Will Rogers visited Mississippi and frequently spoke about Mississippi political figures. Will was good friends with Mississippi Senator Pat Harrison. He helped raise funds for the flooding in Mississippi in 1927.
“One of our Western Senators says: “The Mississippi flood people say theirs is a national problem. Well, so is the Boulder Dam, and I will fight any effort to set it aside in favor of the flood.” Well, there is no difference in the two problems to a politician; but to a human being there is this difference: One is to do nothing but save lives and property, while the other is to develop a dam for cheap power and water, the same as dozens of other projects on other rivers are developed every day, without dragging in the Mississippi. If the Colorado ever overflowed you can turn it out across the land anywhere on its lower course, and there is enough sand to soak up the Atlantic Ocean. The dam should be built, but not as a club over the Mississippi sufferers. – Daily Telegrams, September 27, 1927
“I am here in the native igloo of Senator Pat Harrison. The only way I get booked in Mississippi is to tell them I am a friend of Pat Harrison’s. They sure are strong for Pat down here, and say, you would be surprised to see what they are doing. This old State is up and going—diversified farming, and talking politics.” – Daily Telegrams, February 19, 1927
“Al left us and went down to play golf with Pat Harrison, the biggest surprise about that was to know that Pat Harrison could play golf. They will get a great welcome down there in Mississippi, that’s the State that passed a resolution since the election to have Jefferson’s and Lee’s body moved from Virginia since it went Republican. They wanted ’em moved to Mississippi.” – Weekly Articles, 1928