The collection documents John D. Dingell, Jr.'s political career including his 59 years in the United States House of Representatives (1955-2015). The papers include campaign materials documenting Dingell's 29 elections, Democratic National Committee and Michigan Democratic Party materials, and redistricting in Michigan.
The bulk of the papers document Dingell's tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives including legislative files on topics such as civil rights, healthcare, insurance, Social Security, Medicare, environmental issues, endangered species, the auto industry, agriculture, taxes, and trade; administrative office files including correspondence, schedules, voting records, and legislative planning; and photographs, press clippings, scrapbooks, and speeches.
The collection includes born-digital records, as well as 254 pieces of audiovisual material, described in the Container Listing at the item level. Dingell's member website, campaign website, as well as his personal Twitter account are cataloged separately.
John David Dingell, Jr. was born July 8, 1926 in Colorado Springs, Colorado to parents Grace Bigler and John D. Dingell, Sr. The same year, the Dingell family moved to Michigan and in 1932 John Dingell, Sr. was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as Congressman from the 15th congressional district, a position he held for 23 years until his death in 1955. Dingell, Jr. attended high school in Washington D.C. graduating from Georgetown Preparatory School in 1944. He joined the U.S. Army serving for two years in World War II. Upon his honorable discharge in 1946 at the rank of second lieutenant, Dingell enrolled at Georgetown University, graduating in 1949 with a Bachelor of Science in chemistry. Dingell earned his Juris Doctor in 1952, also from Georgetown, and went on to clerk for Judge Theodore Levin in Detroit. Between 1954 and 1955 Dingell served as an assistant prosecutor in Wayne County. In 1952, John Dingell Jr. married Helen Patricia Henebry, a flight attendant, and together they have four children: Christopher, Jeanne, John David (III), and Jennifer. The couple divorced in 1972.
John Dingell, Jr. began his congressional service in 1938, at age 12, as a page in the U.S. House, a position he held until 1943. In 1955, John Dingell, Sr. died and John Dingell, Jr., at age 29, won a special election to fill his father's congressional seat, marking the beginning of Dingell's 59-year career in Congress.
During his tenure in Congress, John Dingell served on many committees and was involved in important legislative achievements of the 20th century. Dingell, a Democrat, voted in favor of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and presided over the successful passage of Medicare in 1965. Following the example set by his father, in 1956 Dingell introduced a bill to provide national health insurance to all Americans, a practice he would continue every term until the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. In 1957, after winning his first full term in Congress, Dingell was appointed to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce (later renamed Energy and Commerce). He was heavily involved in environmental legislation including a 1961 law to protect wetlands, the Water Pollution Control Act, and the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act, which he authored. In 1973, Dingell sponsored the Endangered Species Act and throughout the 1970s continued to champion legislation to protect wildlife and the environment. Dingell ascended to Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce in 1981, a position he held nonconsecutively, due to party changes in the House, until 2009.
In 1979, Dingell met Deborah (Debbie) Ann Insley, a recent graduate of Georgetown University and a lobbyist for General Motors. Insley, born November 23, 1953, grew up in Michigan and was a descendant of the Fisher family, founders of Fisher Body Company, a division of General Motors. They were wed in 1981. Debbie Dingell was actively involved in her husband's political career and continued to hold top positions at the General Motors Foundation, other charities, and in 2015 succeeded her husband as Congresswoman for Michigan's 12th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives.
John Dingell was an active sportsman and hunter serving on the board of the National Rifle Association (NRA) for many years. He was also a member of the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission for over 40 years and a strong advocate of the establishment of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, created by Congress in 2001.
In 1995, upon the retirement of Rep. Jamie Whitten, Dingell became Dean of the House. On June 7, 2013 John Dingell, Jr. became the longest-serving member in Congressional history, surpassing the tenure of Senator Robert C. Byrd. He retired January 3, 2015 and resided in Michigan. Dingell remained active on social media, primarily Twitter, and was an outspoken critic of the 45th President of the United States, and an avid fan of University of Michigan and Detroit-based sports.
John D. Dingell, Jr. passed away February 7, 2019.
