~Y,,,
Will Rogers' birthplace near Oologah, Oklahoma (Drawing by Greg Burns).
through him the "eccentric individualism of the 'open spaces,' where he
was born, had been wedded to the sophistication of the East, and he was as
much at home on the pavement as he was on the prairie." The essays dis-
close that Will Rogers was adaptable, that he was not frozen into a com-
fortable mind and action set. Certainly he had the midas touch for sensing
and expressing popular will and viewpoint. For a people disillusioned by
the failure of World War I to end conflict among nations and make the
world safe for Democracy, incapsulated in a mass industrial society, made
cynical and alienated by a mindless bureaucracy spawned by an enlarging
and increasingly impersonal government, Rogers cast simple insight and
interpretation on those confused and threatening times. He provided
precious relief through his cogent humor; he coached Americans not to take
themselves too seriously. The Will Rogers legacy for Oklahoma, the nation,
and the world, is modestly commemorated by these memorial essays.

6

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