John Dingell: “The protection of endangered species is far more than a matter of aesthetics.”

John Dingell was the floor manager. He wrote the preface for this book.

The Dingell-Johnson Act implemented a new 10 percent excise tax on fishing rods, reels, related components and fishing tackle.

Only a piddling amount.

The goal Congress set then was unparalleled in all of history. Our country resolved to put an end to the decades--indeed, centuries--of neglect that had resulted in the extinction of the passenger pigeon and the Carolina parakeet, and the…