David Bonior

Bonior was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Irene (Gavreluk) and Edward Bonior. He traces his family history from Ukraine and Poland. He graduated from Notre Dame High School in Harper Woods, Michigan, in 1963, where he excelled in sports. He received a B.A. from the University of Iowa, where he also played football and became a member of the Iowa Beta chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, in 1967. He received an M.A. from Chapman College in Orange, California, in 1972. He served in the United States Air Force during the peak of the Vietnam War from 1968 to 1972, though not in Vietnam. He was a founder of the Vietnam Era Veterans Caucus on Capitol Hill and was a strong supporter of the Vietnam veterans' movement. ==Political career==

Bonior was a Democratic member of the Michigan State House of Representatives from 1973 to 1976. In 1976, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan's 12th congressional district (based in Macomb County) for the 95th and to the twelve succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1977, to January 3, 2003. His district was renumbered as the 10th in 1993, after Michigan lost a House seat as a result of the 1990 United States census. From 1991 to 2002, Bonior was the House Democratic Whip. He served as Majority Whip in the 102nd and 103rd Congresses. He was Minority Whip for the 104th through 107th Congresses. While the Democrats were in the majority, Bonior was the third-ranking Democrat in the House, behind Speaker Tom Foley and House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt. While they were in the minority, Bonior was second-in-command behind Gephardt. In Congress, Bonior generally had a progressive voting record, but opposed abortion in most cases. In 1991 he strongly supported recognition of Ukraine as an independent nation and was critical of the Bush administration on that matter. ==Post-congressional career==

Following his retirement from the House, Bonior became a professor of labor studies at Wayne State University, and founded American Rights at Work, a union advocacy organization, of which he currently serves as chairman. In 2006, former Senator John Edwards chose Bonior to run his campaign for the presidency in 2008. Bonior served as campaign manager for the duration of Edwards' candidacy. Upon the election of Barack Obama in November 2008, Bonior was a member of the President-Elect's economic advisory board. He has also become a restaurateur, owning and operating the restaurants Agua 301 and Zest. Bonior is a member of the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One. Bonior and his wife were described as "longtime" members of the Democratic Socialists of America in 2015. ==See also==