Clinton & Obama Delegates Agree
on Caucus & Platform for
Denver Democratic Convention
Democratic Party delegates pledged to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have come together to form the Will Rogers Caucus during the Denver Convention. The caucus will introduce the “Will Rogers Platform for America.” Oklahoma delegates Joe Carter and Tim Mauldin are co-chairing the group. Carter is a Clinton delegate and Mauldin is an Obama delegate.
Floor leaders for the Will Rogers Caucus include Oklahoma delegates Dr. Laura Boyd and Johanna Best. Boyd is a Clinton delegate and Best is an Obama delegate. Boyd and Best are responsible for rounding up support and planning spontaneous demonstrations at the convention. Dr. Carter is the son of Joe Carter, retired director of Will Rogers Memorial Museums.
“Will Rogers is America’s premier political humorist, commentator and convention analyst. He is one of Oklahoma’s best known Democrats, though, of course, he indicated that he belonged to no organized political party,” said Dr. Carter, Norman veterinarian. “We’ve formed the Will Rogers Caucus to maintain the great tradition of Will Rogers’ wise and witty take on politics and government,” Dr. Tim Mauldin added. Mauldin teaches government and history at Oklahoma City University and is a life member of the Oklahoma Historical Society.
Will Rogers was born in 1879 in the Cherokee Nation near Oologah, Oklahoma. He authored 6 books and starred in 71 movies in the 1920s and 1930s. Rogers was a popular radio broadcaster and had more than 4,000 syndicated newspaper columns published.
This year marks the 80th anniversary of Rogers’ quest for the presidency. In 1928, humor magazine Life Magazine launched an editorial campaign supporting Will Rogers for president. He was courted by both Republicans and Democrats. In 1932, Will Rogers was nominated for president at the Democratic Convention. On the second ballot, Oklahoma Governor Alfalfa Bill Murray ended his own race for the presidency and threw his support to Rogers — “that sterling citizen, that wise philosopher, that great heart, that favorite son of Oklahoma.”
Franklin Roosevelt went on to win the Democratic nomination on the fourth convention ballot and Rogers enthusiastically promoted FDR’s presidential campaign. “Will commanded the trust and admiration of Americans far beyond any 21st century celebrity. There is good reason to believe that Rogers was decisive in helping a divided political party during the Great Depression to defeat an incumbent President. With Will’s support, America elected her first physically handicapped president,” Professor Mauldin said.
Will’s untimely death in 1935 in a small airplane crash in Alaska meant that 1932 would be his last presidential campaign. Remembering Will Rogers, President Franklin Roosevelt said, “There was something infectious about his humor. His appeal went straight to the heart of the nation. Above all things, in a time grown too solemn and somber he brought his countrymen back to a sense of proportion… With it all his humor and his comments were always kind. His was no biting sarcasm that hurt the highest or the lowest of his fellow citizens.”
“We know Oklahoma’s delegation is united and shares a common love for Will,” Carter noted. “The Platform of the Will Rogers Caucus seeks to inform the public and our fellow delegates of Will’s timeless ideas,” Mauldin said.
The delegation will be wearing the “Will Rogers for President” buttons, similar to one offered by Life magazine in 1928, a popular item in the Will Rogers Memorial Museum gift shop.