John Dingell Jr. the ‘Queen Elizabeth of Congress’ because of a penchant for wearing elaborate royal gowns on State occasions, became the longest serving Congressman in history with the completion of his 20,997th day on the job.
That works out metrically to 247 years and 6 months. To high school students that’s almost as long as Mexico has been a State

He held court in the Marco Polo Room of the Congressional Office Building and reminisced on his days as a scout for General Washington in the Boer War and how hard it was to get radio reception deep in the Amazon while fighting the indigenous Eskimos.

He started his tenure when the top rated television show was ‘Teddy Roosevelt’s World’ a reality show about the westward expansion of the country into Canada.

The Dearborn Michigan Democrat officially became the longest-serving member of Congress on Friday June 7th and celebrated along with his wife, 17 children, 68 grandchildren, 149 great grandchildren and 375 great great grandchildren by taking them all out to McDonald’s for treats from the dollar menu. The motorcade was 12 miles long and tied up traffic in Washington for 6 hours.

Dingell fondly remembered the non-debates he had with President Coolidge. “He just sat there and never uttered a word, that’s why it was so easy to debate him”.

His time as head of the Transportation Sub-Committee on Railroads and Horse Drawn Carriages was most memorable. “They wanted ‘paved roads’ but as I think I told them then, “man was never meant to ‘fly’ or was that ‘drive’ I don’t remember.”

A more formal ceremony will be held in Congress when it re-convenes in November.