John Dingell learned the values that have inspired him for his lifetime as a young boy in Michigan. His father was at one time a printer who helped form one of the early unions but also spent much of his life suffering from tuberculosis.  John Dingell Sr was given six months to live but defied his doctor’s prediction and went onto to become a Member of Congress and one of the authors of the Social Security Act.  His son never forgot his father’s fierce battle with this disease, and has fought everyday of his career to ensure that no American should suffer the fear he remembers as a child, worrying whether his father would be able to see a doctor, or even survive.  John Dingell’s love of the outdoors also came from his father, hunting and fishing in Michigan’s great outdoor’s from a very early age.

Like many his age, he 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.

Upon leaving the army, he received an undergraduate degree in chemistry and a law degree from Georgetown University.  Upon graduation, he worked as a forest ranger, a prosecuting attorney for Wayne County, Michigan and ran his own private law office in Southeast Michigan. When his father passed away while still a Member of the US House of Representatives in 1955, the younger Dingell answered the call to run for his father’s seat. He won a special election at the age of 29 and has been fighting for Michigan families every day since.

Congressman Dingell’s home is in Dearborn, Michigan and he enjoys spending his time in Michigan’s 15th Congressional District, whether it is at UM or EMU tailgates, walking the trails of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge or taking in the sights and sounds of the Monroe County Fair, the largest county fair in the state.  He is married to Debbie Insley Dingell, who just completed a 32 year career with General Motors and now chairs a manufacturing initiative for the domestic auto companies.  He has two sons and two daughters – all of whom were raised in Michigan and attended the University of Michigan or Michigan State University – and three grandchildren.

John D. Dingell has spent his entire Congressional career fighting for Michigan’s working families.  John Dingell is known as a fierce watchdog for America’s families; a representative who looks out for his people and never backs down from a fight.  A leader in cracking down on government and corporate waste, fraud and abuse, ensuring that millions of Americans have access to quality, affordable health care, and fighting against dangerous Wall Street greed and unsafe food and drugs; John Dingell has never stopped fighting for Michigan.