MAN : Excuse me.
JEFFERSON : Beg your pardon.
REPORTERS : Mr. Senator. Oh. Senator Smith, if you let me handle your publicity...
SAUNDERS : Down. Down, everybody.
JEFFERSON : Miss Saunders. Who are all those people?
SAUNDERS : Washington press, office-seekers, cranks. 'Get my son into West Point or outta West Point.'
REPORTER : Senator, now this machine creates a fever ten miles away...it'll make your...
SAUNDERS : Out, out. Some other time. Yeah. Long-distance fevers. Some, a woman out there's composed a hymn to replace the Star Spangled Banner. Do you want to hear it?
JEFFERSON : No, not today! Boy, I feel like a house afire! Even went down to see Mr. Lincoln again. Saunders, how did I do?
SAUNDERS : Ah, great.
JEFFERSON : I, I don't know how I got it out. My heart was right up here all the time. What do you think Senator Paine thought of it?
SAUNDERS : Oh, he'd been tickled pink.
JEFFERSON : Boy, I hope so. What's all this?
SAUNDERS : Contributions from boys who read about your camp.
JEFFERSON : Already? All these let...
SAUNDERS : Oh, those are only local. Wait 'till they start pouring in from all over the country.
JEFFERSON : You mean all these...Look boys, we better open one up and see what...What they say here, look at the money, let's see..."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 wonderful, and look he sent nine...and he signs it, "Yours truly, Stinky Moore." Isn't that marvelous? Well, look, look if there's money in each one of these...then how we...where
SAUNDERS : Here you go Senator, here.
JEFFERSON : A bank. That's perfect. Well, here. You can see how important this bill's gonna be. Hey, do I have any paper around here, any place?
SAUNDERS : Second drawer.
JEFFERSON : Second drawer. Oh, that's fine. I'm gonna be pretty busy tonight.
SAUNDERS : Not another bill?
JEFFERSON : Oh, no. No. Letters. I'm bustin' with news. I introduced a bill! Me, Jeff Smith. I got up and spoke in the Senate.
SAUNDERS : Do you want to dictate them?
JEFFERSON : Do I want...The letters? Oh, no I couldn't talk letters. I just have to sit here and scratch them down. Oh, and say, I'm gonna tell Ma all about you and if I tell it right, the first thing you know, you're going to get the best jar of preserves you ever tasted.
SAUNDERS : Well, thank you very much.
JEFFERSON : Oh, and Saunders. Gee wiz, I forgot to thank you.
SAUNDERS : Oh, don't mention it.
(01:00:02)
JEFFERSON : No, no, without you I couldn't have, I, I mean, I...
SAUNDERS : Hello? Who?
SUSAN : Susan Paine.
SAUNDERS : Oh, how do you do? Yes, I can talk, go right ahead.
SUSAN : I'm sorry to bother you, Saunders, but you've got to help me. I'm elected to snatch Mr. Jefferson Smith from the Senate tomorrow...
SAUNDERS : You're what?
SUSAN : I'm to take him out and turn on my glamour for him. You sympathize, don't you Saunders?
SAUNDERS : Awkward, isn't it?
SUSAN : Take him out and buy him a suit of clothes that fits and a hat that he can hang on to...and, and A manicure and haircut wouldn't do any harm. As one woman to another, Saunders. That is, I hate to ask you to do this but...
SAUNDERS : But as one woman to another, of course.
SUSAN : Thanks Saunders.
SAUNDERS : Just a minute.
JEFFERSON : Miss Susan Paine? Susan Paine? She want to talk, talk with me? Holy mackerel, oh. Hello...Oh, hello Miss Paine, how are ya? Uh, yes. Uh, what? Wha-a...well escort you? Well, uh, yes I'd be delighted. Reception for a princess! She wants me to...goodbye, Miss Paine. Good-bye. What do you know about that? She wants me to go with her to a reception for a princess. Can you imagine her asking me?
SAUNDERS : Get your hat, Senator. We've got a lot of shopping to do between now and tomorrow.
JEFFERSON : Wow!
DIZ : Where is your bitters?
SAUNDERS : In the thing there, behind the sink. I don't mind who gets licked in a fair fight, Diz. It's these clouts below the belt I can't take. Sicking that horrible dame on him when he's goofy about her.
DIZ : What dame?
SAUNDERS : Paine.
DIZ : Better be nice to that gal. Latest poll rates her old man the next party choice for the White House. She may be the next First Lady of the land.
SAUNDERS : Imagine reading "My day" by Susan 'pain in the neck.' Isn't going to get hurt enough as it is. She has to twist a knife in him, too. The regal jackass! "I'll turn my glamour on him," she says.
DIZ : Oh, forget it. What's it to you?
SAUNDERS : Nothing.
DIZ : Okay. Okay. Stop worrying. I told you, the dopes are gonna inherit the earth anyway.
SAUNDERS : I've wondered, Diz...if maybe 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.
DIZ : Now, look kid, if we're gonna wonder let's go down and do it over a hunk of steak. Come on, snap out of it. Drink up. Here's to bigger and better dopes.
SAUNDERS : And to Don Quixote! Do you know how I felt, Diz?
DIZ : No. How'd you feel? Quick.
SAUNDERS : I felt just like a mother, sending her kid off to school for the first time, watchin' the little feller toddling off in his best bib and tucker hoping he can stand up to the other kids. Say, who started this?
DIZ : I'm just waiting for a street car.
SAUNDERS : Well, cut it out. See? Who cares anyway?
DIZ : I apologize.
SAUNDERS : All right, then. After all, what's it to me? So they drop him out of a balloon. All I care is, I don't want to be around. See? I'm squeamish. See? That's what I am. No, sir. I don't have to take it. Won't be a party to no murder. I'm gonna quit. I'm through.
DIZ : Again? It's a good idea.
SAUNDERS : Uh, Diz
DIZ : Yeah?
SAUNDERS : Let's get married?
DIZ : It's a good idea. When?
SAUNDERS : Any time.
DIZ : Tonight?
SAUNDERS : Okay. You don't mind?
DIZ : I'll cherish ya.
SAUNDERS : Oh, gee. You're a good egg, Diz.
DIZ : I know.
SAUNDERS : Maybe we could clear out of this town, get to feel like people. Live like we...just got out of a tunnel.
DIZ : Tunnel?
SAUNDERS : A tunnel. You've never seen prairie grass with the wind leaning on it, have you Diz?
DIZ : Does the wind get tired out there?
SAUNDERS : Or angry little mountain streams or, or the sun moving against the cattle. You've never seen any of that, have you, Diz?
(01:05:03)
DIZ : No. Have you?
SAUNDERS : No.
DIZ : Well, do we have to?
SAUNDERS : No! I can't think of anything more sappy!
DIZ : Okay, then let's get going.
SAUNDERS : Where?
DIZ : We're gonna get married.
SAUNDERS : Oh, yes. That's right. Diz...
DIZ : What?
SAUNDERS : In case you don't know, I want to give ya a chance to back out if you don't like it.
DIZ : What?
SAUNDERS : My first name's Clarissa.
DIZ : Yeah, I know. That's okay.
SAUNDERS : Oh. Don't say 'okay', Diz. Say you think it's beautiful.
DIZ : Okay, I mean...
SAUNDERS : You don't know a name offhand that you like better, do you Diz?
DIZ : No, not offhand.
SAUNDERS : Nothing like, uh, Susan or anything like that?
DIZ : Susan? Nah!
SAUNDER : I won't take it! See? I won't be a party to murder. See? Steering a poor dope up blind alleys for that grafting Taylor mob is low enough. But, helping that dame cut him up in little bits of pieces...nobody's gonna make me do that. No, sir.
DIZ : You said it!
SAUNDERS : No sir. I'm gonna, I'm gonna get out of there. Right now, Diz. Right now. Bonus or no bonus. I'm gonna clear outta that office, everything I own. My extra hat, everything.
DIZ : Hey! Wait a minute.
SAUNDERS : Right now, everything I own!
DIZ : We're gettin' married! See you later.
JEFFERSON : Saunders? Saunders!
SAUNDERS : Whadaya want?
JEFFERSON : Boy, you should of been there.
SAUNDERS : I know. It was a wonderful party and your suit went over big. And she looked beautiful...and you left her, and she said, "Thank you, Mister Smith". But it was the way she said it. You nearly fell through the floor. Horseradish! Well, what are you lookin' at? You didn't think I was a lady, did you? You don't think a lady would be working for this outfit. Even I can't take it any more. I quit. There's a lot of things I can't take...I 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 isn't no place for you. You're half-way decent. You don't belong here. Now go home. That's all I wanna tell you. That's all. Meet the man I'm going to marry.
DIZ : Tha's me.
SAUNDERS : Wait a minute! Why don't I get out of this right. So you want to be a Senator, huh? You're gonna build a camp on Willet Creek! See this? Deficiency Bill, section number forty. A dam going up where you think your camp's gonna 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 dam from 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 hang around here making people feel sorry for you! Come on, Diz.
DIZ : This way. Come on, kid. We'll dig up a preacher.
SAUNDERS : Huh?
DIZ : We're gonna get married.
SAUNDERS : Oh, yeah.
DIZ : Okay, come on. I'll take you home.
JEFFERSON : But that's 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, doggonit! 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.
PAINE : Jeff, you're fighting windmills.
JEFFERSON : I am?
PAINE : Sure. You're trying to understand a project that took two years to set up, the reasons, the benefits.
JEFFERSON : Yeah, the benefits. Who's Taylor?
PAINE : What?
JEFFERSON : Taylor, what's he got to do with this thing?
McGANN : Well, what makes you think he's got anything to do with it?
JEFFERSON : I've been told that this whole thing was his idea to get graft.
PAINE : 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!
McGANN : Long distance? Get me Mr. James Taylor, Jackson City.
TAYLOR : Boy Ranger! Answer to a prayer. Manner from heaven! Didn't even know how to tell the time of day!
HUBERT : Will you please tell me exactly what he's done?
TAYLOR : Yeah. He's about to blow the whole machine to smithereens and you with it, Mr. Governor!
HUBERT : Me, Jim?
TAYLOR : Yeah!
HUBERT : How?
(01:10:00)
TAYLOR : Well you wouldn't understand that. Listen to me Mr. Ten Thumbs, in about 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?
HUBERT : Y-yes, Jim.
TAYLOR : I doubt it! Come on, Allen.
McGANN : Honest Jim, I haven't been able to show him a single monument. Not even one that high.
ASSOCIATE : Certainly not. He's been on our tail. Jim, you've got to keep this guy off of us.
ASSOCIATE2 : Ever since he found out we represent the Willet Creek district, he's been running us ragged.
PAINE : Well, this is ridiculous Jim. I told you I'll handle him. I object to you coming here like this.
McGANN : Yeah, you proved how you can handle him. You're the one who start him writing bills.
TAYLOR : That's him Chick. Let him in.
PAINE : Hey wait a minute, Jim. You didn't ask Smith him here.
TAYLOR : What do you think?
PAINE : Chick, don't open that door. Jim, you can't do this.
TAYLOR : Let him in, Chick.
PAINE : All right Jim, you can count me out.
McGANN : Oh, good morning Senator. Come right in.
TAYLOR : What did you mean when you said 'we could count you out'?
PAINE : Jim, you can't come here and pull that steam-roller stuff. Your methods won't do here. This boys a Senator. How ever it happened, he's a Senator. This is Washington, Jim.
TAYLOR : Steam roller stuff Joe? My methods don't go on in Washington? They've been pretty well by you, haven't they?
PAINE : Oh, Jim. This boy's different. He's honest. Besides he thinks the world of me, we can't do this to him.
TAYLOR : Well, what do you want me to do? Stand around like you chumps and let that drooling infant wrap that Willet 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.
PAINE : Jim, I won't stand for it.
TAYLOR : You won't stand for it?
PAINE : I don't want any part of crucifying this boy.
TAYLOR : Oh, I see. Our steam-roller methods are getting to 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 twenty 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 could fix it so you and the Boy Ranger can go home together.
PAINE : Oh, Jim. Now you don't have to...
TAYLOR : Oh, it's all right. It's all right. 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. Well, I guess we'll survive. We just gotta find somebody else who's got a little more sense, that's all. In the meantime, you go in and explain to Mr. Smith about Willet Dam. 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.
PAINE : Jim?
TAYLOR : Yeah?
PAINE : Come here, will you. Jim, it's just that I like the kid. I don't want to see you get too rough on him.
TAYLOR : I'm glad to see you've 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.
PAINE : Okay.
TAYLOR : Huh. The Silver Knight. Hello, Senator. I was just passing through, I thought I'd like to meet you. Sit down. You met all the boys here, I suppose.
JEFFERSON : Yes, sir.
TAYLOR : They tell me you've been right on your toes since you've got here. Well, that's fine. You know, some people told me that you were dumb. I think that you're smart. In fact, I think You're smart enough to understand a situation when it's explained to you...
JEFFERSON : Like what, sir?
TAYLOR : Well, for instance, building a dam on Willet Creek.
JEFFERSON : And just what's your interest in this, Mr. Taylor?
TAYLOR : What's my interest...Well, well, anything that benefits the state is mighty important to me, owning a lot of it's 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. Now you take the boys here, or Joe Paine. They're doin' all right. They don't have to worry about being re-elected or anything else. They're smart. They take my advice.
(01:15:08)
JEFFERSON : You mean you tell these men and Senator Paine what to do?
TAYLOR : Well yes. Joe Paine has been taking my advice for the past twenty years.
JEFFERSON : You're a liar.
JEFFERSON : Carmichael, I've got to see Senator Paine, is he in?
CARMICHAEL : Senator Paine is out of town.
JEFFERSON : Out of town? He couldn't be.
PAINE : Hello Jim, come on in. Well, have a talk with Taylor?
JEFFERSON : He said he'd been telling you what to do for twenty years. I called him a liar.
PAINE : Listen son, come over here and sit down.
JEFFERSON : You know, I don't feel like sitting down.
PAINE : Well, I know how you feel, Jeff. I was hoping you could be spared all this. I was hoping that you'd see the sights, absorb a lot of history and go back to your boys. Now, you've been living in a boy's world, Jeff and for heavens 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 Willet Creek dam.
JEFFERSON : But you still haven't answered me, sir. Can a man like Taylor tell you and those other men what to do?
PAINE : Now, listen Jeff, please. And, 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 gotta to check your ideals outside the door, like you do your rubbers. Now, thirty 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 even before you get started. For your own sake Jeff, and for the sake of my friendship with your father...Please, don't say a word.
PRESIDENT : According to the urgency of the Deficiency Bill, there is a unanimouse consent agreement, that no Senator will speak more than once, or longer than five minutes on any section of the bill. The clerk will read.
CLERK : A bill providing for deficiency appropriations for the fiscal year. Section One. For emergency relief to create the erect public improvements on rivers, harbors and roadways, a hundred and fifty billion dollars. Section Forty: An appropriation for diverting and impounding the headwaters of Willet's Creek in the natural basin of Terry Canyon. Five million dollars.
JEFFERSON : Mr. President!
PRESIDENT : Does Senator Smith desire to be heard on Section Forty?
JEFFERSON : I do, sir.
PRESIDENT : Does the Senator understands he is limited to five minutes?
JEFFERSON : Yes, sir.
PRESIDENT : You may proceed.
JEFFERSON : Mr. President, this section of the bill, this dam on Willet Creek is nothing but a...
PAINE : Mr. President!
PRESIDENT : Does Senator Smith wish to yield to his colleague Senator Paine?
JEFFERSON : Why, yes sir.
PRESIDENT : You may proceed, Senator.
PAINE : 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!
ASSIST : Boys, go out and get the Senators.
PAGEBOYS : Yes, sir.
REPORTER : Something goin' on inside, come on!
REPORTERS : What is it? Let's go, let's go. Come on.
PRESIDENT : The Senate will please suspend until order is restored in the chamber.
PAGEBOYS : All are wanted on the floor, please.
(01:19:52)
SWEENEY : What's going on, Joe?
DIZ : I don't know.
PRESIDENT : You may proceed, Senator.
PAINE : I refer to the bill he has introduced in this chamber to create a National Boys' Camp. He named a certain portion of land to be dedicated for 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 and his privileged office for his own personal profit.
PRESIDENT : Order. Order!
SWEENEY : The Boy Ranger had a reck.
DIZ : This doesn't make sense.
PAINE : Accordingly, I offer a resolution. On the immediate inquiry by the Committee of Privilege and elections as for the fitness of my colleague to continue to sit in this chamber.
JEFFERSON : Mr. President, I...
PRESIDENT : Order. Order! The chair will clear the gallery unless order is restored.
REPORTER : Flash. Ranger Senator branded by colleague, Senator Paine.
DIZ : Flash. Senator Paine brings charges to expel Senator Smith.
REPORTER : Hey Diz, where's Saunders?
SWEENEY : Yeah. She ought to have a low down on this.
DIZ : I wish I knew. She packed up and left town in that Jallopee of hers. (into phone) Hey Joe, Senator Paine accuses Senator Smith of introducing a Boys' Camp bill for his own profit. Yeah. (to Secretary) Give me a cigarette. (into phone) Paine's asked for a hearing before the Committee of Privileges and Elections.
HUBERT : Well frankly, my dear Senators, the morning Mr. Kenneth Allen burst into my office bringing proof that Jefferson Smith owned the deed to that campsite, I was dumbfounded!
CHAIRMAN : Pardon me, Governor. What did you do when Mr. Allen brought this to your attention?
HUBERT : Well, I consulted at once with the Head of Department of Records, Mr. Arthur Kim.
CHAIRMAN : Mr. Kim, do you remember recording such a deed?
KIM : Yes, on the date set forth here, Mr. Kenneth Allen came before me to record this deed, uh, setting over these two hundred acres in the name of Jefferson Smith.
CHAIRMAN : How long have you known Sentor Smith, Mr. Allen?
ALLEN : Oh, a good many years. He used to use my land up around Willet Creek every summer for his Boy Rangers. Seemed like a mighty nice fellow. And one day he made a proposition. Said he had a great chance to sell that land for a least five hundred an acre. I'd be glad to get twenty-five 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.
CHAIRMAN : Uh, that contract you mentioned, have you got that document?
ALLEN : That land wouldn't be in his name if I didn't have, yes sir. Signed and delivered.
JEFFERSON : I never signed any such contract.
ALLEN : He certainly did.
CHAIRMAN : Just a moment, please.
EXPERT 1 : After a long study of this signature, it is my professional opinion that it is definitely in Jefferson Smith's own handwriting.
EXPERT 2 : As an expert on handwriting, I'd say that the name of Jefferson Smith on this contract has been forged.
EXPERT 3 : I would stake my whole twenty-year professional career on the fact that this is not a forgery, but is Mr. Smith's own signature.
PAINE : This is a very painful duty for me. This boy is the son of my very best friend. I sponsered 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 sight in which he'd chosen for his camp. There are hundred equally good camp sights 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 two-hundred acres. And, as you've heard, carefully laid plans to make an enormous profit out of the nickles and dimes scraped together by the boys of this country. Based on that, regardless for my personal feelings for the boy, my sense of duty told me that his expulsion from the Senate was the only possible answer.
DIZ : Beautiful, that Taylor machine.
CHAIRMAN : Senator Smith, please. Will you take the chair, please? The committee is ready to hear you now, Senator Smith. Keep your seats, gentleman. The committee has not adjourned yet. Quiet. Freeze!
McGANN : Well, see, the funniest thing you ever saw, that Ranger never knew what hit him when Jim Taylor opened up on him.
(01:24:50)
TAYLOR : Well, which one of you girls wants this? Well, do you want it?
JEFFERSON : Oh.
SAUNDERS : Hello.
JEFFERSON : Hello, Saunders.
SAUNDERS : You know, I had a hunch I'd find you here. When you weren't any place else.
JEFFERSON : How've you been Saunders?
SAUNDERS : Oh. All right.
JEFFERSON : Your husband, how's he?
SAUNDERS : What? Oh, ole' Diz, well we're not married.
JEFFERSON : Oh, right.
SAUNDERS : You know, it's a good thing I got back to, when I did. You know what I found waiting for me?
JEFFERSON : No.
SAUNDERS : A jar of preserves from your mother.
JEFFERSON : Oh, you did. Huh?
SAUNDERS : Yeah.
JEFFERSON : Well, was it strawberry?
SAUNDERS : Uh-huh.
JEFFERSON : Yeah, that's, it's the best kind.
SAUNDERS : Well, I, uh, I see by the papers, you certainly got to be a Senator.
JEFFERSON : You sure had the right idea about me, Saunders. You told me to go back home, keep filling those kids full of hope, eh? Yeah. Just a simple guy you said, still wet behind the ears. A lot of junk about American ideals. Yeah, it's certainly a lot of junk, all right.
SAUNDERS : Now, look Senator.
JEFFERSON : I don't know. This is a whole new world to me. What are you gonna believe in when a man like Paine, Senator Joseph Paine gets up and swears that I've been robbing kids of nickels and dimes. A man I've admired and worshipped all my life. Yeah, a lot of fancy words around this town. Some of 'em are carved in stone, some of 'em...guess the Taylor's and Paine's put 'em up there so that suckers like me could read them. Then, when you find out what men actually do, I'm getting out of this town so fast...away from all the words, and the monuments and the whole rotten show.
SAUNDERS : I see. When you get home, what are you gonna tell those kids?
JEFFERSON : I'll tell them the truth, they might as well find it out now than later.
SAUNDERS : I don't think they'll believe you, Jeff. You know, they're libel to look up at you with hurt faces and say, Jeff, what did you do? Quit? Didn't you do something about it?
JEFFERSON : Well, what do you expect me to do? An honorary stooge like me, gives the Taylor's and Paine's and machines and lies...
SAUNDERS : You're friend Mr. Lincoln had his Taylor's and Paine's...so did every other man who 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 in this world came from fools with faith like that, you know that Jeff. You can't quit now, not you. They aren't all Taylor's and Paine's in Washington. That kind just throw big shadows, that's all. You didn't just have faith in Paine 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 cock-eyed world right now, 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 Taylor's and rule 'em out into the open. I think he was waiting for you, Jeff. He knows you can do it, so do I.
JEFFERSON : What? Do what Saunders?
SAUNDERS : You just make up your mind your not going to quit and I'll tell you what. I've been thinking about it all the way back here. It's a forty foot dive into a tub of water but, I think you can do it.
(01:30:00)
JEFFERSON : Clarissa. Where can we get a drink?
SAUNDERS : Now you're talking. Come on over to my place.
CLERK : Mr. Dearborn?
DEARBORN : Here.
CLERK : Mr. Drenall?
DRENALL : Here.
CLERK : Mr. Dwight?
DWIGHT : Here.
CLERK : Mr. Erlich?
SWEENEY : No sight of Smith today? Where's the drums? Where's the guillotine? In fact, where's Smith?
DIZ : Smith hasn't stopped running since he left that Committee room.
CLERK : Mr. Singleton?
SINGLETON : Here.
CLERK : Mr. Smith?
JEFFERSON : Here.
DIZ : You know, that guys batty.
PRESIDENT : The clerk will continue with the roll call.
CLERK : Mr. Williams?
WILLIAMS : Here.
CLERK : Mr. Wilson?
DIZ : Here comes Saunders. Hi. Is this some of your shananigan?
SAUNDERS : Shh.
DIZ : What's the matter?
SAUNDERS : Pray, Diz. If you know how.
DIZ : Did you have anything to do with bringing that guy in here? Are you crazy?
PRESIDENT : Ninety Senators have answered to their names. Quorum is present. Proceeding now to the regular order.
McPHERSON : Mr. President!
PRESIDENT : Senator McPhereson.
McPHERSON : I desire to call up the report of the Committee on Privileges and Elections on the expulsion of Jefferson Smith.
PRESIDENT : The clerk will read the report.
CLERK : 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 the recommendation that the same do pass. Resolved, that Jefferson Smith be expelled from his seat in the Senate.
AGNEW : Mr. President. I move for the immediate adoption of the resolution.
JEFFERSON : Mr. President!
MARTIN : Mr. President!
JEFFERSON : I addressed the chair first, sir!
MARTIN : I am about to ask for a roll call on the passage of the resolution without further delay.
JEFFERSON : Mr. President!
MARTIN : The Senator can have nothing to say at this time that would not be either in bad grace or...
PRESIDENT : However, Senator Smith is still a member of this body and as such, has equal claim on the attention of this chair.
JEFFERSON : You were about to recognize me, sir.
PRESIDENT : That is merely your impression, Senator.
SAUNDERS : Let him speak!
PRESIDENT : Order! Before proceeding, I should like to remind the visitors in the galley that they are here as guests and should conduct themselves such. And I might add that their sentiment will in no way affect the judgement of this chair. The chair recognizes, Senator Smith.
JEFFERSON : Thank you, sir.
SAUNDERS : Diz, here we go.
JEFFERSON : Well, the gentlemen are in a pretty tall hurry to get me outta here. And the way the evidence is piled up against me, I can't say that I blame them much. And I'm willing to go, sir...when they vote it 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 said.
PAINE : Mr. President! Will the Senator yield?
PRESIDENT : Will Senator Smith yield to...
JEFFERSON : No, sir! I'm afraid not! No sir, I yielded the floor once before, if you can remember and was practically never heard of again. No, sir. And we might as well get on this yielding business right off the bat now. I had some pretty good coaching last night and I find that if I yield for only a question or a point of order or a personal privilege, I find that I can hold this floor almost until doomsday. In other words, I've got a piece to speak and blow hot or cold, I'm gonna speak it.
PAINE : Will the Senator yield?
PRESIDENT : Will Senator Smith yield to...
JEFFERSON : Yield how, sir?
PAINE : Yield for a question.
JEFFERSON : For a question, all right.
PAINE : I wish to ask my junior colleague this 'piece' he intends to speak, does it concern Section Forty of that bill or dam or Willet Creek?
JEFFERSON : It does!
PAINE : Every aspect of this matter, the gentleman's attack on that section, everything was dealt with in Committee hearing.
JEFFERSON : Mr. President?
PAINE : 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 at that same hearing?
JEFFERSON : I have no defense against forged papers.
PAINE : 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 with his condemned character has to say about any section of any legislation before this house.
SENATORS : Yeah! Right you are.
PRESIDENT : Order, gentlemem.
JEFFERSON : Mr. President. I stand guilty as framed! Because Section Forty 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 'em in his room, the day I went up to see him.
(01:35:08)
PAINE : Will the Senator yield?
JEFFERSON : 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 twenty 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 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...
PAINE : Mr. President? A point of order.
JEFFERSON : Mr. President.
PRESIDENT : Senator Paine will state it.
PAINE : It was I who rose in this chamber to accuse him. He's saying that I was cutting out criminal orders on falsified evidence.
JEFFERSON : No, Mr. President.
PAINE : He has imputed to make conduct unworthy a Senator. And I demand that he be made to yield the floor.
JEFFERSON : Mr. President I did not say that Senator Paine was one of the congressmen in that room.
PAINE : I was in that room!
PRESIDENT : Order gentlemen.
PAINE : 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.
JEFFERSON : Mr. President, have I the floor?
PAINE : We knew 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'll probably even try to hold up this deficiency bill, vital to the whole country which must be passed immediately, today.
JEFFERSON : Have I the floor?
PAINE : Gentlemen, I have lost all patience with this brazen character. I apologize to this body for his appointment. I forget I ever knew him. I am sick and tired of this contemptual 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.
SENATORS : Yield the floor.
PRESIDENT : Gentlemen. Gentlemen. Please address the chair.
AGNEW : Mr. President, what does the gentleman want with this body?
JEFFERSON : I'll tell you what I want, sir. I want a chance to talk to people who will 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 am right. And in the mean time, I want the Senate's promise that I will not be expelled and that the Deficiency Bill will not be passed.
AGNEW : Will the Senator yield?
JEFFERSON : For a question.
AGNEW : Has the gentleman the affrontery to stand there convicted and in disgrace and try to force postponement of the Deficiency Bill?
JEFFERSON : For one week.
SENATOR 1 : 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.
SENATOR 2 : Are we gonna keep relief from the country?
JEFFERSON : The people of my state need permanent relief from crooked men riding their backs.
SENATOR 3 : Mr. President, if the Senate yields to this sort of blackmail at this time, from this man, it'll become a laughing stock.
AGNEW : It is an insult to this body to have to listen. An insult to out colleague, Senator Paine. I for one, will follow the Senator's example, and refuse to remain in this chamber as long as that man holds the floor.
PRESIDENT : Order gentlemen.
JEFFERSON : Alright sir, I guess I'll just have to speak to the people of my state from right here. And I'll tell your one thing, that wild horses aren't gonna drag me off this floor until those people have heard everything I have got to say, even if it takes all winter.
PRESS : Filibuster.
JEFFERSON : Well, Mr. President, we seem to be alone. I-I'm not complaining for social reasons, it's just I-I think it'd be a pity if these gentlemen missed any of this and...and uh...I-I call the chairs attention to...rule five of the Standing Rules of the Senate, Section Three. If it shall be found that a quorum is not present, a majority of the Senators present, and that looks like me, uh-uh, may direct the Sargeant at Arms to request and if necessary compell the attendance of the absence Senators. Well, Mr. President, I so direct.
PRESIDENT : The absence of a quorum being suggested, ring the call to quorum.
CAUSHIN : Call to quorum.
PAGEBOYS : Quorum call. Calling quorum.
JEFFERSON : It's no hurry Mr. Presdient. I've got plenty of time.
PAGEBOYS : Quorum call. All Senators wanted on the floor.
PRESIDENT : Clerk will call the roll.
CLERK : Mr. Agnew.
AGNEW : Here.
CLERK : Mr. Albert.
ALBERT : Here.
CLERK : Mr. Alford.
ALFORD : Here.
CLERK : Mr. Ashpin.
ASHPIN : Here.
DIZ : Hello, Joe. Yeah, get this. Smith got the floor and is holding it. Yeah, just as they were about to kick him out.
SAUNDERS : He did it, Diz! He did it! It's wonderful.
DIZ : Isn't it terrific! A filibuster. This is the miracle I wanted. What a...
SAUNDERS : Darrel, just get everything he's saying back to that home state, will ya'.
DARREL : Honey, it's my pleasure.
DIZ : Sweetheart, they're going to hear this in Patagonia. In protest, the whole Senate body rose and walked out.
SAUNDERS : No, not that straight stuff. Now listen. Kick it up. Get on his side. Fight for him. Understand?
DIZ : You love this monkey, don't ya'?
SAUNDERS : What do you think? Now listen, go to work and do as I tell you.
DIZ : Okay. Throw out that last, take this. This is the most Titanic battle of modern times. A David without even a slingshot rises to do battle against the mighty Goliath, the Taylor machine, allegedly crooked inside and out. Yeah, and for my money you can cut out the allegedly.
TAYLOR ASSISTANT : We're bringing everybody up from state headquarters.
TAYLOR : Alright, where are they? Come on get these telefaxes moving. Did you get Hendricks?
TAYLOR ASSISTANT 2 : They're looking for him.
TAYLOR : 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 go back into that Senate?
PAINE : Jim, the boy's talking to that straight. If he can raise public opinion against us, if any part of this sticks...
TAYLOR : Nah, he'll never get started. I'll make public opinion out there within five hours. I've done it all of my life. I'll blacken this punk so, that he'll...You leave public opinion to me. Now Joe, I think you better go back into the Senate and keep those Senators lined up.
PAINE : I hit him from the floor with everything I knew. Besides I haven't got the stomach for it anymore.
TAYLOR : If he even starts to convince those Senators you might as well blow your brains out, you know that, don't ya'? 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 alive...
TAYLOR ASSISTANT : ...Jackson City, Hendricks on the phone.
TAYOR : Go ahead back to the Senate, 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 twenty-four hours. Uh, stall their deliveries, push 'em off the streets, I don't care what you do, just bury 'em for twenty-four 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. Hendricks, get the hoipaloi excited, have 'em send protests, letters, wires, anything you like. And buy up every minute you can get get of every two-bit radio station you can get 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!
HEADLINES READ : Smith Disgraces State...in vicious attack on beloved Senator Paine Smith stops relief, Blocks Deficiency Bill. Jailbird Defies Nation, The Poor Starve...
RADIO ANNOUNCER 1 : This filibuster is a cowardly attempt to turn you attention from the true facts which have been established beyond question.
RADIO ANNOUNCER 2 : Jefferson Smith was caught red-handed, stealing from boys.
RADIO ANNOUNCER 3 : Relief will be stopped. Men will be thrown out of jobs.
SENATOR 1 : I've seen filibustering but...
AGNEW : Ah, Smith can't go on, it's ridiculous.
SENATOR 2 : Henry, we've got to get this man off the floor.
PRESIDENT : Boys, as long as Mr. Smith holds that floor legitimately he's gonna continue to hold it. If you ask me, that young fella is making a whole lotta sense.
PAINE : Sense? You call blackmail "sense", Henry?
MARTIN : 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.
PAINE : Well, I'm very glad to know that Martin. After twenty years work with you fellas I am very glad to know that your ready to take his word against mine. That's fine.
MARTIN : Oh, ridiculous.
PAINE : Oh yes, that's what it means. If he is justthat much right then I am wrong.
SENATOR 3 : Joe, listen. Can't we work out some deal to pull that Willet Dam out and let the Deficiency Bill go through?
PAINE : It isn't a question of Willet Dam. It's a question of my honor an reputation. And the integrity of the Committee on Priviledges 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.
SENATORS : Wait a minute.
SENATOR 4 : Wait, wait, wait a minute. This is a lot of nonsense. Joe is right. A deal is impossible. We've go to go on as we've been doing and break him. Keep him talking, no relief, maintain a quorum in relays. Is that how you feel, John?
JOHN : For once I agree with you. Gentlemen, it's time to relieve the men on the floor.
SENATOR : How a man as green as that knows as much as he does...
SENATOR : It can't go on much longer.
JEFFERSON : ...and they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights and that among these are life liberty and the pursuit of...it looks like the night shift is coming on.
PRESIDENT : The Senate will please suspend until order is restored in the chamber.
(01:45:06)
H.B.COLTONBOR : This is H.B. Coltonbor speaking. Half of official Washington is here to see democracy's finest Joe, a filibuster. The right to talk your head off. The American priviledge 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.
JEFFERSON : ...Ah, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. And to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the government, and 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?
TAYLOR : Now quit stalling and move.
TAYLOR ASSISTANT 1 : Phone, Jim.
TAYLOR : Hello.
TAYLOR ASSISTANT 2 : Mr. Taylor.
TAYLOR : Wait a minute. Well, talk to Paine about it.
TAYLOR ASSISTANT 2 : Yes, sir.
TAYLOR : Hello, Clark. This is Jim Taylor in Washington. Now, about this Smith filibuster. Your chain of nespapers in the Southwest must realize that this bill he is 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?
SECRETARY : Jackson city calling.
TAYLOR : Hold 'em. We've got to keep Henry at this man until we smash him.
JEFFERSON : I always get a great kick out of that part of the Declaration of Independence. Now, your not gonna a country that can make these kinds of rules work, if you haven't got men that have learned to tell human rights from a punch in the nose.
DIZ : That's good for a headline.
JEFFERSON : It's the funny thing about men, ya' know. They all start life being boys. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if some of these Senators were boys once. That's why it seemed like a pretty good idea to me to get the boys out of crowded cities, and stuffy basements for a couple of months out of the year. And build their bodies and minds for man size jobs because those boys are gonna be bhind 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 fellow, 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 boys camp ought to be, to get some graft to pay off some political army or something, well 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 hooey. this isn't your country, it belongs to a lot of James Taylors". Oh, no. Not me. And anybody here that thinks I'm gonna do that they got another thing coming. That's alright, 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, I...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 crazy.
SENATOR 1 : You wouldn't car to put that to a vote, would you Senator?
SENATOR 2 : Would the Senator yield for a question?
JEFFERSON : I yield.
SENATOR 2 : In view of the gentleman's touching concern for the Senators, and in view of the fact that he has 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.
SAUNDERS : No, no, don't. Don't. Ask him. Ask, ask him.
JEFFERSON : Uh, Mr. President, what happens to me in the morning? I mean about my having this floor, to go on with my babblings?
PRESIDENT : 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 is recognized first.
JEFFERSON : Uh, huh. As I was saying gentlemen, I'm either dead right or I'm crazy. And I feel fine. What do ya' got, Dick?
DICK : Miss Saunders.
JEFFERSON : Oh.
(01:50:00)
BOOK INSCRIPTION : Jeff- You're wonderful. Press boys all with you - Read them Constitution next very slow. Diz says I'm in love with you. He's right.
SENATOR : Is the Senator yielding the floor?
JEFFERSON : 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...
TAYLOR : Yeah, well buy it or wreck it.
DIZ : ...column two! Holy smokes.
SAUNDERS : What's the matter Diz?
DIZ : You're kidding. This is murder. You gotta call him off. He's getting nowhere.
SAUNDERS : What are you talking about?
DIZ : Not one word of what he's saying is being printed in that state.
SAUNDERS : Oh, no Diz.
DIZ : Taylor has practically every paper in the state lined up and he's feeding them doctored up junk.
SAUNDERS : One man muzzling a whole state?
DIZ : And how?
SAUNDERS : Freedom of the press. Wait a minute. I've got an idea. Come on. Jeff has a paper there, Boys Stuff, right?
DIZ : Terrific.
SAUNDERS : 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,(To Diz)Write me a front page raft, will ya' Diz, can you print it up and spread a billion copies of it? Swell. Get ready to take it down, will ya' Mrs. Smith? Alright.
MRS.SMITH : Boys, everything about Jeff, get pencils and paper quick.
SAUNDERS : Alright, here we go.
MRS.SMITH : All ready, Clarissa.
SAUNDERS : She called me Clarissa. Okay, Ma. Jeff Tells Truth. Shows Up Taylor.
TAYLOR : I want the whole morning edition. A blast to push him off the floor. ...campaign for protest. Yeah, wire it.
SAUNDERS : Willet Dam is a fraud to line the pockets of the Taylor machines.
TAYLOR : Here's your front page editorial, wait a minute. A convicted thief representing you, holds the floor of the United States Senate.
MRS. SMITH : Alright boys, hurry up.
BOYS : Come on!
BOY 1 : Come on, bring on the bacon.
JEFFERSON : ...charity, wanteth not itself, is not puffed up. And now, abide us faith, hope charity. Of these three, the greatest of these is ""charity".
BOY 2 : Read about Jeff.
BOY 3 : ...Jell, maam.
TAYLOR WORKER : Boyscout circulation. Peddled by nine million kids.
MCGANN : What are you standing there for? Get the boys out. Kill it.
TAYLOR WORKER : Yes, sir.
BOY 4 : Jeff'll never stop fellas.
TAYLOR WORKER : Come on boys, get these papers out of here.
NEWSPAPER PEDDLER : Read all about it. Jeff Smith lies in Senate.
TAYLOR PUBLICITY ANNOUNCER : Wire Congress. Wire Congress. Wire Congress. Wire Congress. Wire Congress. Wire Congress.
KENNETH ALLEN : Are we gonna let a man like that murder Joe Paine?
CONSTITUENTS : No!
KENNETH ALLEN : Are you for Joe Paine?
CONSTITUENTS : Yes!
BOY 5 : Hurray for Jeff Smith!
(01:55:10)
MRS. SMITH : Children hurt all over the city. Tell Jeff to stop!
SAUNDERS : Yes. Yes, alright. Yes, goodbye.
H.B. COLTONBOR : Senator Smith has now talked for twenty three hours and sixteen minutes. It is the most unusual and spectacular thing in the Senate anals. 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.
JEFFERSON : There's no compromise with truth. That's all I got up from this floor to say. When was it? A year ago it seems like.
SAUNDERS : Diz, I'm afraid terrible things are happening, I've got to stop it.
DIZ : They are listening to him. Anything might happen now.
JEFFERSON : Just get up off the ground. That's all I ask. Get up there with that lady that's up on top of this capital 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 it was created. No matter what his race, color or creed. That's what you'd see. There's no place out there for graft, or greed or lies. Or compromise with human liberties. If that's what the grownups 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 Taylors, or you or me or anything else. Great priciples don't get lost once they come to light. They are right here. You just have to see them again.
PAINE : Mr. President. Will the Senator yield for a question?
PRESIDENT : Will Senator Smith yield to his colleague?
JEFFERSON : I yield for a question.
PAINE : 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?
SAUNDERS : Here it comes, Diz.
JEFFERSON : Yes, sir. You bet I would.
PAINE : Mr. President. Have I permission to bring into this chamber evidence of the response from my state?
MR. PRESDENT : Is there objection? You may proceed, Senator.
PAINE : Pageboys.
SENATOR : Come on boys. On your feet. All of you.
SAUNDERS : I can't stand it, Diz. I can't stand to see him hurt like this.
JOURNALIST : Public opinion-made to order.
DIZ : Yeah, Taylor-made.
PAINE : There it is. There's the gentleman's answer. Telegrams. Fifty thousand 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.
SAUNDERS : Stop Jeff! Stop!
(02:00:12)
JEFFERSON : I guess this is just another lost cause, Mr. Paine. All you people don't know about lost causes. Mr. Paine 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. Paine. And I loved you for it just as my father did. And you know that you fight for the lost causes harder than any for any others. Yes, you even die for them. Like a man we both knew, Mr. Paine. You think I'm licked. You all think I'm licked. Well I'm not licked and I'm gonna stay right here and fight for this lost cause. Even if this room gets filled with lies like these. And the Taylor's and all their armies come marching into this place. Somebody'll listen to me. Some...
SAUNDERS : Oh, Jeff.
SENATOR : He's okay. He just fainted.
DICK : Okay.
PAINE : Let me go.
SENATOR : What's the matter?
PAINE : I'm not fit to be a Senator. I'm not fit to live. It's for me. It's for me, not him. Willet Dam is 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. Every word about Taylor, and me and graft. And the rotten political corruption in my state. Every word of it is true. I'm not fit for office. I'm not fit for any place of honor or trust.
SENATORS : No. No.
PAINE : It's for me. It's for me.
SAUNDERS : Hooray, we did it.
DIZ : ...I've got to...I've got to write this story..
MR. PRESIDENT : Order gentlemen. Please.
SAUNDERS : Hooray, he did it!
DIZ : Let go of me.
SAUNDERS : Yipee!

THE END