Donald Wayne Riegle Jr. (born February 4, 1938) is an American politician, author, and businessman from Michigan. He served for five terms as a Representative and for three terms as a Senator in the U.S. Congress.
Early life and family
Donald Wayne Riegle Jr. was born on February 4, 1938, to Donald Wayne Riegle Sr., son of John Louis Riegle, owner of the Riegle Press and future mayor of Flint, MI and Dorothy Grace Riegle in Flint, Michigan. Riegle is a graduate of Flint Central High School.
He attended Flint Junior College (now Mott Community College) and Western Michigan University, graduated with a B.A in business administration and economics from the University of Michigan-Flint in 1960, and received an M.B.A. in finance from Michigan State University in 1961. Riegle was employed by IBM as a financial analyst from 1961 to 1964. He completed required course work for doctoral studies in business and government relations at Harvard Business School, 1964 to 1966 before he left to run for Congress. Riegle taught at Michigan State University, Boston University, the University of Southern California, and Harvard University.
Political life
In 1966, Richard Nixon persuaded Riegle to return to Michigan to run for Congress. Riegle was then 28 years old and considered to be a moderate Republican. Nixon attended an early campaign fundraiser, and talked up Riegle's prospects to reporters.
Riegle defeated incumbent Democratic U.S. Representative John C. Mackie, to be elected from Michigan's 7th congressional district to the 90th Congress. Mackie was one of the Michigan Five Fluke Freshmen who lost their seats after a single term. Riegle was subsequently re-elected as a Republican in the next three elections.
In 1973, Riegle changed party affiliation to become a Democrat over differences with the Nixon administration regarding the Vietnam War and the "Southern strategy". He was re-elected as a Democrat to the 94th Congress. He did not run for reelection to the House in 1976, but announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate to succeed retiring Senator Philip Hart and defeated Michigan Secretary of State Richard H. Austin and fellow Congressman James G. O'Hara in the Democratic primary. He defeated Republican Congressman Marvin L. Esch in the general election.
On December 30, 1976, before the new term began, Riegle resigned from the House and was appointed by the Governor to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Senator Hart for the term ending January 3, 1977. He was reelected to the Senate in 1982 and again in 1988, this time with the largest Democratic vote in the history of the state. Riegle did not seek re-election in 1994.
He served as chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, 1989–1995. Riegle also served on the Senate Committee on Finance, where he served as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health for Families and the Uninsured, the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, where he served as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, where he served as the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Science and Space, and was a member of the Senate Committee on Budget from 1979 to 1994.
In his first action as Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Riegle led the efforts to reform the savings and loan industry, which resulted in the Financial Institutions Recovery, Reform, and Enforcement Act of 1989 ("FIRREA"). The toughest financial reform bill in 50 years, FIRREA ended the abuses and reformed the savings and loan industry. FIRREA put controls on state-chartered thrifts, stopped excessive risk taking by savings and loans, limited brokered deposits, banned junk bond investments, and set new capital requirements for savings and loans.
Banking Committee chairman
Riegle also led the efforts to enact the "Thrift and Bank Fraud Prosecution Act of 1990" which was added as an amendment to the Omnibus Crime Bill of 1990. Under this legislation, the maximum penalty for thrift and bank fraud was increased, including mandatory minimum jail sentences and authorized life imprisonment, provided the funds needed for prosecution in 1991, 1992, and 1993, established a new Financial Institutions Fraud Unit at the Justice Department, directed the Attorney General to establish savings and loan fraud task forces in key cities, allowed the freezing and seizure of assets of suspected savings and loan criminals, and provided for a national commission to examine the causes of the savings and loan crisis and recommend changes to prevent future problems.