Page "Charles Melvin Price" Paragraph 0

Charles 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 United States House Committee on Armed Services between 1975 and 1985.

He lost this position at the beginning of the 99th Congress.

Overthrowing a committee chairman was not a common occurrence at that time, but a majority of the House Democratic Caucus seemed to feel that the aged Price was no longer up to the job.

In addition, Price, while liberal on domestic issues, was notably more supportive of defense spending than most Democrats.

When it came to choosing Price's successor, the Caucus bypassed several other old hawkish members of the committee in favor of Les Aspin, who was not only much younger than Price and other more senior members, but also seemed closer in his defense policy preferences to the majority of the Democratic Caucus.