John Dingell

• Born: July 8, 1926
• Birthplace: Colorado Springs, Colorado
• Died: February 7, 2019
• Place of death: Dearborn, Michigan

A member of Congress beginning in 1955, Michigan's John Dingell was the only member of the House of Representatives who could still remember personal conversations with Franklin D. Roosevelt, since he worked with the former president on his historic "New Deal" legislation. Dingell, however, was more than just a living icon of a half-century of legislative history. As the Ranking Member of the House's powerful energy and commerce committee, and a fervent believer in the duty of the Congress to oversee the Executive Branch, Dingell usually put himself in the middle of the nation's most virulent controversies until his retirement in 2015.

Early Life

John D. Dingell was born in 1926 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. When he was six years old, his father, John David Dingell Sr., was elected to the House of Representatives to serve Michigan's 15th District. As a result, Dingell grew up spending a great deal of his time in Washington DC, and even served as a congressional page in 1937. He graduated from Georgetown Preparatory School, but World War II intervened, and Dingell served in the US Army in 1945 and 1946.

After completing his military service, Dingell earned a Bachelor of Science degree at Georgetown University in 1949, and a Juris Doctorate at Georgetown's School of Law in 1952. He took advantage of his father's position in Congress to get a job as chief elevator operator at the Capitol, and also worked as a forest ranger before beginning his legal career.

Dingell returned to Wayne County, Michigan, with his law degree to serve as the County's Assistant Prosecutor in 1953. In 1955, however, Dingell's father died of tuberculosis while still in office, and in a special election, the younger Dingell was given his father's congressional seat. Dingell joined the House of Representatives in 1956 at the age of twenty-nine.

US House of Representatives

Dingell's long career in the House reads like a history of twentieth-century America. His father had sponsored Social Security, the first interstate highway bill, and national health care legislation. Dingell added to this political legacy by helping to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1957, by contributing to the creation of America's Medicare program in the 1960s, and by coauthoring the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act. He spent more than five decades working for universal health coverage, resulting in the much-publicized compromise legislation, the Patient's Bill of Rights.

If his health care and civil rights efforts were an annoyance to Republicans, Dingell's stances against both gun control and abortion rights were a thorn in the side of his own Democratic Party. An avid sportsman who was traditionally supported by Detroit's famous auto manufacturing industry, Dingell always walked a delicate line between environmental preservation and manufacturing job preservation. He was credited with channeling federal funds to local wildlife refuges and waterways, but has also provoked criticism from environmental groups for blocking efforts to raise emissions standards for the automobile industry.

Dingell's work to build the energy and commerce committee into the most powerful and far-reaching of the House's Committees is legendary. Chairman of that Committee from 1981 until the Republican majority took it from him in 1994, Dingell became "Big John," a legendary figure on Capitol Hill who was involved in one way or another with many of the House's most significant pieces of legislation. He was revered by both parties for his knowledge of legislative issues and coalition-building abilities, but also feared and criticized for his strong-arm tactics. He used the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee to keep close tabs on everyone from university presidents to the US president. With an unusually large, well-paid, and well-informed staff, Dingell launched investigations into the oil and gas lobbyists who helped shape President George W. Bush's energy policy, and into the improper use of federal science funds that prompted the resignation of Stanford University's president. His committee became famous for uncovering wasteful Pentagon spending that included the Navy's purchase of a $640 toilet seat.

After an ankle injury put him in a wheelchair in early 2000, many believed Dingell's legislative career was coming to an end. Instead, he rallied and came back to win a tightly contested 2002 Democratic primary, and an easy general election in his redrawn 15th District. Dingell did not appear to be retiring any time soon. In the spring of 2003, he landed in the hospital again, this time to repair a blocked artery in his heart. With regard to his future in the legislature, Dingell reportedly responded with his trademark combination of humor and threat; "I'm happy to inform the Republican leadership that I fully intend to be present to vote against their harmful and shameless tax giveaway package on Friday."

In 2006, Dingell became chairman of the House energy and commerce committee. He served as chairman until 2009. After playing an instrumental role in the passing of the 2010 Affordable Care Act under President Barack Obama, for which he was present for the signing, and winning reelection again in 2012, he retired in 2015 following the end of his term. By that time, he had become the person to have served the longest tenure in Congress in history. In 2018, he published the memoir The Dean: The Best Seat in the House. Losing a battle with prostate cancer, he died at his home in Dearborn, Michigan, on February 7, 2019, at the age of ninety-two.

Bibliography

Brown, Emma. "John Dingell, Longest-Serving Member of Congress in U.S. History, Dies at 92." The Washington Post, 7 Feb. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/john-dingell-longest-serving-member-of-congress-in-us-history-dies-at-92/2019/02/07/43be4bf0-2a48-11e9-b011-d8500644dc98‗story.html. Accessed 28 Sept. 2020.

Schneider, Keith, and Katharine Q. Seelye. "John Dingell Jr., a House 'Bull' Who Served the Longest, Is Dead at 92." The New York Times, 7 Feb. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/us/politics/john-dingell-dead-longest-congressman.html. Accessed 28 Sept. 2020.

Stanton, Zack. "John Dingell: The Dean Who Made Modern America." Politico, 29 Dec. 2019, www.politico.com/news/magazine/2019/12/29/john-dingell-obituary-089589. Accessed 28 Sept. 2020.