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Will Rogers: Great Depression
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Will Rogers was a powerful commentator on social, political and economic issues during the Great Depression in America, and his humor made his analysis acceptable to a wide public. He himself claimed that Americans were saved by their good humor during hard times: the worse the situation, the more Americans laughed. "And every American international banker ought to have printed on his office door, 'Alive today by the grace of a nation that has a sense of humor'" (Vol. 4, 2; hereafter referred to as DT). Roger's commentaries on the Depression helped to reinforce and sustain Americans' proclivity to use humor to contain anxiety.
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Though Will was "fanatical about his impartiality,” he was especially fond of two Presidents. One a Republican, one a Democrat. Though he only met him long enough to shake his hand, Teddy Roosevelt was Will Rogers's first political hero. Early in his life, Will had actually even tried to join Teddy Roosevelt's rough riders but was turned away because he was too young. Before he died, Teddy Roosevelt told an aide that Will had such a keen insight into the American mind that he was bound to be a "great factor" in the political life of the nation. The second President Roosevelt became a dear and close personal friend.
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In 1931 Will saw the misery of the Great Depression everywhere he went. He made a flying tour with pilot Frank Hawks, giving performances to raise relief money. Grinning, joking and shaking hands, Rogers brought hope by raising a half-million dollars. The response was an outpouring of affection such as few men have ever received. Rogers subsequently took a flying vacation to Central America and the Caribbean, visiting 15 countries and traveling 13,000 miles on regularly-scheduled airlines.
There were so many complaints about taxes that Rogers once suggested the country have a lottery to raise money—a facetious suggestion that has since become a reality. Gambling was instinctive to Americans, said Rogers. The whole Depression had been brought on by gambling. The lottery would be compulsory. Everyone would have to spend 5 percent of his or her gross income for tickets, and the rich would have to give half their tickets to the poor. "The whole thing is a sort of glorified Wall Street, only you don't need as much money and you have more chance to win" ( Vol. 139).
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