Dwyer, Florence Price, 1902-1976

Florence Price Dwyer (July 4, 1902 – February 29, 1976) was an American politician who represented much of Essex County, New Jersey in the United States House of Representatives from 1957 to 1973. From 1967 to 1973, she also represented parts of Union County, New Jersey. A Republican, she was the second woman to be elected to the United States House of Representatives from New Jersey. Dwyer was an advocate for women's rights throughout her political career.

Born Florence Louise Price in Reading, Pennsylvania, she was educated in the public schools of Reading and Toledo, Ohio before briefly attended college at the University of Toledo. Price left college to marry M. Joseph Dwyer, the Toledo football coach and, later, an industrial relations executive. After moving to Elizabeth, New Jersey, she joined the Republican Club there. In time, she worked as a lobbyist and as a secretary for state assemblyman Joseph Brescher. When Brescher retired in 1949, Dwyer succeeded him, serving from 1949 to 1957 and eventually rising to the assistant majority leader post.

In 1956, Dwyer was elected to the United States House of Representatives for the first of eight terms. In 1962, she co-sponsored the Equal Pay Act, which was passed the following year. In 1970, she helped Representative Martha W. Griffiths to bring the Equal Rights Amendment to the floor of the House after it had stalled in committee decades earlier. The amendment, originally drafted by Alice Paul in 1923, passed in the House and Senate, but its deadline for ratification passed without approval by the required number of state legislatures. Dwyer voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, 1964, and 1968, as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Dwyer decided not to run for re-election in 1972 to the 93rd Congress. Health issues, her age, and yet another reconfiguration of her district convinced her to leave the House. In the 1972 elections she campaigned actively for Republican candidate and state senator Matthew John Rinaldo, who won the seat to succeed her. Dwyer retired to Elizabeth, New Jersey, where she resided until her death.