3.25.1980

Dingell and others successfully fend off an attempt to create a separate Energy Committee. The House Committee on Committees puts forward a plan to remove the energy jurisdiction from the purview of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce and to create a separate Energy Committee. The effort fails. Congressional Quarterly described it this way: “To a great extent, the vote was a personal victory for John D. Dingell, Chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power. He became the heir apparent to the full Commerce chairmanship…Dingell had lobbied hard for (plans for a separate committee) defeat, and many House members said they considered the vote a referendum on (Dingell’s) past handling of energy matters. ‘I am very pleased,’ Dingell commented after the vote.” (CQ Almanac 1980, p. 563)

9.1980

Solidarity, the first independent labor union in the Soviet Bloc is formed in the Gdansk Shipyard, led by Lech Walesa.

11.3.1980

Dingell elected to a 14th term with 70% of the vote, defeating Pamella Seay.  Vote results: 105,669 – 42,700.

Reagan defeats Carter in the Presidential election.  Many concede Carter lost due to the Iran Hostage crisis and the nation's economic troubles.