 Remember a Hallmark card when you carry enough to send the very best. The makers of Hallmark cards welcome you again to the Hallmark Playhouse, and present as their host each Sunday night Mr. Lionel Barrymore brings you Hollywood's greatest stars in outstanding stories. And tonight Hallmark Playhouse presents Daniel Webster, starring our distinguished host Lionel Barrymore. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Lionel Barrymore. You know from the very beginning of our nations, we Americans have taken politics seriously, because our nation was created by and for political ideals, and our greatest men have never lost sight of that ideal. And so tonight we of Hallmark Playhouse feel it's particularly timely to bring you the story of one of these great men who have passed, Daniel Webster. To help us in our dramatization, we've drawn from the pages of Claude M. Fuis's excellent biography. And it will be my privilege and pleasure to play the title role. And now here is Frank Goss from the makers of Hallmark cards. One of the particular joys of Christmas is sending and receiving Christmas cards. While the pleasure Christmas cards bring can ever be measured, isn't it good to know that Hallmark cards are priced the same this year as they were last year and the year before and the year before that? And that the quality of Hallmark cards has constantly improved throughout the years. Yes, today, just as for many Christmas seasons, that Hallmark on the back of your card is looked for and welcomed. It tells your friends you cared enough to send the very best. Lionel Barrymore appears by arrangement with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, producers of the technical picture Plymouth Adventure, starring Spencer Tracy, Jean Tierney, Van Johnson and Leo Genn. And now here is the first act of Daniel Webster, starring Lionel Barrymore. He sits alone in the railroad car and gazes out of the window at the rolling countryside. Now and then he looks down at the crumpled sheet of paper in his lap and reads the words which he has written. At one place he pauses and repeats a phrase to himself and then smiles quietly. They're almost his very words. I wish that I could have heard them from his own lips, but at least I did meet him. I did hear him speak on a far less important day. The year was, yes, 1830. Daniel Webster had come west to visit his son and to see the country. He passed through our town and we gave a barbecue in his honor. Webster spoke to the crowd for an hour and a half. And afterwards he and I sat under a tree and just talked. I was a little puzzled and a good deal flattered that he should be interested in me. This man with the piercing, almost frightening eyes. The magnificent forehead and the voice that made people call him Daniel the godlike. I think he must have guessed what was in my mind. In a way, son, you remind me of myself when I was young. You're a 28, you say? Yes, sir. 28 and a rising young attorney. A lot of things rise, senator, including hot air. Me and my boy never apologized for your hopes and ambitions. I had them, too. You realized them brilliantly, sir. Most of them, I suppose. By the way, are you married? No, sir. I was, your aide. I married at 26. It was greatest who gave me hope and ambition. I remember the night I proposed to her. It was one of those wonderful New Hampshire spring nights. I borrowed a carriage and we drove down to a quiet spot along the river bank. It was a full moon. The merry Mac seemed to flow all silver and white. Grace? Yes, Daniel? I... I hope you know where I wanted to see you tonight. You do, don't you? I think so, Daniel. I... I'm not very good at this sort of thing. You understand, I'm just getting started in the law. I've won a few cases. I think I'll be something of a success. As you know, I first intended to be a country lawyer, but since I've moved to Portsmouth, my prospects look somewhat better. Oh, Daniel. Daniel, I'm not a courtroom. What? All that's lacking is for you to address me as your honor. Oh. You pleaded your case very badly, Daniel. But in spite of that, the verdict is... Yes, I love you, Daniel. Not because you may make money, but for what you are and what you always will be. A man of kindness and greatness. Oh, please, Grace. No, I'm not blind if I love my darling. What I see in you now, others will in time. All that I ask of you, Daniel, is that you'll be true to my faith in you. Faith. Grace had that unending faith. And with it she gave me strength. Years passed, our children were born. We moved to Boston, and my law practice took me into politics. All my friends told me I was a great success. I had a fine home, busy law office, and a handsome wife. And yet somehow I was unhappy. I tried to hide it from Grace, and I thought I'd succeeded. And then one evening, I brought Senator Mason home together. You know, Mrs. Webster, Dan and I have been feuding with each other ever since the old days in New Hampshire. Feuding, Senator? In a civilized way, of course. I used to flatter myself that I was the best trial lawyer in New Hampshire. Then one day I walked into a little country court, and I found myself opposing a young Bentham cock that could talk the devil out of his horn. Not that bad, Jeremiah. I lost a youth. Because you were young and had a lot to learn. And how he did learn, I told you I might have relieved this time that we're fighting on the same side in the Dartmouth College case. That's right, Daniel. You did say something about that, didn't you? Is it a very important case? Very important enough, my dear, to go before the Supreme Court. Dartmouth College, that graduated me, may live or die on the decision we receive. On this case hangs the freedom of our educational system, the liberties of our institutions and our business. Yes, and even the sanctity of the Constitution of the United States. That's why I'm in this fight and why, by heaven, we've got to win. Daniel. Oh, Daniel. It's happened at last. What? What we've both wanted for so long, my dear. Lately it's been as if you'd lost your way. But now, now you've found it again. You've found your cause and yourself. It is the case of not merely that humble institution. It is the case of every college in our land. It's more. It's the case of every man who has property, of which he may be stripped. Says you may destroy this little institution. It's weak. It's in your hands. You may put it out. But if you do, you must carry on your work. You must extinguish one after another all those great lights of science which for more than a century have thrown their radiance over the land. It is, sir, as I've said, a small college. Yet there are those who love it. Dan, Dan, you've done it. When you walked into this court, I think every one of those nine judges was against you. But now... Isn't it? Man, look at Chief Justice Marshall. Those are tears in his eyes. Believe me, Dan, today is history. And Daniel Webster has made it. Daniel, have you read this editorial? Yes, my dear. They're calling you Massachusetts's favorite son and the greatest speaker of the age. I've only begun to speak, my dear. I'm going to speak out again and again whenever liberty is threatened and justice trampled on. Inside of our war, the African slave trader is a pirate and a felon. And in the sight of heaven an offender far beyond the ordinary depth of human guilt. All Christendom is bound to put a stop to this inhuman and disgraceful traffic. My dear, hundred years hence with as much rapture as it was heard it ought to be read at the end of every century and indeed at the end of every year, forever and ever, in admiration, John Adams. Years ago this day our fathers defended their liberties and gathered to dedicate this memorial to them and to welcome again to our shore that lifelong friend of America, that soldier still so erect, still so proud, still so noble, the general Marquis de Lafayette. In our parliaments I have heard many great speakers but never one who so affected me as you have today. In honor, Marquis, beyond my words, at this afternoon listening to you it came that some of you American people are mistaken in you. They call you the great or two-something mark. Your country in mind, Marquis, have both fought desperate revolutions but in France the victory has gone down to defeat. Two troops. First we are Napoleon and now another throat to take the granted victory you helped women. Freedom is to them as natural as the air they breathe and their liberty and justice must be won again in every day and every age. Apathy invites tyranny and disunion. That's the enemy I speak against and wields so long as I live. I shall speak out to the Americans to remember the spirit of our fathers so that our children may continue this nation as God in heaven intends it. Just a moment, we will return to the second act of Daniel Webster starring Lionel Barrymore. Are you looking for a Christmas card that's really different? One that will remind your friends of your thoughtfulness all during the holiday season? Well, here are two bright ideas. The Hallmark Christmas card sleigh and the Hallmark train. These exciting new Christmas cards are really Christmas gifts because each one can be set up in seconds to hold all the other cards your friends receive and they make wonderful window or mantel decorations or gala centerpieces for the table. You'll find the Hallmark train is a clever replica of a real train with red and green cars and engine and caboose and red and white candy stripe wheels. While the Hallmark sleigh is driven by Santa himself and pulled by all his prancing reindeer, the Hallmark sleigh and train can be bought individually for your signature or in larger quantities to be imprinted with your name. Once you see them, you'll want an extra one for your own home, too. So why not order yours tomorrow at the fine store that features Hallmark cards? And, of course, that Hallmark is there to tell your friends you cared enough to send the very best. Now back to the second act of Daniel Webster starring Lionel Barrymore. Country Creek flashed past the train window but the man who sits alone in the railroad car watches with unseeing eyes. In his mind, there's another scene. A scene brought back to life by a few words on a sheet of paper. The notes for the speech soon to be delivered. If simplicity is the mark of the great, then Daniel Webster was truly there. He sat there under the tree talking to me about the simple things. His boyhood, his friends, about hunting trips and his farm back in Massachusetts. Then, after a while, he fell silent. I looked at my watch, getting late, Senator, and I'm sure you have many more important things to do. Important things? Well, delegations have come from all the nearby towns to hear you speak. Well, they hurt me. What I mean is they'd all like to meet you. I've taken up so much of your time this afternoon. Well, later, son, later, later. Right now, I'd just like to sit here with you the rest of a while longer. Whatever you say, Senator. Senator, I've been that now for ten years. Is it possible? Almost from the first day that I walked into the Senate chambers, I was swept up into the great debate. The struggle of state against state, the talk of disunion and despair of the Constitution. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Who is it? May I intrude upon you this evening, sir? Oh, Henry Clay, come in, come in, come in. I am intruding, I see. Law books and briefs scattered everywhere. I'm arguing a case before the Supreme Court. I've decided even the Senate, I must eat. I know your predicament, sir, from my own experience. The price of patriotism comes high. With me, it comes close to bankruptcy. All the money I've saved in private law practice has gone like my creditors' smiles. But I doubt you came here to listen to my complaints. What service can I render you, Mr. Clay? Not to me, sir, but to our country. We've been on opposite sides of many, sir. You speak for Massachusetts in our on occasion for Kentucky. And yet I'm sure we both fight for one goal, the union. Ah, ah, ah, you're leading up to the resolution of Senator Ford. I am, sir. Yeah. Today in the Senate, Haines spoke on the resolution. And against you in Massachusetts. Haines spoke. The real voice was Vice President Kyle Hoones. They mean to bring everything to a head. The terror of slavery, state's rise, yes. And even to drive for nullification of the Constitution. I know it must come sooner or later. We have the same hotheads in the north. The Missouri compromise settled nothing. Now... Now a stand must be made, and you, Senator, are the hope of all sane people north and south alike. The Constitution must stand. Then? And then I have one suggestion for you, Mr. Clay. Yes, sir. It's this. That tomorrow morning you'll be in the gallery of the Senate. An important duty, which I feel to be devout upon me by this occasion, it is to state and to defend what I conceive to be the true principles of the Constitution under which we are here assembled. It is, sir, the people's Constitution, the people's government made for the people made by the people and answerable to the people. I turn to behold for the last time the sun in heaven. May I not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious union, on a land wrinkled with civil feuds or drenched in fraternal blood. Let their last feeble and lingering glance rather behold their glorious ensign of the republic. Still full, high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their original luster, and not a stripe erased or polluted nor a single star obscured, but everywhere spread all over in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds as they float over the sea and over the land and in every wind under the whole heavens. That sentiment dear to every true American heart, liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable. There come a time when this America of ours seems to falter and lose its way, but it's for you and for those like to see it through to guide the uncertain and fearful, to keep to the course, to keep faith with our nation's past and our future to be. I shall never forget that, sir. I'm sure you won't, my boy. I'm sure you won't. I've never forgot what he stood for or what he said on that day when he and I rested for a while under the shade of that tree. Yes, his words are with me still. The people's government made for the people, made by the people and answerable to the people. Almost the same words as these here. That this nation under God shall have a new birth to freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the birth. The train is coming in to get his vote now. Very well. Important indeed, a variant land of ours. They went, every American citizen can exercise his God-given right to vote. More than a century ago, another American citizen, Samuel Francis Smith, put his feelings about our country into words. Words which have become a kind of national hymn, we all know and love. My country is the sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my every mountainside lets free. On November the 4th, when you go to the polls, remember this. Voting is only half your duty. Thinking before you vote is even more important. For you alone can express your preference for the man who will assume the highest post America has to offer. Between now and Tuesday, it's the duty of every American to consider each of the basic issues. Those that affect every American and then vote as your judgment and conscience dictates. When you boil it all down, these seem to be the major issues that we need to consider so careful. Who is best qualified to bring peace to America? Two, who is best qualified to guide? Who is best qualified to reduce government expenditure? Four, who can best give us real and lasting prosperity? Five, who is best qualified to deal with communism in America? Give us the cleanest government. Seven, who will make the best executive? Who would bring to our nation's top executive position the greatest dignity, honesty and integrity, and surround themselves with the most competent leaders? Every American should think these questions over very carefully and then vote. We can have a government of the people and by the people only if everyone votes. Your vote is important to America's destiny. Now don't let her down. Same time when we return to present our dramatization of Herman Peterson's novel, The Covered Bridge, our guest star will be Ann Baxter. Our producer director is William Gay, our music was by David Rose, and our story was adapted by Leonard St. Clair. Our cast included Lorraine Tuttle, Lamont Johnson, Frank Martin, Ted DeCorsia, Ben Wright and Herb Butterfield. This is Frank Goss saying good night to you all until next week at this same time.