Convention Articles of Will Rogers II

Claremore, Oklahoma, U.S.A.: Will Rogers Heritage Trust, 1976. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 6.25" x 9.25. h/b 174 pages, Condition is Very Good. Will Rogers thoroughly enjoyed political conventions. He was paid to write incisive and humorous comments about the national conventions of 1920, 1924, 1928, and 1932, but his wife said he used his job as an excuse to attend. She once commented about the conventions saying that "nothing could have kept him away from one." Rogers actually attended only the last three conventions, for during both conventions of 1920 he was unable to be there in person. The tragedy of the death of his son Fred Stone Rogers and other obligations precluded his attendance that year. The conventions included in this volume are arranged chronologically; historical and personal introductions precede each of Rogers' efforts, and end notes explain people or occurences no longer widely known. The introductory sections provide the necessary background for understanding why the humorist said many of the things he did. All of these convention articles appeared as daily "telegrams" or "articles." However, newspapers did not print all releases. In addition, individual editors changed slightly each article. As only notes and no complete manuscripts exist for these releases, we have chosen the best available text as the basis for the article to be printed. We have attemp­ted also to show one major textual difference. For the variation we have used the Tulsa Daily World or Oklahoma News, for both carried most articles. We have noted variations in cases only when an editor changed Rogers' intent. Occasionally we have shown a variation which has been made for stylistic or grammatical reasons. For the Conventions of 1920 we have used the News Enterprise Association "tear sheets" as the primary article. Variations are based upon the Oklahoma News. This volume, Series II in the Writings of Will Rogers, has required considerable effort on the part of a number of people. Reba Neighbors Collins, Curator of the Will Rogers Memorial, actually discovered several of the articles when researching her doctoral dissertation. She also gave additional help with the introductions and notes. Elwyn Isaacs of Claremore Junior College, Colleen Coalman, Bonnie J. Slavens, and Teresa A. Mathews typed, researched, and read galleys. Glenn D. Shirley's design of all the Will Rogers books has enhanced the project.