# fictional presidents of the USA in real life **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 9, 2017, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents-of-the-usa-in-real-life/790810 "2017-07-09T05:07:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Princess\_Perfume](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/princess_perfume/32/16518_2.png) [@Princess\_Perfume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princess_Perfume)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents-of-the-usa-in-real-life/790810/21 "2017-07-21T08:36:45Z")
> [@golffan1963](#): > > One of the worst: President Thomas McKenna played by Rock Hudson in the 1980’s miniseries “World War III”, which aired on NBC. Anytime the story ends in a nuclear war, your administration has problems. Does Mckenna survive or does he die like Hudson later did? ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents-of-the-usa-in-real-life/790810/22 "2017-07-21T16:26:17Z")
Henry Hayes (played by William Devane) on “Stargate SG-1” Hayes “We’ve been digging out the stargate in Antarctica the last four months” Daniel Jackson “Why weren’t we informed?” Hayes “You’d be amazed at the things we do here without running it by you”. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents-of-the-usa-in-real-life/790810/23 "2017-07-21T16:41:59Z")
> [@golffan1963](#): > > Acting President Glenallen Walken from “The West Wing”. That guy did not mess around. IIRC he ascended to the presidency temporarily through the Twenty-Fifth Amendment. Was that when the President’s daughter was kidnapped? “If they done somethin’ to her, I’m gonna blow somethin’ up.” ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents-of-the-usa-in-real-life/790810/24 "2017-07-21T16:45:14Z")
Fictional president I’d _least_ like: Donald Trump. (Yeah, I still haven’t wrapped my mind around the alleged fact that, y’know, he actually happened.) ---
**Author:** ![Princess\_Perfume](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/princess_perfume/32/16518_2.png) [@Princess\_Perfume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princess_Perfume)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2017, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents-of-the-usa-in-real-life/790810/25 "2017-12-02T07:53:29Z")
Again, I’m necro’ing my own thread, but is there an “evil”/"strongman president you’d like to have had running the USA in real life? Having Francis Urquhart as PM of the UK would be interesting because he was an old-school hard Tory and was firm with the wishy-washy tofu eaters. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2017, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents-of-the-usa-in-real-life/790810/26 "2017-12-02T08:04:41Z")
> [@Princess\_Perfume](#): > > Again, I’m necro’ing my own thread, but is there an “evil”/"strongman president you’d like to have had running the USA in real life? I suppose [David Herman](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va71a7pLvy8). “Cuba’s now part of the United States. Anybody got a problem with that”? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2017, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents-of-the-usa-in-real-life/790810/27 "2017-12-02T08:12:18Z")
Least wanted: Scuzbag Jack Stanton in _ **Primary Colors** _, a remarkably true-to-life fictional portrayal of the scuzbag Clintons. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2017, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents-of-the-usa-in-real-life/790810/28 "2017-12-02T08:24:20Z")
Another terrible one: Chet Roosevelt, play by John Ritter in the MST3K fodder called _Americathon_. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2017, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents-of-the-usa-in-real-life/790810/29 "2017-12-02T11:23:31Z")
President James Marshall, played by Harrison Ford, in “Air Force One” THAT’S a kickass PotUS ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2017, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents-of-the-usa-in-real-life/790810/30 "2017-12-02T16:35:55Z")
Judson Hammond (Walter Huston) in _Gabriel Over the White House_ (1934) is a Depression-era party hack elected president who nearly dies in an auto accident. When he recovers, he turns into a super president who ignores checks and balances, declares martial law so that gangsters can be shot in the streets and tries to intimidate Europe with a show of military force. Co-produced by William Randolph Hearst, the film serves as a roll-out for his fascist ideas on how to run government. No thank you! President Craig Stanley (Arthur Byron) in the undeservedly obscure _The President Vanishes_ tries to keep the U.S. out of a coming war in Europe. Meanwhile, a politically connected judge conspires with the leaders of industry to get the U.S. into the war because peace is no good for business. The cabal also uses a gang of “grey shirts” to threaten a coup. And just as all this shit is ready to hit the fan, Prez Stanley vanishes! Released the same year as _Gabriel…_ with the same co-producer (well-known liberal Walter Wanger), this absurd flick nevertheless offers a prescient and at times disturbing look at collusion between gov’t and business, etching the portrait of the latter in acid and ending on a firmly isolationist note. Rarely screened for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2017, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents-of-the-usa-in-real-life/790810/31 "2017-12-02T18:35:10Z")
> [@Princess\_Perfume](#): > > Again, I’m necro’ing my own thread, but is there an “evil”/"strongman president you’d like to have had running the USA in real life? Jack Nicholson as President James Dale in _Mars Attacks_! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2017, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents-of-the-usa-in-real-life/790810/32 "2017-12-02T22:05:56Z")
The Rock Obama ---
**Author:** ![Princess\_Perfume](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/princess_perfume/32/16518_2.png) [@Princess\_Perfume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princess_Perfume)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2017, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents-of-the-usa-in-real-life/790810/33 "2017-12-03T18:44:32Z")
what about the U.S. President in Dr Strangelove? ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents-of-the-usa-in-real-life/790810/34 "2017-12-04T05:46:42Z")
Ronnie Cox as President Tom Kimball in the 1990 direct-to-video _Captain America_. Terrible movie, but it had one good sequence: The Red Skull kidnaps the President. Captain America breaks into the Red Skull’s castle to rescue the President. He meets the President, who has already escaped from his cell, and is well on his way to escaping from the castle. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2017, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents-of-the-usa-in-real-life/790810/35 "2017-12-04T07:07:29Z")
Trump. ---
**Author:** ![FallingLeaves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/54ee81/32.png) [@FallingLeaves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallingLeaves)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents-of-the-usa-in-real-life/790810/36 "2017-12-05T03:34:24Z")
I’d vote for Andrew Shepherd (The American President, played by Michael Douglas) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents-of-the-usa-in-real-life/790810/37 "2017-12-05T12:21:48Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > We’d be in good hands with President Palmer of _24_ How? He’s the WORST judge of character ever! He married an evil bitch! Practically all of his appointees turned out to be evil conspirators! You really want that guy making important decisions? ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents-of-the-usa-in-real-life/790810/38 "2017-12-05T18:04:27Z")
> [@Princess\_Perfume](#): > > Again, I’m necro’ing my own thread, but is there an “evil”/"strongman president you’d like to have had running the USA in real life? Having Francis Urquhart as PM of the UK would be interesting because he was an old-school hard Tory and was firm with the wishy-washy tofu eaters. In the same vein, I’d take Francis Underwood over what we have now… ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents-of-the-usa-in-real-life/790810/39 "2017-12-05T19:02:33Z")
> [@Princess\_Perfume](#): > > Dave (Kevin Kline) from 1993’s Dave I wouldn’t mind in real life. Dave’s a big NO from me. I don’t want a President who is willing to completely subvert the Constitution and deceive the American people. That’s a bit too much like our current reality for my taste, even if Dave’s liberalism was more to my liking. > [@FallingLeaves](#): > > I’d vote for Andrew Shepherd (The American President, played by Michael Douglas) Yes! This is better. A liberal with some brains and some guts. Quite similar, in many ways, to Martin Sheen’s Josiah Bartlet. Not surprising, given that both were written by the same person. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents-of-the-usa-in-real-life/790810/40 "2017-12-05T19:32:18Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > In the same vein, I’d take Francis Underwood over what we have now… I know he’s heinous, but at least he can’t do much damage as a disgraced actor. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents-of-the-usa-in-real-life/790810.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents-of-the-usa-in-real-life/790810.md?page=3)