Mr. Smith Goes To Washington Page #49

A hum of excitement, and the gavel pounds. We get glimpses

of Taylor's reaction and Paine's growing dread of this

outburst.

JEFFERSON:

(raising his voice)

A man who controls a political machine--

and everything else worth controlling

in that state--powerful enough to

buy men and put them in this Congress

to legislate his graft! I saw three

of those men--when Mister Taylor

came here to see me.

Paine is up again.

PAINE:

Will the Senator--

JEFFERSON:

I will not yield, sir! This same man--

Mister Taylor--came here to offer me

a place in this Senate for twenty

years, if I would vote for a dam

that he knew and *I* knew was a

*fraud*! But if I opened my mouth

against it, he promised to break me

in two! And I stood here one day and

tried--I *started* to open my mouth--

and it all came to pass. The long,

powerful arm of Mister James Taylor

reached right into this sacred chamber

and took me by the scruff of the

neck--

Paine is on his feet desperately.

PAINE:

Mr. President! A point of order!

JEFFERSON:

(trying to proceed)

Mr. President--

PRESIDENT:

(rasping)

Senator Paine will state it!

PAINE:

It was *I* who rose in this Chamber

to accuse him. He is saying that I

was carrying out criminal orders on

falsified evidence--

JEFFERSON:

Mr. President--

PAINE:

He has imputed to me conduct unworthy

a Senator--and I demand he be made

to yield the floor--!

JEFFERSON:

Mr. President--I did not say that

Senator Paine was one of those

Congressmen I saw. If the chair

please, I will deny that Senator

Paine *saw* Taylor or even knows him--

PAINE:

I *did* see Taylor! And I was in

that room!

An uproar all over the house. Gavel pounds.

PAINE:

(raising his voice

above noise)

I accuse this man--by his tone--by

his careful denials--he is

deliberately trying to plant damaging

impressions of my conduct--! *I'll*

tell you why we were in tht room.

Because Mr. Taylor, a respected

citizen of our State, had brought

with him the evidence against this

man, later presented from this floor,

and *we were urging him to resign*--

!

PRESIDENT:

(banging)

Order!

PAINE:

--to avoid bringing disgrace upon a

clean and honorable State!

Jeff now listens in amazement--stunned by the desperate,

fighting lies of Paine.

PAINE:

(pitching on)

But he refused. He threatened to

bring that very disgrace down upon

the State and all of us--if we did

not let him go through with his

contemptible scheme!

More commotion.

PRESIDENT:

Order!

PAINE:

(shouting)

Finally, there was only one answer

to a man like him--the truth--which

I rose and gave to this body!

(Rising to emphatic,

desperate strength)

Mr. President--he has told lie upon

lie--every lie a desperate attempt

to conceal his own guilt. And now,

he is trying to blackmail this Senate--

as he tried to blackmail me! To

prevent his expulsion, he would

probably even try to hold up this

Deficiency Bill--vital to the whole

country--which must be passed

immediately--*today*! *Anything*--to

force you to clear his bad name and

save his hide!

(Then)

Gentlemen--I--I have no more patience

with this--this *rascally* character.

I apologize to this body for his

appointment--I regret I had ever

known him. I--I'm sick and tired of

this contemptible young man and I

refuse to listen to him any longer!

I hope every member of this body

feels as I do!

With that, Paine walks quickly to the cloakroom door--and

out. Applause breaks out. The President does not try to compel

order for a second. Cries break out--from gallery and floor.

CRIES:

Get off the floor!

Yield!

Yield!

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