(CNN) Former US Sen. Mike Gravel, an Alaska Democrat who garnered national attention by reading the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record and waged two unsuccessful bids for president, has died at age 91. After his time in the military, Gravel graduated from Columbia University in 1956 with a Bachelor of Science degree in economics. He served in the Alaska House of Representatives from 1963 to 1966 where he was elected state House Speaker in 1965. Gravel was elected to Congress in 1968 , where he served as a senator from 1969 to 1981. In 1971, Gravel gained nationwide attention after he read portions of the Pentagon Papers , a collection of leaked top-secret information about the Vietnam War, into the Congressional Record in an effort to end the war.

Source: CNN June 27, 2021 16:54 UTC