Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, American dramatic film, released in 1939, by director Frank Capra that angered the political establishment but won wide acclaim from the public and film industry. The story concerns Jefferson Smith (played by James Stewart), 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…