Politics / Law
Lucien Nedzi
1925–2025
· lawyer, congressman
Hamtramck-born Polish American lawyer who represented Detroit's east side and Hamtramck in Congress for twenty years (1961–1981) and led the first House inquiry into the CIA.
- Born
Hamtramck, Michigan- Died
Reston, Virginia
aged 100- Birth name
- Lucien Norbert Nedzi
- Also known as
- Lucien N. Nedzi
- Detroit years
- 1925–1981
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Lucien Nedzi was born in 1925 in Hamtramck, the Polish American enclave surrounded by Detroit, to immigrant parents, and graduated from Hamtramck High School. He served as an Army infantryman in the Philippines and with the engineers in occupied Japan, then earned his bachelor's and law degrees at the University of Michigan. From 1955 to 1961 he was Wayne County's public administrator. Elected to Congress in 1961 from the 1st district and later the 14th, he represented a slice of Detroit's east side, Hamtramck and neighboring suburbs until 1981. In 1975 he chaired the new House Select Committee on Intelligence, first known as the Nedzi Committee, but resigned from it after the New York Times reported he had known of possible CIA assassination plots without informing the House. He later chaired the Joint Committee on the Library and the House Administration Committee. He died in Virginia in 2025, twelve days after his 100th birthday.
Highlights
- U.S. representative from Detroit and Hamtramck, 1961–1981
- First chair of the House Select Committee on Intelligence (1975)
- Wayne County public administrator, 1955–1961
- Graduate of Hamtramck High School
- Lived to 100 (1925–2025)
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.
Studied here · 1939–1943
Hamtramck High School
The public high school of Hamtramck, from which he graduated.