America's Cowboy: The Story of Will Rogers

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If you search for the Our American Stories podcast, go to the iHeartRadio app, to iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. Most everyone over the age of 50 has heard the name Will Rogers. His quotes ring is true today as they did in the 1930s. Congress opens with a prayer and closes with an investigation. Good judgment comes from experience and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

Make crime pay, become a lawyer. Here to tell the story of Will Rogers is Tad Jones, the executive director of the Will Rogers Memorial in Claremore, Oklahoma. But first, audio from Lux Radio Theater. You'll be hearing a lot of it over this hour.

Let's get into the story. From Hollywood, the Hollywood Radio Theater. Starring Jane Wyman and Will Rogers Jr. in the story of Will Rogers. Ladies and gentlemen, your producer, Mr. Irving Cummings. Greetings from Hollywood, ladies and gentlemen. If a vote were taken for the most popular American of all time outside of public office, I'm sure Will Rogers' name would head the list.

His keen perception, gentle humor and simplicity made him one of the most beloved men of our time. Tonight, playing his original role in the story of Will Rogers, we have the perfect choice, Will Rogers Jr. And as his co-star in this humorous drama from the Warner Brothers Studio, their Glamorous Academy Award winner, Jane Wyman in her original role of Mrs. Rogers. Now, Will didn't become Will Rogers just overnight. You've heard of the Trail of Tears. The Rogers family came over a few years earlier. They had a deal to get some property, so they were what was called the early settlers. So that was Will's granddad that came over. Clem, Will's dad, was very involved in everything in Northeast Oklahoma and was a very prominent Cherokee citizen. He was a judge in the area, also a Cherokee senator.

When Oklahoma was becoming a state, Clem Rogers was one of the delegates at the Constitutional Convention for the creation of Oklahoma's state. Willie, how'd you get here, son? You ought to know, Pa. You sent me the money to come home. Oh, that's right.

I did, didn't I? Well, it's good to see you, son. Now, if you'll excuse me, I got some news for the folks here.

Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, as senator of the Cherokee Nation, it gives me great pleasure to tell you that we've just smoked a pipe of peace with these congressmen from Washington. And in the not too distant future, Oklahoma shall become the 46th state of the union. So the county we live in and where the memorial is and where Will is born is called Rogers County, but it wasn't named after Will Rogers. It was named after Will's dad. He was married to a lady named Mary America Scrimshaw.

Both of them were about a quarter Cherokee. Also, he served in the Civil War, and he served with a gentleman in the Civil War named William Penn Adair. And when Will Rogers was born, that's where his name came from, William Penn Adair Rogers.

He liked to joke that he was born on election day, November 4th, and he said his mom had nothing better to do because women weren't allowed to vote, so she just stayed home and had him. Will Rogers adored her. Clem and Mary America had a number of children, and unfortunately, only four of them lived to adulthood. Three of them died when they were young, and Ma died when I was 10.

But his three sisters really loved on Will and spoiled him, and that's kind of who raised him. And who's this little boy? Well, that's me. All of these are me. Each one was taken when I started a new school. You must have run out of schools early.

No, ma'am. Those schools, they kept cropping up like mushrooms. Will's dad was a very hard worker. He did not care much for Will's work ethic, which wasn't much. Will did not do very good in school, and he went to a number of schools all over Northeast Oklahoma and into Missouri, and just didn't have much luck. This one here is Paul's last flame, Kemper Military Academy.

I was there for two years, one in the guardhouse and one in the fourth grade. His dad even tried to get him in the military academy to try to get him some discipline. Well, Will wasn't there very long and earned 150 demerits, so he left the military academy. I like to joke, I think he didn't pass the fourth grade McGuffey reader. But Will was highly intelligent, make no mistake. I mean, he was an avid reader. He knew things. He had a great memory.

His thing, he had so much energy. He just loved to joke, kind of was a class clown. He learned to rope by a former slave named Dan Walker. And so Dan Walker worked at the ranch, and he taught Will Rogers how to rope, and that is what Will loved more than anything. And so Will roped at the ranch all the time, and when he was at school, he roped the kids and he roped the girls. He wanted to be a cowboy. He just wanted to rope. And an opportunity came for him to be a man.

He just wanted to rope. And an opportunity came for him to leave the ranch and go out to Higgins, Texas, and he worked as a ranch hand out there for several months. Then came back to the ranch, and his dad ended up giving him the ranch for a couple years. Will Rogers called it the dog iron ranch, but that is not what Will Rogers wanted to do. He didn't want to be a businessman.

You know, it could be a cowboy, but when you're running the ranch, that's a different responsibility. After three years of that, Will Rogers said, you know what, I'm not too excited about this. I think I'm going to leave and go and be a cowboy in Argentina.

He'd heard that there were no fences in Argentina. We're in here, and this was Indian Territory. It wasn't Oklahoma at the time, so Will Rogers was not born in Oklahoma. He was born in Indian Territory, and grew up in Indian Territory.

And in 1901, sold it back to his father and said, I'm going to Argentina with a friend of mine just to be a cowboy, what they call a Gaucho. When we come back, more of the story of Will Rogers here on Our American Stories. Folks, if you love the stories we tell about this great country, and especially the stories of America's rich past, know that all of our stories about American history, from war to innovation, culture, and faith, are brought to us by the great folks at Hillsdale College, a place where students study all the things that are beautiful in life, and all the things that are good in life. And if you can't get to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to you with their free and terrific online courses.

Go to hillsdale.edu to learn more. Okay, round two. Name something that's not boring.

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That's right. Chumbacacino.com has over 100 casino-style games. Join today and play for free for your chance to redeem some serious prizes. Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Chumba. Chumbacacino.com. And we return to Our American Stories and our story of Will Rogers with Tad Jones, the director of the Will Rogers Memorial in Claremore, Oklahoma. When we last left off, Will Rogers, looking for direction, had decided to head south, south to Argentina, to become a cowboy, rejecting a life of running his powerful father's ranch. Let's get back to the story. Here again is audio from Luck's radio field. Sit down, Willie. Glad to have you back, son. And I hope your foolish days are over. But, Pa, ain't you kind of tired with all this to doing?

Certainly not. I found it very stimulating. Well, you've been gone for two years.

I'm interested to learn what you've accomplished. So Will and his buddy took off. They thought they'd just go to New Orleans and then make their way down to Argentina, but it wasn't that easy. They had to take some boats to go to New York and then over to London and finally got to Argentina.

Well, when they got down there, life wasn't near the glamorous thing that they thought it was going to be. So Will's buddy came back home. Will Rogers was by himself in Argentina, virtually dead broke. He wrote some letters back to his dad, which were his first published letters in the newspaper.

When the family, when he got some letters back, the family published it in the Claremore Progress and people got to kind of keep up with Will Rogers, mainly because of his dad was well known in the area and his son was kind of well known. And so he probably didn't know what was happening, but kind of his first foray being in the newspapers. So what was Will going to do with his life? He's stuck in Argentina. First, he has no money and there was a big cattle run that was going to South America, a big boat. And so Will jumped on the boat to take all the cattle to South Africa and got to South Africa, got the cattle off. Still wasn't sure what he was going to do with his life. He was broke in South Africa and he saw a sign for Texas Jack's Wild West Show.

This was the game changer for Will. Yes siree folks, the original Santa Fe Jack in his wild west show. The greatest assembly of prairie daredevils ever gathered under one tent.

You'll see honey girl Kate. You'll see chief big horse of the untamed Apaches and the one and only Cherokee kid, the foremost roping artist in the world. The Wild West Show was looking for somebody that could do what was called the big crinoline, which is the big rope trick with a, you know, a huge rope that you rope with and Will Rogers happened to know how to do the trick and he could do a lot of other tricks too. So now his first foray into show business. Did it for a little while and then decided he was ready to go and try to make his way back to the states and he went to, he got a letter from Texas Jack recommending him as a great performer.

He went to Australia and New Zealand and was in some Wild West shows there and then came back to the United States and came back home. Well I worked a lot of ranches, pa. Met a lot of fine people, gotten some practice with my rope. I even had an offer to go with a big roundup.

If that's your ambition, that aimless drift in life, there's no use my even talking to you. Sent me a hundred bucks, pa. Don't seem like you're getting your money's worth out of this conversation. I ain't with a roundup. I'm here. But are you any different than when you left?

Pa, you and me have been making this same mistake for 20 years. You wanted me to be Clem Rogers' boy and I've just stampeded away from it. I might do better as just plain Will Rogers.

Why not give it a try? So Will had, when he was here, he ran into a lady at the train stop and she was there, he was working at the train stop and or he went to pick something up at the train stop and there was a lady there named Betty Blake. Will rode into my life just after the turn of the century. Oklahoma was still Indian territory and Oologah, one of the few cow towns that boasted a railroad. If it weren't for that railroad, I wouldn't have been there at all. My sister's husband Dave was a station master and I'd come for a visit. I saw Will tie his horse outside the station. Just another saddle weary drifter and then he wandered into the baggage room.

And when he went to pick up his guitar and his long underwear, he saw her and immediately fell in love and he was so nervous he took off and left his stuff there. For eight years, Will Rogers tried to get Betty to date him and marry him and she just wouldn't have that much to do with him because Will didn't have, you know, a stable life. Will was all over the place and traveling and wasn't going to make a lot of money. She was from a very well-to-do family from west Arkansas in the Rogers, Arkansas area.

And so she really didn't think much Will, but Will just kept after her and kept after and send her letters and those kind of things to try to let him let her know that he really appreciated her. Well, Will then went to New York, started doing or he went with a Wild West show to New York and was doing the show in New York and this is where his big break in the states came. So they were in Madison Square Garden doing a Wild West show. He was just one of the troop and a bull got out of the arena and went into the crowd. And the story is that Will Rogers got his rope, got up there, roped it and brought it out and got and saved people's lives. Well, you know, there might have been there's some other stories supposedly that might have happened, but the one that the newspapers went with was, you know, Cowpuncher from Oklahoma saves the crowd, you know, Will Rogers.

So now he's front page news and people up there, you know, in New York, they want to see, you know, what's this cowboy from Oklahoma? So all of a sudden, Will is a little bit famous and people want to see him. So he gets picked up to be in Vaudeville. You know, those were all the trick, you know, the jugglers and the comedians and different things. And Will went in there just to be a trick roper. So Will got into Vaudeville and started doing trick roping. And during this time, he's still courting Betty and eventually convinced Betty to marry him. Betty? Yes, Will. What would happen if I was to quit gallivanting around and settle down?

What would you like to have happen? Well, I haven't any money. That isn't important. I love you, Betty. Ever since I first saw you, I haven't had... Always say ain't, Will. I ain't been able to think straight about nothing except that I love you. Is that important? Oh, it's awfully important. Then you'll marry me?

Yes, Will. Golly, Moses, I feel like hollering. Well, why don't you? Yahoo!

Yahoo! So she moved up to New York and they started having a few kids. So he ends up having four children.

One child died in infancy, unfortunately. His son Fred Stone died when he was just two. So Will Rogers now is doing the Follies. He's very popular. And then one time he missed a rope trick and he made a joke and the people laughed. And he was kind of offended by that. You know, he's a professional, professional roper. You know, you don't laugh at a professional roper, even though he grew up joking and trying to make people laugh. But this was his, you know, his serious business.

I was having a pretty bad time myself, but nothing I'm sure to what he was going through. He couldn't blame the audience for laughing at it. It's mighty nice of you to laugh at me.

Of course, it ain't no use to pretend I ain't nervous here tonight because I sure am. You know, horses are smarter than humans. You never heard of a horse going broke betting on people. Well, when he came off the stage, they kind of told me, you know, the people laugh. They like that.

You ought to do that a little bit more. And so he started writing jokes and would miss rope tricks on purpose so he could tell the joke. You know, he'd mess up and go, I got both my feet in but one, you know, or whatever the joke might be. And so now they're laughing at him. And he was liking that. So now, you know, it added a little bit to his show.

But then, you know, there were other rope trickers that were showing up. And so he was such an avid reader that Betty told him, he said, you know, you want to start talking about the news of the day. I see where they got a new governor back in my home state of Oklahoma. He's a real fine governor too. And the folks back there sure love it, especially some of the folks who've been spending their time behind bars. You see, this governor has been sending out a lot of pardons and kind of getting the warden sort of worried.

Anyway, he sent out so many that one old boy sent him back an answer. Why shucks, governor, he said, thanks for the pardon, but they ain't caught me yet. And we're listening to the story of Will Rogers as told by Tad Jones, the director of the Will Rogers Memorial in Claremore, Oklahoma. And again, special thanks to Lux Radio Theater hearing excerpts throughout this piece. When we come back, more of the story of Will Rogers here on Our American Stories. And we return to Our American Stories and our story on Will Rogers with Tad Jones, the director of the Will Rogers Memorial in Claremore, Oklahoma. When we last left off, Will had finally found relative stability as a professional roper.

Let's return to the story. The curtain rises on Act Three of the story of Will Rogers, starring Jane Wyman as Betty Rogers and Will Rogers, junior in the title role. Yes, Will had a brand new career. He just went out on the stage and kept talking, never knowing what he was going to say until he said it and always surprised at the success it brought him. In a few years, Will was a headliner, a star, and what people seemed to love most was to hear Will talking about politics and Congress.

And then one day, the United States Secret Service ordered him to Washington, the request of President Wilson. They took a trip to Baltimore, the show did, and the President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, came in the audience and Will was super nervous. I mean, the President's there and he's really come to see Will because he's heard about this guy that makes political jokes, which wasn't a thing that happened much, you know.

Mark Twain did a little bit, but his was kind of biting. When Mark Twain joked about it a little more serious, Will was doing it in a funny sense. And so now the President's in the audience and Will was so nervous. They literally said they had to grab him, push him out on stage, say, you got to do your show. And he got out there, he did his all shucks thing, you know, and roped and talked about how nervous he was. And then he told, started telling his jokes and he made a joke about trying to catch Pancho Villa, but they couldn't get him because when they started to go south aboard, they got caught up in all the red tape. And, you know, people were looking around to see what the President would do and the President laughed.

And that really helped Will Rogers. He said, now, you know, if the President's going to laugh at me, it's okay. And Will never said anything to make people mad. I mean, that was, I think that's what endeared him to everybody. You know, you never hear him say negative things about any, any people.

He'll joke about the institution. You know, Congress has this and the presidency has this, but the individual, he always said nice things about, you know, that's such an impressive thing. I know I've said a lot of things about Washington, Mr. President. If I've offended you in any way, I'm sorry.

I didn't ask you here to censor you, Mr. Rogers. For a long time, I've wanted to thank you for your wall work and everything else. That's mighty nice of you, Mr. President. And to be perfectly honest, I've always wanted to see the master of the verb ain't. I've heard you've had several offers to write. How is it I've never seen you in print? Why, Mr. President, as an ex-college professor, you ought to know that I can't put two words together without making them come out wrong.

That may be, but from the quotes I've heard, your meanings come out pretty right. Mr. Rogers, Will, if I may. Now I feel like I can cross my legs. You, you say for people the things they'd like to say, but can't quite express. And in helping them think things through, you're also making them laugh.

That's a rare gift. That's why I think you should write as well as speak. Whether you like it or not, Will, you'll become a voice from the heart of the people. Our country wants to hear it more often.

And so he did that and earned respect from people all over the country. And so now there's a new medium that's showing up and it's the movies. This was just silence, but Will Rogers wasn't invited to be in a movie. They filmed it in New York and they said, you know what, you need to move out to Hollywood and make some more of these.

Will went on to make 50 silent movies. Then in 19, that was 1919 when they moved out there. In 1922, here comes the radio. Also in 1922, he started writing a weekly article for newspapers. And in 1927, he also started writing a daily column.

You know, peck it out. He wasn't a great typist. He would peck his daily column, hand it to the Western Union kid by five o'clock and they would go and send it out to Western Union and all the newspapers, you know, he'd be out of, you know, doing a movie. He'd take a break, run over here, type out his daily column and, you know, and then send it out.

So just incredible, you know, that he could write stuff that was always interesting too. I mean, just, you know. Here in Germany, they got a fellow named Hitler. He began in a beer hall and he'll give the whole world a hangover before he's through.

The whole thing, as I see it all over the world, is that the little nations has just got no business being little. How you can do that every single day is, you know, you're looking at 365 days a year, roughly, times, you know, what is that seven, eight years. How many daily columns is that that you spit out, you know, and weekly columns too that were longer. And he had joked in 1928 about running for president. He called the anti-bunk party and he had this presidential run that he was doing.

It was in Life magazine. It was just really cute. But anyway, the talkies came in and this is where Will's movie career started to blossom. I mean, Will, it was his talking that got it. The silent movies, you know, you just had to act and he did have some funny commentary, but talkies is what happened that really got him in the movies. So he really is this world figure in the 30s. Of course, the Great Depression hit in 29 with a stock market crash and Will was there as his comforting voice for the country.

You know, again, daily talking. Spell back, I did a newspaper piece on George Washington. How proud he'd be of his country if he'd lived to his 200th birthday.

Guess I didn't know what I was writing about. If old George was around today, I bet he'd sue us for calling him father. Maybe you don't make no sense, Will, but you sure make a fella feel better. Even if he is on his way to the poorhouse. I think one of the great characteristics, too, is his empathy. I mean, he said, you know, until you understand from another person's perspective, you know, where they're coming from and that's what he did. I mean, he saw, for instance, there was a Herbert Hoover was president and he wanted to give a talk about some relief that he wanted to do during the Great Depression.

It was, I think it was 1930 and he needed an audience to listen to his speech. And so, you can't imagine doing this today, but he asked Will Rogers to be his intro on the radio. So Will Rogers did that, you know, and he joked in the radio deal about, you know, when I was asked to do this, I had to ask some people about it and, you know, whatever negative it just, you know, wasn't enough.

I'm kind of particular. Who's gonna be the other speaker? Who else is on the, who else is on the deal with me? And he said, well, I'll, he said, how would Mr. Hoover do? So I looked into Mr. Hoover's record and inquired of everybody. And after I had kind of thrown out about two thirds of what Democrats said about him, why I figured that I wouldn't have much to lose by appearing with Mr. Hoover. So, you know, I got nothing to lose.

I'm going to go here and I'm going to talk. Well, in that speech, it became a famous speech. We call it bacon, beans, limousines, where he said, here we are in a country with more wheat, more corn, more money in the bank, more cotton, more everything in the world. There's not a product that you can name that we haven't gotten more of it than any country ever had on the face of the earth. And yet we've got people starving. We'll hold the distinction being the only nation in the history of the world that ever went to the poorhouse in an automobile.

We're going to be the only country in the history of the world that's going to go to the poorhouse in an automobile. And it was a very heartfelt speech. You know, there was a little humor in it, but not much. It got into a very serious tone. And he also talked about the goodness of the American people that, you know, yes, things are tough, but we're going to give and to help people in our communities.

And we can do that. And he talked about the big boys that got them into this mess, which is kind of funny. I mean, there were the richest people in the world loved Will Rogers. I mean, Henry Ford thought Will should run for president and Will thought Henry Ford should be given the keys to Congress and solve all the issues because he was such a good businessman, you know?

So it was a very poignant speech. And after his talk, then Herbert Hoover got on and gave his, well, you know, it was like 10 to one, whatever the numbers were, people that want to, you know, copies and transcripts of Will's speech versus the president's speech. And we've been listening to Tad Jones, the director of the Will Rogers Memorial in Claremore, Oklahoma. More of the story of Will Rogers when Our American Stories continues. And we return to Our American Stories and the final section of our story on Will Rogers with Tad Jones, the director of the Will Rogers Memorial in Claremore, Oklahoma. You've also been hearing historical audio from Lux Radio Theater featuring Will's son, Will Rogers Jr. playing his father and Jane Wyman playing Will's wife, Betty. When we last left off, Will had become a guiding voice during the Great Depression and virtually inescapable. Whether on radio, in print or film, it was because of this that he was called the most dangerous man in America. But Will was anything but. He was different. Let's return to the story.

We start yet again with Lux Radio Theater. It's been my life, lot in life to play the fool and to make people laugh. I've kidded an awful lot of big men, but I've had mighty few complaints.

I guess that's the sign of a big man. I've tried living my life so that whenever I quit, I'm ahead. I've been an awful lucky fellow. I've been all over the world. I've met kings and rickshaw boys, senators and farmers, more people and most people had meet in 10 lifetimes. And I never met a man I didn't like. His famous line is I never met a man I didn't like.

And that's exactly true. Didn't care what kind of what race you're from, your religion, you know, treated the kings and the common man the same. He was a man that I think is maybe the greatest role model citizen that we have.

We have great role models like in politics, like Abraham Lincoln and George Washington and these kind of people. But as a citizen, a good person that treated people right, his credibility was just through the roof because he you know, he was so genuine. It was all him. I think he never talked negatively about people. They joke about the institution. He would joke about different things. But when it came to people, he always treated with respect. And even if he thought he heard somebody's feelings, you know, he would apologize. And that's so rare because in comedy today, you know, if you're not really gigging them and, you know, almost making them mad and then our personalities today are such that, you know, you hear something you don't like and your immediate reaction is to get angry.

And why are they thinking that way? And Will saw, you know, everybody's perspective so well, so ingrained in him. Yes, he liked to joke, but it was a calming way and also in a way that showed empathy towards what people are going through. And even in his movies, there were scenes of, you know, they were about the Great Depression, some of them. And, you know, where he's cutting his stock certificates into little paper men, you know, that because they were worthless. But I'll tell you, my all time favorite, though, is one he does right in front of Calvin Coolidge.

So there I think it's one of the dams in Arizona that was being dedicated. We have this video of it. And Calvin Coolidge is there and Will Rogers is there to give a talk. And with Calvin Coolidge there, he said, Will said, you know, Calvin Coolidge, one of my great presidents, he goes, he didn't do nothing, but that's what we want to done. And it just gives this great laugh. And I just, I love it because it cuts to Calvin Coolidge who is kind of frowned a little bit, but he goes, he didn't do nothing, but that's what we want to done. I thought, man, that's just such a witty, funny quote, you know, with the president, you know, sitting right there and everybody laughing at it.

So anyway. Oh, Will, what's that plane doing over there? That's old Wiley showing off his new ship. I forgot to tell you, honey, he's dropping in tonight for supper. Not just for supper.

Wiley's like Paul, he doesn't drop in unless he has something on his mind. Well, maybe. We have been kind of figuring on a little trip up to Alaska. Why way up there? Well, you see, honey, when I was a kid, I flunked a geography exam and ever since then I've had a hankering to go up there and find the right answers. Look, if you don't want me to read the letters you get from Washington, then don't leave them open on the dining room table. What letter?

Well, for instance, the one about the appropriation bill for Alaskan defense. So we had a good friend or a friend. They weren't great friends, but they had known each other and a guy named Wiley Post. He was a one eyed pilot out of Oklahoma and amazing character himself. Landing his airplane right in the range of our cameras. Harry, go tell that bullhead he just cost us a barrel of money. Who is that spendthrift, Tom?

Oh, some half-wit aviator they hired to fly the film to the laboratory. One of your Oklahoma boys, hard Indian. You and that fool plane, you're costing us a young fortune. What's your name, son? Me, Wiley Post. Us Cherokees are a long way from home, aren't we?

We sure are, mister. He lost an eye in the oil patch of Texas and just a short period of time in his life, four or five years, he taught himself how to fly. He found the jet stream. He created the very first pressurized air suit that was basically the beginning of the space air suit. He was the first person to fly around the world, him and another co-pilot. And then he was the first person to fly around the world by himself with just, you know, basically a plane and a compass.

I mean, just an incredible feat. And you've heard, everybody's heard of Charles Lindbergh and most people haven't heard of Wiley Post. But Wiley Post got two ticker tape parades in New York City because it was flying around the world.

So an incredibly respected pilot. So he wanted to fly to Alaska and find a mail route to Russia. And Will Rogers loved to travel. So they got to talk and Wiley needed somebody to fund his trip. Will Rogers wanted to travel and see the world. So he said, man, I want to go with my fellow Oklahoman.

Let's go to Alaska. So they piloted a plane in August. It was a plane that Wiley kind of built himself.

He put pontoons on it. The whole time, Will Rogers is still writing his daily columns, talking about politics and the people that he met and these kinds of things. So they fly to Alaska. They're starting to head to Point Barrow. It's August 15th, 1935.

And again, this year, Will Rogers was the number one movie star in the world. They get lost in the fog. Wiley finds a lagoon to land in. And there were some Inuit Eskimos that were there. And he asked them, you know, directions to Point Barrow.

And they said, you know, you're not that far away, you know, just about 12 miles away. So as the plane started to take off and turn, the engine died. And because the plane was built the way it was, it was very nose heavy. So it immediately went straight down and it killed both men instantly in the lagoon. The whole world went into mourning. You know, just every newspaper was a headline about Will Rogers and Wiley Post had died. Movie theaters went dark.

The radios turned off. Congress went out of session. And everybody was just couldn't believe that Will Rogers, their best friend that was in their house that they were listening to and reading about had just died.

And it was very, very difficult on the country. And so the President and others, they created a commission to what are we going to do to honor Will Rogers. Congress actually passed $2 million in funding to do something for Will, but it was vetoed by President Roosevelt. Not that he didn't have any respect for him, but it was during the Great Depression and there wasn't a plan for the money. They were just doing it.

And that was his reasoning, you know. And so, but the Oklahoma legislature stepped up in 1937, created this commission, and in 38 they built the Will Rogers Memorial. And Will Rogers was originally buried in California, but the crowds that came to the memorial after it was built were so huge that they eventually moved Will Rogers here in 1944.

And that's where Will and Betty and three of the children are buried here at the memorial in Claremont. Amazing, amazing character. You know, it learned by School of Hard Knocks. You know, he just grew up in a tough area and learned how to, you know, how to do it. And he did. I mean, he wrote a million words in his weekly articles, his daily articles, wrote his own stuff.

And today you see your Conan O'Brien or whatever, there's all these writers around him and all they're doing this to, you know, get the best jokes. And all that Will did, even to stand up in Vaudeville and the Follies, everything was Will Rogers. Will Rogers never came back from that flight.

And yet in a sense, he never left us. There's a statue of Will Rogers at the Memorial Museum in Claremont, Oklahoma. It says, Will Rogers, 1879, 1935. And the simple legend, I never met a man I didn't like. And a terrific job on the production by Monty Montgomery. And a special thanks to Ted Jones, the director of the Will Rogers Memorial in Claremont, Oklahoma. And my goodness, this is a quintessential American story.

Born in Oklahoma, before it was Oklahoma, and a Cherokee. And of course, he dies with a fellow Oklahoman and a fellow Cherokee. They say when Buddy Holly died, it was the day the music died. And when Will Rogers died, it was the day the laughs died. There was never one like him before there would never be one like him again. The story of Will Rogers here on Our American Stories.