Mike Gravel, a former U.S. senator from Alaska who read the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record and confronted Barack Obama about nuclear weapons during a later presidential run, has died. He was 91.
Gravel, who represented Alaska as a Democrat in the Senate from 1969 to 1981, died Saturday, according to his daughter, Lynne Mosier. Gravel had been living in Seaside, California, and was in failing health, said Theodore W. Johnson, a former aide.
Gravel's Senate tenure also was notable for his anti-war activity. In 1971, he led a one-man filibuster to protest the Vietnam-era draft and he read into the Congressional Record 4,100 pages of the 7,000-page leaked document known as the Pentagon Papers, the Defense Department's history of the country's early involvement in Vietnam.
IIRC, he basically challenged Obama on the Democratic primary debate stage by saying something like "who are you going to bomb now Barack?". Essentially this was a continuation of his...
IIRC, he basically challenged Obama on the Democratic primary debate stage by saying something like "who are you going to bomb now Barack?". Essentially this was a continuation of his anti-interventionist/anti-war views. I'd say that some of his anti-interventionist views have influenced the progressive movement's foreign policy opinions as well.
IIRC, he basically challenged Obama on the Democratic primary debate stage by saying something like "who are you going to bomb now Barack?". Essentially this was a continuation of his anti-interventionist/anti-war views. I'd say that some of his anti-interventionist views have influenced the progressive movement's foreign policy opinions as well.