Texas-born Gene Autry starred in 91 feature-length westerns. He recorded over 600 songs. He had nine gold records. In fact, he was the first person to receive a gold record. His signature song, "Back in the Saddle Again," sold millions of copies.
Autry used the popular media of his time to put a fine point on the American myth of the cowboy while also being a successful and admired businessman.
But there’s more to Autry than his stardom. The cowboy crooner played a subtle but powerful role in promoting the reforms of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal through his movies, music, and public persona, though he wasn't formally part of any government propaganda campaign.
Michael Duchemin is the author of “New Deal Cowboy: Gene Autry and Public Diplomacy.” He says Autry supported FDR platforms in three major ways. First, he promoted the ideals of the New Deal. Second, he supported the administration’s Good Neighbor foreign policy with his presentation of Mexico in films and songs like “South of the Border,” as a friendly nation. And lastly, Autry backed Roosevelt’s war effort against Hitler’s invasion of Europe. Autry put his career on hold and enlisted in the U.S. Air Force.
Duchemin writes that Autry considered himself a life-long Democrat; however, during the youth movement of the 1960 and '70s he began to sour on the liberal movement.
Duchemin argues that Autry still has cultural relevance today that’s about more than his Christmas songs and his anachronistic films.
Autry’s story reflects America’s story during a critical time in the nation’s history. We learn about the cowboy crooner’s rise from extreme rural poverty, his rise as a star of the burgeoning mass media, the projection of the cowboy myth as a force for justice, Autry’s own accumulation of wealth to finally a disenchantment with America liberalism.
