The following is a list of real or historical people who have been portrayed as President of the United States in fiction, although they did not hold the office in real life. This is done either as an alternate history scenario, or occasionally for humorous purposes. Also included are actual US presidents with a fictional presidency at a different time and/or under different circumstances than the one in actual history.
M Douglas MacArthur President in: Resistance: A Hole in the Sky 35th President of the United States. Commander of the United States Armed Forces during the Chimeran War. Became Acting President of the United States following the death of President Harvey McCullen during the Chimera's invasion of the U.S. in 1953. Killed in action against the Chimera in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1953. Succeeded by Assistant Secretary of the Interior Thomas Voss.
James Madison In a parallel universe featured in the short story "He Walked Around the Horses" by H. Beam Piper, James Madison was a major participant in the short-lived rebellion in the colonies of the British North America in the 1770s. In 1809, he was living in exile in Switzerland. A seemingly insane individual who claimed to be a British diplomat named Benjamin Bathurst maintained that the American rebels were successful in their attempts to achieve independence, Madison was the current President of the United States in 1809 and was preceded by Thomas Jefferson, the author of the American rebels' Declaration of Philadelphia. In the short story "The War of '07" by Jayge Carr in the anthology Alternate Presidents edited by Mike Resnick, James Madison served as Attorney General in the cabinet of Aaron Burr, who became the 3rd president after defeating Thomas Jefferson in the 1800 election. In Harry Turtledove's alternative history series Southern Victory, James Madison served as the 4th president from March 4, 1809, to March 4, 1817, as he did in real life. Due to his Virginia heritage as well as his anti-Federalist views, Madison was generally remembered unfavorably in the version of history taught in the United States after the Confederate States of America achieved its independence in the War of Secession (1861–1862) with the support of the United Kingdom and France. Many in the United States presumed that Cassius Madison, the 16-year-old Confederate black boy who had killed Confederate States President Jake Featherston on July 7, 1944, had taken his surname in honor of President Madison. In fact, Cassius had taken it from the Georgia town nearest to where he had gunned down Featherston. He had never even heard of Madison before he began his tour of the United States after the end of the Second Great War (1941–1944). In the 1988 short story The Reploids by Stephen King, Edward Paladin, who is revealed to be the counterpart of Johnny Carson as host of The Tonight Show in a parallel universe, has a deep-blue United States one-dollar bill in his wallet with James Madison on it, implying that he served as the first president of the United States instead of George Washington in Paladin's universe.
Alfred Thayer Mahan In the alternative history novels The Great War: Walk in Hell and American Empire: Blood and Iron, part of the Southern Victory Series by Harry Turtledove, Alfred Thayer Mahan is mentioned as having served as president from 1889 to 1897. Mahan's place in the pantheon of "great US presidents" was assured when he forced the Confederate States of America to abandon its proposal to build a canal in Nicaragua. President Mahan was credited with the observation that the main problem with republics is that "over time, the voters are apt to get tired of paying for what their country needs to defend itself." He was succeeded by Thomas Brackett Reed, who served as president from 1897 until he died in office in 1902.
George Marshall President in "Thor Meets Captain America", 1987 novelette by David Brin Mentioned as being president in 1962, three years after his death in real life.
Thomas R. Marshall In the 1953 alternate history novel Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore, Thomas Marshall is elected president in 1916 as candidate for the Populist Party. He is then defeated for reelection in 1920 by William Hale Thompson.
John McCain In the future history graphic novel Shooting War by Anthony Lappé, McCain was president in 2011. In the Treehouse of Horror XIX episode of The Simpsons, Homer attempts to vote for Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election but his electronic voting machine registers his multiple attempts to do so as six votes for McCain; upon realizing that the machine is rigged, Homer attempts to head out to report the mishap, but the machine sucks him in and kills him to hide the truth.
Eugene McCarthy President in Robert L. O'Connel's "The Cuban Missile Crisis: Second Holocaust", an essay in the 2003 book What Ifs? of American History, edited by Robert Cowley. He was elected as the 38th president in 1968, in the long aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962 which escalated into nuclear war. The US reacted drastically to the destruction of Washington, D.C., by totally destroying the Soviet Union and Cuba and killing some 90% of their populations. It was subsequently accused of having perpetrated genocide. Richard Nixon, who as elected as the 37th president in 1964, had driven the US into complete international isolation and made it a pariah nation. McCarthy soundly defeated the incumbent Nixon in 1968, promising "global reconciliation and healing" and winning no less than 76% of the popular vote. McCarthy's success as president was only partial. He did reduce the American nuclear arsenal but refused to completely dispose of it, which the rest of the world found inadequate. He did manage to re-establish diplomatic relations with 21 countries and got the US an observer status in the United Nations, stating that it would become a full member again only should the UN drop the demand for the US to pay war reparations. McCarthy did provide generous US help in trying to rehabilitate the starving and radiation-ridden remnants of the populations of "The Victim Nations" (the Soviet Union, Cuba, and former Warsaw Pact countries). However, shortly before the 1972 election, a commission headed by Newt Gingrich (in his role as Archivist of the United States) presented to President McCarthy its recommendations – with the conclusion that the US would only be fully readmitted to the Family of Nations by adhering to the "Geneva Convention of the Total Abolition of Nuclear Weapons", already accepted by all other countries in the world.
Joseph McCarthy In the alternate history short story "We Could Do Worse" by Gregory Benford, Joseph McCarthy was chosen in 1952 as the Republican vice presidential candidate by nominee Robert A. Taft, a choice made with the tacit support of California Senator Richard Nixon. When Taft died on July 31, 1953 (as in real life), McCarthy became the 35th president. By the 1956 election, when the story took place, he was well on his way to establishing a brutal dictatorship. The story indicates McCarthy would be re-elected with Nixon as his running mate, using considerable voter intimidation provided by federal agents, and would "diddle" the United States Constitution to make his power permanent by 1960. At some point during his first term, President McCarthy had placed Adlai Stevenson, Taft's Democratic opponent in 1952, under house arrest due to his alleged Communist sympathies. The story depicted two federal agents arresting a congressman named Garrett, a member of the United States House of Representatives' Internal Security Committee who has proven to be a major thorn in McCarthy's side, on the trumped up charge that he was part of a Communist spy network. Shortly thereafter, Garrett was murdered. The arrest took place on August 20, 1956, while the first day of the Republican National Convention was being broadcast live on CBS. After being renominated by his party, President McCarthy was interviewed by Walter Cronkite. The two federal agents in question were grateful that Nixon delivered the California delegation to Taft at the 1952 Convention as it prevented Dwight D. Eisenhower, a "pinko general" with a "Kraut name," from securing the nomination. Furthermore, they regarded Taft's death as a godsend as it allowed McCarthy to accede to the presidency. In reality, McCarthy died of acute hepatitis on May 2, 1957. If the same is true of the version of McCarthy depicted in the story, it is possible that Nixon will succeed him as the 36th president only seven months after the 1956 election.
George B. McClellan George McClellan is President in Gray Victory by Robert Skimin. He was elected as the 17th president in 1864 after General Sherman failed to take Atlanta, leading to Northern voters feeling fatigue with the never-ending American Civil War. Upon learning the result of the election, Abraham Lincoln orders an immediate cease-fire, which McClellan follows with peace negotiations and recognition of the Confederate States of America which accounted themselves as victors of the war. McClellan was sharply criticized by abolitionists for having perpetuated slavery, and two years after his election a growing number of Americans are having second thoughts about having ended the war.
John William McCormack He was the 36th President of the United States in "The Cuban Missile Crisis: Second Holocaust" (an essay in What Ifs? of American History) by Robert L. O'Connell. As Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, McCormack succeeded John F. Kennedy following a nuclear strike on Washington, D.C., on Saturday, October 27, 1962, as the Cuban Missile Crisis escalated into the Two Days' War. A Russian SS-4 (R-12 Dvina) IRBM (launched from Cuba) detonated above the Lincoln Memorial, leveling much of the surrounding area, including The White House, taking with it Kennedy, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, and the rest of the National Command Authority. At nearly 71 upon assuming office, McCormack became the oldest serving president. Falling into ill health following his admirable handling of the crises that followed the war, he did not contest the 1964 presidential election, and was succeeded by the Republican victor Richard Nixon, who became the 37th president. In the alternative history novel Surrounded by Enemies: What if Kennedy Survived Dallas? by Bryce Zabel, McCormack acceded to the presidency on February 24, 1966, after the impeachment, trial and removal from office of President John F. Kennedy for multiple incidents of extramarital affairs both before and during his term in office. As Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson had been forced to resign due to allegations of bribery and financial malfeasance, McCormack's position as Speaker of the House of Representatives meant that he was the first in the line of succession to the presidency under the provisions of the Presidential Succession Act 1947. For a time, it appeared that his Republican predecessor Gerald Ford would become president, but the Democrats gained a slim majority of 218-217 in the House of Representatives and McCormack once again became the Speaker. At 75 years old, he was the oldest man to take office as president. In March 1966, McCormack gave Kennedy a pardon for any crimes which he committed or may have committed while in office. He also announced that he would not run for election in 1968. He was succeeded by Richard Nixon.
George McGovern In one of the episodes What If?, program of Discovery Channel, George McGovern was appointed vice president after Martin Luther King Jr. took office as the 38th president following the assassination of his predecessor Robert F. Kennedy in September 1969. After King was likewise assassinated in September 1971, McGovern became the 39th president. He was also the subject of the novel President McGovern's First Term (1973) by Nicholas Max.