Jefferson Smith is the titular protagonist of the 1939 American film, Mr. Smith is going to Washington. He is a naïve and idealistic nature lover who was suddenly propelled into the political world and more particularly into the Senate as a result of manipulation.
He was portrayed by James Stewart.
What Makes Him Pure Good?[]
- Some time before the events of the film, he single-handedly put out a giant forest fire.
- He's he been stated to collect stray boys and cats.
- He's also the head of the Boy Rangers, and an expert at wild game and animals, meaning he's great and patient around children.
- When he finds out he was to be honored as the new senator-to-be, he doesn't get egotistical about it, rather he states that he thinks there a huge mistake. It's one of the first signs Smith is an unambiguously good person.
- As a child, he revered and idolized the other state's representative, Senator Paine, as a pillar of virtue after his father once claimed that Paine was "the finest man he ever knew". He still holds positive outlook towards Paine even to this day.
- He's overall very optimistic and caring and polite to just about everyone he meets or encounters. Far more than any of his partners in the office.
- As a senator he instantly has thoughts for ideas that would be good for the country. He discusses his dream of creating a national boys camp in hopes that they'd learn about nature and American ideals, because in his words, "boys forget what their country means by just reading 'the land of the free' in history books. And they get to be men - they forget even more. Liberty's too precious a thing to be buried in books. 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.'"
- While he does get annoyed from the humiliating newspaper interview and angrily stalks through the streets of Washington, punching out a group of men who were mocking him in the paper. He doesn't do so out of pure malice or hatred, he does it because he had just realized the press was corrupt and propaganda and would often spend hurtful lies to the people of country just to make others look good, meaning Smith had a justifiable reason for the action. Plus he gets over the issue pretty quickly, and goes back to his original drafting plan.
- Indirectly causes his secretary Clarissa Saunders to mellow out and turn over a new leaf becoming a nicer person, and defending him from the corruptions.
- Refuses to turn himself in or surrender even after constantly being told he wasn't fit to be a senator.
- After finding out his childhood hero and current friend Senator Paine was working against him for creating a useless dam, he confronts Paine and refuses to vote on his bill until he found out more. Also, Smith's selflessness and determination would in turn led to Sen. Paine himself having second thoughts about working with Jim Taylor to create the dam and nearly turn on him all together.
- When he realizes Paine was working for the corrupt Jim Taylor, and Paine begs Jeff to avoid interfering with the Deficiency Bill, he feels completely heartbroken about this event.
- During the reading of the Deficiency Bill Smith he rises to question Section 40 regarding Willet Creek Dam and nearly exposes Paine's corrupt plan. The only reason it didn't happen was because Paine unwillingly framed him at the last second, which not only breaks Smith's heart, it nearly causes him to give up all together. He was at his absolute lowest point.
- In possibly his most iconic heroic moment, he leads one-man filibuster scene that lasts a whopping 23 hours with no breaks, in part to stall a vote that would oust him from the Senate. He spends the speech standing his ground calling out the injustices of the Senate and especially telling off Jim Taylor. He even got his voice hoarse for all his talking and eventually fainted at the very end of the 23 hours. This would result Senator Paine finally deciding to confess his amorality to everyone in the room and attempt suicide out of shame.
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 Pure Goods
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Animated Features Live-Action Features Scripts See Also | ||