February 7, 2019Washington - John Dingell, (click here) a gruff Michigan Democrat who entered the U.S. House of Representatives in 1955 to finish his late father’s term and became a legislative heavyweight and longest-serving member of Congress, died on Thursday. He was 92.
“Today the great State of Michigan said farewell to one of our greatest leaders. 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,” Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer wrote in a post on Twitter.
He saw a great deal of change in his years in service to the country. He saw the first African American President and the first woman Speaker of the House. He saw the first walk on the moon.But, the time he spent in the US House of Representative span decades beginning when Dwight Eisenhower was president. They were incredible times.
He never lost interest in the country. He loved it and the people loved him.
Sincerest sympathies to his family, friends and colleagues. He was genuine. He is difficult to forget. He was moral and loved people. He reached for the higher purpose. He made the USA great.
December 4, 2018
By John D. Dingell
...These are not just the grumblings of an angry old man (click here) lamenting the loss of “the good old days.” In December 1958, almost exactly three years after I entered the House of Representatives, the first American National Election Study, initiated by the University of Michigan, found that 73 percent of Americans trusted the federal government “to do the right thing almost always or most of the time.” As of December 2017, the same study, now conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, found that this number had plummeted to just 18 percent....
