The story concerns Jefferson Smith, a hokey, idealistic youth leader who is appointed to the U.S. Senate by his state’s political authorities on the assumption that he will be a pliable stooge. However, when he proposes a national youth camp on the site of a crooked land deal he was expected to approve, his benefactors—as well as the state’s senior senator—turn against him. Disillusioned by the corruption of Washington, Smith nearly leaves town but is persuaded by his secretary to mount an impassioned challenge to the system in the form of a marathon filibuster. In the popular climactic scene, one of the few in film history that hinges on a legislative tactic, Smith successfully exposes the attempted graft and wins the day.
