SEASIDE, Calif. -- Mike Gravel, a former U.S. senator from Alaska who read the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record and confronted then-Sen. Barack Obama about nuclear weapons during a presidential run, has died at the age of 91.
A Democrat who represented Alaska in the Senate from 1969-81, Gravel died Saturday, said his daughter, Lynne Mosier. He had been living in Seaside, Calif., and was in failing health, said former aide Theodore Johnson.
Gravel's two terms came during tumultuous years for his state when construction of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline was authorized and when Congress was deciding how to settle Alaska Native land claims and whether to classify enormous amounts of federal land as parks, preserves and monuments.
He had the unenviable position of being an Alaska Democrat when some residents were burning President Jimmy Carter in effigy for his measures to place large sections of public lands in the state under protection from development.
Gravel feuded with Alaska's other senator, Republican Ted Stevens, on the land matter, preferring to fight Carter's actions and rejecting Stevens' advocacy for a compromise. In the end, Congress passed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980, a compromise that set aside millions of acres for national parks, wildlife refuges and other protected areas.
His Senate tenure also was notable for his anti-war activity. In 1971, he led a one-man filibuster to protest the Vietnam War-era draft and he read 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, into the Congressional Record.
He reentered national politics decades later to run for president twice. Gravel, then 75, and his wife, Whitney, took public transportation in 2006 to announce he was running for president in the 2008 election ultimately won by Obama.
He launched his quest as a critic of the Iraq war.
"I believe America is doing harm every day our troops remain in Iraq -- harm to ourselves and to the prospects for peace in the world," Gravel said.
He hitched his campaign to an effort that would give all policy decisions to the people through a direct vote, including health care reform and declarations of war. Gravel garnered attention for his fiery comments at Democratic forums.
In a 2007 debate, the issue of the possibility of using nuclear weapons against Iran came up, and Gravel confronted Sen. Obama. "Tell me, Barack, who do you want to nuke?" Gravel said.
Obama replied, "I'm not planning to nuke anybody right now, Mike."
He briefly ran for the Democratic nomination in 2020, again criticizing American wars and vowing to slash military spending.
"There was never any ... plan that he would do anything more than participate in the debates," Johnson said. "He didn't plan to campaign, but he wanted to get his ideas before a larger audience."
Gravel later endorsed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.