Original subtitles

Senator Samuel Foley, dead.

Yeah, yeah.

Died a minute ago here at St. Vincent. At the bedside was state political

sidekick Senator Joseph Payne. Yeah. Hello, long distance.

This is Senator Joseph Payne speaking. I want the governor's residence at Jackson

City.

Hello?

Oh, Joe.

Oh, no.

It couldn't have happened at a worse time.

Call Jim Taylor. Tell him I'm getting on a plane tonight for home. Yes, Joe, yes.

Yes, right away.

What is it?

Sam Foley's dead.

Great saints.

Of all times, of all times.

Foley had to go and die on us. Who were you calling in the dead of night?

Taylor, my dear.

What's up, Happy?

Sam Foley died tonight in Washington.

Oh, that's too bad.

Well, don't get excited, Happy. Is Payne coming?

Yes, Jim.

Yes, Jim.

Yes, Jim.

I suppose he'd drop dead if you ever said no to him. Oh, now, my dear, this

is no time for jokes.

I've got to appoint a new senator.

The governor will see all committees immediate.

You tell the governor for me that I won't wait here any longer. Yes, Mr.

Edwards. Probably got that guy Taylor in there telling him what to do.

Oh, yes, tell him to wait. I'll see them immediately.

Immediately.

I've got to see those howling citizens. I can't put them off any longer.

They'll want something to say about who goes to the Senate and Sam Foley's

place. And ten to one, they've got a man.

Relax, Happy. Stop having kittens.

Now, you go in that room and tell Jim Taylor and Joe Payne that I'll give them

just one more minute to make up their minds. You go tell Jim Taylor.

I will tell him.

It's high time I told Jim Taylor a thing or two.

Now look here, Jim. If you and Joe are going to gab any longer about this

appointment, I'm going ahead and see those committees. You'll see those

committees when we're finished.

Yes, Jim.

But hurry, will you? Yes, we'll hurry, we'll hurry.

That's telling them happy, old boy.

Jim, in other words, with this Willett Creek Dam coming up, The man who goes to

the Senate and takes Sam Foley's place can't ask any questions or talk out of

turn. We've got to be absolutely sure of him. That's why I say, Horace Miller,

you take orders all right.

Jim, suppose we don't try to go through with this jam.

Suppose we postpone it until next session of Congress.

Or drop it altogether.

Oh, that'd be a crime, Joe.

After all the work we put in on it?

Getting it buried in this deficiency bill?

As nicely as you please?

Having it approved, it's rolling along like taking candy from a baby.

Is it worth the risk of a scandal now that a new man is going to the Senate?

Worth the risk?

So what's the matter with you, Joe?

Where you're concerned, I wouldn't take the slightest risk, especially now that

you've made such a great reputation for yourself in the Senate.

Yeah, look.

Look at the campaign I started for you in all of my papers.

It's a little obscure, isn't it, Jim? Well, I don't know, maybe.

But after all, you're the logical man from the West for the national ticket.

At the convention, anything can happen.

Jim,

if what you say about the future is at all possible, why not do as I say and

drop things like this dam? We can't do it, Joe.

We've been quietly buying up all the land around that dam and holding it in

dummy names.

If we drop it now or even delay it, it'll bring about an investigation. The

investigation will show that we're going to sell it to the state under phony

names.

That's my judgment. The smartest thing for us to do is to push this dam through

just the way it's going and get it over with.

All right then, Jim. Appoint Miller. If you're sure, he'll take orders. Don't

worry about Miller. He'll take orders.

Come on.

Just a minute. Just one more minute.

Happy, we've got your man.

Horace Miller.

Horace Miller? Yeah. Outborn stooge. Why, old Horace will perform like a

trained seal. What did I tell you, Joe?

But, Jim...

If I throw a party man like Horace Miller in the face of those people...

For reasons I can't go into now, it's got to be Horace Miller. Do you

understand? I've given you the man. Now make out your ticket. Come on, Chick.

Come on, Joe. But, Jim, I've got to see those angry committees first. Feel them

out a little. Work for harmony, Jim.

Harmony. In considering the candidates who might answer to the high

qualifications of United States Senator, there was one name that shone out like a

beacon. The Honorable Horace Miller.

No! Tell him that. Party man. He's Taylor Stewart. The Democrats will have

no part of him. He's a new citizen.

So, they named their own candidate, eh?

Who?

You won't like him, Jim. Come on, who?

Henry Hill.

Henry Hill? That crackpot? That longhead? Why, you should have killed

that so fast. I couldn't, Jim. I couldn't. Those men... Never mind what

they were.

You forget about them, see? Jim, that bunch is out for blood. If I throw

Horace in their team now... I said forget about them.

Horace Miller goes to the Senate and that settles it.

I won't send Horace Miller.

Oh, you won't? No, I won't.

I won't let you stand there callously and perhaps wreck my whole political

future. Your political future? Why, I bought it for you. I gave it to you as a

present. And I can grab it back so fast it'll make your head swim.

You've got a nerve to sit there and worry about your political future when

we're in a spot like this.

The man is Miller.

Hello, Dad. Hello, Dad.

What's the matter, Dad? Is it getting you down?

Is what getting me down?

You're an adducible pickle, aren't you, Pop?

Looks like Henry Hill Earl, huh, Pop? No, it's Horace Miller Earl.

Peter! Gee, Dad, I wouldn't appoint an old twerp like Horace Miller.

Taylor, no Taylor.

Taylor? May I ask what Taylor has to do with this? Well, he's still running the

show, ain't he, Pop? Emma, I will not have conversation of this sort carried

on by the children at dinner. Why don't you listen to your children for a

change? No doubt my children could make this appointment for me with the

greatest ease. That's easy, Dad. Jefferson Smith. I beg your pardon?

Jefferson Smith.

He's the only senator to have. Sure. He ought to be president.

I like Jeff Smith.

Me too.

Oh, you too. Now everybody's been heard from.

Well, forgive my abysmal ignorance, but I don't owe this Jefferson Smith from a

hole in the ground. Gosh, Dad. Head of the Boy Rangers.

Oh, a boy.

No, no, Dad.

Jeff's a man. Jeff Smith.

Biggest expert we got in wild game and animals and rocks. Yeah, and right now

he's the greatest hero we ever had. It's all over the headlines.

Sure. Didn't you see about the terrific forest fire all around Sweetwater? I

did. What about it? Well, Jeff put that out himself.

Himself? Now, if you really want a senator... I do not want a senator.

I do not want any more of this nonsense.

He's the greatest America we got, too, Dad. He can tell you what George

Washington said by heart. And boy stuff's got the swellest stuff in it.

What stuff?

Boy stuff.

That's the name of Jeff's paper. He prints it.

Look, here's one. Oh, it's great. Everybody reads it. All the kids in the

state. A million of them. Look, Pop, let me read you one of these. Peter!

I'm in no mood to listen to childish prattle.

Prattle? You're all wet, Pop.

No, sir, you couldn't do better, Dad. Do better than what?

Give for Senator.

Emma, if you please.

You want to get out of a pickle, don't you? Oh, he's looking out for votes,

aren't you? Yeah, and here's 50,000 kids with two folks apiece, and they vote.

You want to do yourself some good in this state, Dad. If you're ever going to

stand up like a man someday and tell Taylor to go to... That settles it.

I will not be attacked and belittled by my own children in my own home.

All my nerves are strained to the breaking point.

Oh, Hubert.

Here he is.

Horace Miller.

Miller. Heel.

Heel. Miller.

Heads heel, tails Miller.

Good evening.

Oh. Is Jefferson Smith at home? Yes. Won't you step in?

Boy, ranger, a squirrel chaser to the United States Senate? Listen, Jim, a

simpleton of all times, a big-eyed patriot, knows Lincoln and Washington by

heart, stands at attention in the governor's presence, even collects stray

boys and cats. He does what?

Joe, you know what I'm talking about. A perfect man, never in politics in his

life, wouldn't know what it was all about in two years, let alone two

months. And the important thing, and this was the genius of the stroke. Uh

-oh. It means votes.

The hero of 50,000 boys and 100,000 parents.

Just look over those congratulations that have been pouring in. I tell you,

gentlemen, with this one statement... But you made this appointment without

asking me. But, Jim, when the lightning struck... You didn't ask me. Oh, Jim.

Now, wait a minute, Jim.

Happy may have hit on something tremendous here.

There, you see?

Do you really think you can handle this Watson-McCollum in Washington?

Do you think it's all right?

I think it's all right.

A young patriot.

Recites Lincoln and Jefferson?

Turned loose in our nation's capital?

Yeah.

I think it's all right.

Shake. Turn the ballyhoo boys loose. It's the greatest appointment ever made.

Give a banquet and declare a holiday.

A star-spangled banquet. Wow!

And how did your governor...

Did he give it to some wealthy, influential citizen merely to curry

favor? No.

No.

Did he give it to some unworthy political hireling? No.

No. What did he do?

He went down among the people, and there he found a

nugget.

And it is in that spirit that we are gathered here tonight to acclaim and

wish Godspeed, To Senator Jefferson Smith.

Thank you. I

can't help

feeling that there's been a big mistake somehow.

Of course, I never could...

I never could see why we needed two senators from this state when we have a

man like Joseph Harrison Payne representing us already.

He probably doesn't remember me. He knew my father very well. Clayton Smith.

They went to school together and they're very, very good friends.

And so it's just to sit here with him is a very great

honor for me.

Because I remember Dad used to tell me that Joe Payne was the finest man he

ever knew.

Come on, get up, Bill. Think about it.

I don't think I'm going to be much help to you down there in Washington, son.

I'll do my best.

Although with all my might, I...

I can promise you one thing.

I'll do nothing to disgrace the office of the United States Senate.

Harrison Smith, the boy rangers are very proud to take this opportunity...

Occasion. Occasion.

We are happy to take this opportunity... To present. To present this

small token of our affection and esteem to the best... Friend.

Friend.

Oh, heck, it's a briefcase, Jeff. You got a good big thing, Jeff. Yes, but I

carry your laws when you get to Washington.

We live for love and faith.

Well, it isn't much, but if you insist.

Where's this week's? Boy, stop.

Why, printer's ink runs in your veins, Jeff.

Jeff, you're just like your father.

Thank you, sir. Even with the hat.

Same old dreamer, too.

Now, one look at you and I can see him.

Back at his old roll-top desk, hat and all, getting out his paper.

Always kept his hat on, he said, so as to be ready to do battle.

Clayton Smith, editor and publisher.

and champion of lost causes.

Dad always used to say the only causes worth fighting for were the lost causes.

You don't have to tell me, Jeff. We were a team, the two of us. Struggling editor

and a struggling lawyer.

The twin champions of lost causes, they used to call us. Mars told me about it a

thousand times.

His last fight was his best, Jeff.

He and his little four-page paper against that mining syndicate.

And all to defend the right of one small miner who stuck to his claim.

No, they tried everything primary intimidation

then Yes,

I found him slumped over his desk that morning shot in the back I Was there I

can see him That old roll-top desk Still with his head

on

Still with his hat on.

I know.

I suppose, Mr. Payne, when a fellow bucks up against a big organization like

that, one man by himself can't get very far, can he?

No.

Washington, huh?

Yes, Senator, for the fifth time, Washington.

Oh, my pigeons. I'd better see about my pigeons.

The porter has them. They're coming along. Just a second. I'd better make

sure.

Joe? My head's like a balloon.

Two whole days. I never knew there was so much American history. I got them.

They're all right. That's fine. That ends that crisis.

Come along now, Senator.

Hello, Father.

I saw him.

Oh,

let me get to him. Let me get to him.

Susan, this is Jefferson. Oh, Dad, I don't care to meet anybody till I get my

money. One dollar each, please, for the milk fund.

It's five dollars.

Yes.

Jeff, this is my daughter Susan and her friends.

Not the new senator.

Oh, he's marvelous. He's wonderful.

What have you got there, Senator?

Oh, they're pigeons.

They're pigeons to carry messages back to Maul.

It's all just for fun, you see. The one that makes it back home on the best time

I'm going to enter in the nationals. Joe! Hello, Jack.

Hello, Joe.

Hi, Dad. See you, Bill. Yeah, Jeff.

Jeff!

Meet Mr. Cook and Mr. Griffith, members of our state headquarters here. Great

pleasure, Senator. Yes, sir, you'll do the old state proud.

Welcome, Senator.

The wildlife around here is a little different from what you're used to. They

wear high heels.

We must see a lot of you, Senator, and your little feathered friends.

Thank you very much.

Come on, Father.

Oh, yeah.

Check.

Sure happen fast around here, don't they? Yeah, you'll have to get yourself

out of low gear, Senator.

Well, let's get these bags and livestock together.

Okay, Chick.

Look! Look! There it is! Who? What?

The Capitol Dome.

Yes, sir. Big as life. Been there a long time now.

Yes, sir.

This way, Senator.

to meet him in short pants, you know, with hatchets.

Taxi.

What's he bringing pigeons for?

What for?

Supposedly there's a storm. All the lines are down. How are you going to get

messages back to Moe?

This way, Senator.

Where is he?

Hey, Senator.

I told that cookie to... Come on, let's find it. Hey, Senator.

Senator Smith.

Positively not in the station. Gone. What happened to him?

Did you look in the end? Yeah, I looked in the end.

I'll brain that guy.

Call Payne. Call Saunders. Call the Marines.

Call somebody.

Saunders?

McGann. Has Smith showed up at his office there yet?

What do you mean, the slip? What's so funny?

Nothing. Why don't you try a butterfly net?

If he does show up there, Payne's waiting at the hotel with newspaper men.

Let him know right away.

You understand?

Sure, sure. I'll hang a light in the belfry. One if by land and two if by

sea.

What do you think?

Daniel Boone's lost.

No.

Lost in the wild of Washington.

Well, if your boyfriend's gonna blaze trails, I'm going over to the press

club. Oh, stick around.

He might want us all to put on short pants and go out hiking. You wouldn't

want to miss the exercise.

Every time I think of exercise, I have to lie right down till the feeling

leaves me.

Say, wouldn't it be funny if he was lost? The boy ranger? Yeah. Oh, he'll

show up.

He must have a compass with him.

Oh, where would I go to if I was a boy ranger? Boy, am I tired. I'm all in.

Bill, call all the hospitals. Hurry up. All right. And get me a bed while you're

at it. Will you hold this a minute for me, please?

Thank you, sir.

Here, come back here.

from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for

which they gave the last full measure of devotion that we hear highly

resolve resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain that this nation

under god shall have a new birth of freedom freedom and that

government of the people by the people For the people shall not perish from the

earth.

Why don't they try the police?

Call out some bloodhounds or Indian guides.

The one place he knows in this city is the Senate office. And you stay there

and wait. Isn't that late? All right, Senator. Another half hour. Just one

half hour. Goodbye.

Why don't I quit?

Eight to five little boy blues plastered. When Foley died, why didn't I

clear out? How many times have you heard me say I'm fed up with politics and I...

No, I'd let him talk me into staying.

Secretary to a leader of little squirts.

Why? Because I need the job and a new suit of clothes.

Would you settle for a husband?

I sure would.

Huh?

You know, my old standing offer.

Dismore. Poet of Washington correspondence.

Oh, that again.

Yeah. I cherish you, and I stay sober.

Oh, Diz, you're a wonderful egg.

I don't know, maybe if I saw you once with your hair combed or something, I...

No, I don't think even that would do it.

No point in combing my hair for nothing.

Honorary appointment. You scratch this thing and you'll find they need a dope

here for a couple of months.

Yes?

Yes!

What do you want?

Office of Jefferson Smith. No.

Man downstairs?

No!

Yeah, they sure must have picked the prize dummy for... Say, wait a minute.

That wouldn't be Daniel Boone.

Say, mister, what's your name?

Jefferson Smith.

Oh, yes, he is.

Come right in, Mr. Smith, right this way. Come right in. Now, hold

everything. Stay there. Now, don't move!

Helen! Helen, get me the Madison. Senator Payne, yes. Hurry up, will you?

Is anything the matter?

Oh, no. No.

My dear Senator, it may be customary out on the prairie to take French leave of

people and not show up for five hours. Oh, I'm very sorry about that, Miss

Saunders. You are Miss Saunders, aren't you? Yes, I'm Saunders, and this is Mr.

Moore, member of the press. Mr. Moore, meet the Senator.

I'm very happy to know you, sir. Well, I see you cut your way through that

forest.

Senator Payne, yes, we've got him. He's right here. Came in on his own power and

he's sober.

Yes, next thing on the schedule, I'll have him right over there.

Now... Well, I'm awfully sorry.

See, it wasn't until I was fairly well along on the bus that I realized... Did

you say bus?

It was one of those sightseers, you know.

And, uh...

Gosh, I've never been called absent-minded before, but there it was

all of a sudden.

He was staring right at me through one of the station doors.

There what was?

The dome, the Capitol Dome.

As big as life, sparkling away under the old sun out there.

And I just started to go toward it, and there was a bus outside,

and I just naturally got aboard.

Most natural thing in the world.

Yeah.

I don't think I've ever been so thrilled in my whole life. And that Lincoln

memorial.

Gee whiz.

Mr. Lincoln, there he is.

He's just looking right straight at you as you come up those steps.

Just sitting there like he was waiting for somebody to come along.

Yeah. Well, he's got nothing on me.

I'm sorry.

Now, if you're ready, Senator, we'll go over to the hotel.

Senator Payne's waiting for you.

Uh-huh.

Is this my office?

No, you have a private office in there.

Private office?

Uh-huh.

What, in there?

Right in this door.

Where is he? Has he gone out again? No, no, no.

He's in there.

I'll see you later, Saunders. I gotta go out and drink this over.

Whose statue is that?

I wouldn't know in the daytime.

Well, look.

Look, the Capitol Dome. It's all lighted up. Look at it.

You better relax, Senator. You'll get yourself plum more out.

Gee whiz, so many things happening all at once.

Miss Saunders, what time does the Senate...

Convene? Convene, convene, yeah. What time? 12 noon.

12 noon.

Boy, that'll be something.

You know what I'd better do in the morning? I know, Mr. Smith. What'd you

better? Oh, I think I'd better go out to Mount Vernon.

It'd be sort of a fine thing to do.

Visit Washington's home before walking into the Senate for the first time.

Don't you think that'd be a good idea?

Oh, wonderful, wonderful. Puts you right in the mood. Uh-huh.

What's that? What's that?

Oh, movie houses.

Hi, Saunders.

I'm still asking myself, what is he, animal, vegetable, or mineral?

Maybe he's an oyster.

When I think of myself sitting around playing straight for that phony

patriotic chatter, me carrying bibs for an infant with little flags in his fist,

I can't take it. This, I quit. I'm through. Take it easy.

Simmer down. Simmer down. Here, take this.

You know what he's going to do tomorrow before taking that Senate seat?

Going up to Mount Vernon to get in the move.

A warm-up. Who, who? Your boss? A nut, a nut. I knew there was a story in that

guy. I smelled it. Go chase an ambulance.

Look, so-and-so, it's meat and drink to me. Let me at him. Five minutes. I'll

make it right with you. What do you mean, right?

What do I mean?

I'll tell you what I'll do.

World Series, a pass, a pass. In a month, it'll be worth 15 bucks.

Well... You're not talking to this guy. Eh, what do you say? Nothing. Beat it.

How would your pals like to get in on this? Hey, hey, I want a scoop. Beat it.

Well, that's out. Either it's lots of reporters and lots of tickets, or...

Now, you better go call him before I change my mind about the whole thing.

Okay, okay. I'll see you right here.

What do you think you're going to do?

I'm going to get my whole fall outfit and quit this job in style.

Oh, now, you've got more sense than to put nosy onto that guy.

That's it. Come on.

Tell us about yourself, Senator.

I hear you've got a boys' club back home, Senator.

Have you got any special acts to grind?

Acts? You know, pet ideas, save the buffaloes, pension bill. You must have

one idea you think would be good for the country, haven't you?

Well, I have got one idea.

Well,

for the last couple of years, I've thought it would be a wonderful idea to

have a national boys' camp out in our state.

You see, if we could just get the poor kids off the streets, out of the cities

for a few months in the summer and let them learn something about nature.

American ideals.

Marvelous. What would you think this camp would set the government back? Oh,

nothing. Nothing at all. You see, my idea is that the government just lends

us the money for the camp, and then the boys...

Pay it back by sending pennies, nickels, nothing more than a dime. Oh, that's

really something.

Oh, no, no. The government's got enough on its hands already without... Well,

that's great. The government's putting too much dough in too many places now,

boys. Oh, now, Mr. Senator, tell me.

What do you think of the girls in this town?

Gosh, down at the station, four of them came up and kissed me when I got off the

train.

Were they pretty?

Pretty, huh?

That Miss Susan Payne, she's about the prettiest girl I ever did see.

Senator, you got a good eye.

Yeah, you're a nature lover. How about it? Can you handle some of that sign

language? Yeah, I could manage.

What about some bird calls, Fenty? You know any?

Can you make it sound like an eagle? How about a bobwhite?

Here's one.

I'm the only one in the state who knows this one.

Well, we could use that.

His first whiff of Washington?

Do I actually see this?

What is it?

Did you want to see me, Senator?

What's this I hear about your quitting?

Well, I'm not a registered nurse.

Oh, now stop being funny. How'd this happen?

Oh, the ranger's notices.

I haven't the slightest idea.

Yes, you have. How'd it happen?

Look, I merely took him home. I didn't tuck him in and give him his bottle.

That's McGann's job. McGann just phoned out of his mind.

Smith's gone again.

Do you know where?

Yes, he went up to Mount Vernon to give himself a patriotic address.

That's fine.

Now then, Saunders, you stop this nonsense and go back to Smith's office

and go to work and get into the Senate by 12 o'clock. Look, Senator, I wasn't

given a brain just to tell a boy ranger what time it is. Don't be a fool,

Saunders. If certain things happen, I'm taking everybody up with me and you'll

get one of the biggest jobs in Washington.

Look, when I came here, my eyes were big blue question marks.

Now they're big green dollar marks.

Smart girl, eh?

All right.

Finish this job properly and you get a handsome bonus.

And by properly, I mean keep Smith away from anything that smacks of politics.

Including Willard Creek Dam?

Including Willard Creek Dam.

Now go back to your work.

This is it, Senator.

The United States Senate.

Uh-huh. Come on.

Mr. Carson, this is Senator Smith.

How do you do, sir? How do you do, Senator?

Page, glad to see you. Thank you.

Show Senator Smith to his seat.

Yes, sir.

Right this way, sir. Well, goodbye.

Oh, wait me like.

Sure. Bye. Bye.

So that's the boy of wonder, eh? I don't know what the senator's coming to.

Hiya, Diz. Hello, Saunders. Darryl, Sweeney. Hiya, Saunders.

I see you got Daniel Boone in, all right.

Daniel and the lion's dead.

Nice job you and the ambulance chasers did in the papers this morning. Oh, did

you like it? Great.

Here you are, Senator.

Not a bad desk, either.

Daniel Webster used to use it.

Daniel Webster sat here?

Give you something to shoot at, Senator, if you figure on doing any talking. Hold

on, I'm just going to sit around and listen.

That's a way to get re-elected.

This is the calendar for the day.

You'll find the Senate manual in here.

Anything else you want? Just snap for a page.

Well, where's the majority leader? Majority leader?

Right over there, Senator Agnew.

And that's Senator Barnes, the minority leader.

And where's the press gallery?

Right over there, above the vice president's chair.

The fellows in the front row represent the big news services.

What's that up there? That corner's reserved for guides and sightseers who

come in for five minutes at a time to rest their feet.

That section over there is reserved for the senator's friends.

The front row, the empty one, is for the president and the White House guests.

Oh, I see.

Back there over the clock is the diplomatic section.

They and the page boys are the only real class we have in the place.

Well, thanks ever so much. I'll take your hat and a cocoon, sir. Say, I'd

like to give you a boy ranger button.

Swell. What's your name?

Richard Jones. Well, Dick, thanks ever so much. Well, good luck, Senator.

Keep your left up. Okay.

See you in the White House, Joe.

Yeah, you're not kidding.

Jeff. Hello, Senator. Sorry, I was in committee.

That's all right, sir.

Well, I see you had a little publicity.

Hmm? Have you got your credentials?

Oh, yeah.

Is that right?

That's... That's fine.

Now, when the Vice President calls you, just walk along here, and I'll meet you

in the center aisle. Center aisle.

Good luck.

This is Daniel Webster's desk, did you know that? Uh-huh.

He wasn't mine.

Chaplain will pray.

Oh, God, our Heavenly Father, in these critical days when our beloved country

labors with such grave and disturbing problems, look upon us, we beseech thee,

and give us the light and the strength to be just and merciful so that we may

best serve our people and our fellow men everywhere.

Amen.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent. The reading of the journal be dispensed

with. Journal stands approved.

Is there objection?

Journal stands approved.

Mr. President. Senator Browne here. I suggest the absence of a quorum. What

can call the roll?

Mr. Agnew.

Yes. Mr. Alvin. Here.

Mr. Alvin. Here.

Eighty-eight senators have answered to their names.

Quorum is present.

Mr. President. Senator Payne.

I present the credentials of Honorable Jefferson Smith, who has just been

appointed senator for the governor of my state.

The senator designate is present. I ask that the oath of office be administered

to him at this time. The senator designate will present himself at the

desk. The oath will be administered.

comes i seek to ascertain if the gentleman about to be sworn in is fully

aware of the responsibilities of his high office i refer to his astounding

and shameless performance for the newspapers a versatile performance i

grant you and one that his party no doubt will applaud but one that brings

his rank down to the level of a sideshow entertainer and reflects on the

sincerity if not the sanity of the highest body of lawmakers in the land I

seek to learn if this is the gentleman's conception of the nature of his office.

I don't understand, sir. The Senate designate has no voice in this chamber

till the oath of office has been administered.

Mr. President, I will answer the gentleman.

My colleague was innocent in the matter referred to.

He was completely misquoted. I know Jefferson Smith, and I will personally

vouch for him. He has the greatest possible respect for his office and for

these gentlemen.

Mr. President!

The swearing in of the Senate designate is the order of business.

The gentleman will raise his right hand.

Do you solemnly swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United

States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and that you will bear true

faith and allegiance to the same?

That you take this obligation freely, without mental reservation or purpose of

evasion, and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the

office upon which you are about to enter?

So help you God?

I do.

Senator, you can talk all you want to now.

I meet the majority leader. He'll be a good friend to you if I'm not around.

How are you?

Any friend of Joe's is a friend of mine. Thank you, sir. Good luck. You don't

have to worry about the others. They're just senators.

Mr.

President. Senator McPherson.

The shameless way in which the deficiency bill has been delayed is

nothing short of criminal.

The country and government agencies are in desperate need of these funds.

The prime business of this body... is the immediate passage of this urgent non

-question.

Who let you in here? Why aren't you out chasing ambulances? That guy Smith's

punching everybody he meets. I just got away from him. Oh, Tarzan.

Boys,

meet Senator Smith.

You act like a man with something on your mind. Why don't you tell the people

the truth for a change?

The truth. The man wants the truth. The man wants the truth. What is the truth?

suggesting pilot and would not stay for an answer. How do you want it, Senator?

Dished out or in a bottle? People of this country pick up their papers and

what do they read?

Well, this morning they read that an incompetent clown had arrived in

Washington, parading like a member of the Senate.

You thought as much about being honest as you know about being smart. Honest?

Why, we're the only ones who can afford to be honest in what we tell the voters.

We don't have to be re-elected like politicians.

We tell them when phonies or crackpots come here to make their laws. If it's

the truth you want, what are you doing in the Senate? What do you know about

laws or making laws or what the people need?

I don't pretend enough. Then what are you doing in the Senate?

What's he doing? Why, honorary appointments.

When the country needs men up there who know and have courage as it never did

before, he's just going to decorate a chair and get himself on.

Over to you, folks.

Sure, just like his colleague tells him to. Yes, sir, like a Christmas tiger,

he'll nod his head and vote yes.

You're not a senator.

You're an honorary stooge. You ought to be shown up. Have a drink, Senator?

It'll taste better than the truth.

Hey, Senator.

100 years from now, nobody will know the difference.

The point is, sir, they're right.

I'm just sitting in the Senate decorating a chair.

Now, if I'm going to vote, I at least ought to try and study some of the bills

that are coming up.

The bills?

Well, yes, sir. Otherwise, I'm just a Christmas tiger, like they said.

Jeff, these bills are put together by legal minds after long study.

Well, I can't understand half of them myself, and I used to be a lawyer. Now,

come on.

Forget it.

When the time comes, I'll advise you how to vote.

Yes, I know you will, sir, but that's just the point. There's no reason for me

to be here at all.

Jeff, didn't you say something to the papers about wanting to create a

national boys' camp?

Now, you were in earnest about that, weren't you? Yes, I was.

Well, why don't you do it?

Now, there's a job for you. Get a bill started to accomplish it, present it to

Congress. It'll be a great experience for you. Senator Payne, if I... I've

been aching to mention it to you. If I could just do that one thing while I'm

here, that boys' camp, I'd feel... Well, what's to stop you?

Saunders will help you with it. Well, I'll do it.

I will. I knew that if anyone could help me, you could.

And thank you again for your time, sir.

Good night.

Hey, where are you running off to? Well, I'm sort of anxious to get back to the

office. Father!

Oh, the man on the front page.

He just dropped in for a minute, Susan. How nice. How do you do, Senator?

How do you do, Miss Payne?

I'm just on my way to the office.

How are the pigeons?

Oh, they're fine. Oh, I've missed the dear little things.

Well, I released one this morning with a letter in it.

He flew right straight up in the air to sort of get his bearings, and then he

went around the Capitol Dome once, and then he headed west just like a rifle

shot. And I suppose by about this time, he's probably over Kentucky.

Well, isn't that wonderful, Father?

And was the letter to your girl? Oh, no.

Oh, no.

No, I don't have a girl.

Don't you think I'd better hold this for you? No, I think I'd better go. Good

night.

Doggone. I'm sorry, sir.

That's all right, boy. Don't bother.

Shit.

Shit, I'm sorry.

Oh, good night. Good night. Good night, Jack. Good night.

At the expense of some of the furniture, Susan, you've made another conquest.

Not old Honest Abe.

And with Honest Abe's ideals.

A rare man these days, Susan.

Yes, sir, we're going right ahead with it. We're going right ahead with what?

The bill, my bill for our national boys' camp.

Where's my briefcase?

Just a moment. Do I understand that you're going to present a bill? Yes,

Senator Payne and I decided it was the only way we could... Senator Payne

decided this with you? Yes, it was his idea. Of course, I should have been the

one to think of it. My dear Senator, have you the faintest idea of what it

takes to get a bill passed?

No, no. You're going to help me.

If I were triplets, I could. Well, now, Ms. Saunders, Senator Payne said that

you're going to help me. Now, what do we have to have? What books do we have to

have? Senator, do you mind if I give you a rough idea of what you're up against?

No, no, no. Go ahead.

Well, a senator has a bill in mind, like you a camp, right? Right. Fine. Now,

what does he do? He has to sit down first and write it up. The why, when,

where, how, and everything else.

Now, that takes time. Well, but this one is so simple. Oh, I see. This one's

simple. Yeah, and with your help, why wouldn't you... Oh, I'm helping, yeah.

Simple, and I'm helping, so we knock it off in record-breaking time of, let's

say, three, four days. Oh, a day.

A day? Yes, just tonight.

Tonight. I don't want to seem to be complaining, Senator, but in all

civilized countries, there's an institution called dinner. Oh, I'm sort

of hungry myself.

Well, uh...

Couldn't we sort of have some stuff brought in on trays, you know, like big

executives? Oh, sure.

Well, dinner comes in on trays.

We're big executives. We're light into this. And we finish the bill before

morning? Yeah.

It's dawn.

Your bill is ready. You take it over there and introduce it. How?

You get to your feet in the Senate, take a long breath and start spouting. But

not too loud, because a couple of the senators might want to sleep.

Then a curly-headed page boy takes it up to the desk where a long-faced clerk

reads it, refers it to the right committee.

Committee, huh?

Committee. Why?

Look, committees, small groups of senators have to sift a bill down, look

into it, study it, and report to the whole Senate. You can't take a bill

nobody ever heard about and discuss it among 96 men. Where would you get? Yeah,

I see that.

Good.

Now, where are we? Some committee's got it. Yeah. Now, days are going by,

Senator. Days, weeks.

Finally, they think it's quite a bill.

It goes over to the House of Representatives for debate and a vote.

But it has to wait its turn on the calendar. Calendar, huh? Yeah.

That's the order of business. Your bill has to stand way back there in line

unless the steering committee thinks it's important. What's that?

What? The steering committee.

Do you really think we're getting anywhere?

Oh, yes, Miss Saunders. Now, tell me, what's the steering committee?

Committee of the majority party leaders. They decide when a bill is important

enough to be moved up toward the head of the list. Well, this is.

Pardon me. This is.

Where are we now? We're over in the House.

Oh, yeah, House.

More amendments, more changes, and the bill goes back to the Senate. The Senate

doesn't like what the House did to the bill. They make more changes. The House

doesn't like those changes.

Stymie. So?

So they appoint men from each house to go into a huddle called a conference,

and they battle it out.

Finally, if your bill is still alive after all this intersection, it comes to

a vote.

Yes, sir?

The big day finally arrives.

And Congress adjourns.

Catching on, Senator?

Uh-huh.

Shall we start on it right away or order dinner first?

Pardon me? I said shall we get started on it right now or... Oh, sure, yeah.

Why not?

Do you mind if I take the time to go and get a pencil? Oh, no, go right ahead,

Mrs. Saunders. Thank you very much. Yeah, go right ahead. And lots of paper,

too.

Now, the, uh...

God, did you ever have so much to say about something you just couldn't say

it? Try sitting down. I did. I got right back up again.

Now, look, let's get down to particulates.

How big is this thing? Where's it going to be? How many boys will it

accommodate? You've got to have all that in it, you know.

Yeah, yeah. And something else, Miss Saunders.

The, uh, the spirit of it.

The idea.

The... How do you say it? The... That's what's got to be in it.

What? The Capitol Dome.

On paper?

I want to make that come to life for every boy in this land. Yes, and I'll

light it up like that too.

You see, you see, boys forget what their country means by just reading the land

of the free and history books.

Then they get to be men, they forget even more.

Liberty is too precious a thing to be buried in books, Miss Saunders.

Men should hold it up in front of them every single day of their lives and say,

I'm free to think and to speak.

My ancestors couldn't. I can.

And my children will.

Boys ought to grow up remembering that.

And that steering committee or whatever it is, they've got to see it like that.

And I know Senator Payne will do all he can to help me because he's a wonderful

man, isn't he, Ms. Saunders?

You know, he knew my father very well.

He did?

Yeah.

Yeah, we need a lot more like him. His kind of character, his ideals.

Um, let's get on with this, hmm? Oh, yes.

All right. This camp is going to be out in your state.

About 200 of the most beautiful acres that ever were.

You've never been out in that country, have you, Miss Hunters? No. I've been

over every single foot of it. You could have no idea. You just have to see it

for yourself.

I don't know. The prairies and wind leaning on the tall grass and lazy

streams down in the meadows. Angry little midgets of water up in the

mountains.

Cattle moving down the slope against the sun.

Campfires and snowdrifts.

You know, everybody ought to have some of that sometime in his life. My dad had

the right idea.

He had it all worked out.

He used to say to me, son, don't miss the wonders that surround you.

Because every tree, every rock, every anthill, every star is filled with the

wonders of nature.

And he used to say to me, have you ever noticed how grateful you are to see

daylight again after coming through a long, dark tunnel?

Well, he'd say,

Always try to see life around you as if you'd just come out of a tunnel.

Where'd you come from, Miss Saunders?

Well, I guess I've always lived in a tunnel.

You mean here?

Baltimore. Pure city dweller.

Have you always had to work?

Since I was about 16.

16, huh?

I'd take it your parents couldn't. No, they couldn't. Father was a doctor. He

thought more of ethics than he did of collections.

Speaks well for Father, but it wasn't so...

Now, look, we'd better get back to this.

Hasn't been easy, has it?

No complaints.

I mean, for a woman, you've done awfully well.

Have I?

What?

I've never known anyone as capable and intelligent.

Gosh, I don't know where I'd be in this bill of mine if it wasn't for your help.

Well, I don't know where you are with it.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yes. Now, gee whiz, we've got to get going with this, Miss

Saunders. All right, now, I see.

Say, everybody calls you just plain Saunders. Why can't I? Go right ahead.

Saunders.

Oh, that's much better. Saunders. Hello, Saunders. Morning, Saunders.

How's the bill coming, Saunders?

Terrible, thank you. Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, anyway, I got that Saunders

business straightened out. That's probably the trouble all along. All

right, now.

I... What's your first name?

Why?

Well, everybody calls you just plain Saunders. Well, I also answer to

whistles. Well, you've got a first name, haven't you? Yes, but we just better

forget about it. All right, all right. Okay.

All right. I was just curious. A picture popped into my mind all of a sudden of a

pump without a handle or something. It's all right.

Of course, I know what it is.

Violet.

No, it isn't.

Abigail?

No.

Leticia? No.

Lena?

No, now stop it. You might as well tell me. I got a lot more, you know. All

right. You win.

It's Clarissa.

Clarissa?

Uh-huh.

All right, Saunders, let's go.

Now, uh, Susan's an awfully pretty name, isn't it? Susan? Susan Payne?

Oh, that's beautiful.

She's a beautiful woman, isn't she? Oh, isn't she a beautiful girl? I think

she's probably about the most beautiful girl I've...

Oh, now, Saunders, we've got to get started on this thing. We'll never get

it finished.

All right, I get all set because I'm going to talk much faster than you can

write. All right, you ready? Yeah.

Okay, the location of this camp, about 200 acres, situated in Ambrose County,

Terry Canyon, running about a quarter of a mile on either side of Willett Creek.

Uh, what?

Willett Creek, Willett, W-I-L-L-E-T, just a little stream.

In Terry Canyon?

Well, yeah, yeah. You don't know it, do you?

No.

Well, no, you couldn't. You've never been there, you said.

You've discussed this with Senator Payne and everything, haven't you? No, no.

Why?

Oh, nothing. It doesn't matter. There's no reason to talk it over with him.

A quarter of a mile on either side of Willock Creek.

And the money to... The land to be bought by the contribution of the boys,

the money to be loaned to us by the government of the United States.

What did you get me out of bed for?

Diz, sit tight. The show's about to commence.

By telling me what's going on around here? Certainly.

Now, there's the principal actor in our little play.

Don Quixote Smith, man with Bill.

Over here, one of the supporting characters.

Who? That gorilla in man's clothing, McGann. Oh, you mean Puss in Boots?

Yeah, mostly Puss.

Ah, another prominent character in our little play, the Silver Knight, soul of

honor on a tightrope.

You wouldn't be a little bit goofy, would you?

Diz?

Don Quixote with Bill will get to his feet in a minute and speak two important

words Will it quick when that happens the silver knight will fall off his

tightrope and puss will jump out of his boots

Introduction of new bells and joint resolutions

The

chair

recognizes the

Rather strong-lunged junior senator.

Mr. Smith.

I'm very sorry, sir. I have a bill to... You must speak a little louder, Senator.

But not too loud.

I have a bill to propose, sir.

Order, gentlemen.

Our junior senator is about to make a speech.

You may proceed, Senator.

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives that there be

appropriated as a loan a sum sufficient to create a national boys camp to be

paid back to the United States Treasury by contributions from boys of America.

This camp to be situated... on the land at and adjacent to the headwaters of a

stream known as Willett Creek in Terry Canyon, for the purpose of

bringing together boys of all walks of life from various parts of the country,

boys of all creeds, kinds, and positions, to educate them in American

ideals and to promote mutual understanding and to bring about a

healthful life to the growing youth of this great and beautiful land.

Our young senator will make a good orator when his voice stops changing.

Listen, Joe, I'm getting leery of this guy. We keep calling him dumb and he

keeps winding up in our hair. And I'm telling you, when he finds out that a

dam is going up where he wants his boys camp, he's going to start asking

questions six ways from Sunday. Be quiet, Chick. I'm trying to think.

This deficiency bill is going to be read in the Senate tomorrow.

Tomorrow? Why, Joe, he'll hear that section in the Willett Dam. He can't be

there. I know that. Tomorrow, I'm taking him out to see Monuments, even if I have

to get him in a head with a couple. That won't work, Chief.

This boy's honest, not stupid.

Susan.

My daughter isn't here to carry out assignments like that for anybody.

Daughters, who are all those people?

Washington told his office secrets. Crash, get my son into West Point.

Senator, now this machine creates a fever ten miles away. It'll make your

book.

Long-distance fevers.

A woman out there has composed a song to replace the Star Spangled Banner. Do you

want to hear it? No, not today. Boy, I feel like a house of fire. I even went

down to see Mr. Lincoln again. Saunders, how did it do? Ah, great.

I don't know how I got it out. My heart is right up to here all the time. What

do you think Senator Payne thought of it? Oh, it would be tickled pink. Boy, I

hope so.

What's all this?

Contributions from boys who read about your camp.

Already? All these... Oh, those are only local. When will they start pouring in

from all over the country?

You mean all... Look, we better open one up. Let's see what they say here.

Dear Senator Smith, I would like to come to your boys' camp, and I shine shoes at

the station, and here's nine cents.

Oh, isn't that a wonderful look?

And he signs it, yours truly, Stinky Moore.

Isn't it marvelous?

Well, look, if there's money in each one of these, what are we going to do with

the money? Bang!

That's perfect. Well, here, you can see how important this bill's going to be.

Do I have any paper around here, any place?

Second drawer. Second drawer.

I'm going to be pretty busy tonight.

Not another bill.

Oh, no.

No letters. I'm busting with news.

I introduced a bill. Me, Jeff Smith. I got up and spoke in the Senate.

Do you want to dictate them? What, the letters? Oh, no. I couldn't talk

letters. I just have to sit here and scratch them down.

Oh, and say, I'm going to tell them all about you.

If I tell it right, the first thing you know, you're going to get the best jar

of preserves you ever tasted.

Thank you very much. Oh, and Saunders.

Gee, where the...

I forgot to thank you.

Oh, don't mention it. No, no.

Without you, I couldn't have... I mean... Hello.

Who?

Susan Payne.

Oh, how do you do?

Yes, I can talk. Go right ahead.

I'm sorry to bother you like this, Saunders, but you've got to help me.

I'm elected to snatch Mr. Jefferson Smith from the Senate tomorrow.

Your what?

I'm to take him out and tear my glamour on for him. You sympathize, don't you,

Saunders? Awkward, isn't it? Take him out and buy him a suit of clothes that

fits and a hat that he can hang on to and a manicure and a haircut wouldn't do

any harm. And as one woman to another, Saunders, I hate to ask you to do this,

but... But as one woman to another, of course.

Thanks, Saunders. Just a minute.

Miss Payne.

Susan Payne?

She won't talk to me? Yeah.

She won't talk to me.

Holy mackerel.

Hello?

Oh, hello, Miss Payne. How are you?

Uh, yes.

Fine.

Uh... What?

Uh... Well... Want to scorch you?

What?

Yes.

I'd be delighted.

Yeah, all right.

Reception for a princess.

She wants me to... Goodbye, Miss Payne.

Goodbye. What do you know about that? She wants me to go to a reception for a

princess. Can you imagine her asking me? Get your hat, Senator. We have a lot of

shopping to do between now and tomorrow.

What?

Where are your bidders?

In the thing there.

Behind the thing.

I don't mind who gets licked in a fair fight, Diz.

These clouts blow the bell I can't take.

Sicking that horrible dame on him.

When he's goofy about her.

What dame?

Payne.

Better be nice to that gal.

The latest poll writes her old man the party choice for the White House. She

may be the next first lady of the land.

Imagine reading My Day by Susan Payne in the neck.

He isn't going to be hurt enough for this. She has to twist a knife in him

too. The regal jackass.

I'll turn my glamour on him, she says. Oh, forget it. What's it to you?

Nothing. Okay, okay, then stop worrying.

I told you the dopes are going to inherit the earth anyway.

I wonder, Diz, if this Don Quixote hasn't got the jump on all of us.

I wonder if it isn't a curse to go through life wised up like you and me.

Now, look here, kid. If you're going to wonder, let's go down and do it over a

hunk of steak, huh?

Come on, snap out of it. Drink up.

Here's to bigger and better dopes.

And to Don Quixote.

Do you know how I felt this?

Oh, how'd you feel? Quick.

I felt just like a mother.

Sending her kid off to school for the first time.

Watching the little fella toddling off in his best bin tucker.

Hoping he can stand up to the other kids.

Say, who started this?

I'm just waiting for a streetcar.

Well, cut it out, see?

Who cares, anyway?

I apologize.

All right, then.

After all, what's it to me? So they drop him out of the balloon.

All I care is I don't want to be around, see?

I'm squeamish, see? That's what I am.

Oh, sir.

I don't have to take it. I won't be party to no murder. I'm going to quit.

I'm through.

Again? It's a good idea.

It is.

Yeah?

Let's get married.

It's a good idea.

When?

Anytime.

Tonight? Okay.

You don't mind?

I cherish it.

Oh, gee.

You're a good egg, Diz. I know.

Maybe we could clear out of this town.

We have to feel like people.

Live like we just got out of a tunnel.

Tunnel? A tunnel.

You've never seen prairie grass with a wind leaning on it, have you, Diz?

Diz, we can get... Tired out there?

Or angry little mountain streams?

Or the sun moving against the cattle?

You've never seen anything like that, have you, Deuce?

Have you?

No.

Do we have to?

No, I can't think of anything more sappy. Okay, then let's get going.

Where?

We're getting married.

Oh, yes, that's right.

This, uh, in case you don't know, I'm gonna give you a chance to back out if

you don't like it.

What? My first name's Clarissa. Oh, I know, it's okay.

Oh, don't say okay, just say you think it's beautiful.

Okay, I mean... You don't know any name offhand, just you like better, do you?

No. Not offhand. Nothing like Susan or anything like that.

Susan. I won't take it, see?

I won't be party to murder, see?

Steering a poor dope up blind alleys for their grafting tailor mothers low and

up, but helping that dame cut him in little bits and pieces.

Nobody's going to make me do that. No, sir.

Just said it.

No, sir. I'm going to get out of there right now. Just right now. Bonus or no

bonus. I'm clearing out of that office, everything I own, my extra hat,

everything. Hey, wait a minute. Right now, everything I... We're getting

married.

See you later.

Sondra?

Sondra?

What do you want?

Boy, you should have been there.

I know.

It was a wonderful party, and your suit went over big, and she looked beautiful.

And when you left, she said, Thank you, Mr. Smith.

But it was the way she said it, you nearly fell through the floor.

Horseradish.

Well, what are you looking at?

You didn't think I was a lady, did you?

A lady would be working for this outfit.

Even I can't take it anymore.

There's a lot of things I can't take.

Can't take a simple... Why don't you go home?

Tell your little streams about your camp and the land of the free.

This is no place for you. You're halfway decent. You don't belong here.

Now go home.

That's all I want to tell you. That's all.

Meet the man I'm going to marry.

That's me.

Well, say something. Don't just stand there like a... Wait a minute.

Why don't I do this right?

So you want to be a senator, huh? You're going to build a camp on Willow Creek.

See this?

Deficiency bill.

Section number 40. A dam going up where you think your camp's going to be. Ever

hear of it?

No.

They read all about it in the Senate today, but you weren't supposed to hear.

That's why that ritzy dame took you in tow.

That's why they sent you here in the first place, because you don't know a

damn for a bathtub.

Go ahead.

Be a senator.

Try and mess up Mr. Taylor's little graft.

But if you can't, and you can't in nine million years, go home. Don't stay

around here making people feel sorry for you.

Come on, Liz.

Come on, kid.

We'll dig up a preacher.

We're gonna get married.

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

Come on, I'll take you home.

That's just the point. There are a hundred other places in the state that

really need the water.

And besides, I talked to Kenneth Allen, who owns some of that land up there. He

didn't say anything about a dam. No, sir. Now, doggone it. There's something

wrong here. I know there's something wrong. And I'm not going to vote on that

thing until I get some more questions answered.

Jeff, you're fighting windmills. I am? Sure.

You're trying to understand in a moment everything about a project that took two

years to set up. The reasons, the benefits.

Yeah, the benefits. Who's Taylor?

What? Taylor. What's he got to do with this thing? What makes you think he's

got anything to do with it?

I've been told that this whole thing is his idea to get graft.

Jeff, do you know what you're saying?

You're accusing me of helping to frame a bill for the benefit of one individual.

Of helping to put through a scheme for graft.

Long distance?

Get me Mr. James Taylor, Jackson City.

Boy ranger, huh? Answer to a prayer, manna from heaven. Didn't even know how

to tell the time of day, huh? Will you please tell me exactly what he's done?

Yeah, he's about to blow the whole machine to smithereens and you with it,

Mr. Governor. Me, Jim? Yeah. How?

Well, you wouldn't understand that.

Listen to me, Mr. Ten Thumbs. In about a half an hour, I'll be on my way to

Washington. And no matter what happens, I'm all ready for that boy ranger of

yours. Never mind how.

You take your instructions from Ken Allen here.

I wouldn't trust you to lick a postage stamp.

You just use your high office to help Allen get things done. Do you

understand? Yes, Jim.

I doubt it. Come on, Allen.

Honest, Jim. I haven't been able to show him a single monument.

Not even one that high. Certainly not. He's been on our tail. Jim, you've got

to keep this guy off of us. Ever since he found out we represent the Willing

Creek District, he's been running his ragged. Well, this is ridiculous. Jim, I

told you I'd handle him. I object to you coming here like this.

Yeah, you proved how you could handle him. You're the one that started him

writing bills.

That's him, Chick. Let him in. Wait a minute. Jim, you didn't ask Smith here.

What do you think? Chick, don't open that door.

Jim, you can't do this.

Let him in, Chick.

All right, Jim.

You can count me out.

Oh, good morning, Senator. Come right in.

What did you mean when you said we could count you out? Jim, you can't come here

and pull that steamroller stuff.

Your methods won't do here.

This boy's a senator.

However it happened, he's a senator. This is Washington, Jim.

Steamroller stuff, Joe? My methods don't go in Washington.

They've done pretty well by you, haven't they? Oh, Jim, that's beside the point.

This boy's different.

He's honest.

Besides, he thinks the world of me. We can't do this to him. Well, what do you

want me to do?

Stand around like you chumps and let that drooling infant wrap that Willow

Creek Dam appropriation around my neck?

Not me.

Either he falls in line with us and behaves himself, or I'll break him so

wide open they'll never be able to find the pieces.

Jim, I won't stand for it.

You won't stand for it?

I don't want any part of crucifying this boy.

Oh, I see.

Our steamroller methods are getting too hard for your sensitive soul, is that

it? The silver knight is getting too big for us.

My methods have been all right for the past 20 years, Joe, since I picked you

out of a fly-specked hole in the wall and blew you up to look like a senator,

and now you can't stand it.

Well, maybe you don't have to stand it, Joe.

Maybe we can fix it so you and the boy Ranger can go home together. Jim, now,

you don't have to... Oh, it's all right. It's all right.

It seems a shame, though, to part company like this after all these years.

Especially now with a national convention coming up.

Joe, I put everything I have behind you, and so did all of our friends.

I guess we'll survive.

We just got to find somebody else that's got a little more sense, that's all.

In the meantime, you go in and explain to Mr. Smith about Will and Dan.

It's your bill. It's your reputation.

And if he can't find enough facts to break you with, you just send it to me

and I'll give him a couple of good ones.

I'm taking the next plane home, Joe.

So long.

Jim.

Jim, it's just that I like the kid.

I don't want to see you get too rough on him.

I'm glad to see you come to your senses.

You had me scared there for a minute, though.

You go back to your office. I'll call you as soon as I get through with Smith.

Okay.

The silver...

Ah, Senator, I was just passing through. I thought I'd like to meet you.

Sit down. You met all the boys here, I suppose?

Yes, sir. They tell me you've been right on your toes ever since you got here.

Oh, that's fine.

You know, some people told me that you were dumb.

I think you're smart.

In fact, I think you're smart enough to understand a situation when it's

explained to you. Like what, sir?

Well... For instance, building a dam on Willard Creek.

Just what's your interest in this, Mr. Taylor? What's mine?

Well, anything that benefits the state is mighty important to me.

Owning a lot of its industry, newspapers, and other odds and ends.

Now, if I felt that you had the welfare of the state at heart like I have, I'd

say you were a man to watch.

Now, what do you like?

Business? If you like business, you can pick any job in the state and go right

to the top.

Or politics.

Huh? If you like being a senator, there's no reason why you can't come

back to that Senate and stay there as long as you want to.

If you're smart.

Or you take the boys here, or Joe Payne.

They're doing all right.

They don't have to worry about being re-elected or anything else.

They're smart.

They take my advice.

You mean you tell these men and Senator Payne what to do?

Why, yes.

Joe Payne has been taking my advice for the past 20 years.

You're a liar.

Come on, Michael. I've got to see Senator Payne. Is he in? Senator Payne

is out of town.

Out of town? He couldn't be.

Oh.

Hello, Jeff. Come in.

Well? Ever talk with Taylor?

He said he'd been telling you what to do for 20 years. I call him a liar.

Listen, son, come over here and sit down, will you? I don't feel like

sitting down.

Oh, I know how you feel, Jeff.

I was hoping you'd be spared all this.

I was hoping that you'd see the sights, absorb a lot of history, and go back to

your boys. No, you've been living in a boy's world, Jeff, and for heaven's

sake, stay there.

This is a man's world.

It's a brutal world, Jeff, and you've no place in it. You'll only get hurt.

Now, take my advice. Forget Taylor and what he said. Forget you ever heard of

the Willett Creek Dam.

But you still haven't answered me, sir.

Can a man like Taylor tell you and those other men what to do?

Now, listen, Jeff, please, and try to understand.

I know it's tough to run head-on into facts, but, well, as I said, this is a

man's world, Jeff, and you've got to check your ideals outside the door like

you do your rubbers.

Now, 30 years ago, I had your ideals.

I was you.

I had to make the same decision you were asked to make today.

And I made it.

I compromised.

Yes. So that all those years I could sit in that Senate and serve the people in a

thousand honest ways.

You've got to face facts, Jeff.

I've served our state well, haven't I?

We have the lowest unemployment and the highest federal grants.

But... Well, I've had to compromise.

I've had to play ball.

You can't count on people voting half the time. They don't vote anyway.

That's how states and empires have been built since time began. Don't you

understand?

Well, Jeff, you can take my word for it. That's how things are.

Now, I've told you all this because, well, I've grown very fond of you.

About like a son, in fact.

And I don't want to see you get hurt.

Now, when that deficiency bill comes up in the Senate tomorrow, you stay away

from it. Don't say a word.

Great powers are behind it, and they'll destroy you before you even get started.

For your own sake, Jeff, and for the sake of my friendship with your father,

please, don't say a word.

According to the urgency of the deficiency bill, there is a unanimous

consent agreement that no senator will speak more than once or longer than five

minutes on any section of the bill.

Clerk will read.

A bill providing for deficiency appropriations for the fiscal year,

section one, for emergency relief, to create and erect public improvements on

rivers, harbors, and roadways, $150 billion.

Section 40.

An appropriation for diverting and abounding the headwaters of Willett

Creek in the natural basin of Terry Canyon. Five million dollars.

Mr. President.

Does Senator Smith desire to be heard on Section 40?

I do, sir.

Does Senator understand he is limited to five minutes?

Yes, sir.

You may proceed, sir.

Mr. President, this section of the bill that's damned on Willett Creek is

nothing but... Mr. President.

Does Senator Smith wish to yield to his colleague, Senator Payne?

Why, yes, sir.

You may proceed, Senator.

Mr. President, I have risen to a difficult task.

To say that out of evidence that has come to my attention, I consider Senator

Smith unworthy to address this body.

Boys, go out and get the Senators. Yes, sir.

Something's going on inside. Come on.

Senator,

will police suspend the Lord of Restore in the chamber?

Yes, sir.

What's going on, Joe?

Oh, no.

We may proceed, Senator.

I refer to the bill he has introduced in this chamber for the creation of a

national boys' camp.

He named a certain portion of land to be dedicated to that purpose and to be

bought by contributions from boys all over America.

Senators.

I have conclusive evidence to prove that my colleague owns the very land

described in his bill.

He bought it the day following his appointment to the Senate and is holding

it, using this body in his privileged office for his own personal profit.

Boy, Ranger had it right.

This doesn't make sense.

Accordingly,

I offer a resolution for an immediate inquiry by the Committee of Privileges

and Elections as to the fitness of my colleague to continue to sit in this

chamber.

Mr. President, I... Order.

The chair will clear the galleries unless order is restored.

Flash, Ranger Senator, branded by colleagues, Senator Payne. Flash,

Senator Payne... He's charged to expel Senator Smith at his worst song. Yeah,

she ought to have the lowdown on this. I wish I knew. She packed up and left town

in that jalopy of hers.

Hey, Joe, Senator Payne accused Senator Smith of introducing a boys' camp bill

for his own profit. Here, give me a cigarette.

Payne's asked for a hearing before the Committee on Privileges of Elections.

Well, frankly, my dear senators, the morning that Mr. Kenneth Allen burst

into my office bringing proof that Jefferson Smith had the deed to that

campsite, I was dumbfounded. Pardon me, Governor.

What did you do when Mr. Allen brought this to your attention? Why, I consulted

at once with the head of the Department of Records, Mr. Arthur Kim.

Mr. Kim, do you remember recording such a deed?

Yes. On the date set forth here, Mr. Kenneth Allen came before me to record

this deed, selling over these 200 acres in the name of Jefferson Smith.

How long have you known Senator Smith, Mr. Allen?

Oh, a good many years.

He used to use my land up around Willett Creek every summer for his boy rangers.

Seemed like a... a nice fellow and one day he made a proposition said he had a

great chance to sell that land for at least 500 an acre i'd be glad to get 25

for it so we set it up like this i deeded him the land and he gave me a

contract guaranteeing me half what he got if he made the sale mind you now the

whole thing sounded fishy at the time that contract you mentioned have you got

that document that land wouldn't be in his name if i didn't have yes sir signed

and delivered I never signed any such contract.

He certainly did. Just a moment, please.

After a long study of this signature, it is my professional opinion that it is

definitely in Jefferson Smith's own handwriting.

As an expert on handwriting, I'd say the name of Jefferson Smith on this contract

has been forged.

I would stake my whole 20 years professional career on the fact that

this is not a forgery, but is Mr.

Smith's own signature.

This is a very painful duty for me. This boy is the son of my very best friend.

I sponsored him in the Senate. I helped him frame his bill. And on the day he

presented it, I went over to congratulate him. But I pointed out that

a dam was already going up on the very site he'd chosen for his camp.

There were a hundred equally good campsites nearby, so I suggested he

choose another.

He became furious.

He said, move the dam.

I was amazed at his violent reactions. I couldn't understand it until the

evidence came to me that he owned those very 200 acres.

And, as you have heard, had carefully laid plans to make an enormous profit

out of the nickels and dimes scraped together by the boys of this country.

Faced with that, regardless of my personal feelings for the boy, My sense

of duty told me that his expulsion from the Senate was the only possible answer.

Beautiful, that Taylor machine.

Senator Smith, please.

Will you take the chair, please?

Now, Senator Smith.

Keep your seats, gentlemen.

The committee has not adjourned yet.

Quiet, please.

Well, see, the funniest thing you ever saw. That ranger never knew what struck

him when Jim Taylor opened up on him. Well, which one of you girls wants this?

Oh.

Hello.

Hello, Saunders.

You know, I had a hunch I'd find you here when you weren't anyplace else.

How have you been, Saunders?

Oh, all right.

Your husband, how's he?

Like, oh, oh, there's a way not married.

Oh.

You know, it's a good thing I got back just when I did, too. You know what I

found waiting for me? No.

Jar of preserves from your mother.

Oh, you did, huh? Yeah.

What was it, strawberry?

Uh-huh. Yeah.

It's the best kind.

Well, I... See, by the papers, you certainly got to be a senator.

You sure had the right idea about me, Saunders.

You told me to go back home and keep filling those kids full of whey.

Just a simple guy, you said, still wet behind the ears, a lot of junk about

American ideals.

Yeah, there's certainly a lot of junk, all right.

Now, look, Senator.

I don't know. This is a whole new world to me.

What are you going to believe in?

When a man like Payne, Senator Joseph Payne, gets up and swears that I've been

robbing kids of nickels and dimes.

Men I've admired and worshipped all my life.

I don't know.

A lot of fancy words around this town. Some of them are carved in stone.

Some of them... I guess the tailors of Paine's put them up there so suckers

like me could read them.

And then when you find out what men actually do... Well, I'm getting out of

this town so fast. Away from all the words and the monuments and the whole

rotten show.

I see.

When you get home, what are you gonna tell those kids?

Well, I'll tell them the truth.

Might as well find it out an hour later.

I don't think they'll believe you, Jeff.

You know, they're liable to look up at you with hurt faces and say, Jeff, what

did you do? Quit?

Didn't you do something about it?

Well, what do you expect me to do?

An honorary stooge like me against the tailors and pains and machines and lies?

Your friend Mr. Lincoln had his tailors and pains.

So did every other man who ever tried to lift his thought up off the ground.

Odds against him didn't stop those men. They were fools that way.

All the good that ever came into this world came from fools with faith like

that. You know that, Jeff.

You can't quit now.

Not you.

They aren't all tailors and pains in Washington. That kind just throw big

shadows, that's all.

You didn't just have faith in pain or any other living man. You had faith in

something bigger than that.

You had plain, decent, everyday common rightness.

And this country could use some of that.

Yeah, so could the whole cockeyed world. A lot of it.

Remember the first day you got here?

Remember what you said about Mr. Lincoln?

You said he was sitting up there waiting for someone to come along?

You were right.

He was waiting for a man who could see his job and sail into it. That's what he

was waiting for.

A man who could tear into the tailors and root them out into the open.

I think he was waiting for you, Jeff.

He knows you can do it. So do I.

What? Do what, Saunders?

You just make up your mind you're not gonna quit, and I'll tell you what.

I've been thinking about it all the way back here.

It's a 40-foot dive into a tub of water, but I think you can do it.

Clarissa, where can we get a drink?

Now you're talking.

Come on over to my place.

Mr. Durnell.

Mr. Blythe.

Yeah. So they're gonna expose Smith today, huh?

Where are the drums?

Where's the guillotine?

In fact, where's Smith? Smith hasn't stopped running since he left that

committee room.

Mr. Singleton.

Yeah. Mr. Smith.

You

know,

that guy's batty. The clerk will continue with the roll call.

Is this some of your shenanigans?

What's the matter?

Pray, Dears, if you know how.

Did you have anything to do with bringing that guy in here?

Are you crazy?

Ninety senators have answered to their names.

Quorum is present.

Proceeding now to the regular order.

Senator McPherson?

I desire to call up the report of the Committee on Privileges and Elections on

the expulsion of Jefferson Smith.

Clerk will read the report.

The Committee on Privileges and Elections reports that it appears to the

satisfaction of the Committee, after hearing a number of witnesses, that

justice to the Senate requires that Jefferson Smith no longer continue a

member of this body.

They therefore report this resolution with a recommendation that the same do

pass.

Resolved, that Jefferson Smith be expelled from his seat in the Senate.

Mr. President, I move for the immediate adoption of the resolution.

Mr. President, I trust the chairperson.

I have the floor, and I'm about to ask for a roll call on the passage of the

resolution without further delay. Mr. President. The senator can have nothing

to say at this time, and I would not be either in bad grace.

However, Senator Smith is still a member of this body.

And as such, has an equal claim on the attention of this chair?

You are about to recognize me, sir.

It is merely your impression, Senator.

Let him speak!

Before proceeding further, I might remind the visitors in the gallery that

they are here as our guests and should conduct themselves as such. And I might

add that their sentiments in no way will affect the judgment of this chair.

Chair recognizes Senator Smith.

Thank you, sir.

Yes, here we go.

Well, I guess the gentlemen are in a pretty tall hurry to get me out of here.

The way the evidence has piled up against me, I can't say I blame them

much. And I'm quite willing to go, sir, when they voted that way.

But before that happens, I've got a few things I want to say to this body.

I tried to say them once before, and I got stopped colder than a mackerel.

Well, I'd like to get them said this time, sir.

And as a matter of fact, I'm not going to leave this body until I do get them

set. President, will the senator yield?

Will the senator yield? No, sir, I'm afraid not.

No, sir.

I yielded the floor once before, if you can remember, and I was practically

never heard of again.

No, sir.

And we might as well all get together on this yielding business right off the bat

now.

I had some pretty good coaching last night.

And I find that if I yield only for a question or a point of order or a

personal privilege, that I can hold this for a Muslim's old doomsday.

In other words, I've got a piece to speak.

And blow hot or cold, I'm going to speak. Will the senator yield? Will

Senator Smith yield? He'll yield for a question. For a question, all right. I

wish to ask my junior colleague this piece he intends to speak.

Does it concern Section 40 of that bill, Adam and Willie Crick? It does.

Every aspect of this matter, the gentleman's attack on that section,

everything was dealt with in committee hearings. Mr. Preston. I wish to ask my

distinguished colleague, has he one scrap of evidence to add now to the

defense he did not give and could not give in that same hearing? I have no

defense against forged papers. Committee ruled otherwise.

The gentleman stands guilty, as charged.

And I believe I speak for every member when I say that no one cares to hear

what a man of his condemned character has to say about any section of any

legislation before this House.

Mr. President, I stand guilty as framed because Section 40 is graft.

And I was ready to say so. I was ready to tell you that a certain man in my

state, a Mr. James Taylor, wanted to put through this dam for his own profit. A

man who controls a political machine and controls everything else worth

controlling in my state. Yes, and a man even powerful enough to control

congressmen. And I saw three of them in his room the day I went up to see him.

Will the senators yield?

No, sir, I will not yield.

And this same man, Mr. James Taylor, came down here and offered me a seat in

this Senate for the next 20 years if I voted for a dam that he knew and I knew

was a fraud.

But if I dared to open my mouth against that dam, he promised to break me in

two. All right, I got up here and I started to open my mouth, and the long

and powerful arm of Mr. James Taylor reached into this sacred chamber and

grabbed me by the scruff of the neck. Mr. President, a point of order.

Mr. President!

Senator Payne will state it. It was I who rose from this chamber to accuse

him. He's saying that I was carrying out criminal orders on falsified evidence.

No, Mr. President. He has imputed to me conduct unworthy of Senator, and I

demand that he be made to yield the floor. Mr. President, I did not say that

Senator Payne was one of the congressmen in that room. I was in that room.

Order, gentlemen.

I accuse this man.

By his tone, by his careful denials, he is deliberately trying to plant damaging

impressions of my conduct.

I'll tell you why we were in that room.

Because Mr. Taylor...

A respected citizen of our state had brought with him the evidence against

this man, and we were urging him to resign.

Why? To avoid bringing disgrace upon a clean and honorable state, but he

refused. Mr. President, have I the... Finally, there was only one answer to a

man like him.

The truth, which I rose and gave to this body.

Mr. President, he is trying to blackmail this Senate as he tried to blackmail me.

To prevent his expulsion, he would probably even try to hold up this

deficiency bill, vital to the whole country, which must be passed

immediately, today.

Have I the floor? Gentlemen, I have lost all patience with his praise and

character. I apologize to this body for his appointment.

I regret I ever knew him. I'm sick and tired of this contemptible young man,

and I refuse to stay here and listen to him any longer.

I hope every member of this body feels as I do. Get up!

The chair.

Mr. President, what does the gentleman want of this body?

I'll tell you what I want, sir.

I want a chance to talk to people who believe me. The people of my state, they

know me and they know Mr. Taylor. And when they hear my story, they'll rise up

and they'll kick Mr. Taylor's machine to kingdom come.

Now, I want one week to go back there and bring you proof that I'm right. And

in the meantime, I want the Senate's promise that I will not be expelled and

that the deficiency bill will not be passed. Will the senator yield?

For a question.

Has the gentleman the effrontery to stand there convicted and in disgrace?

and try to force postponement of the division's bill for one week. Mr.

President, I appeal to the Senator.

Is he fully aware that this bill has been months in both houses, delayed and

delayed?

Why, millions will be without food and shelter.

Public works will be at a standstill.

Are we going to keep relief from the country? The people of my state need

permanent relief from crooked men riding their bags.

Mr. President, if the Senate yields to this sort of blackmail at this time from

this man, it'll become a laughing stock.

It is an insult to this body to have to listen.

An insult to our colleagues, and it'll pay.

I, for one, will follow the senator's example and refuse to remain in this

chamber as long as that man holds the floor.

Morning,

gentlemen.

All right, sir, I guess I'll just have to speak to the people of my state from

right here.

And I'll tell you one thing, the wild... horses aren't going to drag me off this

floor until those people have heard everything I've got to say, even if it

takes all winter.

Well, Mr.

President, we seem to be alone.

I'm not complaining for social reasons. It's just... I think it'd be a pity if

these gentlemen missed any of this.

And... And, uh...

I...

I call the chair's attention to... to, uh, Rule 5 of the

Standing Rules of the Senate, Section...

Section 3.

If it shall be found that a quorum is not present, a majority of the senators

present, and that looks like me, may

direct the sergeant at arms to request and, if necessary, compel the attendance

of the absent senators.

Well, Mr. President, I so direct.

The absence of a quorum being suggested.

Ring the call to quorum. Call to quorum.

There's no hurry, Mr. President. I got plenty of time.

Smith cut the floor and is holding it. Yeah, just as they were about to kick

him out. He did it, Jizzy. He did it. It's wonderful.

It's terrific.

A filibuster. This is the miracle I wanted. What a yacht.

Farrell, just get everything he's saying back to that home state, will you?

You watch it. Sweetheart, they're going to hear this in Patagonia. In protest,

the whole center body rose and walked out. No, not that straight stuff. Now,

listen. Kick it out. Get on his side. Fight for him. Understand?

You love this monkey, don't you? What do you think?

Now, listen. Go to work. Lose that shoulder.

Throw out that mask. Take this. This is the most titanic battle of modern times.

A David without even a sleet shot rises to do battle against the mighty Goliath,

the tailor machine.

Allegedly crooked inside and out.

Yeah, and for my money, you can cut out the allegedly.

We're bringing everybody up from state headquarters.

All right, where are they? Come on, get these telethons moving.

Did you get Hendricks? They're looking for him. They're looking for him, an

editor. Why isn't he at his desk where he belongs?

Joe, don't you think you'd better get back to that Senate?

Jim, the boy's talking to that state. He can raise public opinion against us if

any part of this sticks. He'll never get started.

I'll make public opinion out there within five hours. I've done it all my

life. I'll blacken this punk so that he'll... You'll need public opinion to

me. Joe, I think you better go back into the Senate and keep those senators lined

up.

I hit him from the floor with everything I knew.

I haven't got the stomach for it anymore.

If he even starts to convince those senators, you might as well blow your

brains out. You know that, don't you?

This is the works, Joe.

Either we're out of business or we're bigger than we ever were before.

We can't miss a trick. We can't stop at anything.

until we've smashed this yokel and buried him so deep.

Go ahead back to the center, will you, Joe? Hello, Hendricks.

Well, the chips are down.

I want you to keep everything that Smith says or any other pro-Smith stuff coming

from Washington out of all of our newspapers, do you understand?

And out of all the others, you can line up in the state.

Yeah.

And those broken-down opposition papers, that cockeyed crusading bunch that don't

want to play ball with us, I want you to tie up for 24 hours.

Well, store their deliveries. Push them off the street. I don't care what you

do. Just bury him for 24 hours. That'll give me plenty of time.

And you? Well, you defend the machine. Hit this guy.

Oh, the usual thing, criminal and blocking a relief bill and starving the

people. Joe, will you get back into that Senate?

And Hendricks, get the hoi polloi excited.

Have them send protests, letters, wires, anything you like.

And buy up every minute you can get of every two-watt radio station in the

state and keep them spouting against Smith.

I don't care what it costs. Pay out.

Come on, get moving. Get the whole state moving.

This filibuster is a cowardly attempt to turn your attention from the true facts

which have been established beyond question. Jefferson Smith was caught red

-handed stealing from boys. Relief will be stopped.

Men will be thrown out of jobs.

I've seen filibuster.

It's ridiculous.

Henry, we've got to get this man off the floor.

Boys, as long as Mr. Smith holds that floor legitimately, he's going to

continue to hold it.

If you ask me, that young fellow's making a whole lot of sense.

Sense? You call blackmail sense, Henry?

Now, look, Joe, I didn't like this boy from the beginning, but most of us feel

that no man who wasn't sincere could stage a fight like this against these

impossible odds. Well, I'm very glad to know that, Martin.

After 20 years' work with you fellows, I'm very glad to know that you're ready

to take his word against mine. That's fine. Oh, yes, that's what it means.

If he's just that much right, then I'm wrong.

Joe, listen.

Can't we work out some deal to pull that Willard Dam out and let the deficiency

bill go through? It isn't a question of Willard Dam.

It's a question of my honor and reputation.

The integrity of the Committee on Privileges and Elections. The integrity

of the Senate itself.

If you want to throw out Section 40, go ahead. I'll resign. We'll have the whole

thing over with. Now, wait a minute, Joe. Wait a minute. This is a lot of

nonsense. Joe is right.

The deal's impossible.

We've got to go on this. We've been doing it. And break him.

Keep him talking. No relief.

Maintain a quorum in relays.

Is that how you feel, John? For once, I agree with you. Gentlemen, it's time to

relieve the men on the floor.

A man as green as that knows as much as he does. We can't go on much longer.

That they are entitled by their creator with certain unalienable rights, and

that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of... Well, it looks like

the night shift's coming on.

Senate will be suspended until order is restored in the chamber.

This is H. V. Kaltenborn speaking.

Half of official Washington is here to see democracy's finest show, a

filibuster. The right to talk your head off. The American privilege of free

speech in its most dramatic form. The least man in that chamber, once he gets

and holds that floor by the rules, can hold it and talk as long as he can stand

on his feet.

providing always, first, that he does not sit down, second, that he does not

leave the chamber or stop talking. The galleries are packed.

In the diplomatic gallery are the envoys of two dictator powers.

They have come here to see what they can't see at home, democracy in action.

Ah, flies never in the pursuit of habits.

That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their

just powers from the consent of the government.

That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, It is

the right of the people to alter or abolish it.

How am I doing?

Now, quit stalling and move.

Hello.

Hello, Clark. Yes, wait a minute.

I'll phone Senator Payne about it. Yes, sir. Hello, Clark. This is Jim Taylor in

Washington. Now, about this Smith filibuster.

Your chain of newspapers in the Southwest must realize that this bill

he's trying to block will affect your section as well as any.

It's the patriotic duty of every newspaper in the country. Hello. Wait a

minute. Yes.

I'll hold them.

We've got to keep hammering at this man until we smash him. I always get a great

kick out of that part of the Declaration of Independence.

Now, you're not going to have a country that can make these kind of rules work

if you haven't got men that have learned to tell human rights from a punch in the

nose.

That's good for a headline.

It's a funny thing about men, you know.

They all start life being boys.

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if some of these senators were boys once.

And that's why it seemed like a pretty good idea to me to get boys out of

crowded cities and stuffy basements for a couple of months out of the year and

build their bodies and minds for a man-sized job because those boys are

going to be behind these desks some of these days.

It seemed like a pretty good idea, getting boys from all over the country,

boys of all nationalities and ways of living, getting them together.

Let them find out what makes different people tick the way they do.

Because I wouldn't give you two cents for all your fancy rules if behind them

they didn't have a little bit of plain, ordinary, everyday kindness.

And a little looking out for the other fella, too.

That's pretty important, all that.

It's just the blood and bone and sinew of this democracy that some great men

handed down to the human race, that's all.

But of course, if you've got to build a dam where that boy's camp ought to be to

get some grass to pay off some political army or something, that's a different

thing. Oh, no.

If you think I'm going back there and tell those boys in my state and say,

look, now, fellas, forget about it. Forget all this stuff I've been telling

you about this land you live in is a lot of hoey. This isn't your country. It

belongs to a lot of James Taylors. Oh, no, not me.

And anybody here that thinks I'm going to do that, they got another thing

coming.

That's all right. I just wanted to find out whether you still had faces.

I'm sorry, gentlemen. I know I'm being disrespectful to this honorable body. I

know that. A guy like me should never be allowed to get in here in the first

place. I know that.

And I hate to stand here and try your patience like this, but either I'm dead

right or I'm...

You wouldn't care to put that to a vote, would you, Senator?

Will the Senator yield for a question?

I yield. In view of the gentleman's touching concern for the Senators, and

in view of the fact that he's been talking for seven and one-half hours and

must be very, very tired, would he permit a motion to recess until the

morning, at which time he may be better able to continue with his profound

babblings?

Mr. President, what happens to me in the morning? I mean about my having this

floor to go on with my babblings.

If the senator permits this motion for recess, he won't have the floor in the

morning to babble with or anything else.

Unless he's recognized first by this chair.

Uh-huh.

As I was saying, gentlemen...

What do you got, Dick?

From Miss Saunders.

Is the senator yielding the floor?

Yield the... Oh, no.

Oh, no.

Hey, I feel fine.

The Constitution of the United States.

Page one, top left-hand corner.

We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union...

Yeah? Well, buy it or wreck it.

Brady's column two? Holy smokes.

What's the matter, dear?

Here, kid, this is murder. You gotta call him off.

He's getting nowhere.

What are you talking about? Not one word of what he's saying is being printed in

that state.

Oh, no, dear. Taylor has practically every paper in the state lined up, and

he's feeding them ducted-up junk.

One man muzzling a whole state? And how.

Freedom of the press.

Wait a minute. I've got an idea. Come on.

Jeff has a paper there, boy stuff, right?

Terrific! Well, look, they aren't letting what Jeff says get printed in

the state.

Now, if I give you a raft of it over the phone right now... Write me a front page

blast for the discount.

Can you print it up and spread a billion copies of it?

Swell.

Get ready to take it down, will you, Mrs. Smith?

All right.

Boys, everything about Jeff. Get pencils and paper, quick.

All right, here we go.

All ready, Clarissa.

She called me Clarissa.

Okay, Ma.

Jeff tells truth.

Shows up Taylor.

I want the whole morning edition. I plan to push him off the floor. Start your

campaign for protests.

Yeah, why?

Willard Dam is a fraud to line the pockets of the Taylor machine.

Here's your front page editorial.

Wait a minute.

A convicted thief representing you holds the floor of the United States Senate.

All right, boys, hurry up.

wanteth not itself, is not part of God.

And now abideth faith, hope, charity.

These three.

But the greatest of these is charity.

You're like Jeff Smith. All stuff circulates. That'll buy nine million

kids. Well, what are you standing there for? Get the boys out. Kill it. Yes,

sir.

Get out.

Go on.

Stop, fellas.

Come on, boys. Get these papers out of here.

Senator Smith has now talked for 23 hours and 16 minutes.

It is the most unusual and spectacular thing in the Senate annals.

One lone and simple American holding the greatest floor in the land.

What he lacked in experience, he's made up in fight.

But those tired boy ranger legs are buckling, bleary-eyed, voice gone. He

can't go on much longer, and all official Washington is here to be in on

the kill.

Notes that there's no compromise with truth.

That's all I got up on this floor to say.

When was it?

A year ago, it seemed like.

It is. I'm afraid terrible things are happening. I've got to stop him. They're

listening to him. Anything might happen now. Just get up off the ground.

That's all I ask.

Get up there with that lady that's up on top of this Capitol Dome. That lady that

stands for liberty.

Take a look at this country through her eyes if you really want to see

something.

And you won't just see scenery.

You'll see the whole parade of what man's carved out for himself after

centuries of fighting.

and fighting for something better than just jungle law, fighting so he can

stand on his own two feet, free and decent, like he was created, no matter

what his race, color or creed.

That's what you see.

There's no place out there for graft or greed or lies or compromise with human

liberties.

And if that's what the grown-ups have done with this world that was given to

them, then we'd better get those boys' camps started fast and see what the kids

can do.

And it's not too late.

Because this country is bigger than the tailors or you or me or anything else.

Great principles don't get lost once they come to light.

They're right here.

You just have to see them again.

Mr. President.

Will the Senator yield for a question?

Will Senator Smith yield to his colleague?

Yes, I'll yield for a question. The Senator has said repeatedly that he is

speaking to the people of his state.

He has been waiting, as he so fancifully puts it, for them to come marching here

in droves.

Would the gentleman be interested in knowing what those people have to say?

Here it comes, dear sir.

Yes, sir, you bet I will.

Mr. President, have I permission to bring into this chamber...

Evidence of the response from my state. Is there objection?

You may proceed, Senator.

I can't stand it. I can't stand seeing her like this.

Public opinion made the order.

Yeah, tailor-made.

There it is.

There's the gentleman's answer.

Telegrams. 50,000 of them.

Demanding that he yield this floor.

I invite the Senate to read them.

I invite my colleague to read them.

The people's answer to Mr. Jefferson Smith.

I guess this is just another lost cause, Mr. Payne.

All you people don't know about lost causes.

Mr. Payne does.

He said once they were the only causes worth fighting for.

And he fought for them once for the only reason any man ever fights for them.

Because of... just one plain, simple rule.

Love thy neighbor.

And in this world today full of hatred, a man who knows that one rule has a

great trust.

You know that rule, Mr. Payne.

And I loved you for it just as my father did.

And you know that you fight for the lost causes harder than for any others.

Yes, you even die for them.

You all think I'm licked.

Well, I'm not licked.

And I'm going to stay right here and fight for this lost cause, even if this

room gets filled with lies like these.

And the tailors and all their armies come marching into this place.

Somebody will listen to me.

He's okay. Just fainted.

He's okay.

What's the matter? I'm not fit to be a sad man.

I'm not fit to live.

Expel me.

Expel me, not him. When he carries a fraud, it's a crime against the people

who sent me here, and I committed it. Every word that boy said is the truth.

I'm not fit for office!

I'm not fit for any place of honor!