Michigan’s Dingell sets longevity mark for House service
Rep. John Dingell, D- Mich., is celebrated by friends and colleagues on Friday, his 20,997th day as a representative.
WASHINGTON — America was very different on the day that John Dingell first stepped onto the floor of the House of Representatives.
A woman named Rosa Parks had just been arrested, the name Emmett Till was in the news and a movie star named James Dean had just died in a car crash.
That was 57 years, five months and 26 days ago Friday, a span that propelled Dingell into the record books as the longestserving congressman.
Few elected officials have seen so many changes in the capital as the Michigan Democrat.
Richard Nixon? A great but bad man, Dingell said at a breakfast celebration Friday at the offices of The Atlantic. John F. Kennedy? Exciting — but a man whose path to greatness was tragically cut short. Jimmy Carter was too focused on details, and Gerald Ford was the most underrated guy around, Dingell said. Dingell said Bill Clinton was remarkable, with one unfortunate failure. And the elder George Bush? Why, he was a great paddle-ball partner.
Now 86, Dingell is every bit the politician he was the day he first entered the House. His cropped haircut has long since surrendered to baldness, and his sturdy frame leans heavily against a wooden cane. But he’s still a force to be reckoned with on Capitol Hill.
“There aren’t many like him, ever,” said Don Riegle, a fellow Michigan politician who served in both the House and Senate. “You’ve got to get lucky to get a John Dingell that shows up and stays this long.”
And show up he did. Dingell, whose father served in the House for 23 years, boasts not just a length of service, but breadth, serving with 11 presidents — “I didn’t serve under any of them,” he said, “I served with them” — and stamping his name on hundreds of pieces of legislation.
He penned the Endangered Species Act, and he helped push through landmark legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 1990’s Clean Air Act, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and, more recently, the Affordable Care Act.
Chairing the House Energy and Commerce Committee for more than 15 years, bureaucrats from every branch of government feared the arrival of a “Dingell letter” — a phrase that still sparks a toothy grin from the congressman.
“I had great fun writing letters,” he said to roars of laughter. “The great words of the English language are those three- and fourletter words that ask questions: How, why, when, what.”
The congressman is no stranger to controversy. He spent much of his tenure being criticized for being too close to the auto industry in his home state, which he still defends as “just being fair.” His district includes Dearborn and Ypsilanti And his unbroken tenure has many asking how long is too long for a representative to serve.
“I have a term limit. It’s called elections,” he said. “Every two years I have to go before the people and justify what I’ve done. And I have to disclose everything about me except the color of my underwear. And if I’m doing a good job, the people are going to give me the job back.”