{"id":3038,"date":"2011-02-07T19:34:24","date_gmt":"2011-02-08T00:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/systemsofmerritt.com\/wordpress\/?p=3038"},"modified":"2015-08-26T01:45:06","modified_gmt":"2015-08-26T05:45:06","slug":"president-reagan-will-rogers-shared-common-gifts-careers-tcot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/systemsofmerritt.com\/wordpress\/president-reagan-will-rogers-shared-common-gifts-careers-tcot\/3038","title":{"rendered":"President Reagan, Will Rogers Shared Common Gifts, Careers"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Reagan, Will Rogers\u00a0Shared Common Gifts, Careers<\/strong><\/span>
\nBy Joe Carter<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/td>\n\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Ronald Reagan was a 24-year-old aspiring actor when Will Rogers was Hollywood\u2019s towering star. While the two icons were never personally acquainted, their lives spiraled similarly.<\/p>\n

In 1941, six years following Rogers\u2019 death, an unsigned memorandum at Warner Brother Pictures in California read:\u00a0\u201cWhy not try to test Ronald Reagan for the part of Will Rogers? He is droll homely humorous and an all around good actor.\u201d\u00a0That memo prefaces the definitive 1993 Ben Yagoda book now sold by the University of Oklahoma Press entitled: \u201cWill Rogers: A Biography.\u201d\u00a0Yagoda opined: \u201cRonald Reagan didn\u2019t get to play Will Rogers in the movie biography (Will Rogers Jr., got the part) but who with his \u201cwell\u201d \u2019s and shrugs, his just-folks bonhomie, managed a pretty impressive Rogers impersonation in the White House.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1990, Oklahoma\u2019s Will Rogers Memorial Commission awarded its first \u201cWill Rogers Communicator Award\u201d to the former President. The late Jim Rogers, Will Rogers\u2019 son, presented the plaque designed by Paul Lefebvre of Oklahoma City.\u00a0During the private exchange in Beverly Hills, Reagan told Jim Rogers: \u201cWill Rogers always was my hero.\u201d I was present and heard the warm exchange.\u00a0Ronald Reagan\u2019s retirement home was near the sprawling Will Rogers Historical Park with its glamorous polo field at Pacific Palisades, California. Before he was stricken ten years ago by Alzheimer \u2019s disease, the former President often would casually attend polo matches at the park cheering the horsemen.<\/p>\n

Like Will Rogers, Ronald Reagan rode. Both were proud to be called a \u201ccowboy.\u201d\u00a0There was a quarter century difference in their ages. Will Rogers was born on an Oklahoma ranch in 1879 and Reagan was born in Illinois in 1911. At age 55, Will Rogers was killed in a 1935 air crash in Alaska. Ronald Reagan died at 93.<\/p>\n

Intensely interested in politics, both boasted careers in radio, movies and public speaking. Will Rogers became a major newspaper columnist, author and stage actor.
\nBoth men scored in cinema. Reagan debuted in \u201cLove in on the Air\u201d in 1937. Will Rogers, beginning in 1918, starred in 71 features. Neither actor won an Oscar.
\nBoth were actively outspoken in collective bargaining for actors\u2019 wages and working conditions. Rogers was more behind the scenes. Reagan in 1947 was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild.<\/p>\n

Reagan was a Democrat who switched parties in 1962. Will Rogers said: \u201cI\u2019m not a member of any organized party, I\u2019m a Democrat.\u201d\u00a0Will Rogers was playfully nominated by Life Magazine in 1928 as a prank candidate for President of the United States and declared \u201cif elected I\u2019ll resign.\u201d\u00a0\u201cAnother big reason I should be nominated is I am not a Democrat,\u201d Will Rogers wrote. \u201cAnother bigger reason why I should be nominated is I am not a Republican. I am just progressive enough to suit the dissatisfied. And lazy enough to be a Stand Patter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ronald Reagan was more earnest in politics. After supporting Eisenhower and Nixon for president as a Democrat, he became a Republican who twice won the governorship of California and the American presidency.<\/p>\n

(Note: Joe Carter is a Will Rogers biographer and former director of the Will Rogers Memorial Commission of Claremore, Oklahoma.)<\/p>\n

Click for original post: President Reagan, Will Rogers Shared Common Gifts, Careers<\/p>\n

Will Rogers<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Reagan, Will Rogers\u00a0Shared Common Gifts, Careers By Joe Carter Ronald Reagan was a 24-year-old aspiring actor when Will Rogers was Hollywood\u2019s towering star. While the two icons were never personally acquainted, their lives spiraled similarly. In 1941, six years following Rogers\u2019 death, an unsigned memorandum at Warner Brother Pictures in California read:\u00a0\u201cWhy not try … <\/p>\n

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