Albert Baird Cummins Iowa Governor and Senator

 

(Watercolor drawing after photo in The Worlds Work. January 1909)

Albert Baird Cummins was born in 1850 in Pennsylvania. He studied law on his own and built a career in Des Moines.

He entered politics as a reformer, and fought railroad power and political control. He was elected governor in 1901 and served three terms.

As governor, he pushed fair railroad rates and cleaner government. He supported laws that gave voters more control. He faced strong opposition and didn’t back down.

Cummins later served in the U.S. Senate for nearly twenty years. He died in 1926.