Albert B. Cummins
| Albert B. Cummins | |
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United States Senator from Iowa |
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In office November 24, 1908 – July 30, 1926 |
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| Preceded by | William B. Allison |
| Succeeded by | David W. Stewart |
| 18th Governor of Iowa | |
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In office January 16, 1902 – November 24, 1908 |
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| Lieutenant |
John Herriott Warren Garst |
| Preceded by | Leslie M. Shaw |
| Succeeded by | Warren Garst |
| Member of the Iowa Senate | |
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In office 1887 |
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| Member of the Iowa State Legislature | |
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In office 1888–1890 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
Albert Baird Cummins February 15, 1850 Carmichaels, Pennsylvania |
| Died | July 30, 1926 (aged 76) Des Moines, Iowa |
| Political party | Republican |
Albert Baird Cummins (February 15, 1850 – July 30, 1926), American lawyer and politician. He was the 18th Governor of Iowa elected to three consecutive terms and U.S. Senator for Iowa serving for 18 years.
Cummins was born in a log house in Carmichaels, Pennsylvania, the son of Sarah Baird (Flenniken) and Thomas L. Cummins, a carpenter who also farmed. He attended different schools including the Greene Academy at Carmichaels, and was matriculated at Waynesburg College.
He completed required classes at Waynesburg College, but was not graduated because of a dispute with the College's president regarding Darwinism. After leaving college, he initially became a tutor and taught at a country school. At age nineteen, Cummins came with his maternal uncle to Elkader, Iowa, finding employment in the Clayton County recorder's office and also worked as a carpenter. In 1871, he relocated to the Allen County, Indiana, where he labored as a railway clerk, carpenter, construction engineer, express company manager, and deputy county surveyor.
Cummins moved to Chicago where he studied law while clerking in an attorney's office; he was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1875. After practicing law in Chicago for three years, he set up a practice in Des Moines, Iowa. At first, Cummins represented in court mainly businessmen improving his finances and achieving prominence in Des Moines' high society. However, in his most famous case as an attorney he represented a group of Iowa farmers from the Grange movement against Washburn & Moen, a barb wire trust, as farmers tried to break an eastern syndicate's monopoly of the production of barbed wire by running their own factory. However, historians consider his representation of farmers in the barbed wire case to be an anomaly, because more often he represented corporations or businessmen.
After identifying with Republican Party, Cummins became active first in state and later in national politics. He attended every state and national Republican convention between 1880 and 1924; he served as an Iowa state legislator in 1888-1890; he was a presidential elector in 1892; and was elected to the Republican National Committee in 1896-1900. Cummins found political support in Progressive faction of the Iowa's GOP and challenged Iowa's Republican establishment represented by U.S. Senator William B. Allison, Congressman David B. Henderson and Congressman William P. Hepburn.
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