[1][3] After moving to Zilwaukee, Baird worked packing salt at the Whitney & Batchelor mill.

[4] In 1901, he was elected as a member of the Michigan Senate, representing the 22nd district; serving three consecutive terms in 1901, 1903 and 1905.

While communicating with an official over the phone about an issue, a switchboard operator left a phone line open, and Baird overheard a conversation between two men who were discussing the convention, and Baird's prediction proved true when the convention turned into a brawl between Taft and Roosevelt delegates.

John Baird, who believed presidential primaries were a waste of time and money, was trying to show how vulnerable the primary was to tampering, and the Hiram Johnson he put on the ballot turn out to have died months earlier.

Governor Alex Groesbeck appointed Baird as the first director of the Michigan Conservation Department from 1921 to 1927.

[1] Baird died following heart trouble on November 8, 1934, aged 74, at St. Mary's Hospital in Saginaw.