Cong. John D. Dingell

Cong. John Dingell
15th District of Michigan

Congressman John D. Dingell represents Michigan’s 15th Congressional District and is the Chairman Emeritus of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, one of five ‘exclusive’ committees in the U.S. House. During the 111th Congress, he has the lead role in crafting national health insurance legislation that goes before this Committee and the House. On the Committee, he also works on energy and climate change issues, telecommunications and consumer protection policy, and conducts oversight and investigations.

Dingell serves the people of Monroe County and parts of Wayne and Washtenaw Counties. His work includes fighting for the working families that keep America’s economy going, including making health care more affordable and accessible to all families and protecting our nation’s natural heritage. On February 11, 2009, Congressman Dingell became the longest serving Member in the history of the U.S. House of Representatives.

John D. Dingell was born July 8, 1926 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He split much of his childhood between Detroit and Washington, DC, while his father, also named John, served as Congressman from Michigan’s 15th district.
In 1944, at the age of 18, the younger Dingell joined the US Army and prepared to fight the Axis powers in World War II. He rose to the rank of Second Lieutenant and received orders to take part in the first wave of a planned invasion of Japan in November of 1945. The Congressman has said President Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb to end the war ‘saved’ his life.

Dingell finished his military service in the fall of 1946, and then attended Georgetown University in Washington, DC where he studied chemistry. He continued his studies at Georgetown Law School, graduating in 1952. He then worked as a forest ranger, a prosecuting attorney for Wayne County and ran his own private law office. When his father passed away while still a Member of the US House of Representatives in 1955, the younger Dingell stepped up to fill the void, beginning his career on Capitol Hill at the age of 29.

At the beginning of every session of Congress, Congressman Dingell introduces the national health insurance bill his father sponsored when he was a Member.