Mike Gravel: Difference between revisions

| image = Mike Gravel cropped.png

| state = Alaska

| predecessor = Ernest Gruening

| successor = Frank Murkowski

'''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 election and in the 2020 election.

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

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

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

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

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

Gravel was born on May 13, 1930 in Springfield, Massachusetts, one of five children of French-Canadian immigrant parents, Alphonse and Marie (née Bourassa) Gravel.<ref>[http://www.wargs.com/political/gravel.html Mike Gravel genealogy], Wargs.</ref><ref name="cby-182">''Current Biography Yearbook 1972'', p. 182.</ref><ref name="gravel-70">Gravel and Lauria, ''A Political Odyssey'', pp. 69–70.</ref>

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 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 |access-date=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 |access-date=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 schools 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 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703224833/http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07%2F07%2F02%2F1331255 |archive-date=July 3, 2007}}</ref> and was 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 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, 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.<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 at Fort Benning, Georgia.<ref name="gravel-108" /> While he expected to be sent off to the Korean War when he graduated as a 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 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 |access-date=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]] |access-date=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" />

Gravel "decided to become a pioneer in a faraway place,"<ref name="nyt022776" /> and moved to pre-statehood Alaska in August 1956, without funds or a job, looking for a place where someone without social or political connections could be a viable candidate for public office.<ref name="wapo090907" /><ref name="salon050707" /> Alaska's voting age of 19, less than most other states' 21, played a role in his decision,<ref name="nyt070271">{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F20D10FD3A5B1A7493C0A9178CD85F458785F9 |title=Impetuous Senator: Maurice Robert Gravel |author=Warren Weaver, Jr. |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 2, 1971 |access-date=December 24, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref> as did its newness<ref name="wapo090907" /> and cooler climate.<ref name="salon050707" /> 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]] |access-date=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]] |access-date=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]] |access-date=April 3, 2019}}</ref>

By early 1958, Gravel was running as Democratic Party primary candidate for a Third Division seat in House of Representative of the territorial legislature<ref name="fdnm-feb58">{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/4530775 |title=Total of 30 Candidates File For Fourth Division Seats |newspaper=[[Fairbanks News-Miner]] |date=February 3, 1958 |pages=1, 3 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |access-date=April 3, 2019}}</ref> (this was one of the four judicial divisions into which Alaska was sectioned at the time).  Using the slogan "Gravel, the Roadbed to Prosperity", he ran but lost.<ref name="salon050707" /><ref name="odyssey-136">Gravel and Lauria, ''A Political Odyssey'', p. 136.</ref>  At the same time, he was also an advocate for Alaskan statehood.<ref name="fnm-statehood" />

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]] |access-date=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]] |access-date=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 |access-date=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]] |access-date=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]] |access-date=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 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" />

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]] |access-date=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]] |access-date=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 |access-date=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 seat in the 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.

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 |access-date=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 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 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>

When Gravel joined the Senate in January 1969, he requested and received a seat on the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, which had direct relevance to Alaskan issues.<ref name="cby-183" /> He also got a spot on the 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 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 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 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 |access-date=January 16, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704152947/http://www.miamiherald.com/540/story/375972.html |archive-date=July 4, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In the late 1960s and early 1970s the U.S. Department of Defense was in the process of performing tests for the nuclear warhead for the Spartan anti-ballistic missile. Two tests, the "Milrow" and "Cannikin" tests, were planned, involving the 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 |access-date=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 |access-date=December 30, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref>

[[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 |access-date=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 |access-date=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 |access-date=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 recognize and normalize relations with China, including a proposal for unity talks between the P.R.C. and the [[Republic of China]] (Taiwan) regarding 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 |access-date=December 31, 2007 |format=fee required |archive-url=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 |archive-date=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 |access-date=December 23, 2007 |format=fee required}}</ref>

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 campaigned in 1968 on a promise to end the 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 |access-date=December 31, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130808222147/http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/VolArm.html |archive-date=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 |access-date=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 |access-date=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 |access-date=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 |access-date=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 "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>

* [[wikipedia:Mike Gravel|Mike Gravel]] on Wikipedia