Will Rogers (Davidson) said of Rogers' effect on the United States during the Depression, “His humor was the safety valve for American Life.” Will Rogers (Davidson) Will Rogers is a statue created by Jo Davidson, two versions of which were unveiled in 1938. Shortly after entertainer and social commentator Will Rogers was killed in an airplane crash on August 15, 1935, the state of Oklahoma passed a bill to authorize that its second statue for the National Statuary Hall Collection in the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. be one of Will Rogers. On the recommendation of Betty Rogers, Will Rogers' wife, the
Will Rogers (Davidson) which time Davidson had frequently attempted to convince Rogers to pose for him, and Rogers had always put it off, referring to Davidson as “you old head-hunter.” Davidson prepared for the commission by requesting Fox Films, for whom Rogers had made many films, (Rogers had acted in dozens of movies, 50 silent and 21 sound) to loan him films that he then screened in his Paris studio, where Davidson “worked, talked and lived nothing but Will Rogers”. He next procured the service of a model built roughly like Rogers and modeled him in clay, nude. He then asked Mrs. Rogers