Thinking of the movie "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" as Mr. Trump leaves office
And why our Congressional Halls are still sacred spaces.
As President Trump is heading out of Washington, I have been thinking about the movie Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, released in 1939, that was set in the hallowed Capitol of the United States which was so desecrated on Jan. 6, 2021. The movie starred Jimmy Stewart as Jefferson Smith, the idealistic leader of the Boy Rangers from an unnamed Western State, who is sent to Washington as a scheme by a political boss and a corrupt Senator Paine believing they can use and manipulate him. Smith tries to do some good by proposing a bill for a national boy’s camp in his home state, but he choses an inconvenient location which causes problem with a dam-building graph scheme. To stop him, Senator Paine frames the like-able Senator Smith, making it seem like he was building the camp where Smith owned the land and that he was self-dealing. In the film, that charge is enough for him to be expelled from the Senate.
In the film, made by It's a Wonderful Life director Frank Capra, the tireless Smith filibusters, an idea given to him by his jaundice aide Saunders played by Jean Arthur, and collapses on the floor debating 24 hours straight proclaiming his innocence. This eventually evokes the conscience of Senator Paine, who after almost killing himself in guilt, confesses.
No one would ever confuse Mr. Trump with Mr. Smith, but the idea of an outsider coming to Washington to stand-up to a corrupt system is uniquely American. In fact when the film came out, it was banned by Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy. (And actually some US Senators were said to walk out of the premiere believing it was un-American in the way it portrayed a corrupt Congress.) I remember secretly hoping when Trump was elected-- which was less of a surprise to those of us who live in Western Pennsylvania, that maybe Trump who had been a Democrat most of his life, would pivot to the center, and reveal he just cynically was using those divisive policies to get elected. From his inauguration speech, that of course turned out to be more of a delusion than a fantasy. But movies are myths that often reveal our truths, and skepticism towards government is built into the system which was after all founded by revolutionaries.
Many of those 70 million who voted for Trump may have done so understandably believing the system is broken. You need look no further than the lopsided Covid-19 bailouts and the ever-growing inequity of wealth for evidence. One wonders if some of those who showed up for the rally for Trump had also voted for Obama, believing he too might be a Mr. Smith who goes to Washington to fight for their interests and disillusioned by the realization that no matter who is in office things seem to be no better for them.
Of course, we must not romanticize the world in which Mr. Smith was made. While Capra himself was famously an immigrant whose movies became synonymous with the triumph of the optimistic, courageous underdog known as a Capra-eqsue view of America, there were no minorities in them--- with the notable exception of a savvy Jean Arthur who plays his aide in the film. If one must compare, the Trump presidency may closer resemble one of the loose remakes of Mr. Smith. In 1992, the Eddie Murphy film The Distinguished Gentleman reversed the plot a bit having Eddie play a con man Thomas Jefferson Johnson who cynically gets elected off of his name, but who becomes more idealistic once he goes to D.C. and sees they are more corrupt than he was, and decides to fight for the common man. An in the 1977, Capra's son Frank Jr. produced Billy Jack Goes to Washington, the do-good martial arts vigilante Billy Jack goes to D.C. to try to fix a corrupt system, and is framed fighting against a nuclear power plant, but instead of physically duking it out like the Capitol Hill vigilantes we saw last Wednesday, ends up collapsing on the floor during a filibuster, evoking Senator Paine's confession. Perhaps it was that lack of physical violence in that movie that made it a bomb.
Ms. Smith Goes to Washington
So is it time to retire the myth of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington? My “Politics and the Media” professor at Duke University David Paletz liked to point out how many times in the film one saw images of Abraham Lincoln, the one American presidents we all seem to believe in because he had the political courage to do what was unpopular and found a way to keep our union together while fighting for emancipation of slaves.
One looks towards the 10 U.S.Republican Congressmen who voted for the impeachment of Donald Trump for examples of political courage today. I noticed in particularly Washington State Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler who stood on the floor of Congress which had been invaded a week earlier, and said: “I understand the argument that the best course is not to further inflame the country or alienate Republican voters,” she said. “But I am a Republican voter. I believe in our Constitution, individual liberty, free markets, charity, life, justice, peace and this exceptional country. I see that my own party will be best served when those among us choose truth… I’m not afraid of losing my job, but I am afraid that my country will fail. I’m afraid patriots of this country have died in vain. I’m afraid my children won’t grow up in a free country. I’m afraid injustice will prevail. But truth — truth sets us free from fear… My vote to impeach our sitting president is not a fear-based decision. I am not choosing a side. I’m choosing truth. It’s the only way to defeat fear.”” Perhaps noting that Beutler herself is a Congressman , whose father is of Mexican descent, indicates that despite the continual setbacks and disappointments, there is hope and progress does happen even within a flawed system.
When making Mr. Smith, Capra cast a then little known Jimmy Stewart because he saw a character akin to Jefferson Smith in him. Stewart would go on to serve heroically in World War II and it should be noted was a lifelong Republican who hailed originally from Indiana, PA, outside of Pittsburgh. Like many places in this region, the borough of Indiana has been devastated economically over the years by the collapse of its coal mining industry, and while it calls itself the “Christmas Tree Capitol of the World”, more recently it has been like so many similar regions around here, been known as Trump country.
Can we still believe?
One wonders what will happen after Jan. 20th in places like this. Can Joe Biden win the hearts and minds of these people and get them to believe in America again? Joe, from not too distant Scranton, PA has some Capra-esque qualities. The boy with the stutter and the tragic past, who stood up against the bully to win the Presidency. But he is a bit old to play the male ingenue in our story. I did think of Jimmy Stewart's character Jefferson Smith a bit when I saw Western PA Congressman Conor Lamb speak last week on the house floor reminding Republicans that it was they who voted the system in place just recently which elected themselves and defeated Donald Trump. Like in the movies, he was booed and interrupted by fellow Congressman calling him a liar.
"These objections don't deserve an ounce of respect," he said. "Not an ounce. A woman died out there tonight, and you're making these objections. Let's be clear about what happened in this chamber today: invaders came in for the first time since the War of 1812. They desecrated these chambers and practically every inch of ground where we work."
In the end, I am left to believe our greatest hope is the young and the naïve, who will be energized from coming of age with both President Trump and President Obama who will have to at some point come to Washington themselves-- hopefully unarmed- to change the system. It is one of the great things about this country that no matter how we get pushed down, we always find a way to believe in the power of the individual and the happy ending. How Capra-esque.