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{{work}}
[[File:Claude Rains and James Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939).jpg|thumb|400px| Go ahead; write your Congressman. It really frustrates them.]]
{{quote|''Liberty's 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."''|'''Jefferson Smith''', doing [[Eagle Land]] proud}}
A senator dies in the middle of his term, and the state Governor has to pick a replacement. The crooked political machine would like one candidate, but this man is already known to take positions unpopular with the populace of that state; there are petitions to pick a radical for the office.
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Mr. Smith gets to meet his idol, the other senator for his state, who did great things for the state many years ago and who was a personal friend of Smith's father. He's controlled by the machine now, but Mr. Smith isn't really aware of the machine yet.
Once in Washington, he also meets his chief of staff/secretary
Now, there is one problem the state machine has with Mr. Jefferson Smith. Mr. Smith has ''one'' issue he supports
Mr. Smith tries to protest the decision within the Senate, but when he yields the floor to the senior senator of his state, he is framed for ethics violations and it is moved that the Senate should consider expelling him. He almost resigns, but his secretary begs him to fight, asking, what would the Boy Scouts he led before becoming junior senator think of politics if he quit now?
So, he doesn't quit. Instead, he holds a ''very'' long [[Holding the Floor|filibuster]], never yielding the floor, never stopping, reading the Bible and the Constitution and the rules handbook, all to buy time for his supporters to send signs of his support. His supporters
Eventually, [[Bags of Letters]] do flood in, but the machine has successfully swayed public opinion through the media, and the most of the public is against Smith. He declares his intention to keep on fighting in an impassioned speech about how sometimes lost causes are the only ones worth fighting for, then collapses from exhaustion. Overcome by guilt, the senior senator has a [[Villainous Breakdown]]. Smith is vindicated.
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* [[Abraham Lincoln]]: The Lincoln Memorial is an important part of a few scenes.
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{{reflist}}
{{AFI's 100 Years 100 Heroes and Villains}}
[[Category:National Film Registry]]▼
{{Best in Film: The Greatest Movies of Our Time}}
[[Category:Films of the 1930s]]▼
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Academy Award]]
[[Category:Film]]
▲[[Category:Films of the 1930s]]
▲[[Category:National Film Registry]]
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