# Fictional Presidents **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 17, 2003, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents/189242 "2003-07-17T22:09:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents/189242/21 "2003-07-18T16:25:35Z")
Henry Fonda played “The President” in “Fail Safe,” which is a damn terrific movie. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents/189242/22 "2003-07-18T16:34:14Z")
Ronald Lacey as President Widmark in _Buckaroo Banzai_. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents/189242/23 "2003-07-18T17:34:25Z")
> [@](#): > > Bob Roberts from the movie “Bob Roberts.” Tim Robbins also played the President in _Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me_. > [@](#): > > Little Nemo, you mentioned Martin Sheen’s turn as Jeb Bartlett in The West Wing, but he also appeared in a presidential turn as Greg Stilson in the film “The Dead Zone.” (Playing rather a different character.) I didn’t see the movie, but in the book wasn’t Stilson just a presidential candidate? Or am I thinking of a different charaqcter? A check at IMDB shows that Sheen has played both John and Robert Kennedy and also played the President in _Medusa’s Child_ and _Family Attraction_. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents/189242/24 "2003-07-18T18:17:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Little Nemo \* > I didn’t see the movie, but in the book wasn’t Stilson just a presidential candidate? Or am I thinking of a different charaqcter? In the book and movie, Stillson (Martin Sheen) is a congressman with future plans for the presidency. John Smith (played by Christopher Walken) shakes hands with Stillson and has a psychic vision of a future President Stillson starting WW3. Only in this future vision (in the movie; the book was less detailed on this point) is Stillson/Sheen actually president. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents/189242/25 "2003-07-18T19:30:09Z")
As long as we’re just mentioning “President” there was “President Traveller” from _In the Line of Fire_. ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents/189242/26 "2003-07-18T23:27:01Z")
In the American Empire Series (by Harry Turtledove) Upton Sinclair is President of the U.SA., (Robert E. Lee and Wade Hampton were presidents of the CSA) Jack Nicholson as **James Dale** in Mars Attacks ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents/189242/27 "2003-07-19T00:39:08Z")
[ul] [li]Donald Moffat as President Bennett in [Clear and Present Danger](http://www.imdb.com/Title?0109444)[/li][li]Eddie Albert in [Dreamscape](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0087175)[/li][li]Joss Ackland in [The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It](http://www.imdb.com/Title?0076770)[/li][li]Alan Alda in [Canadian Bacon](http://www.imdb.com/Title?0109370)[/li][li]Loretta Swit as President Barbara Adams in [Whoops Apocalypse](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0092211) (a personal favorite)[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents/189242/28 "2003-07-19T00:50:53Z")
Ulysees S Grant- played by Kevin Kline in Wild Wild West. If my daughter makes me watch that blasted thing one…more…time… Michael Douglas was my favorite, though. Great speech. Who played president in 5th Element? I forget. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents/189242/29 "2003-07-19T04:09:43Z")
**Dooku** : > [@](#): > > As long as we’re just mentioning “President” there was “President Traveller” from _In the Line of Fire_. Uh, not quite. “Traveller” is the Secret Service’s codename for the President (whoever he is); it wasn’t his name. And **Daoloth** , in _Bob Roberts_ Bob Roberts was seeking, and won, a Senate seat from Pennsylvania, not the Presidency. ---
**Author:** ![moejuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@moejuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejuck)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents/189242/30 "2003-07-19T04:15:50Z")
George Bush (listens to the screams of soup\_du\_jour) I will vote for David Palmer (24) because he could take all the other guys mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents/189242/31 "2003-07-19T04:51:59Z")
**"Bobby"** - (Jack Warden) Being There ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents/189242/32 "2003-07-20T02:13:21Z")
James Earl Jones as President Douglas Dillman in **The Man** ---
**Author:** ![Phrogge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4da419/32.png) [@Phrogge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phrogge)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents/189242/33 "2003-07-20T05:38:05Z")
Peter Sellers as President Merkin Muffley in “Dr. Strangelove” Also, check out [http://www.webrary.org/rs/flbklists/presidents.html](http://www.webrary.org/rs/flbklists/presidents.html) ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents/189242/34 "2003-07-20T15:20:13Z")
Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip in Sinclair Lewis’ _It Can’t Happen Here._ Trashes the Constitution and installs a Fascist dictatorship. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents/189242/35 "2003-07-20T15:47:59Z")
The greatest fictional president ever was rock star Max Frost, in 1968’s [_Wild in the Streets_](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0063808). Probably the only fictional president to gain office by dosing the D.C. water supply with LSD. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2003, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents/189242/36 "2003-08-02T04:25:28Z")
Prez, the first teenage President, in the DC comic _Prez._ Tangentially, it’s occurred to me that the Oval Office must be the world’s most duplicated room. In addition to the real Oval Office, there’s the copy of the Carter Oval Office at the Carter Center here in Atlanta, the Johnson Oval Office at the LBJ Library in Austin, presumably others at the Nixon, Ford, Bush, Reagan and every-other-Presidential-Library; and of course the mock-ups we’ve seen in all these movies and TV shows. ---
**Author:** ![Weird\_AL\_Einstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c67d28/32.png) [@Weird\_AL\_Einstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weird_AL_Einstein)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents/189242/37 "2003-08-18T14:00:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Baker \* > **Ooh, just thought of another one, the President in Heinlein’s short story “Over the Rainbow” The name is never fully revealed, but the President is female and black.** It was Nichelle Nichols, the actress who played Uhura on Star Trek. I forget where I read that, but there are hints in the story itself. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Maureen \* > \*\*Ulysees S Grant- \*\* Ummmm…you know, he actually _was_ president… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-presidents/189242.md?page=1)