Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Essay

The main plot of the movie, Mr. Smith goes to Washington is a conflict between Jeff Smith, Senator Paine, and Jim Taylor. A senator of a state passed away causing a new senator needing to be appointed. Jim Taylor a local publicist who had pull around the Senate, pressured the governor to select Jefferson Smith. He was appointed as the new Senator of the State, because everyone thought that he was incompetent, naive, and would not get in their way. However when Smith passed a clever bill that got in the way of Jim Taylor’s scandal, Jim and Senator Paine tried to do whatever they could to get Jeffrey expelled from the Senate.

2. In today’s world there would be some mixed reactions to a senator like Jefferson Smith. Some people would disapprove of him because he is not the characteristic senator and has no political experience. They would think that he was young, and inexperienced, and that he did not deserve to be in such a highly respected position. Other people would love that he was standing up for what he knew was right, and that he was doing what needed to be done against those people who take advantage of our

The main characters in the movie, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, are Jefferson Smith, his secretary Clarissa Saunders, the senior senator from Smith’s state, Joseph Paine, and a newspaper magnate by the name of Jim Taylor. Jefferson Smith is in charge of the Boy Rangers and is avery patriotic but politically inexperienced man. His secretary Clarissa Saunders has lived and worked in Washington for some time and has become disillusioned with politics and tells Smith to go home, that a man like him has no chance in D.C. Senator Joseph Paine is the senior senator in the state he and Smith are representing. Paine’s career success is owed in large part to Jim Taylor, the crooked newspaper man who helped Paine win his seat. Jim Taylor has a large

This docility and willingness to vote according to the older Senators was most likely caused by the new Senators’ fear of the political bosses. Mr. Smith, however, was sheltered from knowing that the political bosses even existed and, as a result, was not afraid to stand up for his beliefs. Mr. Taylor, a typical political boss of Smith’s time, had extreme power in his state and was able to tilt the public opinion of Senator Smith. He did this through his control of the state media and connections within the government. Taylor concocted evidence with the help of his government connections alleging that Smith owned the property intended for the boy’s camp and was only promoting the camp bill so that he could sell his own property to the government at a high price. Taylor then publicized these false accusations against Smith in the newspapers that he controlled, thus persuading public opinion and ultimately causing Smith to be accused of wrongdoing by a Senate committee. Throughout this entire entourage, Smith was too inexperienced and naive to stand up against Taylor’s political machine and resorted instead to crying at the Lincoln Memorial. Smith only returned to the Senate after Saunders convinced him that he should fight for his rights. This situation ultimately proved once again that Senator Smith was too naive to be an effective Senator. Smith did not realize that the other Senators were inclined to believe the accusations against his character, and therefore,

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington follows Jefferson Smith (James Stewart) and his adventure with American politics. The film begins when a governor needs to replace a senator. The governor decides to appoint Smith because he appears to be a wholesome family man, while also being naïve—which makes him easy to manipulate. When Smith arrives in Washington, Senator Joseph Paine (Claude Rains) becomes a mentor to Smith. Smith falls in love with Paine’s daughter, Susan (Astrid Allwyn). Smith sticks out in Washington,

department in his cabinet was the department of state. The Department of State was made to work on foreign policy issues and to negotiate treaties and agreements. The Department of War was another one set up by Washington. It was changed to the Department of Defense in 1947 because the Department of War made it seem like we always wanted a fight. The Department of War was made to have control of all things military. They kept the troops in check and told the president how the troops were acting. The final one Washington made was the Department of the Treasury. The Department of Treasury tells the president the financial state of the United States, commands the Secret Service, and authorizes the printing of the United States Postal Service stamps

The film portrays the government in a very negative light and shows how the senators have no real influence on lawmaking. Mr. Smith’s struggles as a senator gave the impression that the government functions completely on bribery, blackmail, and lies. The film gives a very strong message about the lack of democracy in American government and politics, along with the ignorance of the American people. Mr. Smith portrays the average American citizen: he is naïve, has faith in the democracy, and is ignorant

Recently, many political scientists have argued over whether today’s Congress is centralizing or decentralizing. Centralization allows Congress to act quickly and decisively, but at the expense of the members of Congress and their constituents, while decentralization protects and enhances the interests of individual members and their constituents, but at the expense of its ability to act quickly and decisively. At its birth, Congress was created as a decentralized body, and although it has fluctuated over the years, the Constitution, congressional incentive for reelection, the committee system, and weak central leadership has certainly maintained such a decentralized institution.

When protagonist Jefferson Smith very suddenly becomes a US Senator, he is portrayed as the perfect example of nominal patriotism. He has several speeches by Washington and Lincoln memorized, is the leader of a group of what are basically Boy Scouts, and spends his first day in Washington DC in awe of the monuments.

During this time period, people such as JP Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, and JD Rockefeller were more powerful than the president. This led to widespread corruption within politics. Joseph Keppler’s cartoon portrays the amount of corruption that was present in the political system by claiming the big business tycoons control the Senate rather than people as shown in Document 4. In the cartoon, Keppler portrayed the Senate in which the senators are working while the big business tycoons were looking down as if they were in control. This goes to show that the Senate was completely in the pockets of

Mr. Smith is portrayed as an honest man with strong opinions. He is the ideal politician in an ideal society. The film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington depicts a "reassuring image" that happens to be "an image of the past" (Wheeler). However, in today's legislature, people like Mr. Smith are rare due to the fact that a politician's primary goal is re-election. The good of the people may come as another intention of a politician, but it is always secondary to "bringing home the pork." There should be more people like Mr. Smith because the legislature would be able to make decisions more effectively and efficiently, rather than how slowly they currently operate. This is an unfortunate truth, yet it is how our society has been shaped to operate.

This film has an interesting moral complexity to it. Stoddard is inspired to handle his opposition with Vance in a civil and legal matter, which many people would consider noble and moral. However, when it comes to protecting his own self interests (i.e. Haley and the nomination), Stoddard’s morals and integrity become rather flexible.

Mr. Smith had been so oblivious to the conniving agenda that his fellow senators had and how they were simply interested in their personal profit, which is where the Willow Creek Dam came into play. Because of Sam Foley's death and the vacancy in the Senate, Jefferson Smith's sole purpose of being appointed as a senator was to be a puppet of Jim Taylor and Paine, represent the general population of his state because he was well liked, and not make inquiries about things he didn't know. Smith was so naïve that he didn't even know about Taylors political machine when he was beginning to introduce his Boy's Camp, and he particularly didn't know about it being on the same land that Taylor's team would create the Willet Creek. By the time that his reputation started to smear and he began being painted as a criminal to rob children, he could not understand why. Taylor’s press and Paine did a good job at making him appear with a vindictive character and blaming him.

Daschle, Thomas, and Charles Robbins. The U. S. Senate. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2013.

The main gist of the institution is through legislation. However, in its entirety, the senate is divided into offices and committees in handling every day task such as research and development, recordings, and more. As with the group’s acceptance in the institution, the office in which we reside is in Senator Trillanes’ office. In this office, like in any other senator’s office, it is divided into two entities to serve both the people and the senator. In this case, one is the main office where the job mostly directs itself to the senator. The office produces information, contacts, scripts, rebuts, and accounting in aid for the upcoming sessions in the Senate. Likewise, as the sessions begin, recordings will be made through the office in order to provide information on the said sessions and to produce relevant transcripts, that is, to help the Senator in his debacles within and between sessions. In so doing, the main office is somehow the arms and legs of the Senator in his daily regimen of trials and interactions.