John Dingell: His life and career

Sept. 07--July 8, 1926: John David Dingell, Jr. is born in Colorado Springs, Colo., to John Dingell Sr. and Grace Bigler Dingell. The family moved back to Michigan the same year.

Nov. 8, 1932: John Dingell Sr. elected to Congress in the new 15th Congressional District, based in Detroit.

1938: John Jr. begins career as a page in the U.S. House at age 12.

1944: Dingell graduates high school at Georgetown Preparatory School and joins the Army.

1945: Graduates officer candidate school at Ft. Benning, Ga.

1946: Honorably discharged from the Army, having served in Panama and achieving the rank of second lieutenant.

1949: Graduates from Georgetown University with a bachelor's degree in chemistry.

1952: Receives law degree from Georgetown, clerks for Judge Theodore Levin in Detroit. Also this year, Dingell marries Helen Henebry. They will have four children.

1953-1955: Practices law in Michigan and later serves as an assistant prosecutor in Wayne County.

Sept. 19, 1955: John Dingell Sr. dies.

Nov. 8, 1955: John Dingell Jr., 29, beats 13 opponents to win the Democratic nomination for the seat of his father, who died. In December, he takes 76% of the vote, beating Republican Thomas Brennan to serve out his father's unexpired term.

March 1956: Dingell calls on President Dwight D. Eisenhower to withhold federal funds from areas that support school segregation.

Nov. 6, 1956: Dingell wins his first full term, taking 74% of the vote. The following year, he's assigned to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, later renamed Energy and Commerce.</p>

Jan. 25, 1957: Following his father's example, Dingell introduces a bill to provide National Health Insurance. He will propose a health insurance bill in every Congress afterward. He also sponsors the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and several significant pieces of civil rights legislation in later years.

1960: Dingell writes a plank regarding civil rights into the national Democratic platform that someone tells him could drive white Southerners from the party. "I'll hold the door for them -- and slam it after them," Dingell reportedly responded.

1961: Dingell's legislation to protect wetlands becomes law. He also writes amendments to strengthen the federal Water Pollution Control Act and legislation to require pharmaceutical companies to list more information on labels.

February 1964: The Civil Rights Act passes the House. President Lyndon Johnson signs it later in the year, with Dingell in attendance.

Sept. 2, 1964: Dingell beats fellow incumbent U.S. Rep. John Lesinski Jr. in Democratic primary when they are forced into the same district. Dingell wins his fifth full term in office.

April 8, 1965: Medicare passes in the House, with Dingell presiding. Later this year, he accompanies President Johnson to Missouri where it is signed into law.

1969-1971: Dingell fights for full funding of the Clean Water Quality Act, increasing funding the by more than five times.

1970: Dingell writes the National Environmental Policy Act, requiring the federal government to include environmental concerns in its decision-making.

March 1970: Dingell opposes President Richard Nixon's invasion of Cambodia. The next year, he breaks with Nixon over the Vietnam war, which he previously supported.

1971: Dingell calls for a complete pullout of troops from Vietnam.

1972: Dingell helps write and pass the Marine Mammal Protection Act, essentially banning the killing of ocean mammals. Later that year, he is elected to a 10th full term. Also this year, Dingell and his wife divorce.

Dec. 20, 1973: Dingell-sponsored Endangered Species Act becomes law.

1974: Dingell supports impeachment of Nixon in the Watergate scandal. Vice President Gerald Ford -- a former House member from Grand Rapids and Dingell's friend -- becomes president. Dingell attends swearing-in.

1977: Dingell wins a key vote during debate over amendments to the Clean Air Act to ensure that emission standards proposed for vehicles don't unduly harm the auto industry and give automakers time to meet higher standards.

Jan. 1981: Dingell becomes chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. Also this year, Dingell announces his engagement to Deborah Insley.

1984: Dingell is the principal sponsor of legislation cracking down on insider trading.

1986: Dingell asks the federal government for a formal study to determine the level of pollution in the Rouge River, beginning an effort that results in hundreds of millions in federal funding to clean up the Rouge.

1990: Dingell helps pass Clean Air Act amendments, which create higher quality air standards, reduce acid rain and ozone depletion pollutants and provide cleaner auto emissions.

Nov. 8, 1994: Dingell elected to a 20th two-year term.

1995: Dingell, with the departure of Mississippi'sJamie Whitten, becomes the longest-serving active member of the House.

1997: John D. Dingell VA Medical Center opens in Detroit.

2001: Dingell's Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge is created by Congress.

2002: Dingell is pitted against fellow Democratic U.S. Rep. Lynn Rivers after the Republican state legislature puts them in the same district. Dingell wins the primary with 59% of the vote. Also this year, he declares his opposition to the war in Iraq.

Nov. 7, 2006: Dingell wins his 27th election, becomes chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce again.

2008: Dingell wins re-election but he loses chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee in a challenge from Rep. Henry Waxman of California.

2009: Dingell surpasses Whitten as the longest-serving member in House history. He becomes a key supporter of health care reform legislation. In August, he defends the health care law at raucous town hall meetings in his district.

March 23, 2010: Dingell sits next to President Barack Obama as he signs into law the Affordable Care Act. Late in the year, despite his toughest challenge in years and a Republican wave nationwide, Dingell beats Dr. Rob Steele with 57% of the vote.

2012: President Obama signs a pipeline safety bill that came in part through work done by Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, and Dingell. Later that year, Dingell wins his 30th election -- and his 29th full two-year term.

June 7, 2013: Dingell serves his 20,997th day in Congress, surpassing the late Sen. Robert C. ByrdWest Virginia as the longest-serving member of Congress in history.

Feb. 24, 2014: Dingell, 87, announces he will retire at the end of his term.

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