Encyclopedia Of Detroit
Dingell, John
John Dingell was the U.S. representative for Michigan’s 15th congressional district from December 13, 1955, until January 3, 2015. He was a member of the Democratic Party.
Born in Colorado Springs, Colorado on July 8, 1926, Dingell’s father, John Dingell, Sr. was a representative for Michigan’s 15th district from 1933 until 1955. During his father’s time in Congress, John attended Georgetown Preparatory School in Washington, D.C., and afterward the House Page School. In 1944, he joined the U.S. Army at the age of 18. In 1952, he graduated from Georgetown University with a Juris Doctor and by 1955 he was the assistant prosecuting attorney for Wayne County. In 1955, after the death of his father, Dingell won a special election to succeed him. He would go on to be reelected 28 times.
In his time as a representative, Dingell pushed for a national health insurance program like his father had. At the beginning of each session of Congress he would introduce a bill to create such a program. For his efforts he was honored with gaveling in the vote for Medicare. Later in life he was a firm supporter of the Affordable Care Act. Dingell was also an advocate for conservation, credited with supporting protections for marine animals and bans on ocean dumping, along with sponsoring the Endangered Species Act. A representative of a largely working-class district, Dingell was a champion of organized labor. He also sponsored other progressive initiatives including the Civil Rights Act of 1957. However, he did fight against increased desegregation of Detroit schools in his district through mandatory busing. Representing the opinions of his constituents and an avid hunter in his own right, Dingell also opposed gun control reforms.
As a representative of a district that included the “Big Three” automakers of Ford, GM and Chrysler and their employees, Dingell saw it has one of his primary duties to support the auto industry. He fought against calls for tougher emission standards and initially advocated against regulation requiring seat belts & air bags. During the 2008 Great Recession he supported a federally funded bailout of the Big Three to stave off their collapse.
In the course of his career, Dingell served as the Dean of the United States House of Representatives and as the Dean of the Michigan Congressional Delegation. He was active in the Energy and Commerce Committee, as a member of the Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Subcommittee, the Energy and Power Subcommittee, the Health Subcommittee, and the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.
In his capacity as the Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Dingell fought hard to root out corruption and waste by executive branch officials via the committee’s powers of oversight. Dingell would chair the committee until he was unseated by fellow Democrat Henry Waxman, who argued that Dingell’s closeness to the auto industry was causing the committee to move too slowly on issues like climate change.
John Dingell, Jr. was the longest serving member ever to serve exclusively in the House of Representatives. He is also the longest-serving member of Congress in American history. For the majority of his time in Congress, he represented Michigan’s 15th District, but following a restructuring in 2013, he served the 12th District. After leaving office Dingell went on to become a critic of the growing partisanship he saw in the country. He became a prolific Twitter user known for his criticisms of President Trump and more broadly the declining level of respect that government leaders showed each other. He died on February 7, 2019 of prostate cancer.
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