Charles Sumner Bird
Charles Sumner Bird was an American politician from Massachusetts. A progressive Republican, Bird served as the Progressive Party's gubernatorial candidate in the 1912 and 1913 Massachusetts gubernatorial elections.Life
Charlies Sumner Bird was born on August 15, 1855 in Walpole, Massachusetts to Francis William Bird and Abby Frances. In 1877 he graduated from Harvard and Bird joined the Bird Corporation, although he had initially wanted to go into law, and expanded the company's mills to Rhode Island and Canada and was one of the first to adopt the eight-hour work week. In 1880 he married Anna J. Child and later had four children with her.
In 1884 he entered politics and support New York Governor Grover Cleveland for president and again in 1888 and 1892. After William Jennings Bryan won the Democratic nomination in 1896 he left the Democratic Party and joined the pro-gold standard National Democratic Party. During the 1912 presidential election he supported former President Theodore Roosevelt in his attempt to win the Republican nomination and after he left to form the Progressive Party he joined. In 1912 and 1913 he served as the party's candidate for governor of Massachusetts. Later in life Bird supported the Eighteenth Amendment and attacked unionization as "the greatest crisis that... this nation has faced for half a century."
On October 9, 1927 Bird died at his home in Walpole, Massachusetts after being ill for two years and left behind an estate worth $12,300,000.
