How did Ambassador Kennedy respond to this outpouring of praise from Vox Populi? He was somewhat mollified, but still dubious. His concern expressed in the following letter to Harry Cohn-was, and still is, the concern of many other thoughtful Americans about the inherent power of the American film.

EMBASSY OF THE

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

London, November 17, 1939

Dear Mr. Cohn:

.. I am afraid that we are looking at [Mr. Smith] from different eyes. I haven't the slightest doubt that the picture will be successful in America and I have no doubt that, financially, it will be successful here and will give great pleasure to people who see it. It is my belief, however, that ... it will give an idea of our political life that will do us harm. . . .

.. For instance, today I am disgusted, in reading all the English papers, to see Al Capone's release from the penitentiary receives front page notice, while only one paper gives an obituary notice concerning a man who has given many years of his life to service in the Supreme Court of our land--Mr. Justice Butler . . . it is amazing, the impression they have about our Country being run by gangsters and crooked politicians.

.. I have a high regard for Mr. Capra ... but his fine work makes the indictment of our government all the more damning to foreign audiences ... I feel that to show this film in foreign countries will do inestimable harm to American prestige all over the world.

I regret exceedingly that I find it necessary to say these things . . . The fact remains, however, that pictures from the United States are the greatest influence on foreign public opinion of the American mode of life. The times are precarious, the future is dark at best. We must be more careful.

Sincerely yours.

(signed) Joseph P. Kennedy

Three years later-in direct contradiction to Ambassador Kennedy's concern about American prestige, to angry blasts from Senators, and to vilifying screeds by National Press Club pundits-my wife sent me (I was in the army) this heart-warming report which made it all worthwhile:

The Hollywood Reporter, November 4, 1942

Last Cheers of French Audience for Smith Goes to Washington

Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, chosen by French theaters as the final English-language film to be shown before the recent Nazi-ordered countrywide ban on American and British films went into effect, was roundly cheered . . .

From Frank Capra, The Name Above the Title: An Autobiography (1971), 292.