"Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington" is the second episode of the third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 26, 1991. In the episode, Lisa wins a patriotic essay contest about the United States. She and her family attend the contest finals in Washington, D.C., where she is dismayed after watching a congressman accept a bribe. Lisa loses the contest when she pens a scathing screed condemning the government system, but the corrupt congressman is jailed and removed from office, restoring her faith in government. The episode was written by George Meyer and directed by Wes Archer. It was the first episode for which Al Jean and Mike Reiss served as show runners. It features multiple references to the 1939 film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, including the scene in which Lisa appeals to Lincoln's statue at the Lincoln Memorial for advice. Other Washington landmarks referenced in the episode include the White House, the Watergate Hotel, the Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Monument, the National Air and Space Museum and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The episode acquired a Nielsen rating of 12.9, and was the third highest-rated show on Fox the week it aired. It received mostly positive reviews from television critics, who praised the episode for its satire on American politics. The timber industry criticized the scene in which Lisa witnesses a timber industry lobbyist offering a bribe to the congressman to allow loggers to raze the Springfield Forest. The scene was described as "an easy shot at hard-working people whose only crime is to have been born in a timber town". Plot Homer sees an ad for a children's essay contest in the Reading Digest magazine. Lisa submits an essay on the contest's topic – "what makes America great" – after visiting Springfield Forest and seeing a bald eagle land nearby. The Simpsons travel to Washington, D.C. after Lisa's essay, "The Roots of Democracy", earns her a spot in the national finals there. While Bart and Homer enjoy the all-expenses-paid perks of their trip, Lisa visits famous monuments for inspiration. At a shrine to a feminist icon, she sees a corrupt congressman, Bob Arnold, taking a bribe from a timber industry lobbyist to allow loggers to clearcut Springfield Forest. Heartbroken and disillusioned by government corruption, Lisa destroys her winning essay. She