In the summer of 1972, the United States experienced a scandal it never had before. The President had betrayed the trust of the nation that elected him and attempted to cover it up. Good thing nothing like that happens anymore. To avoid the black mark of impeachment on their career, the President resigned. Sarcasm aside, that truly doesn’t happen anymore, apparently. But I’m not here to deride the current state of our political world, I’m here to talk about the past state of our political world.

After a security guard at the Watergate complex calls the police about a break-in, the authorities arrest five men in the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the building. Bob Woodward, a reporter for The Washington Post, covers the story. They are revealed to have ties to the CIA and Woodward connects them to Charles Colson, part of Richard Nixon’s White House counsel. As the story grows, Carl Bernstein is assigned to work with Woodward on covering it. Initially, their investigation reveals no evidence, but their editor, Benjamin Bradlee, encourages them to continue. Woodward contacts an anonymous senior government official who goes by “Deep Throat”, who encourages Woodward to “follow the money” for his investigation. Woodward and Bernstein connect the five men to campaign contributions in Nixon’s Committee to Re-Elect the President, but Bradlee still believes the information is circumstantial. Why would Nixon break the law when he’s practically guaranteed to beat his opponent, George McGovern? The investigation goes deeper and deeper, connecting to H.R. Haldeman, the White House chief of staff. They look for sources to confirm the connection, but while they do so, the White House issues a non-denial denial. Woodward meets with Deep Throat again and gets confirmation for everything. They’re given the go-ahead from Bradlee and the two reporters type up their story as Nixon is inaugurated for his second term.

Alan J. Pakula directed three movies that made up what he called his “paranoia trilogy” – Klute, The Parallax View and All the President’s Men. Klute is pretty good, and The Parallax View is tolerable, but All the President’s Men is the best of the three, and the only one based on true events, making it the most terrifying. Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman are excellent as Woodward and Bernstein, and do a good job of performing with an intensity despite being in a dense, dialogue-heavy film. I didn’t live through the time of the Watergate scandal, so I don’t know what it’s like living in a time of journalistic integrity, but thank goodness for their tenacity and thoroughness. Politicians need pressure on them so they are held accountable and kept honest. Since journalism nor the American public no longer do this, we’re stuck with the politicians we have. All the President’s Men is a time capsule and a sad reminder of when a country lost its innocence and integrity was the expectation.

Bonus Review: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Another film critical of government. However, where All the President’s Men was acclaimed by the politicians of its day, likely because it was hard to deny the truth, Mr. Smith goes to Washington was heavily criticized as displaying a pessimistic and villainous look at Congress. Which makes sense, since the government was never corrupt prior to Watergate. The movie accomplished two things: 1. It made James Stewart a star (look at the poster above, he’s not even top billing here) and 2. It showed a dramatic shift in tone for Frank Capra’s films. Earlier Capra films like It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds goes to Town, and You Can’t Take It With You are known for their relentless optimism and rosy-cheeked characters. Starting with Mr. Smith goes to Washington, and most famously in It’s a Wonderful Life, the optimistic main character is still there, but they’re surrounded by corruption, greed and selfishness. It gives the movies a darker tone, but still redemptive.

Jefferson Smith is elected to the U.S. Senate because he’s naive and hopefully easy to manipulate. A fellow senator, Joseph Paine, takes Smith under his wing, as he was Smith’s father’s good friend. Smith takes a liking to Paine’s daughter, Susan. The press aggressively berates Smith as a naive country bumpkin, tarnishing his reputation. Paine suggests Smith propose a bill to repair his reputation and so he comes up with one, using the help of his streetwise secretary, that will use a federal loan to buy land for a national boys’ camp near his hometown. The idea is loved by the public and donations immediately start pouring in. However, it is revealed that the proposed campsite is already the location for an underhanded dam-building project, supported by Paine. Paine urges Smith to keep quiet because Paine’s power comes from the influence of senator Taylor, who spearheaded the dam-building project. Paine accuses Smith of trying to profit from his bill proposal to get the smoke away from his own dealings and Smith runs away, too hurt to defend himself. His secretary, Saunders, convinces him to delay the vote to expel him from the Senate through filibuster. He speaks on the Senate floor for 25 hours, disclosing the true motives of the dam project and appealing to American ideals. Taylor uses his influence to get the newspapers to report falsely on what Smith said on the floor in an attempt to get the public against him. In the end, Smith collapses on the floor, but Paine, racked with remorse, makes a confession to the truth of the dam project and demands he be expelled from the Senate instead of Smith.