candidate, explained | first=Dylan | last=Scott | publisher=[[Vox Media]] | date=May 28, 2019}}</ref> The ''[[New York Times Magazine]]'' included Gravel as an example in the rise of [[democratic socialism]] in the United States also exemplified by Sanders's [[Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, 2016|2016 race]] and the 2018 election of Representative [[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]]: "[Gravel's] campaign represents the most absurd form of a legitimate movement on the left that feels little obligation to the Democratic Party."<ref name="nytm-2019">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/06/magazine/mike-gravel-teens-twitter-presidential-campaign.html?searchResultPosition=1 | title=Why Is Mike Gravel Running for President? (And Is He?) | first=Jamie Lauren | last=Keiles | magazine=[[The New York Times Magazine]] | date=June 9, 2019 | pages=22–27}}</ref>

In June 2019, Gravel touted the endorsement of [[Muntadhar al-Zaidi|Muntadher al-Zaidi]], the Iraqi journalist who, in December 2008, made headlines after he threw his shoes at [[President George W. Bush]] in protest of the U.S. war in Iraq. Al-Zaidi endorsed Gravel based on his promise to improve White House policies regarding Iraq and the Middle East.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/mike-gravel-touts-endorsement-from-iraqi-journalist-who-threw-shoes-at-george-w-bush|title=Mike Gravel Touts Endorsement From Iraqi Journalist Who Threw Shoes at George W. Bush|last=Resnick|first=Gideon|date=June 7, 2019|publisher=The Daily Beast|language=en|access-date=June 14, 2019}}</ref>

On June 13, 2019, the Democratic Party announced the 20 major candidates who qualified for the first debate later that month. Gravel was one of the four who missed out (the others were Montana Governor [[Steve Bullock (American politician)|Steve Bullock]], U.S. Representative [[Seth Moulton]], and Miramar, Florida, Mayor [[Wayne Messam]]).<ref>{{cite news | url=https://time.com/5605427/2020-democratic-debate-qualified-candidates/ | title=Here Are the 20 Candidates Who Qualified for the 2020 Democratic Debates | magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | first= Madeleine | last= Joung | date=June 13, 2019}}</ref> Gravel had been unable to get the requisite number of donations, or to score one percent or better in enough polls (many polls did not even include him).<ref>{{cite news | url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-first-democratic-debate-deadline-is-almost-here-whos-in-and-whos-out/ | title=The First Democratic Debate Deadline Has Passed: Who's In And Who's Out | first=Geoffrey | last=Skelley | publisher=[[FiveThirtyEight]] | date=June 12, 2019}} Updated June 13, 2019.</ref>  Nevertheless, Gravel said he would not drop out and would try to qualify for the July debate.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.bing.com/amp/s/www.washingtonexaminer.com%2fnews%2fmike-gravel-says-he-will-continue-his-presidential-campaign-after-not-making-the-debate-stage%3f_amp%3dtrue | title=Mike Gravel says he will continue his presidential campaign after not making the debate stage | first=Zachary | last=Halaschak | magazine=[[Washington Examiner]] | date=June 13, 2019}}</ref> In early July, however, Gravel's campaign said it was still 10,000 contributions short of the 65,000-donor threshold and that it was "nearing its conclusion". It solicited suggestions for where to donate $100–150,000 of leftover campaign funds.<ref name="waex-concl">{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/89-year-old-mike-gravels-2020-campaign-nearing-its-conclusion | title=89-year-old Mike Gravel's 2020 campaign 'nearing its conclusion' | first= Julio | last=Rosas | magazine=[[Washington Examiner]] | date=July 5, 2019}}</ref> Gravel added that he had always planned on ending the campaign before the teenagers in charge of it needed to return to school.<ref name="waex-concl"/> A few days later the campaign became the first to run an attack ad against Democratic front-runner [[Joe Biden]], using the text "Is this the best our party has to offer?"<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/mike-gravel-to-run-first-anti-biden-attack-ad-during-msnbc-show | title=Mike Gravel to Run First Anti-Biden Attack Ad During MSNBC Show | first=Gideon | last=Resnick | publisher=[[The Daily Beast]] | date=July 11, 2019}}</ref>

Gravel's campaign crossed the threshold of 65,000 donors on July 12, 2019, meeting the qualification mark for that month's debate.<ref>{{cite tweet|first=Mike |last=Gravel|user=MikeGravel|number=1149813259349966849|date=July 12, 2019|title=we made it|accessdate=July 12, 2019}}</ref> But because 20 other candidates, the maximum allowed to participate, had already met at least the polling criterion, which takes priority over the donor criterion,<ref>{{cite web|last=Montellaro|first=Zach|url=https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-score/2019/06/18/bullock-qualifies-for-july-debate-658525|title=Bullock qualifies for July debate|work=[[Politico]]|date=June 18, 2019|accessdate=June 30, 2019}}</ref> Gravel was not invited.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/cnn-2020-democratic-debates-how-to-watch-and-live-stream-online | title=CNN 2020 Democratic Debates: How to Watch and Live Stream Online | first=Audrey | last=McNamara| publisher=[[The Daily Beast]] | date=July 29, 2019}}</ref>

The campaign officially came to a close on August 6, 2019, with Gravel endorsing both [[Bernie Sanders]] and [[Tulsi Gabbard]] for president.<ref name="auto">{{cite tweet |last=Stein |first=Sam | user=samstein|title=Days after recording a video endorsing Bernie Sanders for president ...|number=1159278634399653895 |accessdate=August 12, 2019|date=August 7, 2019}} "I'm pleased to officially announce that Tulsi Gabbard has my endorsement for President of the United States of America in 2020."</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mike-gravel-endorses-bernie-sanders/ | title=Mike Gravel endorses Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard | first=Grace | last=Segers | publisher=[[CBS News]] | date=August 7, 2019 | accessdate=September 6, 2019 | quote=He later clarified to interviewer Primo Nutmeg that he was endorsing both Sanders and Gabbard.}}</ref> Gravel's campaign later stated on Twitter that they never wanted to win but saw the campaign as an "intimately democratic" project and expressed honor at working with Gravel.<ref>{{cite tweet |last=Gravel |first=Mike |title=Of course, this was not a 'campaign' in the strict sense.... |number=1158766690194395136 |user=MikeGravel |language=en |date=August 6, 2019}}</ref> Gravel said he would divide remaining campaign funds between charity and a new think tank that would espouse his ideas.<ref name="GravelWithdraw"/>

==Political positions==

[[Image:Graveld.JPG|thumb|right|Mike Gravel with [[campaign finance reform]] activist and friend Ethel "[[Granny D]]" Haddock]]

[[Alan Abramowitz]] and Jeffrey Allan Segal described Gravel as "a maverick, if not an eccentric, in the Senate."<ref name="Abrahmowitz">Alan Abramowitz & Jeffrey Allan Segal, ''Senate Elections'' (University of Michigan Press: 1992), p. 75: "Gravel was a maverick, if not an eccentric, in the Senate."</ref><ref>Phil Williams, ''The Senate and U.S. Troops in Europe'' (Macmillan, 1985) p. 255: "Not only was Gravel one of the Senate's mavericks or outsiders who lacked the status, prestige and influence of someone like Mansfield ..."</ref> His [[Americans for Democratic Action]] "Liberal Quotient" scores ranged from 81 out of 100 (1971) to 39 out of 100 (1980),<ref name="Abrahmowitz"/> with an average of around 61.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.adaction.org/pages/publications/voting-records.php | title=Voting Records | publisher=[[Americans for Democratic Action]] | accessdate=November 5, 2016}} Gravel's ADA scores for 1969 through 1980 are 72, 75, 81, 75, 65, 43, ?, 45, 55, 70, 47, 39. (The ADA site's 1975 report is missing some pages, including the one for Senators from Alaska.) His lower scores from 1974 on are partly a reflection of a change in ADA methodology regarding how they treat absences and paired absences from votes.</ref> His [[American Conservative Union]] scores ranged from 0 out of 100 (several years, including 1971 and 1972) to 38 out of 100 (1979), with an average of 14.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://acuratings.conservative.org/acu-federal-legislative-ratings/?year1=1971&chamber=13&state1=7&sortable=1 | title=Federal Legislative Ratings | publisher=[[American Conservative Union]] | accessdate=November 5, 2016}} Gravel's ACU scores for 1971 (when ACU began its ratings) through 1980 are 0, 0, 5, 36, 23, 12, 20, 6, 38, 0.</ref> Abramowitz and Segal note that Gravel's lowest ADA ratings coincided with his two Senate re-election bids,<ref name="Abrahmowitz"/> and for the most part his highest ACU ratings followed the same pattern.

===Social issues===

On drug policy, Gravel said in 2007 that he favors decriminalization and treating addiction as a public health matter.<ref name="Q&A"/><ref>George W. Grayson, ''Mexico: Narco-Violence and a Failed State?'' ([[Transaction Publishers|Transaction]], 2011), p. 260.</ref><ref name="3dTranscript">[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/28/us/politics/29transcript.html Transcript of the Third Democratic Primary Presidential Debate], PBS (June 28, 2007), transcript provided by the New York Times.</ref> During his 2008 presidential candidacy he condemned the [[War on Drugs]] as a failure, saying that it did "nothing but savage our inner cities and put our children at risk."<ref name="3dTranscript"/> Gravel called for abolition of [[Capital punishment in the United States|capital punishment]] in his book ''Citizen Power'', and adhered to this position during his 2008 run for president.<ref name="Pew">[http://www.pewforum.org/2008/11/04/religion-and-politics-08-mike-gravel/ Religion and Politics '08: Mike Gravel], [[Pew Research Center]] (November 4, 2008).</ref> He supports [[abortion rights]].<ref name="Pew"/><ref name="GravelOfficial"/><ref name="Kim">Richard Kim, [https://www.thenation.com/article/mike-gravel/ Mike Gravel: An inconvenient truth-teller], ''The Nation'' (November 8, 2007).</ref>

During the 2008 campaign Gravel was a strong supporter of [[LGBT rights]]. He supported [[same-sex marriage in the United States|same-sex marriage]] and opposed the [[Defense of Marriage Act]] and the U.S. military's "[[don't ask, don't tell]]" policy.<ref name="Pew"/><ref name="GravelOfficial"/> He wrote in 2008 that "depriving gays and lesbians of equal rights is immoral."<ref name="Pew"/>

===Foreign policy and defense issues===

Gravel is a critic of [[American imperialism]].<ref name="Q&A"/>

Gravel firmly opposes U.S. military action against Iran and Syria.<ref name="GravelOfficial"/> He voiced opposition to the [[Guantanamo Bay detention camp]], the [[Military Commissions Act of 2006]], the [[Torture and the United States|use of torture]], [[Indefinite detention without trial|indefinite detention]], and what he called "flagrant ignorance" of the [[Geneva Convention]].<ref name="GravelOfficial"/> In 2014 Gravel called for the release of the full, unredacted [[Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture]].<ref>[http://www.democracynow.org/2014/12/16/mike_gravel_to_senator_mark_udall Mike Gravel to Senator Mark Udall: Make Full Torture Probe Public Like I Did with Pentagon Papers], ''Democracy Now!'' (interview with [[Amy Goodman]]) (December 16, 2014).</ref>

Gravel opposes the use of [[international sanctions]] as a policy tool and blamed the ones against [[Iraq under Saddam Hussein]] for the deaths of a half-million children in that country.<ref name="Pew"/> In 2013 Gravel said that [[sanctions against Iran]] were "illegal".<ref name="Keating">Joshua Keating, [https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/02/22/mike-gravel-on-movies-sanctions-and-what-we-can-learn-from-iran/ Mike Gravel on movies, sanctions, and what we can learn from Iran] (February 22, 2013).</ref>

During his 2008 candidacy, Gravel called for a cut in military spending, variously reported to be 15 percent<ref name="Pew"/> or 50 percent.<ref name="Kim"/> He called for the savings to boost public education spending.<ref name="Pew"/> To spur international [[nuclear nonproliferation]] efforts, Gravel called for unilateral reductions in the [[U.S. nuclear arsenal]].<ref name="Q&A"/>

In 2008 Gravel criticized the decision of [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|House Speaker]] [[Nancy Pelosi]] to not pursue the [[efforts to impeach George W. Bush]] and the [[attempted impeachment of Dick Cheney]], saying also that Bush and Cheney had committed crimes and deserved "to be prosecuted" at [[International Criminal Court|The Hague]].<ref name="Goodman">[http://www.democracynow.org/2008/6/17/former_senator_mike_gravel_calls_for Former Senator Mike Gravel Calls for Independent 9/11 Investigation and Prosecution of President Bush and Vice President Cheney], ''[[Democracy Now!]]'' (June 17, 2008).</ref> In 2013 he expressed disdain for President Obama, calling him "a total fraud" and saying that both Bush and Obama should be tried "for the crimes and murders they've committed" in the [[International Court of Justice]].<ref name="Nelson">Steven Nelson, [https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2013/07/09/former-sen-gravel-nsa-leaks-should-have-come-from-senators Former Sen. Gravel: NSA Leaks Should Have Come From Senators], ''U.S. News & World Report'' (July 9, 2013).</ref> Gravel specifically condemned Obama for the [[drone strikes in Pakistan]] and elsewhere.<ref name="Nelson"/>

===Economy, immigration, and environment===

During his 2008 candidacy Gravel favored a progressive [[FairTax]] scheme, which would abolish the [[Internal Revenue Service]], eliminate the [[federal income tax]] (which Gravel called "corrupt"),<ref name="Q&A"/> and impose a [[national sales tax]].<ref name="GravelOfficial"/><ref name="LVS">[http://lasvegassun.com/politics/voterguide/2008/mike-gravel/issues/taxes/ 2008 Elections: Caucus Guide: Mike Gravel on Taxes], ''Las Vegas Sun'' (accessed September 7, 2016).</ref><ref>[http://business.time.com/2008/01/04/the_fair_tax_has_its_moment_in/ The Fair Tax has its moment in the sun. Could there be more to come?], Time (January 4, 2008).</ref> To offset the new sales taxes on essential goods, Gravel's plan called for monthly government rebate payments to individuals and families.<ref name="GravelOfficial"/><ref name="LVS"/> During his 2020 campaign Gravel also voiced support for a third legislative body that would give the people direct control of the budget as well as the implementation of a [[land value tax]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fortune.com/2019/07/11/mike-gravel-land-value-tax/|title=Mike Gravel: A Land Value Tax Helps Return Power to People|website=Fortune|language=en|access-date=2019-07-12}}</ref>

Gravel opposed the [[North American Free Trade Agreement]] (NAFTA) during his 2008 candidacy, calling it unfair and economically harmful and needing renegotiation.<ref name="Pew"/><ref name="GravelOfficial"/> Gravel believed that NAFTA was the "root cause" of illegal migration to the U.S.<ref name="GravelOfficial"/> He favored a [[guest worker program]] and "setting up naturalization procedures that would fairly bring immigrants into legal status."<ref name="GravelOfficial"/> In a 2007 interview, Gravel identified himself as "very much of a globalist" who believed in open markets and open borders and condemned the scapegoating of undocumented immigrants.<ref name="Arrington">Michael Arrington, [https://techcrunch.com/2007/12/08/presidential-candidate-mike-gravel-does-things-a-little-differently/ Presidential Candidate Mike Gravel Does Things A Little Differently], ''TechCrunch'' (December 8, 2007).</ref> Gravel also said that he favored eliminating the cap on [[H1B visa]]s.<ref name="Arrington"/>

As a senator from Alaska, Gravel favored [[Arctic Refuge drilling controversy|drilling]] in the [[Arctic National Wildlife Refuge]], but opposed it during his 2008 campaign.<ref name="Pew"/> In 2008, Gravel supported a [[carbon tax]] to combat climate change.<ref name="Pew"/>

Gravel spoke in favor of [[net neutrality]] during his presidential campaign.<ref name="Arrington"/>

===Education and health care===

Gravel called for the cost of college tuition to be borne by the federal government, rather than students.<ref name="Pew"/> In his 2008 campaign, he called the [[No Child Left Behind Act]] "a failure"<ref name="Q&A"/> and called for it to be "reformed and fully funded".<ref name="GravelOfficial"/> He expressed support for universal [[pre-kindergarten]] and the expansion of the [[Head Start (program)|Head Start]] program; and expressed an openness to [[charter school]]s<ref name="GravelOfficial"/> and [[school vouchers]]. He also suggested extending the school day and the school year, and supported [[merit pay]] for teachers.<ref name=otieducation>{{cite web |url=http://www.ontheissues.org/2020/Mike_Gravel_Education.htm |title=Mike Gravel on Education |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=April 2, 2019 |website=[[On the Issues]] |access-date=May 31, 2019}}</ref>

Gravel also called for publicly funded [[universal health care]] to replace the current [[Health insurance in the United States|employer-sponsored health insurance]] system.<ref name="Pew"/><ref name="GravelOfficial"/> He supported "full funding" of the [[United States Department of Veterans Affairs|VA system]].<ref name="GravelOfficial"/> When asked in 2007 about [[naturopathy]], [[homeopathy]], and [[acupuncture]], Gravel said that he was "totally" in favor and was "very very much in favor" of [[holistic medicine|holistic health care]].<ref name="Q&A"/>

==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|accessdate=October 10, 2014|newspaper=[[Columbia Daily Spectator]]|date=March 3, 2008}}</ref>

==Electoral history==

{{Main|Electoral history of Mike Gravel}}

==Writings==

==Notes==

{{Reflist|2|group="nb"}}

==References==

{{Reflist}}

* {{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==

* [https://mikegravel.com Mike Gravel official website]