Gabriel Over the White House | movie | 1933 | Official Trailer
A political hack becomes President during the height of the Depression and undergoes a metamorphosis into an incorruptib | dG1fUzZjQ3NkLU9oVTQ
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 Gentlemen, I am here as a representative of the American people, and there are of darkest
00:06 despair. A plant cannot be made to grow by watering the top alone and letting the roots
00:11 go dry. The people of this country are the roots of the nation and the sturdy trunk and
00:16 the branches too. You have spent $4 billion only to aggravate adversity. I ask for $4
00:24 billion to restore buying power, stimulate purchases, restore prosperity. You have wasted
00:31 precious days and weeks and years in futile discussion. We need action, immediate and
00:36 effective action. Mr. President, there is a movement in Congress for your impeachment.
00:42 Hardly time for making any requests, however small. Very well. I shall withdraw that request,
00:50 but I would like to substitute another. I ask you gentlemen to declare a state of national
00:55 emergency and to adjourn this Congress until normal conditions are restored. During the
01:05 period of that adjournment, I shall assume full responsibility for the government. Mr.
01:12 President, this is dictatorship. Senator Langham, words do not frighten me. But the United States
01:19 of America is a democracy. We are not yet ready to give up the government of our time.
01:26 Order, please, order! You have given it up. You've turned your backs. You've closed your
01:37 ears to the appeals of the people. You've been treacherous to the concepts of democracy
01:42 upon which this government was founded. I believe in democracy as Washington, Jefferson,
01:48 and Lincoln believed in democracy. And if what I plan to do in the name of the people
01:52 makes me a dictator, then it is a dictatorship based on Jefferson's definition of democracy,
01:58 a government for the greatest good of the greatest number. This Congress refuses to
02:09 adjourn. I think, gentlemen, you forget that I am still the President of these United States.
02:17 And as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, it is within the rights of the President
02:21 to declare the country under martial law.
02:24 [applause]
02:36 [silence]