He had only an elementary education at the St. John's Boys School, but he was a man of immense intelligence.

On 16th  January 1939, he was elected to the Executive of the Antigua Trades and Labour Union formed that very day to lead the struggle of the working people against oppressive and exploitative working conditions in the sugar industry and the port. On the 26th February 1940, when the AT&LU received its legal status, he was confirmed as an Executive Member.  Three years later in September 1943, he was elevated to the post of President of the Union.  In that same year, he gave the workers a public voice with the emergence of the Union's newspaper, "The Workers Voice".  A year later, the union won the principle that a worker could not be dismissed without compensation.

In 1945, he was elected as a member of the Legislative assembly.  His popularity with the people of Antigua and Barbuda caused him to be made a member of the Executive Council in 1946 although he spent much of his time in conflict with the non-elected members who represented the plantocrats of the day.  In 1951, the Union, under his leadership, established the right of the Union to negotiate for workers and for contracts to be signed with management.

In 1953 and 1956, he was a delegate to conferences of West Indian Governments at Lancaster House in London that worked out the mechanics of West Indian Federation.     During this period, he agitated for free Government schools and built the Princess Margaret School in 1955.   His own Government built the second Government Secondary School, opened on 20th September 1961 at Golden Grove.

On 11 January 1960, V C Bird Snr. was appointed the first Chief Minister of Antigua......... During the Nineteen Sixties (1960's), V. C. Bird also led the move to diversify the Antigua and Barbuda economy. He introduced tourism and other service industries to take the country out of its dependence on sugar production.

In the 1971 General Elections, V. C. Bird Snr. lost his seat and his party lost the Government to the Progressive labour Movement (PLM) led by George Walter who had broken away from the Antigua Trades and Labour Union to form a rival union, the Antigua Workers Union and then, eventually, the PLM.

Five years later, in 1976,  V. C. Bird Snr. was re-elected to Parliament, and his Antigua Labour Party formed the Government..........He led his party to another election victory in 1980, and that same year (1980)   he went back to Lancaster House in London seeking full independence for Antigua and Barbuda.

On 1st November 1981, Antigua and Barbuda became an independent nation and V. C. Bird Snr. became the first Prime Minister of his country.  Immediately after Independence, V. C. Bird again played a crucial role in the stalled regional integration process.  Caribbean Community leaders had not met for eight years and the regional movement was limping along with no real direction.  V. C. Bird Snr. made public calls for a Heads of Government Meeting, offering to host it himself in Antigua.  In the end, sensitive to Jamaica's sometimes lukewarm approach to integration and anxious to keep the Jamaica Government in the fold, he embraced the idea that the Conference should be held at Ocho Rios in Jamaica under the chairmanship of the Jamaican Prime Minister.  Thus, the Caribbean Community and Common market was reborn with a new lease of life which has steadily grown since then.

He led his Antigua Labour Party to two more general election victories in 1984 and 1989, ............................. finally retiring in March 1994 at the age of 83.

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