Born William Penn Adair Rogers in Oklahoma Territory in 1879, Will Rogers became one of the most popular figures of his generation. The son of a wealthy rancher and part Cherokee Indian, his career began with the Zeigfeld Follies, his fame later taking him to Hollywood, where he became one of the highest paid movie actors of his day. As a speaker and lecturer, Rogers was constantly in demand for corporate dinners and political conventions, and befriended presidents and laborers, the wealthy and the downtrodden. Rogers’ syndicated newspaper column was read daily by 30 million people, and each morning with their coffee, people would ask, “What did Will Rogers have to say?” As a writer, pundit, cowboy philosopher and political satirist, he was prolific, and it’s not surprising that his editors at the New York Times refused to correct his down-home spelling or grammar. During some of the darkest years in our nation’s history, Will Rogers made Americans look at themselves in a way few had done before or since. And when they did, it made them laugh.