John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.)

After high school, Conyers served for two years in the Michigan National Guard, then joined the U.S. Army and fought in the Korean War. He enrolled at Wayne State University after the Army, earning a B.A. in 1957 and a J.D. in 1958.

Conyers worked as a legislative assistant to Dingell and practiced law for a time before making his move into politics in 1963. Martin Luther King Jr. endorsed his candidacy for the 14th district. Conyers made "jobs, justice and peace" his campaign slogan and won the seat by a mere 108 votes. Conyers said King's endorsement helped swing the race in his favor. "If not for King, I would probably be practicing law or be a judge right now," Conyers said in 2008.

Arriving in Congress

When Conyers came to Congress in 1964 he was one of only six black lawmakers in the House, and he immediately made his presence felt. He sponsored the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and was one of the earliest congressional opponents to the Vietnam War.

Another civil-rights pioneer, Rosa Parks, had helped Conyers during his first House campaign, and in 1965 he hired her to work at one of his legislative offices in Detroit. Parks remained on his staff for more than 20 years, and when she died in 2005, Conyers authored the resolution that made her the first woman to ever lie in honor in the Capitol rotunda.

Shortly after Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968, Conyers called King's widow, Coretta Scott King, and asked her permission to introduce a bill that would make the civil rights leader's birthday a federal holiday. King agreed, but the bill attracted few supporters in Congress.

Conyers would continue to fight for the holiday for 15 years until finally, in 1983, the Martin Luther King Holiday Act was ratified with broad, bipartisan support in both chambers. Conyers said the memorial holiday is the proudest achievement of his political career. "I was told by many people that we could never get a holiday for an African American, especially if he were Martin Luther King, who opposed and challenged his government," he said.

Conyers' opposition to the Vietnam War made him a controversial figure in the early '70s, and his office often received death threats. Ray Rickman, a former Conyers staffer, said federal authorities uncovered a plot in 1972 to kill Conyers at an annual NAACP dinner. Conyers attended the event, and a man carrying a firearm was arrested outside the banquet hall.

Conyers was one of the first lawmakers to call for the impeachment of President Nixon, and as a member of the House Judiciary Committee he took part in the Watergate hearings against him. Conyers' name was later discovered on a list of Nixon's enemies compiled by his chief counsel, Charles Colson. Conyers ranked No. 13 on the enemies list, and Colson wrote the following description of him: "Coming on fast. Emerging as a leading black anti-Nixon spokesman. Has known weakness for white females."

Conyers stunned the political world in 1989 when he announced he would challenge long-time Detroit Mayor Coleman Young in the Democratic primary. Conyers said he felt the city needed new leadership, but Detroit residents seemed puzzled by his candidacy, and Coleman won the race easily. Conyers ran for mayor again in 1993 and finished a distant fourth in the primary despite a television ad featuring an endorsement from filmmaker Michael Moore.

Impeachment Role

Conyers played a central role in the impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton in 1998. He was the only member of the House Judiciary Committee who had been part of the impeachment hearings against Nixon, and other Democrats turned to him for leadership during the fractious process.

Conyers opposed the effort to impeach Clinton and was an emphatic critic of Whitewater Independent Counselor Kenneth Star. "What Richard Nixon did was try to subvert the executive branch of office through the powers of the presidency. This has never entered Clinton's mind in the wildest stretch," Conyers said at the time.

Conyers tried to ignite another impeachment battle in December 2005 when he called for a special committee to consider whether President Bush committed any impeachable offenses during the run-up to the Iraq war. Republicans jumped on Conyers' proposal and repeatedly mentioned the possibility of impeachment hearings against President George W. Bush in an attempt to rally conservative voters in the 2006 mid-term election.

After Democrats retook control of the House in 2007, Conyers ascended to chair of the Judiciary Committee and abided by Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) dictate that impeachment was "off the table" for President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Wife's Bribery Conviction

Conyers was a life-long bachelor until 1990, when he married Monica Ann Esters, a former intern in his congressional office. They have two sons.

Monica Conyers was elected to a four-year term on the Detroit City Council in 2005 and became the council's president pro-tempore in September 2008. Conyers resigned from the city council on July 6, 2009, after pleading guilty to a federal bribery charge. Prosecutors said Monica Conyers accepted two cash bribes in return for a "yes" vote on a $1.2 billion city contract with Synagro Technologies.

On March 10, 2009, a federal judge sentenced Monica Conyers to more than three years in prison. An attorney involved in the investigation said there was no evidence that John Conyers knew about his wife's bribery deal.

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