Latest News

Maurice Robert Mike Gravel is a former Senator of Alaska, United States who had served twice from 1969 to 1981. He is more importantly known for his work in ending the draft after the Vietnam War and putting the Pentagon Papers. He is presently a candidate for the Democratic Nomination for 2008 for the Presidents position in the United States.

Born to French Canadian parents who were immigrants, in Massachusetts in Springfield, he was raised in a neighbourhood of the working class people. He learnt to speak French very fluently there. He went to Parochial Schools and attended the Assumption College and then the American International College. He later got enlisted in the Army of the United States, in 1951, serving West Germany for Communication and Intelligent services. He became the First Lieutenant and later on studied Economics at the University and became the B.S. in the year 1956. Gravel moved to Alaska in 1956 in search of a job and he worked on various areas.

Gravel served at the House of Representatives in Alaska between 1963 and 1966, finally winning the elections in 1964. He also served as the speaker during the years, 1965 and 1966. He created a commotion among the fellow lawmakers by imposing his thoughts on legislature’s committee. He did not go in for re elections in 1966 but ran for the seat of Alaska for winning a seat in the House of Representatives in the U.S and lost to Ralph Rivers, the Democrat by 1300 votes. After he lost he retired to his business in Anchorage.

In the year 1973, Gravel brought up an amendment so that Congress could have empowerment to make the policy decision on constructing the pipeline of Trans-Alaska. This was passed by the Senate through a single vote. Gravel also advocated the building of United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea, UNCLOS. The legislation was passed by the UNCLOS was not ratified. In the early 1970, Gravel had supported a demonstration project regarding diagnostic communications.

However, after much ado in 1974, Mike Gravel was re-elected to the Senate winning 58 per cent of the vote against the C.R. Lewis, National officer at the John Birch Society. Later on in 1980, at the nomination for the Democratic Party, he was challenged by Clark Gruening, the grandson of his combatant, twelve years ago. Taking the 1980 defeat hard, he re-entered the political scenario in 1989, when he became the Head of Democracy Foundation and the Head.

Declaring for personal bankruptcy in 2004, he began earning a salary from the non-profit organization he works for. Much of what he earned was spent in the Presidential campaign of 2007.