I realize this might be better in Cafe Society. Now that we have a real African-American President, I wondered who was the first such person in Hollywood. I know Morgan Freeman and Dennis Haysbert have been POTUS on screen, but I can’t imagine they were the first. I imagine that the first would have been in the late '60’s at the earliest. It was probably the '70’s or maybe even the '80’s. Maybe a show like “Twilight Zone” might have tried to attempt it as a commentary about the Civil Rights movement, but I can’t imagine the network would have aired something like that. Does anyone know the answer?
Since this is specifically about TV and movies, it’s probably better for CS than GQ.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
I think it was Sammie Davis Jr. in some film.
Rufus Jones for President. It was a musical short in 1933.
James Earl Jones played a black president in The Man in 1972. He’s President pro tem of the Senate who becomes President when an accident kills the President and Speaker of the House, and the VP declines the office due to ill health.
It’s based on a novel by Irving Wallace; Rod Serling did the screenplay.
First female president: Polly Bergen in Kisses for My President (1964).
Did you see the tag line?
:eek:
I knew I was on to something when I though of “The Twilight Zone” as an example of a show that might have tried to have a Black President. It sounds like something Rod Serling would be interested in. Although he appears to have beaten by Rufus Jones by almost 40 years.
A related question: what about in literature? Irving Wallace’s book that “The Man” is based on is a possibility, but it was probably before that.
Heinlein had a short story, “Over the Rainbow”, which featured a black female president. She was originally a movie star, put on the vice-presidential ticket basically as eye candy, but the president died in office and she actually proved to be better at the job than he was. I’m not sure what year it was written, though.
And let’s not forget Gracie Allen’s run for the White House in 1940.
O Presidente Negro (The Negro President) (1925), by Brazilian novelist Monteiro Lobato (1882-1948), is about the first black U.S. president — in the year 2228. Abstract.
Well, yeah, but it was a dream sequence, played strictly for laughs. The “president” was a child whose mother bought votes with pork chops and his administration’s first actions included removing locks from chicken coops and appointing an inspector of watermelons. It ends with the mother singing “stay on your own side of the fence.” He sure could dance, though.
But Slate says “on the morning Roy is set to assume the presidency, he is found dead in his office.” I don’t know if this means before he was sworn in or after the inauguration but before conducting any official business. If the former, he was not president.
This is true. No doubt it was a long way from progressive. On the other hand, I don’t think it is that much worse than the Chris Rock movie.
Not an answer but as a historical note, back in 1961-1962 Treasure Chest comics (which were written for adolescent Catholics) ran a months-long story about the fictional Gov. Pettigrew of New York and his run for President. The twist, of course, was the Pettigrew was African-American.
<MST3K Voice>They Are Wrong</MST3K Voice>
Project Moon Base, 1953 Ernestine Barrier is Madame President
I’m sure someone will beat that (and yes, I did see it on MST3K).
The move The Man linked above was based on Wallace’s novel.
I understood that. I was wondering if the book that the Man was based upon was the first book to feature an African-American President, but I figured it was not. The first book featuring an African-American President probably came long before Irving Wallace.
How about the first to portray the President as black, and give no impression that it’s anything but normal? (I’m thinking along the lines of Morgan Freeman in Deep Impact.)