Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1960-08-14
WILL ROGERS ANNIVERSARY
A Wit Whose Wisdom Lasts

ing on your side about now. She
is the best friend America has
here. Please ask my friend Jimmy
Walker to have New York take
care OF her. She is the only one
over here that don't throw rocks
at American tourists. Yours re-
specially, Will Rogers"
For several months, without pay
or any formal arrangement, Rog-
ers continued to send a daily mes
sage and the Times, cheerfully paid
the cable charges. When he re-
turned to the United States, he
signed contract to do a daily
column. At the time of his death,
1t was printed in more than 500
newspapers. Many of his obSerya-
lions are surprisingly timely today.
Mentioned for President
At the height of his popularity,
he could have had just about any
political Office Oklahoma had to
offer and he was even mentioned,
and not always in jest, for the
Presidency. In 1881, he firmly took
himself out of the race with these
words:
Il not only don't choose to rum
but I don't even want to leave a
loophole in case I am drafted, so
won't Choose I will say won't
run no matter how bad the coun-
try will need a comedian by that
time"
His son Will, jr., however, was
elected to Congress from Califor-
mia in 1912. He resigned to enter
the Army and served in Europe
during the war. He left politics
after being defeated for the Sen
ate in 1916.
All three Of the Rogers children,
Will, jr.; James and Mary, had a
fling at acting but never ap-
preached their fathers fame.
Will, jr, a former newspaper
publisher, is still active in tele-
vision. James runs the Rogers
ranch in Southern California and
Mary has left the stage. Their
mother. the former Betsy Blake,
an Oklahoma girl Rogers married
in 1908, is dead.
Dies in Crosh
Although he was not a pilot,
Rogers was an aviation enthusi-
asst and as Americas champion
air traveller" was credited with
doing much for commercial avia-
ton in its early days. He was on
a leiSurely air tour with another
American idol, his old friend,
Wiley Post, when both were
killed. Ironically, they died on a
routine takeoff from a small lake
where they had stopped to ask
directors of some ESkimoS. They
were less than 20 miles from their
destination. Barrow, Alaska. and
even closer to Point Barrow, the
roof OF America. They had not
announced their plans, but it was
learned after their deaths that
they had planned to fly across
Siberia to Moscow. where Post
was well known because he had
stopped there on his record globe
girdling flight few years earlier.
Will Rogers was much more
than a skilled actor, comedian
and social commentator. He had
a deep affection for his fellow
men and when he said he never
met a man he didn't like, he
meant it literally. He did a great
deal publicly to help the victims
OF the depression and he was
quietly generous in his private
life. When his friend, Actor Fred
Stone, was taken i'll, Rogers can
celed contracts worth tens of
thousands of dollars to fill in for
him. According to one story,
Producer Charles Dillingham; was
so grateful that he paid the sub
stitute with a blank check, which
Rogers filled in each week and
sent to Stone.
PuckiShly proud of his part
Indian ancestry, Rogers had a
strong sense of his own uniquely
American quality. AS he once
remarked, MY family didn't come
over on the Mayf1ower. But they
met the boat"