25 hours? Before Cory Booker, there was 'Mr. Smith'

Good Frank Capra movie circa 1939, relevant for today's situation. Jimmy Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold.

When New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker finally said "I yield the floor" on Tuesday night at the end of the longest Senate speech on record, he had spoken for just over 25 hours.

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., speaks to journalists at the Capitol on April 1, 2025. Booker obliterated a record long held by the late Strom Thurmond, speaking out for more than 25 hours in protest against President Trump's actions since taking office in January.

That almost perfectly matches the time Jimmy Stewart's title character is supposed to have spoken in Frank Capra's 1939 classic Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

Booker's speech ended with him quoting his former mentor, the late Rep. John Lewis, about getting into "good trouble," and the Senate chamber erupting in cheers.

Stewart, as new senator Jefferson Smith, has been arguing for nothing less than decency and the American way — arguing against "a man who controls a political machine, and controls everything else worth controlling in my state. A man even powerful enough to control congressmen."