I’ve been thinking, lately, about the theme of “American presidents who commit felonies.” I don’t know why; it’s just been on my mind recently for some reason. Obviously, through Wednesday, May 29th, 2024, no former United States President had ever been convicted of a felony. But if, say, in the day after that, a former United States President were convicted of a felony… or 34 felonies… he’d be in the company of the people on this list.
Yes that’s right, welcome to our little list of fictional presidents from TV and film who have committed felonies. As I just said, these are fictional examples, so if some real guy who was elected the President of the United States of America committed anything equivalent to these things in real life, it’d be way, way worse.
This list does not include movies about real presidents, like George W. Bush or Richard Nixon. Why? Because technically, those guys did not commit felonies.
I’m not including satires like Wag the Dog or Canadian Bacon or My Fellow Americans or VEEP… nothing wry and smartly designed as criticism. Nope, this list contains a few movies and TV shows where the president of the United States is a criminal and it’s not funny at all.
Also, I’m not including criminal presidents who aren’t in movies or TV. Do you know how many comic book villains get elected to the presidency? Lots. Lex Luthor! Norman Osborn!
Lastly, I will note that this isn’t a comprehensive list. There are some great movies with very bad presidents that I have left off. It’s a genre thing; I’m keeping the genre to “political thriller,” to keep things more realistic. So, for example, both John Carpenter’s Escape from New York and Escape from L.A., which feature (respectively) Donald Pleasance and Cliff Robertson as two very bad U.S. Presidents, are not literally on this list.
P.S. There are spoilers on this list; in many cases, I’m discussing the stuff of cliffhangers and plot twists.
Without further ado, let’s round up the unconstitutional suspects!
Your Candidates:
President Fitzgerald Grant III, Scandal
Man, Tony Goldwyn’s President Fitz went below-and-beyond the call of duty many times, from shady dealings to literally smothering a Supreme Court Justice with his bare hands.
President Alan Richmond, Absolute Power
In this 1997 Clint Eastwood film, screen-written by William Goldman and based on the novel by David Baldacci, Gene Hackman plays U.S. President Alan Richmond, who, after a woman rejects his insistent sexual advances and defends herself, permits the Secret Service to kill her, and then helps cover up the murder.
President Robert Diaz, The Blacklist
Benito Martinez’s Robert Diaz is a super-duper corrupt president! While he’s running for office, he kills a teenager in a hit-and-run and proceeds to cover it up. He blackmails, conspires with the Secret Service to have his wife assassinated… lots of bad stuff, here.
President Charles Logan, 24
Gregory Itzin plays Charles Logan, one of the major antagonists in the 24-verse. A former Vice President-turned-President, he ushers the U.S. government into an enormous web of corruption.
President Caroline Reynolds, Prison Break
In Prison Break, Patricia Wettig plays Vice President Caroline Reynolds, who, conspires with an organization to kill her brother and frame her opponent for the murder. When the organization no longer wants to work with her, she has the president assassinated and becomes president, herself.
President Frank Underwood, House of Cards
If you’ve even heard of the show House of Cards, you know it’s about a very corrupt politician named Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) who shimmies his way into the presidency. He blackmails, extorts, murders, and does generally whatever else it takes to get himself to the top. Also, the list goes on and on.
Dishonorable Mention:
President Greg Stillson, The Dead Zone
Remember when Martin Sheen played a generally good president in The West Wing? Well, earlier in his career, he starred in The Dead Zone, a David Cronenberg adaptation of the Stephen King novel The Dead Zone, and played a demagogue who runs for president. He’s actually a genocidal maniac; the thing is, his grand plans for genocide have not been enacted yet, because the whole deal with The Dead Zone is that Christopher Walken is psychic, so he can see what people will do, and he can clearly see Stillson becoming president and then starting an unsanctioned nuclear war. But no one else knows. So, he kind of counts.
