General News

Mike Gravel to Come to Muncie, February 15

Submitted January 29, 2010, by Graham Watson

Former Senator and Presidential Candidate to Speak in Muncie

Mike Gravel, known for opposing the Vietnam draft and releasing the Pentagon Papers into public record, will speak regarding the National Initiative for Democracy.

Senator Gravel has been involved in American government since the 1960s, when he served in the Alaska House of Representatives and later as Speaker of that House. After a year as Speaker, he went on to become an Alaskan Senator from 1969-1981

During his time in office, he led a five-month filibuster that contributed to the end to the draft during the Nixon administration and later went on to release into public record the Pentagon Papers, a top secret history of the United States’ political-military involvement in Vietnam and its methods of misleading the American public regarding the war.

After announcing his candidacy for the Democratic Party nomination for the 2008 Presidential election, Gravel gained national attention for his outspoken debate appearances and strong support of universal health care, same-sex marriage, an end to the war on drugs, and the FairTax proposal.

Currently he backs the National Initiative for Democracy, a legislative package that aims to give individual citizens the ability to play a direct role in the process of making and altering laws on the federal level through a ballot process.

Mike Gravel will speak on the National Initiative at Ball State University’s Pruis Hall in Muncie, IN on Monday, February 15th. Doors open at 6PM and the lecture begins at 6:30. This event is free and open to the public.

After the lecture, Senator Gravel will be at Doc’s Music Hall in downtown Muncie to be the guest on that week’s episode of FM Music Live, which broadcasts every Monday night from 10pm to 12am on 93.5 / 96.7 FM and on FMMusicLive.com.

For more information about the event, contact Graham Watson at gtwatson@bsu.edu or (765) 285-3399.

For more information about Mike Gravel or the National Initiative, visit www.mikegravel.us