Melvin Price (January 1, 1905 - April 22, 1988) was a longtime member of the United States House of Representatives . Most notably, he served as the chairman of the Armed Services Committee between 1975 and 1985. Price was born in East St. Louis, Illinois, and attended parochial schools there; he went on to St. Louis University. After graduating, he worked for several years as a journalist before taking work as a secretary for Congressman Edwin Schaefer in 1933. He served there for ten years, after which he joined the U.S. Army in 1943, at the height of World War II; Price served in the quartermaster corps. He was elected to Congress in his own right in 1944. During his time in Congress he chaired the Ethics Committee (1971-81), Joint Committee on Atomic Energy (1977-79), and the Armed Services Committee (1981-88). He remained in Congress until his death.
Congressman Price is probably most famous for his role in enacting the Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act. He is the namesake of the Melvin Price Lock on the Upper Mississippi River.
