#Alben Barkley

[trtrff]

"It must have been an embarrassing moment for the groom" by Silvey Jackson Ray

[politicalrpf]

"Beat High Prices" Harry Truman campaign poster, 1948.

[politicaldilfs]

Alben Barkley and John Garner. On my knees in front of them.

[todaysdocument]

A women's military unit passes in front of President Truman and Vice President Alben Barkley during the inaugural parade.

Collection HST-PHC: Photograph CollectionSeries: Photographs Relating to the Administration, Family, and Personal Life of Harry S. Truman

This black and white photograph shows a large group of uniformed women marching down the street in Washington, D.C. before a large covered platform.  Spectators are seated on the platform which displays the presidential seal.  Bare trees and buildings are visible in the background.

[camisoledadparis]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … November 11

1872 – David I Walsh (d.1947) US Senator for Massachusetts, was named in 1942 by the New York Post as implicated in a sensational Nazi spy sex scandal.

It was alleged that he was a frequent visitor to a male brothel patronized by US Navy personnel, that had been infiltrated by Nazi spies. The brothel owner, Gustave Beekman, was subsequently convicted and sentenced to 20 years for sodomy, and three Nazi agents arrested and convicted.

Senator Walsh predictably protested his innocence, insisting that he had never been near the place. However, in statements to police, Beekman and others identified Walsh as a regular patron. President Roosevelt, in conversations with his vice-president and with the Senate majority leader, said "everybody knew" that Walsh was homosexual.

The scandal was complex in that it implicated the Senator as a homosexual, as a patron of a male bordello, and as a possible dupe of enemy agents. Homosexuality was a taboo subject for public discourse, so the Post referred to a "house of degradation." At one point a sub-headline in the New York Times called it a "Resort." In the Daily Mirror, columnist Walter Winchell mentioned "Brooklyn's spy nest, also known as the swastika swishery." The Post first suggested a scandal. Over the course of several weeks it hinted an important person was involved, then named "Senator X", and finally identified Walsh by name. Its sensational treatment of the story detracted from the seriousness of its charges.

The brothel's owner and several others arrested in a police raid identified Walsh to the police as "Doc," a regular client, whose visits ended just before police surveillance began. Some furnished intimate physical details.

On May 20, 1942, with a full report from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover in hand, Senator Alben W. Barkley, the Senate majority leader, addressed the Senate at length on the irresponsibility of the New York Post, the laudable restraint of the rest of the press, the details of the FBI's report, and the Senate's affirmation of Walsh's "unsullied" reputation.

He declined to insert the FBI report in the Congressional Record, he said, "because it contains disgusting and unprintable things." Without addressing Walsh's sexuality, he said the report contained no evidence that Walsh ever "visited a 'house of degradation' to connive or to consort with, or to converse with, or to conspire with anyone who is the enemy of the United States." He denied the charges related to espionage. He provided no specifics about the sexual activity at issue and said the details of the charges were "too loathsome to mention in the Senate or in any group of ladies and gentlemen."The press treated the charges in a similar way. For example, the New York Times report of Barkley's speech said that the FBI reported that "there is not the 'slightest foundation' for charges that Senator Walsh, 69-year-old chairman of the Naval Affairs Committee, visited a 'house of degradation' in Brooklyn and was seen talking to Nazi agents there."

In other words, while outwardly saying the charges were untrue, they reiterated them.

1939-1945 – Canadian Gays at war find a new identity.

While there was a well-documented purge of gay servicemen during the '60s, '70s and '80s, the realities of gay life in the military a couple of decades earlier were quite different. During the Second World War, some gays were turfed, while others were tolerated. Often, getting kicked out of the military for being gay had to do with circumstance — when Canada's troop levels ran low, gays were far less likely to be discharged.

But for a generation of young men and women, the Second World War was both their coming of age experience and their opportunity to come out. The war changed the world of gay life indelibly. Several years of war helped thousands of young men and women explore their sexuality.

Montreal writer Paul Jackson has found that the war not only showed soldiers a world they had never seen before, it also revealed a way of life that was equally foreign.

"For many queer servicemen, the transfer overseas represented a break with heterocentric Canadian social structures," he wrote in One of the Boys, a book that chronicles the wartime experiences of Canadian gay men. "Many found new opportunities for sexual self-discovery."

During World War II, military bases (which were already homoerotically charged) became brazen cruising zones. So it's not surprising that one of the most prominent wartime hotspots for gays developed in one of central Canada's traditional military strongholds — Kingston, Ontario.

Marney McDiarmid, who wrote about Kingston's queer history, says the war transformed the city's relatively quiet gay community. She wrote that, during the conflict, "the sheer presence of so many young men, far from home, transformed city streets into sites of sexual possibility."

For years after the war, the Kingston garrison remained quite large. Six thousand men were stationed in town as late as the 1960s. McDiarmid detailed the experience of one man, identified only as Earl, whom she interviewed about that period of time.

"One of the great hobbies was to get in your car and drive the La Salle Causeway," he said, referring to the road that bridges the Cataraqui River between downtown and the army base.

"[Soldiers] were short of money — naturally, in the military, they weren't paid too well — and they were always walking up the hill," he said. "So you'd stop and offer a lift — and they'd get back a lot later than they should have."

But even though the Canadian conscription crisis interrupted the homosexual witch-hunt that was, until then, being carried out by commanding officers, psychiatrists and snitches at home and abroad, being discovered as gay was still something that earned a soldier a dishonourable discharge.

Jackson wrote that military officials argued — and in some cases, still argue — that "the presence of openly homosexual soldiers would disrupt unit cohesion. Queer soldiers would be a disturbing influence, weakening the bonds that hold a group together and making it less effective."

But, outside the context of outright discovery, gay presence and gay activity was often simply ignored.

Gay sex and intimacy were often tolerated by soldiers on the ground. Solidarity among men on the front lines — both gay and straight — often trumped any pre-war prejudice or bigotry that might otherwise have caused divisions.

"There were secrets everywhere, and soldiers protected each other from [their superiors] in the army, navy and air force. It was to everyone's benefit to protect the unit," Jackson said.

After the war, Jackson said, Canadian society embraced a return to pre-war normalcy. There was a sense that Canadians needed "to put society back together again," he said. But for that simple, gay farm boy from Upper Buttfuck, Saskatchewan, there was no going back.

- (Adapted from Xtra! Jan 20, 2010)

An early Mattachine meeting

1950 – The Mattachine Society – the organization founded by Harry Hay along with a small group of Los Angeles male friends, first met on this date. The met in Los Angeles with Hay, Rudi Gernreich, Bob Hull, Chuck Rowland, and Dale Jennings in attendance, but was not incorporated until 1954 when a different group assumed leadership positions.

Because of concerns for secrecy and the founders' leftist ideology, they adopted the cell organization being used by the Communist Party. In the anti-Communist atmosphere of the 1950s, the Society's growing membership replaced the group's early Communist model with a more traditional ameliorative civil rights leadership style and agenda. Then, as branches formed in other cities, the Society splintered in regional groups by 1961.

Harry Hay conceived of the idea of a homosexual activist group in 1948. After signing a petition for Progressive Party presidential candidate Henry A. Wallace, Hay spoke with other gay men at a party about forming a gay support organization for him called "Bachelors for Wallace". Encouraged by the response he received, Hay wrote the organizing principles that night, a document he referred to as "The Call".

He planned to call this organization "Bachelors Anonymous" and envisioned it serving a similar function and purpose as Alcoholics Anonymous. Hay met Rudi Gernreich in July 1950. The two became lovers, and Hay showed Gernreich The Call. Gernreich, declaring the document "the most dangerous thing [he had] ever read", became an enthusiastic financial supporter of the venture, although he did not lend his name to it (going instead by the initial "R".

Finally on November 11, 1950, Hay, along with Gernreich and friends Dale Jennings and lovers Bob Hull and Chuck Rowland, held the first meeting of the Mattachine Society in Los Angeles, under the name "Society of Fools".

James Gruber and Konrad Stevens joined the Society in April 1951 and they are generally considered to be original members. Also that month the group changed its name to Mattachine Society, a name suggested by Gruber and chosen by Hay, after Medieval French secret societies of masked men who, through their anonymity, were empowered to criticize ruling monarchs with impunity.

A largely amicable split within the Society in 1952 resulted in a new organization called ONE, Inc. ONE admitted women and, together with Mattachine, provided vital help to the Daughters of Bilitis in the launching of that group's magazine, The Ladder, in 1956.

Ray Boltz with Franco Sperduti

1953 – Ray Boltz, born in Muncie, Indiana, is a singer-songwriter who first came to wide notice in contemporary Christian music. Many of his songs tell stories of faith and inspiration.Boltz is the middle child of his parents' three children (a fourth child died shortly after birth). He was married to his wife Carol for 33 years, and they have four children.

Boltz was virtually unknown when he wrote "Thank You", which won the Song of the Year prize at the 1990 GMA Dove Awards. His song "I Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb" also won a Dove Award for Inspirational Recorded Song of the Year at the 25th GMA Dove Awards in 1994. After the release of Songs from the Potter's Field in 2002, and his last tour in 2004, Boltz retired from the music industry. He separated from his wife in 2005 before moving to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with their divorce being finalized in early 2008.

On Friday, September 12, 2008, during an interview with the Washington Blade, Boltz disclosed that he was gay. Since then, Boltz has performed at several churches of the Metropolitan Community Church, a gay-affirming Christian denomination. His songs often tell stories of faith and inspiration. He travels the world in the group of Michael English, Michael W Smith with Gaithers Group.In 2010, he released the album True, which won Album of the Year at the OUTMusic Awards. Boltz currently lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with his partner Franco Sperduti, who is also his talent agent.

1966 – Todd Verow, born in Bangor, Maine, is an American film director who now resides in New York City, New York. He attended the Rhode Island School of Design and the AFI Conservatory. Together with his creative partner, James Derek Dwyer, he formed Bangor Films in 1995. He was also the cinematographer for Jon Moritsugu's film Terminal USA (1993).

After a string of widely screened and praised short films he shot his first feature film, Frisk (Sundance, Berlin, Toronto ’96) a hyper-controversial adaptation of the novel of the same name. Featuring PXL vision, video, and super 8, the film assaulted audiences. Praised and reviled, it more importantly proved that Verow was an original voice that could not be ignored.

In late 1996, Verow shifted creative gears. It was while searching for a more intimate film language with his new improvisational acting troupe that he happened to experiment with digital video technology. This led to the award winning films of his Addiction Trilogy; Little Shots of Happiness (Berlin 97, SXSW 97, Mill Valley ’97), Shucking the Curve (SF IndieFest 99, No Dance ’99.) and The Trouble With Perpetual Deja Vu (Singapore ’99, Chicago Underground ‘99, Vancouver International 99). Verow and producing/writing partner James Derek Dwyer created Bangor Films to support their prolific film output, (Verow vowed ten features by the year 2000.)

Verow’s twisted Anti-Bush/Dangerous Liasons political drama, Bulldog in the White House won the Best Film Prize at the Chicago Underground Film Festival.

His most autobiographical pic to-date, Vacationland greeted the world with a multi-city film fest tour, a limited domestic and international theatrical engagement and a DVD release on Water Bearer Films in October 2007.

He has been called a veteran of the New Queer Cinema, and his numerous productions on digital video have led to his being called "once and future king of DV" by Film Threat.

Verow is openly gay.

1975 – Two members of Gays of Ottawa lay a wreath at the National War Memorial. It is the first time a gay group is allowed to participate in the Remembrance Day ceremony.

1983 – Philipp Lahm is a German footballer who has played for and captained both Bayern Munich and the Germany national football team. He is a staunch supporter of gay causes, evn though he is heterosexual.Lahm is considered one of the best full backs in the world, and was included in the World Cup team of the tournament in 2006 and 2010, the UEFA Team of the Tournament in 2008 and 2012 and in the FIFA Team of the Year 2008. Although Lahm is right-footed, he is able to play on both sides of the pitch. He often cuts from the flank to the inside of the pitch to either shoot or pass. He is well known for his pace, dribbling and precise tackling abilities as well as his small stature, giving him the nickname the "Magic Dwarf".

Lahm has established a foundation, Philipp Lahm-Stiftung, to support underprivileged children and is also an official ambassador representing "FIFA for SOS Children's Villages". In addition he was an ambassador of the 2007, 2008 and 2009 World AIDS Day. He has also taken part in a campaign against speeding and various others such as Bündnis für Kinder, a campaign against child abuse.

Lahm was awarded a Tolerantia-Preis on 20 September 2008, due to his outstanding contribution against intolerance and homophobia in sports, particularly in football. He also stated that it's a "pity that being gay in football is still a taboo subject" and he would have no problem with a homosexual teammate and is "not afraid of homosexuals". However, Lahm doesn't advise footballers to publicly admit to being homosexual, because of the abuse they would suffer. He alluded to the tragic death of homosexual footballer Justin Fashanu.

1985 – After a year of cold feet, "An Early Frost" airs on NBC. Writers Dan Lipman and Ron Cowen (later to produce "Sisters" and "Queer as Folk") attempt to create the first TV movie to deal with both homosexuality and the impact of AIDS on a beleaguered community of Gay men.

In the film, the suburban Pierson family not only deals with closeted workaholic son Nick's dual secret (along with the unfaithfulness of his partner Peter), but also the anger, resentment and frustrations of mother Kate and sister Susan.

While it draws an amazing ⅓ of the viewing audience, the daring broadcast loses NBC about a half million dollars in ad revenue. And while many consider the broadcast a success, others feel the film's directness stalls nationwide discussion of AIDS, "because it achieved its narrative and informational goals so well."

1986 – Rafael de la Fuente is a Venezuelan actor and singer. He is known for his roles in the fantasy television series Grachi (2011-2013) and the soap opera reboot Dynasty (2017-present). His other notable role was in the first and second seasons of the drama series Empire (2015-2016).

De la Fuente was born in Caracas, Venezuela. He started his acting career in 2009 with the role of Jorge Giraldo in the Telemundo telenovela, Más sabe el diablo. In 2011, de la Fuente appeared as Max in the telenovela Aurora. This was followed by the recurring role of Diego Forlán in the Nickelodeon Latin America fantasy series, Grachi, which became a main role in the second season. In 2014, de la Fuente appeared as Coach Julio on Every Witch Way, an English-language remake of Grachi.

In 2015 and 2016, de la Fuente appeared in the recurring role of Michael Sanchez, the boyfriend of Jamal Lyon, in the Fox musical prime time soap opera, Empire. In 2017, he appeared as Cleve Jones' boyfriend Ricardo Canto in the ABC miniseries When We Rise. In March 2017, de la Fuente was cast in The CW's Dynasty reboot as Sam Jones, a gay male version of the original series' Sammy Jo Carrington (Heather Locklear).

In December 2019, de la Fuente publicly acknowledged his sexuality, as a gay male.

1989 – Yanis Marshall is a French dancer and choreographer. He was born in Grasse, France. He specializes in a style of dance choreography in which dancers of all genders wear high-heeled shoes.

In 2014, he auditioned for Britain's Got Talent with two backup male dancers and ended up becoming a finalist. Marshall also has spent time working as a coach and choreographer on Dancing with the Stars and the Ukraine's version of So You Think You Can Dance. He is also the choreographer for Cirque du Soleil's Las Vegas Zumanity show.

In 2018, he appeared as the dancing Deadpool in Céline Dion's video "Ashes", while Ryan Reynolds appeared as Deadpool in the speaking part. In 2019, he appeared in the 4th episode of RuPaul's Drag Race Season 11 "Trump: The Rusical".

Marshall is openly gay and has spoken about the role dancing plays in the coming out of people.

guess the 2 who are gay

1992 – Australia removes its restrictions on gays and lesbians serving in the military.

[deadpresidents]

2 and a half weeks until JC passes Cactus Jack!

It took me a little bit to figure out what you were referencing, but yes, Jimmy Carter will pass John Nance Garner as the longest-living President or Vice President in American history on September 18th. And if he is still with us on October 1st, Carter will be the first President or Vice President in American history to celebrate their 99th birthday.

And since I'm a huge dork who finds this stuff interesting, here's the big, complete list of longest-living to shortest-living Presidents and Vice Presidents in American history: (Presidents are in bold text, Vice Presidents are in italics, and those who served as both POTUS and VP are in bold italics.) John Nance Garner: 98 years, 351 days Jimmy Carter: 98 years, 337 days (As of Sept. 3, 2023) Levi P. Morton: 96 years, 0 days George H.W. Bush: 94 years, 171 days Gerald R. Ford: 93 years, 165 days Ronald Reagan: 93 years, 120 days Walter Mondale: 93 years, 81 days John Adams: 90 years, 247 days Herbert Hoover: 90 years, 71 days Harry S. Truman: 88 years, 232 days Charles G. Dawes: 85 years, 239 days James Madison: 85 years, 104 days Thomas Jefferson: 83 years, 82 days Dick Cheney: 82 years, 216 days (As of Sept. 3, 2023) Hannibal Hamlin: 81 years, 311 days Richard Nixon: 81 years, 104 days Joe Biden: 80 years, 287 days (As of Sept. 3, 2023) John Quincy Adams: 80 years, 227 days Aaron Burr: 80 years, 220 days Martin Van Buren: 79 years, 231 days Adlai E. Stevenson: 78 years, 234 days Dwight D. Eisenhower: 78 years, 165 days Alben W. Barkley: 78 years, 157 days Andrew Jackson: 78 years, 85 days Spiro Agnew: 77 years, 261 days Donald Trump: 77 years, 81 days (As of Sept. 3, 2023) George W. Bush: 77 years, 59 days (As of Sept. 3, 2023) Henry A. Wallace: 77 years, 42 days James Buchanan: 77 years, 39 days Bill Clinton: 77 years, 15 days (As of Sept. 3, 2023) Dan Quayle: 76 years, 211 days (As of Sept. 3, 2023) Charles Curtis: 76 years, 14 days Al Gore: 75 years, 156 days (As of Sept. 3, 2023) Millard Fillmore: 74 years, 60 days James Monroe: 73 years, 67 days George Clinton: 72 years, 268 days George M. Dallas: 72 years, 174 days William Howard Taft: 72 years, 174 days John Tyler: 71 years, 295 days Grover Cleveland: 71 years, 98 days Thomas R. Marshall: 71 years, 79 days Nelson Rockefeller: 70 years, 202 days Elbridge Gerry: 70 years, 129 days Rutherford B. Hayes: 70 years, 105 days Richard M. Johnson: 70 years, 33 days William Henry Harrison: 68 years, 54 days John C. Calhoun: 68 years, 13 days William A. Wheeler: 67 years, 339 days George Washington: 67 years, 295 days Benjamin Harrison: 67 years, 205 days Woodrow Wilson: 67 years, 36 days William R. King: 67 years, 11 days Hubert H. Humphrey: 66 years, 231 days Andrew Johnson: 66 years, 214 days Thomas A. Hendricks: 66 years, 79 days Charles W. Fairbanks: 66 years, 24 days Zachary Taylor: 65 years, 227 days Franklin Pierce: 64 years, 319 days Lyndon B. Johnson: 64 years, 148 days Mike Pence: 64 years, 88 days (As of Sept. 3, 2023) Henry Wilson: 63 years, 279 days Ulysses S. Grant: 63 years, 87 days Franklin D. Roosevelt: 63 years, 72 days Barack Obama: 62 years, 30 days (As of Sept. 3, 2023) Schuyler Colfax: 61 years, 296 days Calvin Coolidge: 60 years, 185 days Theodore Roosevelt: 60 years, 71 days Kamala Harris: 58 years, 318 days (As of Sept. 3, 2023) William McKinley: 58 years, 228 days Warren G. Harding: 57 years, 273 days Chester A. Arthur: 57 years, 44 days James S. Sherman: 57 years, 6 days Abraham Lincoln: 56 years, 62 days Garret A. Hobart: 55 years, 171 days John C. Breckinridge: 54 years, 116 days James K. Polk: 53 years, 225 days Daniel D. Tompkins: 50 years, 355 days James Garfield: 49 years, 304 days John F. Kennedy: 46 years, 177 days

[twentiethcenturymoviesandtv]

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: Genre and Themes

At first glance, indeed, even at second glance, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington doesn’t seem to really lend itself to a specific genre the way The Goonies or The Princess Bride did.  Whereas those films positively dripped with the atmosphere of an adventure or fantasy film, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is considerably more ‘real world’ than that, without necessarily heading into ‘slice of life’ territory.

If story is the backbone of a film, the underlying solid base, then genre is the trappings, the flavor, the seasonings the writers get to play with to create their final dish.  Some stories automatically come with pre-packaged genre, as it would seem, stories like Frankenstein seem little suited to be anything other than a sci-fi horror film, after all, but most, and indeed some would say all stories have the capabilities of remaining solid in their identities, even with a completely different genre than we’re used to.

In the case of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, however, there doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of ingredients to mix.

Officially, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is labeled as a ‘political comedy-drama’, an eclectic mishmash of styles that doesn’t necessarily rear its head too often in the realm of film.  Political films tend to be more true stories like All the President’s Men, or thrillers like The Manchurian Candidate.  Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is neither.  However, that isn’t to say it’s not political.

The entire world of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is politics.  It lives and breathes the inner workings of American bureaucracy, without either exploiting or sugarcoating it.

It is, at its core, an anti-politics political film.  There is no pleasure that the film derives from exposing any corruption, nor does it take pains to pretend that corruption does not exist.  It freely paints the politicians and the non-politicians as people, dealing with consequences to their actions: from Senator Paine, the tarnished hero, to Clarissa Saunders, the cynical, worn-out tool of Washington.  The focus of the story is not so much on the inner workings of the state and country as it is the people that perform them, that manipulate the cogs of the machine to their own benefit, and those who stand to prevent it.

It’s not a very technical film.  You don’t have to have a degree in law in order to understand the film, or allow it to resonate, and that, perhaps, is what makes it so special.

The ‘political’ slant of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington isn’t in the process that Saunders outlines to Jefferson in order to get his bill passed.  On the contrary, the bill itself is a minor incident, the catalyst that forces the corruption out into the open.  The story isn’t about the bill at all, nor is it even about the plot of the other politicians: it is about the politicians themselves.  There are no parties mentioned, no real figures portrayed, no accurate historical events referenced: and yet something about this film did strike a chord in the very real Washington D.C.

Upon Mr. Smith’s release in Constitution Hall, DC dissolved into uproar about the film’s portrayal of American politics, to the point that Alben W. Barkley, the Senate Majority Leader at the time, remarked that it: “makes the Senate look like a bunch of crooks”.

In other words, something about this film struck some people, mostly the people in Washington, the wrong way.  And yet, even at the time of its initial release, audiences, the Mr. Smiths of the USA, adored it for a reason.

At its core, chiefly, yes, Mr. Smith is a film about politics, and even history.  Every fiber of the movie vibrates with patriotism, with love for America, and with pride in democracy.  The film is not a condemnation as such as it is a warning: ‘we will lose what we have built if we think only of ourselves.’  It is a perfect combination of both a celebration of America’s past, and a concern for the future, a notation of the path the nation’s leaders seemed to be going down.  Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a story about big P Politics, all right, but it is not a scowling, scolding film, pointing an accusatory finger at the little p politicians, the fallen white knights.  It is instead a film that holds up a figure of a person who knows on what the country was founded, and believes in it so strongly enough that he forces a change, even if it’s a small one.

And the film is also pretty funny, too.

The genre of ‘comedy’ tends to bring to mind slapstick or wordplay classics, and in the 1930s, the ‘comedians’ definitely had their specific brands: the Marx Brothers, the Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, and others were taking cinema by storm.  Audiences, especially in the middle of the Great Depression, desperately wanted a laugh, and even though there were no pratfalls in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, there is a wry sense of humor about it, particularly near the beginning.

Early scenes in this film play almost like scenes from a ‘fish out of water’ comedy, with Jefferson Smith having no idea how to function in the new, fast-moving, cynical climate of Washington D.C.  Other characters, such as Saunders and Diz, exist as quip-generating machines, full of the fast-paced, witty dialogue characteristic of films of the time.  Many of the more comedic sequences in the story come about through direct conversation between Saunders and Smith and the subsequent clash of ideas and personalities.

So yeah, Mr. Smith is a pretty funny movie at times.  I must admit though, it’s hard to make the argument that it’s a comedy.

Smith’s plight is not comedic, at least, not more than halfway through the story.  He is not a comedic figure, nor are most of the characters around him.  While one could make the argument that the initial conceit of the story is comedic, I am hard pressed to agree that the story remains a comedy throughout.  If anything, the throughline of tragedy seems clearer, notably in the character of Senator Paine.

Paine is what Smith could have been: a noble figure broken by greed, by corruption, by fear, turned into another cog in someone else’s profit machine, willing to throw countless people under the bus for gain.  By the end of the story, he is not only guilty, he is convicted, ashamed after being forced to confront what he has become.  His story nearly ends in suicide, and it certainly ends in the ruination of his career, after having thrown away belief in all of the words he is so used to spouting.  He is the warning thrust up before contemporary Washington’s eyes: the white knight tarnished by greed.

Smith’s story, though uncorrupted, is similarly bleak: unbelieved, unheard, and unable to get the word out, he ends the film exhausted and crushed after hours of seeming futility.  The film’s happy ending does not come as a result of all of his hard work, but through the guilt of Senator Paine driving him to confess.  Smith does not reach the climax of the film like a comedy protagonist does at all, but like a tragic hero.

And yet, this film isn’t a tragedy either.

So what is it?

I have a theory: that a film’s genre can be best solidified through a few major checkpoints: its themes, and its characters, specifically its protagonist.

The themes of Mr. Smith are obvious ones: duty to one’s country, certainly, but honesty above all.  The liars are the villains, and the heroes tell the truth.  The story is built around good morals and simplicity, with the center of virtue being Mr. Smith himself.

In another era, Smith himself may have been a knight in shining armor, risen to his position from peasantry to achieve noble deeds.  As it is, in 1930s America, Smith is an ordinary man in an extraordinary position: an everyday guy elevated to the position of senator.  

Of course, the intention was never to give him any real power, but nonetheless, power he wields.  And it’s his decisions on handling that power that set him apart from the other characters.  He behaves very much like a normal person, an average citizen in a political jungle with very little navigation.  There is no hero’s journey here: if anything, Mr. Smith finishes the story as a broken, more cynical character rather than a triumphant hero.  The victory is in refusing to compromise your principles, no matter the cost or circumstance, and there is no dragon to slay here: just men, corrupted by power.

In other words, it’s a drama.

While there are many forms of ‘drama’ in the broad spectrum, typically, the term ‘drama’ means that a subject is more dramatic than humorous, with a primary element of the story being conflict, but not necessarily of the physical kind.  It’s a story with more of an emphasis on who the story is happening to, and why, with less concern for what exactly is happening.

Such is the case for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

Mr. Smith is a story about real people, people you or I might know, from the virtuous Jefferson Smith to the cynical Ms. Saunders, to the corrupt, but still human, politicians, some malicious, some merely led astray from their previous values.  This is not a story of ‘heroes vs. villains’, this is a story about the ‘Right Thing to Do’, and the people with the courage to do it.

And that’s most of its appeal.

Capra’s passion is for people in this film, the everyday, the ordinary, the ‘Little Guy’ who becomes, not a dragonslayer, but a man with the opportunity to truly do some good, faced with tough decisions.  It’s a story full of heart, sprinkled with humor, and loaded with humanity as it views, through very human lenses, the world of politics through a protagonist who’s meant to be a fish out of water.

That is Mr. Smith’s legacy.

The story isn’t groundbreaking.  The cinematography isn’t breathtaking.  The writing isn’t jaw-dropping.  But the people, the characters, live and breathe on the screen as people, characters that the audiences love, and cheer for.  We root for these people because of the drama of the situation, and the time and care that the film takes to delve into them.

That, more than the politics of the situation, is the reason people return to this film again and again.

And that, the people, the characters, is what we’ll be turning our attention to next time.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

Only one thing dates Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: the controversy that accompanied its release. Said controversy seems absurdly comical when looked at today. This 1939 film is eerily modern. Brilliantly acted and directed, memorable, emotional, funny and touching, it’s the kind of movie you’ve seen referenced and imitated many times - you just don't know it. This is one of the great ones, the kind of story that awakens something inside you.

Under pressure from the corrupt Jim Taylor (Edward Arnold), Governor Hubert Hopper (Guy Kibbee) must appoint a new U.S. senator to replace the recently deceased Sam Foley. They are looking for a stooge the crooked Senator Joseph Paine (Claude Rains) can keep in check. Taylor chooses Jefferson Smith (James Stewart), a wholesome idealist with no political experience.

If you’re familiar with any moment from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, it’s probably the climactic “filibuster scene”. If this is all you know, you have no idea what the film is really like. You might’ve guessed that it’s inspirational but Smith is more than an everyman, he’s the concept taken to another level. Once in Washington, he immediately walks away from his entourage and goes on a pilgrimage around the city, visiting monuments that take his breath away. As an audience member in the 21st century, you chuckle a little but it doesn’t take too long for you to understand what he’s seeing. Smith is not like us. He’s never seen the Statue of Abraham Lincoln; he’s only heard and read about it. Standing in the shadow of the marble titan, he cannot help but be overwhelmed by hope and inspiration. He knows he’s underqualified for the job given to him. Rather than be discouraged, he's determined to try even harder.

You sympathize and fall in love with the dreamer thanks to James Stewart’s performance. When he comes head-to-head with Taylor and his stooges, you realize the movie is about so much more than politics; it’s about standing up for what’s right no matter the odds. Taylor has all of the power. He can basically do whatever he wants unopposed. Even knowing this cannot prepare you for the overwhelming obstacles Smith faces. And what does our hero have to counterattack with? Little more than the backing of the people he’s won over legitimately - which is still not much compared to what money can buy. It’s a nerve-wracking battle, the kind that makes you sink into a pit of despair. You don’t know whether ultimately, this is a fight he can win. Maybe an unhappy ending is the reason the film was attacked as anti-American and pro-Communist for its portrayal of corruption in the government...

Democrat and Senate Majority Leader Alben W. Barkley called the film “silly and stupid”, “a grotesque distortion” of the Senate, which is a shock to anyone who watches today. Part of what makes Mr. Smith Goes to Washington so good is its authenticity. Though Smith is an idealist, the story knows being in power doesn't mean you're a good person. There are a lot of crooked people in the story. Even the nice ones are passively complicit in the dark deals happening in Washington - but there’s also hope. It’s made clear that ultimately, Frank Capra believes one person CAN make a difference, that individuals ARE important.

All this makes the movie seem so dark and dire. It is, particularly during the last act but it’s also got a lot of humour throughout. Smith is such a fish out of water you can’t help but laugh at him when he arrives on the scene. You'll be in stitches every time he interacts with his appointed secretary, the cynical takes-no-guff-from-anyone Saunders (Jean Arthur, fantastic). The two of them are so good together that you could forget all of the business in the Senate and still have a great film.

Simply as a piece of cinema, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a delight. A particular scene in which the camera focuses on Smith’s hat says so much with so little. You don’t see the performers’ faces at all but you know exactly what’s going on. There are many scenes like this. It’s simply fabulous, the kind of movie that has a little bit of everything: romance, humor, suspense, great performances, camerawork and writing. This is the kind of movie you see once and then never forget. (On Blu-ray, June 26, 2020)

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 4.30 (after 1950)

1956 – Former Vice President and Democratic Senator Alben Barkley dies during a speech in Virginia. 1957 – Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery entered into force. 1961 – K-19, the first Soviet nuclear submarine equipped with nuclear missiles, is commissioned. 1963 – The Bristol Bus Boycott is held in Bristol to protest the Bristol Omnibus Company's refusal to employ Black or Asian bus crews, drawing national attention to racial discrimination in the United Kingdom. 1973 – Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard Nixon fires White House Counsel John Dean; other top aides, most notably H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, resign. 1975 – Fall of Saigon: Communist forces gain control of Saigon. The Vietnam War formally ends with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnamese president Dương Văn Minh. 1979 – Eruption of Mount Marapi: Mount Marapi, a complex volcano on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, erupted. 80 up to 100 people were killed. 1980 – Beatrix is inaugurated as Queen of the Netherlands following the abdication of Juliana. 1980 – The Iranian Embassy siege begins in London. 1982 – The Bijon Setu massacre occurs in Calcutta, India. 1993 – CERN announces World Wide Web protocols will be free. 1994 – Formula One racing driver Roland Ratzenberger is killed in a crash during the qualifying session of the San Marino Grand Prix run at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari outside Imola, Italy. 1999 – Neo-Nazi David Copeland carries out the last of his three nail bombings in London at the Admiral Duncan gay pub, killing three people and injuring 79 others. 2000 – Canonization of Faustina Kowalska in the presence of 200,000 people and the first Divine Mercy Sunday celebrated worldwide. 2004 – U.S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers committing war crimes against Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. 2008 – Two skeletal remains found near Yekaterinburg, Russia are confirmed by Russian scientists to be the remains of Alexei and Anastasia, two of the children of the last Tsar of Russia, whose entire family was executed at Yekaterinburg by the Bolsheviks. 2009 – Chrysler files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 2009 – Seven civilians and the perpetrator are killed and another ten injured at a Queen's Day parade in Apeldoorn, Netherlands in an attempted assassination on Queen Beatrix. 2012 – An overloaded ferry capsizes on the Brahmaputra River in India killing at least 103 people. 2013 – Willem-Alexander is inaugurated as King of the Netherlands following the abdication of Beatrix. 2014 – A bomb blast in Ürümqi, China kills three people and injures 79 others. 2021 – Forty-five men and boys are killed in the Meron stampede in Israel.

[kaydub80]

Watch "Remember Tulsi Destroying Kamala During The Debates? DNC Questions Her Fitness To Serve" on YouTube

We might be in for a donnybrook next winter. Assuming that Biden doesn't run again, the DNC could recruit someone to challenge the vice president and that person could very well be the frontrunner come Super Tuesday.

Kamala could very well be the first standing vice president to run for the presidential nomination and lose since Alben Barkley in 1952 if the Democratic establishment lines up behind somebody else.

[historicaldeepdive]

Daily Fact About Each U.S. Vice-President

Day 35: Alben W. Barkley

Alben W. Barkley has been the oldest person to become VP. He was 72 when Harry S. Truman picked him to be his running mate.

[minidovecomics]

alben w. barkley - clerihew

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[todaysdocument]

“You ought to see the reorganization plan we’re working on for next November,” 7/28/1946

Series: Berryman Political Cartoon Collection, 1896 - 1949

Record Group 46: Records of the U.S. Senate, 1789 - 2015

Image description: Political cartoon. Senate majority leader Alben W. Barkley (D-Kentucky) and House Speaker Sam Rayburn (D-Texas) hold a large scroll of paper and say, “We think you’ll like this reorganization of Congress.” John Q. Public, holding his own large scroll, tells them, “Yes, but you ought to see the reorganization plan we’re working on for next November.”

[deadpresidents]

Who are the youngest and oldest vice presidents

At the time of their Inauguration? Here's the list of the Vice Presidents' Age at Inauguration, from youngest-to-oldest:

AGE AT INAUGURATION: NAME OF VP [Administration] 36 years, 42 days: John C. Breckinridge [Buchanan] 40 years, 11 days: Richard Nixon [Eisenhower] 41 years, 353 days: Dan Quayle [G.H.W. Bush] 42 years, 128 days: Theodore Roosevelt [McKinley's 2nd VP] 42 years, 256 days: Daniel D. Tompkins [Monroe] 42 years, 352 days: John C. Calhoun [J.Q. Adams/Jackson's 1st VP] 44 years, 232 days: Al Gore [Clinton] 45 years, 26 days: Aaron Burr [Jefferson's 1st VP] 45 years, 346 days: Schuyler Colfax [Grant's 1st VP] 48 years, 243 days: Calvin Coolidge [Harding] 49 years, 15 days: Walter Mondale [Carter] 49 years, 56 days: Millard Fillmore [Taylor] 50 years, 72 days: Spiro Agnew [Nixon's 1st VP] 50 years, 98 days: Martin Van Buren [Jackson's 2nd VP] 50 years, 340 days: John Tyler [W.H. Harrison] 51 years, 150 days: Chester A. Arthur [Garfield] 51 years, 189 days: Hannibal Hamlin [Lincoln's 1st VP] 52 years, 105 days: Henry A. Wallace [FDR's 2nd VP] 52 years, 146 days: Lyndon B. Johnson [JFK] 52 years, 237 days: George M. Dallas [Polk] 52 years, 274 days: Garret A. Hobart [McKinley's 1st VP] 52 years, 297 days: Charles W. Fairbanks [T. Roosevelt] 53 years, 131 days: James S. Sherman [Taft] 53 years, 174 days: John Adams [Washington] 53 years, 238 days: Hubert H. Humphrey [LBJ] 53 years, 325 days: Thomas Jefferson [J. Adams] 56 years, 65 days: Andrew Johnson [Lincoln's 2nd VP] 56 years, 92 days: Kamala Harris [Biden] 56 years, 138 days: Richard M. Johnson [Van Buren] 56 years, 223 days: George H.W. Bush [Reagan] 57 years, 132 days: Adlai E. Stevenson [Cleveland's 2nd VP] 57 years, 227 days: Mike Pence [Trump] 57 years, 247 days: William A. Wheeler [Hayes] 58 years, 355 days: Thomas R. Marshall [Wilson] 59 years, 189 days: Charles G. Dawes [Coolidge] 59 years, 335 days: Dick Cheney [G.W. Bush] 60 years, 145 days: Gerald Ford [Nixon's 2nd VP] 60 years, 257 days: Harry S. Truman [FDR's 3rd VP] 61 years, 16 days: Henry Wilson [Grant's 2nd VP] 64 years, 102 days: John Nance Garner {FDR's 1st VP] 64 years, 292 days: Levi P. Morton [B. Harrison] 65 years, 178 days: Thomas A. Hendricks [Cleveland's 1st VP] 65 years, 221 days: George Clinton [Jefferson's 2nd/Madison's 1st] 66 years, 61 days: Joe Biden [Obama] 66 years, 165 days: Nelson Rockefeller [Ford] 66 years, 331 days: William R.D. King [Pierce] 68 years, 230 days: Elbridge Gerry [Madison's 2nd VP] 69 years, 38 days: Charles Curtis [Hoover] 71 years, 57 days: Alben W. Barkley [Truman]

[si-national-portrait-gallery]

Alben William Barkley, Samuel Johnson Woolf, 1937, Smithsonian: National Portrait Gallery

Size: 30.5cm x 27.7cm (12" x 10 7/8"), Accurate Medium: Charcoal and chalk on paper

https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.78.TC224