Kipper, Mr.
English 8-2
31 March, 1999

The Cherokee Kid

Ever since the birth of humanity, the almost obsessive goal of nearly every person has been to achieve greatness. The concept that “all men are created equal,” has come to merely serve as an excuse to ruthlessly trample all the heads of your fellow men indiscriminately as you climb to the pinnacle of worldly dominion. To our world, it seems that greatness is achieved only by that process of conquering those you can and sabotaging those you must. Fortunately, the exceptions to that rule, while few, are so much more pivotal to shaping the part of our world that makes life livable than those who fall into the vast, wild majority.  One such exception, along with his two million published words and drawling jabs at the foibles of the century, proved to be perhaps the most influential person of his day. Will Rogers, a simple Oklahoman cowboy armed with, essentially, little more than a genuine love and respect for all of humanity, changed the nation and achieved greatness through his own humility and external ordinariness.

The last of eight children born to Clement and Mary Rogers, only half of which lived to adulthood, William Penn Adair Rogers was born on a large ranch in the Cherokee Nation on 5 September, 1879, in what would later become Oologah, Oklahoma (Southwestern Bell). He was of mixed Cherokee descent and very proud of his heritage. It was there in Oologah (a name, Will explained, that could only be pronounced by an Indian) that Will learned how to use a lasso, being taught by a freed slave in order to help him work the Texas Longhorn cattle on the ranch. Will was sent to numerous upstanding schools in the area but stayed at none for very long, finally dropping out of school for good in the 10th grade (Sterling 2). He worked as a cowboy in Texas and managed his own cattle in the Indian Territory near Claremore. Upon selling the herds, he returned to Oklahoma, and it was at Oologah’s tiny railroad station where Will first encountered Betty Blake, the woman who would become his wife. Recalling their first meeting, Betty wrote “I looked at him and he looked at me, and before I could even ask his business, he turned on his heel and was gone without... saying a word.” Will had come for his banjo but had been too shy to ask her for it (Rogers 14). At the age of 21, he left the United States and went to Argentine by way of England. From there, he headed to South Africa and joined up with Texas Jack’s Wild West Show as the “Cherokee Kid.” A few months later he joined the Wirth Brothers’ Circus in Australia and New Zealand, finally returning to the states in 1904. He didn’t stay out of show business for long and was part of Colonel Zack Mulhall’s Wild West show within the year. Eventually he left the show and married Betty Blake on 25 November, 1908, in her hometown of Rogers, Oklahoma, which had been named after his father (Sterling 4). The couple had four children: Will, Jr., Mary, James, and Fred. According to many biographers, it was the strong marriage and trust between Will and Betty that formed the cornerstone of his later success. While flying with close friend and aviation legend Wiley Post near Point Barrow, Alaska, the plane crashed and both men were killed. It was 15 August, 1935, and Will was only 56 years old.

Will had travelled around the world by the time he was 25 years old and never broke the habit. He was a vaudeville star in the Ziegfeld Follies, possibly the time’s most famous stage show, and, after beginning a movie career in 1918, starred in almost 40 motion pictures. His weekly syndicated newspaper column, which ran in papers nationwide from 1922 up until his untimely death in 1935, was read almost religiously by millions of Americans. In 1926 he began writing a daily column called “Will Rogers Says.” He put things in simple terms that everyone could understand and “had a knack for showing the ridiculous side of current events... exaggerating the facts to the amusement of his readers” (Acc. & Writings). In 1930 Will began his foray into radio. Between his radio lectures and newspaper columns, he reached more than 40 million Americans each week. His telegrams and weekly articles to the New York Times appeared in more than 500 American newspapers every day; his political commentary carried so much weight with citizens and politicians alike that H.L. Mencken called him “the most dangerous man alive” (Acc. & Writings). In the spring of 1926, the Saturday Evening Post sent Will to Europe to write a series of articles from abroad. While there, he met with the King of Spain, the Prince of Wales, and former dictator of Italy, Benito Mussolini to “get their angle.” On a solo trip around the world in January 1932, he tried to get an interview with Adolf Hitler, certain that he would find something to like.

Of course, Will Rogers’s life was by no means perfect. The death of his mother, to whom he had been exceedingly close, was devastating to the 10-year-old Will Rogers, as was the loss of his and Betty’s two-year-old son, Freddy, to diphtheria. Before his marriage to Betty Blake, Will had tried repeatedly to find a perfect niche in some far-off land or some down-to-earth occupation, only to fail to find his dream every time. Yet, for every failure or disappointment, there were one hundred successes, small or great, that Will attained for simply being who he was: an upright performer, journalist, ambassador, and philosopher, who, while poking fun at “the powers that be,” never tried to evade or shirk a duty to his community or his country (Axtell 163).

Known nationwide as the voice of the average American citizen, a self-appointed ambassador to other countries, and a friend to the whole world, Rogers’s famous epitaph, “I never met a man I didn’t like,” certainly held true as he worked and played to society’s benefit. Margaret Shellabarger Axtell seems to have spoken for nearly every American of the time period when she stated that “I never met Will Rogers. But... I claimed him as a friend” (Axtell vi). His sister, Sallie Rogers McSpadden, put it best when she wrote of Will after his death: “To those who stood in need of cheer, he brought smiles and happiness. He lightened the load of those who were bearing heavy crosses. He brought courage to the disheartened. What more need be said? We loved him, we miss him, but we will ever cherish his memory and good deeds” (Axtell 163).

Will Rogers, to whom the people of America could relate so well, certainly attained greatness during his tragically cut-short life, but not by the means of dishonesty, outrageousness, and practical conquest. It was “his kindliness, his abiding love and faith in God and in humanity, [and]... his clear vision and deep understanding,” that formed the ladder he climbed to worldwide renown (Axtell 162). In a world where Greatness is a term applied carelessly to all manner of delinquents, ruthless tyrants, and conniving sweet-talkers, Will Rogers left a legacy of integrity and generosity that will not soon be forgotten.