Politics / Labor
John Dingell Sr.
1894–1955 · printer, labor organizer, congressman
Son of Polish immigrants from Detroit who went from Free Press printer to New Deal congressman (1933–1955), founding a father-and-son dynasty that held the seat for 82 years.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
Washington, D.C.
aged 61- Birth name
- John David Dzięglewicz
- Also known as
- John D. Dingell Sr.
- Detroit years
- 1894–1955
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
John Dingell Sr. was born in Detroit in 1894 to Polish immigrants whose surname, Dzięglewicz, was anglicized to Dingell. He attended St. Casimir's parish school, sold newspapers and became a printer at the Detroit Free Press, where he was active in union organizing. Asthma and tuberculosis sent the family briefly to Colorado Springs, where his son John Jr. was born in 1926, but they returned to Detroit. In 1932 he won the newly created 15th congressional district, covering western Detroit and neighboring Downriver suburbs, and served until his death in 1955. A New Deal stalwart, he was a co-author of the Wagner-Murray-Dingell bills of the 1940s that first proposed national health insurance, a cause his son and daughter-in-law carried on for decades. Like many of his era, he also voiced prejudices, including a 1941 letter urging the internment of Japanese Americans. He died in office and is buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Southfield.
Highlights
- U.S. representative for Detroit's 15th district, 1933–1955
- Co-author of the Wagner-Murray-Dingell national health insurance bills
- Printer and union organizer at the Detroit Free Press
- Father of John Dingell, the longest-serving member of Congress
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Buried here · 1955
Holy Sepulchre Cemetery
Large Catholic cemetery in Southfield where he is interred.