John Lesinski Jr. (December 28, 1914 – October 21, 2005) was a

U.S. Congressman The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

for seven terms from the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. He was the son of

John Lesinski Sr. John Lesinski Sr. (January 3, 1885 – May 27, 1950) was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. He was the father of John Lesinski Jr., who succeeded him in the United States House of Representatives. Early life Lesinski was born in Erie, ...

He was of Polish descent.

Life and career

Lesinski was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

. At the age of eleven years, he moved with his parents to Dearborn. He attended parochial schools,

SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary was a four-year private Polish seminary in Orchard Lake, Michigan, United States. The seminary, taking its name from Saints Cyril and Methodius, was founded in 1885 in Detroit, Michigan, to prepare candidates for ...

in Orchard Lake, and graduated from

Fordson High School Fordson High School is a secondary school located in Dearborn, Michigan, United States, in Metro Detroit. It was completed in 1928 on a parcel of land which was then the village of Fordson, named for Henry Ford and his son Edsel Ford. It is a pa ...

in Dearborn. At the age of eighteen years, he enlisted in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

as an apprentice seaman and served from 1933 to 1937. He was called to active duty again in February 1941, and served during World War II until October 1945. He was awarded the

Navy and Marine Corps Medal The Navy and Marine Corps Medal is the highest non-combat Military awards of the United States Department of the Navy, decoration awarded for heroism by the United States Department of the Navy to members of the United States Navy and United State ...

and

Purple Heart Medal The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the president to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...

. He was vice president of Hamtramck Lumber Company from 1939 to 1943 and again from 1951 to 1954, as well as president of Dearborn Properties. Lesinski's father, John Lesinski Sr., died in May 1950, leaving his seat in

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

vacant. In November 1950, Lesinski Jr. was elected as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

from

Michigan's 16th congressional district Michigan's 16th congressional district is an obsolete United States congressional district in Michigan. It covered the communities of Dearborn, Downriver and Monroe County.Alamanac of American Politics 2002, p816 The first Representative to ...

to the

82nd United States Congress The 82nd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from January 3, 1 ...

and to the six succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1951, to January 3, 1965. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination to the 89th Congress in 1964, losing to fellow Democrat

John Dingell John David Dingell Jr. ( ; July 8, 1926 – February 7, 2019) was an American politician from the state of Michigan who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1955 until 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, D ...

. Lesinski was one of the few Northern Democrats to oppose the

Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...

. Dingell was the incumbent

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

Michigan's 15th congressional district Michigan's 15th congressional district is an obsolete congressional district in the state of Michigan. Historically, the district's politics have been dominated by the Dingell family since its creation after the 1930 United States census. It ...

, but portions of the 16th and the 15th districts were combined into a redrawn 16th district for the 1964 elections. He was a member of the board of commissioners of Wayne County from 1968 to 1973. He died on October 21, 2005, in Dearborn, MI.

References

External links

The Political Graveyard

Life and career

References

External links

Further reading