Richard Ely Bird (November 4, 1878 – January 10, 1955) was a Republican member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

for the 8th District of

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

from 1921 to 1923. Bird was born in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

on November 4, 1878. He moved with his parents to

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...

in 1887 and attended the public schools there. He was graduated from Wichita High School in 1898. Bird later studied law and was admitted to the Kansas bar in 1901. He opened his legal practice in Wichita. In 1916 he became a judge of the district court of the 18th Judicial District of Kansas and was serving in that capacity when elected to congress during the

Warren G. Harding Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party, he was one of the most popular sitting U.S. presidents. A ...

presidential landslide of 1920. Bird unseated incumbent Democratic Congressman William Ayres by a narrow margin of 30,076 (49.4%) to 29,899 (49.1%). Bird's victory meant that all eight Kansas congressional districts would be represented by Republicans. Rep. Bird would lose his reelection bid in 1922 by a margin of 37,581 (62%) to 22,721 (38%) against former Congressman Ayres and thus resumed the practice of law. Bird ran once more for congress in 1928 against Rep. Ayres but lost by a total of 46,117 (58%) to 32,802 (42%) despite the

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...

Republican landslide. He retired from public life in 1937 and moved to

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, where he died on January 10, 1955. He is buried in Maplegrove Cemetery in Wichita, Kansas.

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* 1878 births 1955 deaths Politicians from Cincinnati Politicians from Wichita, Kansas Kansas lawyers Kansas state court judges Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Kansas California Republicans {{Kansas-politician-stub