Albert Baird CUMMINS, Congress, IA (1850-1926)

CUMMINS, Albert Baird, a Senator from Iowa; born near Carmichaels, Greene County, Pa., February 15, 1850; attended the public schools, and a preparatory academy; graduated Waynesburg (Pa.) College in 1869; moved to Iowa; briefly engaged as a carpenter; clerked in the office of the recorder of Clayton County; moved to Allen County, Indiana in 1871 where he became deputy county surveyor and engaged in railroad building; moved to Chicago to study law; admitted to the Illinois bar in 1875 and commenced practice in Chicago; returned to Des Moines, Iowa, in 1878, where he continued the practice of law; member, State house of representatives 1888-1890; unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate in 1894 and 1900; member of the Republican National Committee 1896-1900; Governor of Iowa 1902-1908, when he resigned, having been elected Senator; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1908 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of William B. Allison; reelected in 1909, 1914, and again in 1920, and served from November 24, 1908, until his death on July 30, 1926; unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1926; served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the Sixty-sixth through the Sixty-ninth Congresses; chairman, Committee on Civil Service and Retrenchment (Sixty-first and Sixty-second Congresses), Committee on the Mississippi River and its Tributaries (Sixty-third through Sixty-fifth Congresses), Committee on Interstate Commerce (Sixty-sixth and Sixty-seventh Congresses), Committee on Judiciary (Sixty-eighth and Sixty-ninth Congresses); died in Des Moines, Iowa, July 30, 1926; interment in Woodland Cemetery.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Bray, Thomas James. The Rebirth of Freedom. Indianola, IA: Record Tribune Press, 1957; Margulies, Herbert F. “Senate Moderates in the League of Nations Battle: The Case of Albert B. Cummins.” Annals of Iowa 50 (Spring 1990): 333-58.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present