Dingell, John David, Jr. (1926-2019), a Michigan Democrat, was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1955 to 2015. In 2009, Dingell became the longest-serving member in the House’s history. In 2013, Dingell surpassed former Senator Robert C. Byrd to become the longest-serving member of either chamber of Congress.
Dingell was born on July 8, 1926, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He spent much of his childhood in Detroit and in Washington, D.C., where his father, John D. Dingell, Sr., represented Michigan in the U.S. House. The younger Dingell served in the U.S. Army from 1944 to 1946. He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Georgetown University in 1949 and an advanced degree in law from the university in 1952. During the summers, he served as a park ranger with the U.S. Department of the Interior. After graduating from law school, Dingell worked as an assistant district attorney in Wayne County, Michigan.
Dingell’s father died in 1955, and Dingell won a special election to serve out the remainder of his father’s House term. Dingell won a full term in 1956 and was reelected every second year from that time through 2012. As a congressman, Dingell served as a long-time chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He gained a reputation as one of the most powerful chairmen in Congress and as a strong supporter of the U.S. automobile industry, much of which was based in his home state of Michigan. Dingell also helped create laws in the areas of civil rights, health care, and conservation. He published a memoir of his time in Congress, The Dean: The Best Seat in the House, in 2018.
After the Democrats took control of both houses of Congress in the 2006 elections, Dingell served again as chair of Energy and Commerce. However, in 2008, liberal Henry Waxman of California won the chairmanship from Dingell in a close and heated intraparty vote. The showdown between moderate and liberal Democrats focused on energy policy and such environmental issues as global warming. Dingell received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the country’s highest civilian honors, in 2014. He retired after his term ended in 2015. His wife, Debbie Dingell, won election to her husband’s House seat in the 2014 elections. She was reelected in 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022. John Dingell died on Feb. 7, 2019.
