Bird Segle McGuire (October 13, 1865 – November 9, 1930) was an American politician, a Delegate and the last U.S. Representative from Oklahoma Territory. After statehood, he was elected as an Oklahoma member of Congress, where he served four consecutive terms. He retired from politics in 1915. He was a cousin of William Neville.
After moving to Pawnee in Indian Territory in 1894 he opened a law practice there. He was appointed assistant United States Attorney for Oklahoma Territory in 1897, in which capacity he served until after his nomination for Congress.[2]
McGuire was recognized as the leader of one wing of the Oklahoma Republican Party and battled with the last territorial governor Frank Frantz over party leadership and patronage appointments.[3] The infighting resulted in McGuire's being the only Republican elected to Congress from Oklahoma in 1907.[3]
Aiding Oklahoma's Bid for Statehood
Elected as a Republican a Delegate to the Fifty-eighth and Fifty-ninth Congresses, McGuire served from March 4, 1903, to March 3, 1907. As a Territorial representative he could not vote. However, he could participate in the debates. When Congress took up the issue of statehood for the twin territories, the Democrats were adamantly in favor of creating two states: Sequoyah for Indian Territory (the eastern part) and Oklahoma for the western part. Republicans favored a single state that would be called Oklahoma. Although Congress was closely divided, the Republican president Theodore Roosevelt was so opposed to the two-state solution, he promised to veto any legislation that came to his desk with that option. McGuire realized that if the Democrats got their way, then no state would be created in the foreseeable future. Historian Thoburn wrote that McGuire proved so capable in moving the Democrats to back down on their two-state position that Congress passed the Oklahoma Enabling Act which the President signed, even though grudgingly.[4]
He married Ruby Ridgeway of Kansas City, Missouri on June 2, 1911. When his term expired in 1915, he moved his residence from Pawnee to Tulsa, where he resumed his law practice until his death.[4] McGuire also owned and operated a large ranch near Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
Death
McGuire died in Tulsa, Tulsa County, Oklahoma, on November 9, 1930 (age 65 years, 27 days). He is interred at Memorial Park Cemetery, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.[6]
