Will Rogers: American political humorist

When I get completely exasperated by the current news, sometimes I take a break with far off galaxies. This time, I time-traveled. Will Rogers was an American original, an Oklahoman of part Cherokee descent. He was a master of trick lariat roping, and a political commentator and wit. Visit an official web page at link sponsored by Southwestern Bell. They include a rotating selection of his radio shows' transcripts, famous quotes, biographical information on Rogers and his wife, and on the Will Rogers ranch-museum. The website explains that interest in Rogers peaked due to books and plays focusing on him, and:

Another cause of renewed interest is an apparent parallel between today's peculiar times and the roaring 1920s and the depressed 1930s when Will Rogers brightened gloom with anecdotes and dispensed antidotes for mistaken public policy.

"We'll be the first nation in the world to go to the poor house in an automobile," he drawled about disparity between rich and poor during the Great Depression.

Politics was top target for pundit Will Rogers. An actual favorite son nominee for president in 1932, Will Rogers was a 1928 prank White House candidate promising only to "resign if elected." Decades later his wry platform promises remain fitting: "Whatever the other fellow don't do, we will."

His philosophical renderings appeared in six books, scores of magazine articles and 4,000 syndicated newspaper columns. His droll humor surfaced as adlibs in the 71 movies where he starred but seldom learned the script; in his numerous nationwide radio commentaries and in the Ziegfeld Follies where he chatted nightly with New York audiences for a decade.

Will Rogers, besides winning slots in the Guinness Book of Records for trick roping feats--he called himself the "Poet Lariat'--spawned unique irony and home spun humor that have spurred today's revival.

Take a break from worrying or being mad. Visit with a wise and funny man who knew how to help us laugh at ourselves. Other Will Rogers websites:

Another "Official Site of Will Rogers" link
Noting that

Oklahoma humorist and flying enthusiast Will Rogers was voted into Aviation Week’s “Top 100 Stars of Aerospace” in a poll of members in the International Council of Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS) and its U. S. affiliate.

Since Rogers died in a plane crash, hmmm.