Bandits and Outlaws

"Pretty Boy" Floyd

This is a name I have heard many times before in my life, but only now have I realised who this man is. Looking at this man today, I personally do not see him as a hero but I do see how at the time, people saw him in a different light. Floyd was a bank robber and an alleged killer. Five years after his death, Woody Guthrie wrote a ballad romancing Floyd’s criminal life, the lyrics of which can be found in the Bandit’s and Outlaws handout, exhibit # 1.

“It is estimated that up to 40,000 people attended Pretty Boy Floyd's funeral. The largest funeral in Oklahoma's history until the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995, when 168 people lost their lives.” - Exhibit # 2, Bandit’s and Outlaws handout.

Floyd has been mentioned in many work:

• Numerous artists have covered the song by Woody Guthrie

• Films, “Pretty Boy Floyd” by Herbert J. Leder.
  “A Bullet for Pretty Boy” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065501/
  “The Kansas City Massacre” http://imdb.com/title/tt0073225/
  
• And his name also crops up in novels, like “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck.
  

Often, Floyd has been shown to be a violent criminal yet also been shown to be a very caring and loving man who never really wanted to kill anyone but wanted to look after his family. The way he has been shown in two lights, is in my opinion what made him famous, the debate on whether or not he was a Hero or Villain.