Washington, DC, February 8, 2019 – The Washington Oxi Day Foundation is saddened by the passing of our 2013 Greatest Generation Award recipient Congressman John Dingell, the longest-serving member of Congress in U.S. History.

The New York Times writes, “Mr. Dingell, a physically imposing man of 6-foot-3, weighing 200 pounds and intimidating many with his booming voice, was one of the last of the old bulls, a small cadre of powerful Democratic House committee chairmen who had risen through the seniority system and wielded absolute control of their fiefs. Like the other old bulls, he used his position to protect his hometown interests — in his case, the automobile industry. Some called him the most powerful man in Washington who had never become president.”

Congressman Dingell joined the U.S. Army in 1944 at the age of eighteen. 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. Upon leaving the Army, Dingell received both his undergraduate degree in chemistry and a law degree from Georgetown University. Dingell was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1955 and represented Michigan’s 12th Congressional District for 59 years.