Born in Osceola, Iowa on August 8, 1876, he moved to Nebraska in 1884. He graduated from College View High School, and graduated from the Lincoln, Nebraska Normal University and the Nebraska State Normal School at Peru (now Peru State College).^[1] He taught school near Lincoln from 1895 to 1900. He went back to school at the Iowa Christian College at Oskaloosa, Iowa; Omaha University (now University of Nebraska at Omaha), and the Union Biblical Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, becoming a minister.

He served as a minister in the United Brethren Church in Omaha from 1900 to 1913. He moved to York, Nebraska, in 1913 becoming president of York College until 1918. In 1918 he ran for the Sixty-sixth congress as a Republican representing the 4th district of Nebraska. He won the election and was reelected three more times serving from March 4, 1919, to March 3, 1927. He ran and lost in 1926 for the 70th congress. Afterwards he engaged in mining and investments. He died in York on June 18, 1928, and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery.

1. "McLaughlin, Melvin Orlando". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved January 17, 2006.
2. "McLaughlin, Melvin Orlando". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved January 17, 2006.

• This article incorporates facts obtained from: Lawrence Kestenbaum, The Political Graveyard
•   This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress