Talk:Lists of fictional presidents of the United States

Does anyone remember a book in the 70s about an average woman who is elected president? All that I can remember is that she was a write-in candidate and went to the movies on election day because she didn't think she would win. And then she did and the fun began...  If anyone has any information on this, would you e-mail me? She wasn't listed on this list. Thanks, drtuba@mac.com

This needs to be by year. Or maybe that's a job for TV Tropes. In any case, I don't care by last name because that isn't a fun time wasting arrangement.

Can I just say that I'm uber-fond of this page. Wikipedia kicks ass, man! :) jengod 23:14, Apr 29, 2004 (UTC)

I like this list. I'm on the page :) --Alxt 04:25, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

I've added a footnote on the cited Bartletism: "1President Bartlet's comments are meant to make him sound erudite, but frequently misfire - in the example cited, for instance, there has never been a king of Liechtenstein (it is a principality, ruled by a prince); the Prince in 1871 was Johannes II, who was unmarried, and had no daughter; and the United States has no ambassador to Liechtenstein (the Ambassador to Switzerland serves Liechtenstein's needs).". That's true as of today, and I'm reasonably certain there was no US ambassador to Liechtenstein in 1871, as it had become independent of the German Confedration only in 1868, but I'd like to firm that up. -- Nunh-huh 23:51, 29 Apr 2004 (UTC)


 * I'm sure it's a relevant point, but doesn't this level of detail belong in The West Wing? Avaragado 09:12, Apr 30, 2004 (UTC)


 * Regarding "It is unclear if this is an "intentional" error (intended to show that Bartlet is sometimes mistaken) or an unintentional error on the part of the writers of The West Wing." - Isn't it a far more reasonable explanation that the writers were well aware of all those facts, but intended it to be a true statement in the fictional world of the movie? That would, IMO, depend on whether the average American would know that there is no king of Liechtenstein. JensMueller 22:58, 30 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I'm not sure if the year of the plaque in Africa from Jack & Bobby is correct.- B-101 12:12, 17 Sep 2004 (UTC)
 * Plaque in Africa, huh? I guess after all the food they've been sent, we forgot to think of sending toothpaste! - KeithTyler 19:09, Sep 17, 2004 (UTC)

Sorry but I meant plague, as in the Bubonic plague and epidemic. I didn't mean the mouth disease. Check if the plague in Africa from Jack & Bobby was correct.- B-101 16:37, 24 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I was under the impression that Bartlet was not as liberal as some of the other people on the show, for instance the lawer that has the cricket bat in that one episode. However, the article says he is "quite liberal." I guess it depends on scale, but I thought it was worth mentioning.Dawhitfield 23:54, 1 December 2005 (UTC)

Hey, according to the warning on the 'Fictional U.S. Presidents' edit page, this page must be condensed or cut into multiples due to the size limit having been violated materially. Somebody should take some action about this matter very soon!

Unnamed Presidents
What should be our cutoff for the listing of Unnamed Presidents? There are plenty of productions where The President appears for only a moment as a faceless entity (usually photographed from the back or from a distance) or as simply a voice on a radio or telephone. However, the effect that these characters have is marginal, and really not worth mentioning. That's not to say a faceless president isn't worth listing, it really depends on his role in the plot, such as in Wag the Dog where we never see his face, but his importance and role in the story is paramount.

However, there are productions where The President is central to the plot, but exists less as a character and more as a plot device. Such as the film In the Line of Fire where we do see The President, but never hear him speak or see him do anything beyond public appearances. Here, he's more of a walking prop then anything. In such a case, I don't think it would be worth mentioning. This also extends to works where The President is never seen or heard, but his actions still have an effect on the story (ie: "The President has ordered..." and "I spoke with The President, and...").

And naturally, works where The President is briefly shown and appears as a nondescript white male of middle age or older isn't really worth mentioning either. --Paul Soth 06:01, 27 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I disagree about In the Line of Fire. The plot is centered around the presidential office, though not perhaps the president himself. It is worth at least mentioning the name in such a case, or mentioning him as unnamed. Dawhitfield 23:44, 1 December 2005 (UTC)

Russel P. Kramer
Later ran again for office as an independent alongside former President Russell P. Kramer.

Eh? He ran alongside himself?--Lucky13pjn 04:57, Nov 2, 2004 (UTC)

There are a bunch of real people in the main listing - should they be moved to the "real people" list?

Also, what about real presidents who are presented as quite different in fiction? For instance, in Watchmen, Nixon is the president in the 1980's - does the 80's Nixon count as a "real person fictionally portrayed as president" even though the real person was really president in the 60's?

Real vs Unreal
I note that several real people have crept into the top part of the list (fictional people), - surely J Edgar Hoover and a couple of the Kennedys should be in the "Real people" section. And what of Richard Starkey? Could it be Ringo...? Grutness|hello? 10:07, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC)

The head of Richard Nixon
Does the head of Nixon in Futurama counts as a fictional president?


 * No, as he was president of Earth, not the US; see President of Earth. MakeRocketGoNow 20:27, May 7, 2005 (UTC)

President Peter Griffin
Should Peter Griffin be listed? He wasn't the President of the United States, but of the fictional nation Petoria. Sieckanddestroy 00:40, 26 September 2005 (UTC)


 * Petoria is not the United States, so no. Try list of other fictional politicans. -Silence 22:25, 28 September 2005 (UTC)

Shouldn't George Bush ?
Shouldn't George Bush the lesser be on this list? His presidency is a fiction. Pedant 15:35, 27 October 2005 (UTC)

A far-fetched one in which the characters, their motives, their dialogue and actions are usually totally implausible. --The Famous Movie Director 22:21, 27 October 2005 (UTC)

I wonder how long his name would stay on the list before someone took it off...

Disclaimer: I am not in any, way, shape or form responsible for the actions of someone who does such a thing. In fact, I don't even promote doing it. Dawhitfield 23:49, 1 December 2005 (UTC)

This is absurd. Cry me a river, hippies. Al Gore can't save you now... 129.110.194.224 17:55, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

List of Fictional Acting U.S. Presidents
This is currently a useless list of 3 presidents. It hasn't been edited since the day it was created (six months ago) and it looks like theres some overlap as well. It would benifit from being merged into this far better maintained list. josh (talk) 00:50, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

I agree Orville Eastland 02:41, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

Info was already on here, except for one. It redirects now. Someone should add something to the top of the page linking to/explaining acting vs sitting pres. --Wasabe3543 09:52, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

Formatting of "Real People" section
I've changed the format of the Real People section a bit. Multiple sources are now in a bulleted list under the appropriate person (e.g. Hillary Clinton, Arnold Schwarzenegger). I've also removed the "President" in front of some of the entries, in cases where it seemed redundant with the sentence. (e.g. " President Paris Hilton has frequently been portrayed as president in...."). An acceptable standard? --ScottAlanHill 22:39, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Moving "Real People" to its own page
As this page is getting rather long, I was considering splitting the "Real People" section onto its own entry. I've done a mock-up at List of alternate history United States Presidents, but I wanted to solicit opinion before deleting anything from this page. --ScottAlanHill 18:20, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

If you plan for the article to grow much longer, then I think you should consider a fork, and this would be an ideal target for that. I suggest a title rename, however:
 * Unnecessary split. If they weren't actually presidents, then they are fictional presidents. That doesn't imply they're fictional people, just fictional presidents. - Keith D. Tyler &para; (AMA) 21:01, 23 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Should it be left as a separate section then, or integrated into the rest of the list? --ScottAlanHill 23:56, 23 March 2006 (UTC)
 * List of United States Presidents (alternate history).

With the obvious explanation of who is eligible, with a differentation from purely fictional characters, at the top of the article. -Jc37 19:22, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

Harman Smith?
Was he President of the USA? I thought he was just the president of the (admittedly very important) school. Aspirin ought to be included with every copy of Killer7. 67.10.175.242 16:29, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

Hal Gardner
I added Hal Gardner as acting president, since he would have succeeded Charles Logan after the fifth-season finale of 24. Possibly disputable, to some lights. RahadyanS 14:06, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

More Fiction Than Fiction
As far as I can tell, the books (or films, or whatever other media works they are) The Day America Invaded the World and The Dave Hepler Saga don't actually exist, so "Charles Herbert Harrington" and "Dave Hepler" should be removed from the page. If I'm wrong, please let me know; otherwise I plan to delete them at the end of this month (July 2007). Caliban 18:12, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

Arthur Morose
Arthur Morose is mentioned as the President in "By Dawn's Early Light". However, the accuracy is questionable.

First, he is never named in the film or its credits.

Second, if the film was, as claimed, set in 1991, he can hardly have been elected in 1996.

Third, the destruction of Washington was caused by the Russian "retaliation" - admittedly for the terrorist attack on Donetsk.

The Secretary of the Interior (does this actually equate to Secretary of State?) was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, not France.

I suggest that the accuracy of this is checked, and that "Arthur Morose" is moved to "unnamed" at the same time.EmleyMoor (talk) 09:53, 16 April 2008 (UTC) 195.11.55.200 08:04, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

President Charles Herbert Harrington
I find this individual highly suspect. A fairly thorough search of the internet has revealed neither the book/film in which he is supposed to appear (itself a red link), and so far the only Charles Herbert Harrington I have managed to uncover was a passenger on the Titanic.

Unless somebody can provide reasonable proof of his appearance in a work of fiction as a US President, I suggest he should be deleted.

-Have removed Harrington after further searches revealed no proof of the character or the book's existence. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Special:Contributions/ (talk)

Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney has been acting President of the United States on two seperate occasions. I move that he be removed from the list. Discussion? 129.110.194.224 17:54, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

Cleanup suggestions
I agree that the "Dave Hepler" entry appears to be a hoax, rather than a reference to an actual fictional president. I also suspect that "Eric Norcross" is similar, as I can't find any reference to the character, and there is no source given.--David A Spitzley 21:25, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

This page is too long.
I propose this be addressed by dividing the article by media (List of fictional United States Presidents in films, List of fictional United States Presidents in books, etc.) with a special list for books made into movies (or, I suppose, movies made into books). Thoughts? bd2412 T 05:20, 25 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Honestly, I think this is pure listcruft and hardly interesting in any real way to anybody; but the article has been around for a while, so I guess I'm in the minority there. However, since it is already so long, perhaps it could be better (and easier) split into alphabetic sections "A-E", "F-J", etc., or something like that? User: (talk • contribs • count) 14:27, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

I truly believe that branching it out is entirely pointless. Why? Who's to judge that it's to long? I think that just because theres many fictional Presidents in the world, we shouldn't expand this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mike Theodore (talk • contribs) 03:38, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

Numbering
I concur with BD2412 on the divisions. This would make it easier to search by, of slightly less logical. For example: List of fictional POTUS this list is divided by media 'film, TV, literature etc etc. Also, would it be worth numbering them? It might be better to just give the exact number on the main page- this list currently contains X number of characters.... HJMitchell   You rang?  20:01, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Zachary Hale Comstock (Additions to Presidents of the Confederacy)
The section pertaining to presidents of the Confederate states seems a bit minimalist. I think a good figure to include would be Bioshock Infinite's Zachary Comstock, the president of 'Columbia', a floating version of the Confederacy. 2602:302:D5C:A4C0:9CCC:BC0A:8B42:3913 (talk) 19:25, 1 September 2014 (UTC)

Edit Request 2/28/15
Could an article be made about fictional Presidents of the Confederate States? In reality, the Confederacy only had one president: Jefferson Davis. However, in alternate history timelines and novels, in which the Confederacy gains its independence and has more than one president. For example, in the Southern Victory Series by Harry Turtledove, the Confederate States has 14 presidents before the nation creases to exist after at the end of the Second Great War in 1944. The list as is follows:


 * 1) 1 Jefferson Davis (1861-1868)
 * 2) 2 President Lee, either Robert E. Lee or Fitzhugh Lee (1868-1874)
 * 3) 3 Unknown (1874-1880)
 * 4) 4 James Longstreet (1880-1886)
 * 5) 5-8 Unknown (1886-1910)
 * 6) 9 Woodrow Wilson (1910-1916)
 * 7) 10 Gabriel Semmes (1916-1922)
 * 8) 11 Wade Hampton V (1922)
 * 9) 12 Burton Mitchel (1922-1934)
 * 10) 13 Jake Featherston (1934-1944)
 * 11) 14 Donald Partridge (1944)

The article should be separated in several parts. One area for fictional characters like Jake Featherston A-Z, another for unknown or unnamed presidents, and the last part for real life people such as Jefferson Davis and Woodrow Wilson. It would be a good idea for this article to exist. --75.68.122.13 (talk) 15:28, 28 February 2015 (UTC)Jacob Chesley the Alternate Historian

Fictional presidents of the CSA
I have moved the "Fictional Presidents of the Confederate States of America" section from this page to President of the Confederate States of America (and left behind a "see also" link to the information). I did this because the information—fictional CSA presidents—falls outside the parameters for inclusion established by the article's title. Drdpw (talk) 19:30, 11 December 2017 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:List of presidents of the United States by age which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 23:00, 31 May 2018 (UTC)

WP:CHALLENGE
For those who are not aware, Wikipedia's editing policies have tightened over time. I am asking here for a general editorial consensus on whether or not fictional details should have to be cited, of which these (fictional president) lists have shown great inconsistence. If not, these articles may be eligible for deletion under notability. Nobody expects the UnexpectedSmoreInquisition (talk)! 14:50, 5 October 2023 (UTC)