President John Wayne

The year is 1952. American soldiers are bogged down in Korea, the fear of communism is on the rise, and the presidential election is in full swing. Republican candidate, former general, and national hero Dwight D. Eisenhower is neck-and-neck with Senator Robert A. Taft in votes and delegates for the Republican nomination. Despite this tie, pundits are predicting the nomination, and the eventual election itself, will go to Eisenhower. That is, however, until the general suffers a major heart attack in the weeks before the nomination convention, sending him into the hospital and out of the race.

With Eisenhower's health issues arriving four years earlier, he is unable to secure the nomination and the Republican party is at a deadlock between the Taft faction and the Thomas Dewey faction. In a smoke-filled room, the two sides debated until they realized they needed an outsider candidate as a compromise, someone well-known, with strong patriotism and an anti-communist stance.

They eventually decide on actor and cultural icon John Wayne.