Mike Gravel

• 1930: Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, on May 13 to Alponse and Maria Bourassa Gravel.
• 1948: Graduated from Assumption Preparatory School, Worcester, Massachusetts.
• 1948 - : Attended Assumption College, Worcester, Massachusetts.
• 1949: Attended American International College, Springfield, Massachusetts.
• 1951: Entered the U.S. Army. Served as a second lieutenant in the Counter Intelligence Corps in Germany and France.
• 1954: Entered Columbia University.
• 1956: Received B.S. degree in economics from Columbia. Drove the Alaska Highway to Anchorage. Worked as a brakeman on the Alaska Railroad and as a salesman for Northern Realty, Anchorage.
• 1957: Managed Turnagain Realty, Anchorage.
• 1958: Established M. R. Gravel Real Estate Development, Inc., Anchorage.
• 1959: Selected by the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce to tour the nation urging tax reform. Married Rita Jeanett Martin. Ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Alaska House of Representatives from District 8, Spenard (Anchorage).
• 1960: Son, Martin Anothony, born.
• 1962: Daughter, Lynne Denise, born. Elected to the Alaska House of Representatives, District 8, Spenard.
• 1964: Reelected to the Alaska State House of Representatives.
• 1965: Elected Speaker of the Alaska State House of Representatives.
• 1966: Ran unsuccessfully for Alaska's for Alaska's seat in the United States House of Representatives.
• 1968: Defeated incumbent Ernest Gruening in the Democratic primary election. Elected to the U.S. Senate in November. Defeated Elmer Rasmuson, the Republican candidate as well as Ernest Gruening, who ran as a write-in candidate.
• 1969: Assigned to the Senate Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, the Joint Committee on Congressional Operations, and the Senate Public Works Committee.
• 1971: In June gave a public reading of The Pentagon Papers at a hearing of the Public Buildings and Grounds Subcommittee of the Senate Public Works Committee.
• 1972: Nominated for Vice President at the Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach.
• 1973: Appointed Chairman of the Subcommittee on Water Resources of the Public Works Committee. Assigned to Senate Finance Committee. Gave up seat on Interior Committee.
• 1974: Reelected to the Senate, defeating C. R. Lewis, Republican candidate.
• 1975: Assigned as congressional advisor to the Seventh Special Session of the United Nations.
• 1980: Defeated in the Democratic primary election in August by Clark Gruening.

From the guide to the Mike Gravel Papers, 1957-1980, (University of Alaska Fairbanks Alaska Polar Regions Collections & Archives)