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Florence Dwyer | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromNew Jersey | |
| In office January 3, 1957 – January 3, 1973 | |
| Preceded by | Harrison Williams |
| Succeeded by | Matt Rinaldo |
| Constituency | 6th district (1957–1967) 12th district (1967–1973) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Florence Louise Price (1902-07-04)July 4, 1902 Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | February 29, 1976(1976-02-29) (aged 73) Elizabeth, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Education | University of Toledo(B.A.) Rutgers University, Newark(J.D.) |
Florence Price Dwyer (July 4, 1902 – February 29, 1976)[1] was an AmericanRepublican Party politician who represented much ofUnion County, New Jersey in theUnited States House of Representatives from 1957 to 1973. From 1967 to 1973, she also represented parts ofEssex County, New Jersey.
She was the second woman to be elected to theUnited States House of Representatives fromNew Jersey. She was the first woman Republican from New Jersey elected to the House. Dwyer was an advocate for women's rights throughout her political career.
Dwyer was bornFlorence Louise Price inReading, Pennsylvania. She went to public school in Reading andToledo, Ohio after moving there. Dwyer later moved toElizabeth, New Jersey. She took courses atRutgers Law School and became State Legislation Chairman of the New Jersey Federation of Business and Professional Women.[2]
Dwyer served as an alternate delegate to theRepublican National Convention in 1944 and 1948. She was then elected to theNew Jersey General Assembly, where she served from 1950 to 1956. Assemblywoman Dwyer introduced the Equal Pay for Equal Work bill, which was passed in 1952. The bill criminalized "discrimination in the rate of wages on the basis of sex" and later became a model for federal legislation.[3]
In 1956, Dwyer was elected to theUnited States House of Representatives for the first of eight terms.[4] In 1962, she co-sponsored theEqual Pay Act, which was passed the following year. In 1970, she helped RepresentativeMartha W. Griffiths to bring theEqual Rights Amendment to the floor of the House after it had stalled in committee decades earlier. The amendment, originally drafted byAlice Paul in 1923, passed in the House and Senate, but its deadline for ratification passed without approval by the required number of state legislatures. The ERA has since been reintroduced dozens of times without success.
Dwyer described herself as a "progressive and moderate Republican", who supported civil rights legislation, women's rights, Social Security benefit increases, housing renewal, mass transportation, food stamps, medical care for the aged and anti-poverty programs, making her one of the most liberal Republicans in the House of Representatives. Whenever she voted with the Democrats, Dwyer wore pink clothes, and white or black when voting with Republicans.[5][6] Dwyer voted in favor of theCivil Rights Acts of 1957,[7]1960,[8]1964,[9] and1968,[10] as well as the24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and theVoting Rights Act of 1965.[11][12] She was also a supporter ofMedicare andMedicaid, theEqual Rights Amendment and was one of 20 House Republicans to support the repeal of the right-to-work law in theTaft-Hartley Act.[13][14][15] Dwyer supported the ERA as far back as her first term in Congress in 1957.[16] Dwyer supported Pennsylvania GovernorWilliam Scranton in the 1964 Republican presidential primaries.[17] Dwyer was one of thirty-one Republicans in the House to vote in favor of theComprehensive Child Development Act of 1971.[18]
Dwyer was not a candidate for reelection in 1972.[19] She retired to Elizabeth where she died in 1976. Her body is interred at St. Gertrude's Cemetery,Colonia, New Jersey.
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| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNew Jersey's 6th congressional district 1957–1967 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNew Jersey's 12th congressional district 1967–1973 | Succeeded by |
| People | |
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| Other | |
