Jefferson Davis and Walt Whitman on stage in Oklahoma

The Chautauqua finished Saturday night with a performance by Doug Mishler as Jefferson Davis. That's Doug on the right, talking to the audience with Dr. Carrol Peterson, who portrayed Walt Whitman.

This is Doug's second year in Lawton; last year he gave us George Wallace. I see him as a contrarian, who likes to take unpopular characters in history, and show the audience what these men were thinking at the time. Davis, President of the Confederacy (if you didn't know) was vilified by the South after the Civil War. All he could think of was how the damn Yankees cheated the South, recanting on their Constitutional rights and taking their property (slaves). There were a few people who got upset with Davis, but that just proves what a convincing job Doug did! You can see another post about all five participants here.