Albert May Todd (June 3, 1850 – October 6, 1931), known as "The Peppermint King of Kalamazoo," was an American chemist, businessman, and politician from the state of Michigan.

[1] Together with his brother Oliver, Albert Todd began growing mint on a small scale and working to invent and improve new methods for its distillation into peppermint oil — a process which remained crude at that date.

"[5] To provide a ready supply of raw mint for extraction, Todd established two gigantic plantations, called "Mentha" in Pine Grove Township and "Campaignia" near Fennville.

[2] The two parties began to realign in the late 1870s, however, with the Republicans coming to favor large commercial interests, high tariffs on imported goods, and strict adherence to the gold standard.

[8] Todd won just under 19,000 votes in the 1894 Gubernatorial campaign, discouragingly finishing in fourth place behind the candidates of the Republican, Democratic, and People's parties.

The Michigan legislature, dominated by Republicans, immediately passed legislation prohibiting such "fusion," a matter which was ultimately litigated and narrowly resolved in Todd's favor.

[8] Undeterred, Todd again ran in the 1896 campaign for the 3rd Michigan Congressional District seat, winning the combined nominations of the Democratic, Prohibition, and People's Parties in the primary election.

[8] Todd's formal election was as a Democrat, with whom he caucused, but most of his time and effort was spent working with members and supporters of the People's Party and their agenda.

[8] Todd had since become a strong supporter of public ownership of utilities, the regulation of the railroads, an opponent of monopoly, and a loosening of the national money supply through the unlimited coinage of silver and worked on behalf of these issues as part of the Fifty-fifth Congress.

[9] Todd's days in Congress would prove to be limited, however, as in 1898 his bid for re-election would be narrowly defeated at the polls by an energized opposition in the predominantly Republican district.

[10] In addition a nephew, Laurence Todd, was for 30 years the Washington correspondent of the TASS news agency of the Soviet Union, a position which twice put him in the national public spotlight as a subject of Congressional inquiry.