On this day in Labor History the year was 1879.
That was the day that Will Rogers was born in Oologah, Indian Territory, in what later became Oklahoma.
Rogers grew up on a ranch, and by 10thgrade had dropped out of school to be a cowboy.
Skilled with a lasso, he became a cowboy entertainer first in vaudeville then in silent film.
Rogers also had a syndicated column and a radio show where he became a popular political commentator.
With quick wit and humor Rogers helped to shape public opinion.
He brought humor to serious issues in a way later echoed by the likes of John Stewart and Stephen Colbert.
Rogers often talked about the plight of the American worker.
In 1931 he was asked to give a radio address for President Herbert Hoover’s Organization on Unemployment.
Rogers expressed the urgency of the unemployment that was sweeping the nation during the Great Depression.
He said, “The only problem that confronts this country today is at least 7,000,000 people are out of work.
That’s our only problem. There is no other one before us at all. It's to see that every man that wants to is able to work, is allowed to find a place to go to work, and also to arrange some way of getting a more equal distribution of the wealth in country…So here we are in a country with more wheat and more corn and more money in the bank, more cotton, more everything in the world—there’s not a product that you can name that we haven't got more of it than any other country ever had on the face of the earth—and yet we’ve got people starving.”
April 1 - The Promise of 1946
March 31 - Hospital Workers Stand United
March 30 - 15th Amendment Adopted
March 29 - West Coast Hotel v Parrish Decided
March 28 - Partial Meltdown at Three Mile Island
March 27 - FE Strikers Battle Police at Harvester
March 26 - Police Attack UE Amid ‘46 Strike Wave
March 25 - Centralia Coal Mine #5 Explodes
March 24 - Exxon Valdez Runs Aground
March 23 - Texas City Refinery Explosion Kills 15
March 22 - ERA Passes the Senate
March 21 - Truman Signs Loyalty Order
March 20 - Another Deadly Explosion
March 19 - Wartime President Pushes for Labor Peace
March 18 - Wartime Workers Betrayed
March 17 - The Hoggs Hollow Tragedy
March 16 - Big Bill Haywood Talks General Strike
March 15 - The Grapes of Wrath Opens in Theaters
March 14 - Remembering Walter Crane
March 13 - Ending Jim Crow on the Job
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Meaningful Life with Andrew G. Marshall
The No-Frills Teacher Podcast
Heal, Survive & Thrive!
The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast
The Mel Robbins Podcast