Birthday

Gravel was born on May 30, 1930, in Springfield, Mass.

Education

Gravel graduated with a B.S. in economics from Columbia University in 1965. He also holds honorary degrees in both law and public administration.

Party

Democrat

Pre-Congressional career

Gravel worked as a cab driver, Wall Street clerk and as a brakeman for the Alaskan Railroad. He also served in the United States Army Counter Intelligence Corps from 1951 to 1955.

Congressional career

Gravel was first elected to the Alaskan House of Representatives in 1963. He served until 1966, and served as Speaker from 1965 to 1966. He was then was elected to the U.S. Senate for Alaska in 1969. Gravel served in the Senate until 1981. He served on the Environmental, Interior, Finance and Public Works committee. He is most widely known for his reading of the Pentagon Papers on the Senate floor after the Nixon administration forbade their publication. The papers revealed controversial reasons the U.S. was led to war with Vietnam. Gravel then published “The Senator Gravel Edition, The Pentagon Papers.” Gravel has written two books: “Jobs and More Jobs” and “Citizen Power.” Gravel founded the Democracy Foundation in 2001, a nonpartisan foundation that develops programs to inform citizens about the democratic process.

Declared candidacy

Gravel declared his presidential candidacy on April 14, 2006.

Family Life

Gravel is married to Whitney Stewart Gravel, and they have two children, Martin Gravel and Lynne Gravel Mosier. Gravel and his wife also have four grandchildren, Renee, Alex, Madison and Mackenzie.

Religion

Unitarian