Will Rogers Junior spends a good deal of his time recalling the wit wisdom and humor of his father Will Rogers senior many remember Will Rogers during the 1920s and 30s a man of Common Sense a chewing gum philosopher. When Will Rogers Junior visited the Twin Cities recently. He talked about life as his father saw it. He did have a rather unique skill know both criticizing and yet lifting at the same time. I think his humor was constructive and that was one of the main things that have had and I can give a kind of a sample of that that I've mentioned before and other places. My father was very critical of the Hoover administration and the Republicans before we went into the Great Depression my father traveled around in the rural areas. He was a real man, and he saw that this prosperity of the Wall Street time was a false prosperity. In fact, he said Ben Millions made in wheat last week.But not by anybody that Ever Raised any so we can see the money was not getting down but as soon as the depression got bitter and then we're long lines of unemployed. My father ceased is criticism in sad now. Wait a minute you Americans stop picking on President Hoover and stop picking on those Republicans why they're not smart enough to have thought of all of the things that have been happening to us lately and he had this unique way of doing it. He he was I think a very important voice had a very critical time in our country's history. You say it's a world in trouble. I would say the world was in certainly greater economic trouble back in the 1930s. That was a real true depression and this country was divided then cuz I have so far as I know it was it's never been divided before or since and it was Will Rogers voice that I think helped the country to smile at his troubles and help the country the trial.Get together again, so I can pull itself out of those troubles. Look at this present world world of trouble. It isn't so much of a world of trouble going through an economic change right now with an oil crisis and various other things but I think at 2 or 3 years from now, you'll look back on it as comparatively minor. What are the things? My father was a creative humorist. He did not recite other people's lives this meant that he had to constantly forced himself to be creative. And when he was off as he was often asked to analyze humor. He says I'm not going to analyze you over at all. I try and absolutely stop it. If I say this is just a joke is a variation of a Ford joke that I told him of the time because I try to drive that thought out of my mind. I wanted to sound fresh even if I know it isn't fresh and I have heard him on his lecture tour.Where is repeating Sayre Coolidge routine like I mentioned before and I know that routine I've heard him do it, but he would try and bury it and change it and sometimes of course, he'd lose a joke. Sometimes we lose the whole thread of it. But even so he thought that was better than just being mechanical or trying to recite it and he was always striving to be fresh. Even though it was he knew the quite often humor is just simply a rewrite of other of other attitudes of humor. He was opposed very strongly to analyzing you are trying to dig into it too deeply.And I think that's one reason why I could be creative. To talk some about how he felt about other people. It's been said that he one of the quotes I never met a man. I know that he met many many people that he disliked heartily. I think by that he meant that at least you I never met a man. I didn't like at least you start out fresh at least you don't have any preconceptions that this man who has such a terrible reputation and Dad wouldn't accept that reputation until he got to know the man personally. I think that's what he really meant by that phrase. But as far as liking people he was very gregarious. It was always surrounded with a lot of people laughing and joking and that is where he created some of his very best Gilmer. We used to have a rather large and impressive Sunday brunch. I guess you would call it today up at our house in Santa Monica. Always had a lot of congressmen and Senators prominent people businessman and writers and things of this kind always about say eight or ten or a dozen and I can remember sitting in on these conversations and then I'd hear some joke and I know that two or three days from now that would appear in his collar and fact, I think he did most of his of his writing and reflection that way out of out of conversation the American people have always look for Heroes and their favorite kind is the so-called folk hero. Maybe you can make some comment on his If you can recall how he viewed being a folk hero and maybe some comment about the American people and and why we do that. Well Will Rogers I think had a very solid base and that gave him a great strength. He came from Oklahoma for the Midwest. He was a rural man at a time when our country was rural. He was part Indian Cherokee Indian people forget that today, but the caricatures of his day that we have records of we have these are all print of the Indian are the old Wild West Indiana so far so he was Indian, but he was also Cowboy he invented many of the roping tricks you say so it's both Indian Cowboy rural coming right out of the heartland of this country and he shared all of their beliefs and superstitions and errors and everything else. He was again big business and claimed he couldn't understand interest. Begin Wall Street in the bankers. He was kind of a relief populist and he genuinely was at the same time. He was a very shrewd a practical man. He was opposed to plans and planning and he kept saying one time he says, please quit sending me by word or book or telegram plans to end the Depression just go ahead and ended without me and you can wire me collect when you've done it but on the other hand, he was never taken in but the red baiters either he saw that they were a bunch of bums to and he has many denunciations of the when we were departing the anarchists a right after World War 1. He was very strongly opposed to that. So it was really in the basic Midstream of this country. He was a genuine folk honestly believe that he was a To a genuine folk another attitude that I think was rather unusual coming from the Cowboy and the Indian environment. You would think he would be very Pro Pioneer, but he wasn't Jesus now those old pioneers. I know those old pioneers you you look deep enough and you'll see the Pioneers just somebody that wanted something for nothing that these old pioneers now, they they they were a pretty destructive lot. They moved around and did an awful lot of bad things too as well as good which was quite unusual for that particular time that he didn't have any idea of ecology or the environment but somehow he saw that in this pioneering there was a good man and wanted something for nothing. What do you think? He'd say to America today? That does look back very often in many ways to the good old days. Do you think that he would think that we were glamorizing the truth of that time or running away from my responsibilities today? He was always telling America and Americans not to get too puffed up and I'll listen to you say, it's your the somebody wants time said America is the moral leader of the world that we were the great world leaders as he was extremely good that way I think that's in the mainstream of this country to somewhere Knocked Up on a man has to be pompous. We begin to look at him a little about wait a minute take him down a Peg and that was my father's attitude looking back at the good old days. These good old days weren't so good ole days. Well, I think he would have he would say that today is he said then if those good old days weren't you weren't quite so good at one thing. I would like the kind of correct. They say he's in many ways more important than he was as as I humor humorist and the Philosopher's but I don't think you can under rate is importance as a voice in this country in the depression. He really was a humorous getting together of this country when we were beginning to despair of our system of government when we were seeking Socialism or $30 every Thursday or some other particular plan. He was one that kept saying now wait a minute. We're going to work this out. It isn't quite as bad as you say. Don't fight those Bankers the bankers aren't so bad until the bankers not to fight the labor unions the labor unions are so bad. And that was the day he was a very important place in this country at that time President Roosevelt recognize that very, And recognize the help that Dad was giving to his his efforts and when my father died the president made a very fine tribute, which I wish I could quote but I can but it was to the effect that Will Rogers taught us to take from the past the good things that we can use for the lessons of tomorrow. In other words. He is a criticism was constructive and not destructive and I think that that's that's the importance that he had to this country Will Rogers Junior discussing the world of his father our America in the 1920s and 30s during a recent visit to the Twin Cities. I'm Connie Goldman.