Senate Corruption

In order to help me understand why the Senate can't get anything done, I decided to have a mini-film fest on the theme of Senate corruption.

I started with Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. This 1939 Frank Capra classic stars Jimmy Stewart as Jefferson Smith, a naive boy's club leader appointed to a vacant Senate seat. The governor appointed him to be a "stooge," or someone who would simply vote however the senior senator from the state voted Although Smith is naive to the ways of the Senate, he is not dumb. He quickly finds a suspicious provision in a bill that threatens the very same land in his home state where he wants to build a federal boy's camp. He fights to remove the provision and unwittingly takes on the political machine that controls politics in his state.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a good primer on the workings of the Senate and how a bill becomes law. It also explores political machines, and how the drive to be re-elected corrupts even the most honest of politicians. I give this movie 3/4 stars.

I followed Mr. Smith with Advise and Consent, a 1962 political thriller. The movie opens with the President nominating a new Secretary of State. The rest of the movie follows the process of his Senate approval. Although this sounds like a boring plot for a movie, it is actually quite captivating. Themes of blackmail, homosexuality, and communism are explored by an all-star cast (Henry Fonda, Burgess Meredith, Peter Lawford, Walter Pidgeon, Don Murray, Charles Laugton, and Betty White in her first role). What is particularly noteworthy about this movie is how it depicts the backroom negotiating that goes on between the Senators. I give this movie 4/4 stars.

My film series on Senate corruption was illuminating, but left me even more disillusioned with our current Senate!