John Conyers

John Conyers
Official portrait, 2017
44th Dean of the United States House of Representatives
In office
January 3, 2015 – December 5, 2017
Preceded byJohn Dingell
Succeeded byDon Young
Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives
from Michigan
In office
January 3, 1965 – December 5, 2017
Preceded byLucien Nedzi
Succeeded byBrenda Jones
Constituency1st district (1965–1993)
14th district (1993–2013)
13th district (2013–2017)
Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee
In office
January 3, 2011 – December 5, 2017
Preceded byLamar Smith
Succeeded byJerry Nadler
In office
January 3, 1995 – January 3, 2007
Preceded byHamilton Fish IV
Succeeded byLamar Smith
Chair of the House Judiciary Committee
In office
January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2011
Preceded byJim Sensenbrenner
Succeeded byLamar Smith
Chair of the House Oversight Committee
In office
January 3, 1989 – January 3, 1995
Preceded byJack Brooks
Succeeded byWilliam F. Clinger Jr.
Personal details
Born
John James Conyers Jr.

(1929-05-16)May 16, 1929
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
DiedOctober 27, 2019(2019-10-27) (aged 90)
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Other political
affiliations
Democratic Socialists of America
Spouse
(m. 1990)
Children2
RelativesIan Conyers (grand-nephew)
EducationWayne State University (BA, LLB)
Signature
Military service
AllegianceUnited States
Branch/serviceUS Army
Years of service1948–1950
1950–1957
UnitArmy National Guard
Battles/warsKorean War

John James Conyers Jr.[a] (May 16, 1929 – October 27, 2019) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as a U.S. representative from Michigan from 1965 to 2017. Conyers was the sixth-longest serving member of Congress and the longest-serving African American member of Congress in history.

After serving in the Korean War, Conyers became active in the civil rights movement. He also served as an aide to Congressman John Dingell before winning election to the House in 1964. He co-founded the Congressional Black Caucus in 1969 and established a reputation as one of the most left-wing members of Congress. Conyers joined the Congressional Progressive Caucus after it was founded in 1991. Conyers supported creation of a single-payer healthcare system and sponsored the United States National Health Care Act. He also sponsored a bill to establish Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday, and was the first congressperson to introduce legislation in support of reparations for the descendants of African American slavery.

Conyers ran for Mayor of Detroit in 1989 and 1993, but he was defeated in the primary both times.

Conyers served as the ranking Democratic member on the House Committee on the Judiciary from 1995 to 2007 and again from 2011 to 2017. He served as chairman of that committee from 2007 to 2011 and as chairman of the House Oversight Committee from 1989 to 1995. As the longest-serving current member of Congress, Conyers was the dean of the House of Representatives from 2015 to 2017. By November 2017, he was the last remaining member of Congress who had served since the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson. In the wake of allegations that he had sexually harassed female staff members and secretly used taxpayer money to settle a harassment claim, Conyers resigned from Congress on December 5, 2017.
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