Longest-serving lawmaker in US dies
DETROIT — John Dingell, the longest-serving member of Congress in US history and a master of legislative deal-making who was fiercely protective of Detroit’s auto industry, has died. The Michigan Democrat was 92.
Dingell, who served in the US House for 59 years before retiring in 2014, died on Thursday at his home in Dearborn, said his wife, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell.
“He was a lion of the United States Congress and a loving son, father, husband, grandfather and friend,” her office said in a statement. “He will be remembered for his decades of public service to the people of Southeast Michigan, his razor sharp wit and a lifetime of dedication to improving the lives of all who walk this earth.”
Dingell served with every president from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Barack Obama. He was a longtime supporter of universal healthcare, a cause he adopted from his late father, whom he replaced in Congress in 1955.
Dingell had a front-row seat for the passage of landmark legislation he supported, including Medicare, the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act, but also for the Clean Air Act, which he was accused of stalling to help auto interests. His hometown, the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, was home to a Ford Motor Co factory that was once the largest in the world.
Yet one of his proudest moments came in 2010, when he sat next to Obama as the $938 billion healthcare overhaul was signed into law. Dingell had introduced a universal health care coverage bill in each of his terms.
“Presidents come and presidents go,” former President Bill Clinton said in 2005, when Dingell celebrated 50 years in Congress. “John Dingell goes on forever.”
Tributes poured in from both Democrats and Republicans.
“Today the great State of Michigan said farewell to one of our greatest leaders,” Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, said in a statement. “John Dingell will forever be remembered as ‘The Dean’ of Congress not simply for the length of his service, but for his unparalleled record of legislative accomplishments. The Congressman’s grit, humility and humor taught us all that we can disagree without being disagreeable, while still finding common ground and working together to get things done.”
Born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on July 8, 1926, John David Dingell Jr grew up in Michigan, where his father was elected to Congress as a “New Deal” Democrat in 1932. After a brief stint in the Army near the end of World War II, the younger Dingell earned his bachelor’s and law degrees from Georgetown University.
Following the sudden death of his father in September 1955, Dingell — then a 29-year-old attorney — won a special election to succeed him.
Dingell had 252,000 followers on Twitter, which was an outlet for the outspoken Democrat’s wry takes and quick wit.
Along with his wife, Dingell is survived by two daughters, two sons, one of whom served 15 years in the Michigan Legislature, and several grandchildren.