The Oklahoma State Society Story

The Oklahoma State Society of Washington, D.C. was founded eleven years after statehood. It was presiorganized by a group which included the Honorable Thomas P. Gore, Oklahoma's famous blind Senator and the first to represent the state in the US Senate. Other organizers were Representative Jim McClintock and Scott Ferris. Senator Gore was the first chairman.

Article II of the Constitution reads: "The objects shall be to promote goodwill and amicable social relations among Oklahomans in the District of Columbia and vicinity, to foster a wholesome State pride and a sympathetic understanding of Oklahoma institutions; and to promote, insofar as consistent with the nature of such a society, the interest of the State of Oklahoma and its people."

The Society functioned for several years, then gradually became inactive. In 1930 the Oklahoma Congressional Delegation called upon Bernie T. Dodder to assist it in revitalizing the Society. Dodder worked for several months in the effort to find and inspire the interest of Oklahomans in the organization. In 1931, it started functioning again with Dodder as its president.

One year (1936) the Society had three presidents. William Howard Payne, who was the president preceding term, recalled that election campaigns those days were spirited events. "Wesley Crozier's election was so close and so hot he resigned immediately and on the spot," Payne said. His successor, Joe Morris, also had a short term because he left soon to become the postmaster of Oklahoma City.

Over the years the Society has sponsored many interesting and entertaining events. Highlights of the years included nationwide broadcasts of Society activities featuring prominent Oklahomans, such as Patrick J. Hurley, Ambassador to China, and Paul A. Walker, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Formal dinners and dances at leading hotels were popular events during the 1940's and 1950's. The National Press Club was the setting for many functions, and Sunday afternoon teas with musical programs were well attended.

Over the years the Society organized boat trips down the Potomac River, past Mount Vernon, with stopovers at the Marshall Hall amusement park. One such trip featured a rodeo. In later years, some of the cruises featured a "casino" atmosphere.

Presidential inaugurations have promoted elaborate Society activities. For the 1949 Harry S. Truman inaugural parade, the Society provided a $5000 Oklahoma float. The second inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1957 was celebrated at the National Press Club. A record breaking snow storm during the John F. Kennedy inauguration in 1961 stranded Oklahomans enroute to a special inaugural dinner. A gala ball was held during the inauguration of Lyndon B. Johnson.

When theater offerings have provided an appropriate Oklahoma flavor, special evenings at the theater have been planned. In 1960 Shirley Jones and other cast members from the musical "Oklahoma!" joined Society members for a barbecue before the performance at the Carter Barron Amphitheater. When James Whitmore brought his one-man portrayal of Will Rogers to Ford's Theater in 1979, the centennial year of Will Rogers' birth, Ford's Theater was declared Oklahoma Territory for the evening and the Society honored Whitmore at a reception following the performance. In recent years members have attended summer Wolf Trap performances to indulge in "down-home" music.

Displaced Oklahomans have been attracted through the years by a varied schedule of activities. These activities have included evening series and breakfast meetings featuring prominent Oklahomans, election night parties, football listen/watching parties and trips to games, art shows, Christmas gatherings, memorial tree plantings, Shenandoah River canoe trips, Oktoberfests at the German Embassy, barn dances, Indian heritage tributes, picnics-some things with other states, and special Christmas flights to Oklahoma.

The Society has an annual spring tradition of honoring Oklahoma's Cherry Blossom princess. Sometimes embassies and clubs have opened their doors to the Society for these brunches, dinner-dances and receptions, while at other times Society members have created the appropriate atmosphere in less likely places.

Oklahomans can be counted on to turn out, at the beginning of each year, for the reception on Capitol Hill to honor the members of Oklahoma's Congressional Delegation. Retiring members of the Delegation have been saluted by a Society appreciative of their significant contributions. These were ample occasions for the celebration when native son Carl Albert became Majority Leader of the House, and, later, Speaker of the House.

The first directory was published in 1961.