Following the Reagan Route

bonachevski

One of my favorite movie scenes is in Back to the Future, when Marty tells Doc that Ronald Reagan becomes President and Doc is blown away by the idea of an actor as president. After all, President Reagan was a ridiculous concept in 1955. Then recently, I heard the 1965 Tom Lehrer song "George Murphy", about the titular dancer-turned-senator. In the first verse, Lehrer references Reagan's political activism and the audience goes crazy. The idea that an actor could become governor and then president was ridiculous... until it happened.

There have been other entertainers-turned-politicians. Senator George Murphy, Representative Sonny Bono, Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger, Governor Jesse Ventura, Senator Al Franken. Only Reagan reached the top spot.

My question is: Who are some other entertainers who could have gone on to become President? Bonus points if they never even ran for office IOTL.

(I'm ignoring Trump because he was a businessman before he became a TV personality, and I'm looking strictly for entertainers.)
 

bonachevski

If the Civil Rights Movement goes smoother a President Belafonte would be interesting. America would have to be ready for a black president long before they were ready IOTL. I could see him as a senator?
 

Don Corleone

Fred Thompson was a Senator and made a presidential run.

Rob Reiner is a political activist, which could translate into a career in electoral politics.

Fred Grandy served in the House of Representatives.
 

Wendell

Clint Eastwood.

Charlton Heston

There are separate timelines on this board with John Wayne, Walt Disney, and, I think, Elvis Presley as President of the United States.
 

Deleted member 109224

George Clooney.

He's a near-billionaire after having sold that tequila company he started.
He's involved in the NGO sphere (the Not On Our Watch Project, Haitian relief, etc) and was involved in anti-Iraq actions.
There's a country that exists on earth (South Sudan) in large part due to his actions.
He interacted with the UN pretty deftly, got a UN peace ambassador appointment, got a summit peace award from the Nobel Prize Laureates, got a hearing from the Obama administration, and got hearings from the Chinese and Egyptian Governments on the Sudan issue.

Scott Adams, who sort of called Trump winning the primary based off of his (Trump's) persuasive skills has said Clooney is the only person on the Democratic side with a comparable persuasive skillset.

Had Clooney gotten some the Special Envoyship for the Sudans following South Sudanese independence (there is a Special Envoy position for Sudan and South Sudan) that might be enough to give him the space for a Presidential bid. He uses the position and his celebrity to deal with a variety of humanitarian crises in the region and later helps coordinate a response to Joseph Kony. In Obama's second term he appoints George Clooney UN Ambassador.

From there, Clinton picks Clooney as her running mate in 2016. Clinton has a strong working relationship with Clooney from when they were together in the State Department for a year and a half, and decides his speaking skills and persuasiveness would be helpful. Clinton's collapse at the 9/11 memorial ceremony goes a bit worse and she hits her head. She'll pull through, but she cannot campaign and Clooney gets bumped up to nominee. Clooney asks Biden to be his running mate (the country needs somebody experienced etc etc) and they proceed to sweep the race.
 

Expat

I'm always an advocate for Jimmy Stewart-as-pol. He almost left acting after the war and clearly had a penchant for national service, not to mention outspoken politics.

Charles Barkley's been flirting with a political run for decades at this point.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar might be a stretch (ha!), but he's certainly beloved, intelligent, and highly political. Lesser office would be open to him if he'd wanted it.

Nobody's mentioned Sunny Bono yet.

Peter Lawford was British but could have run for Congress on the Kennedy slate.

Angelina Jolie's name has come up before in semi-serious circles.

As has Ashley Judd's in downright serious circles, at least for lesser office.
 

bonachevski

President Aday.jpg
President Osmond.jpg


NOT the same timeline, but two wikiboxes I threw together
 

Somedevil

Henry Fonda seems like someone that could of made a legit run if he wanted to.. He is basically the Democrats version of Jimmy Stewart
 

Expat

I just heard about another one: apparently George Takei ran for local office in LA in the 1970s. Obviously he's got some baggage in the context of a pre-2000s political career, but it could be an interesting scenario to develop.
 

White Lightning

Banned
My 2 cents even though he wasn't an entertainer per se but a celebrity. Charles Lindbergh could have easily won the 1940 election if FDR had chosen to abide by the unwritten rule of 2 terms.
 

wilcoxchar

Gregory Peck would be a good option as he was pretty active in Democratic politics behind the scenes. LBJ intended to offer Peck ambassadorship to Ireland had he run ib 1968 and been relected. Peck was also floated as a possible Democratic opponent to Reagan for California governor in 1970 (oh boy, Peck v. Reagan). And while Gregory Peck never ran, his son Carey Peck ran for Congress in 1978 and 1980.

Jackson Lennock said:
George Clooney.

He's a near-billionaire after having sold that tequila company he started.
He's involved in the NGO sphere (the Not On Our Watch Project, Haitian relief, etc) and was involved in anti-Iraq actions.
There's a country that exists on earth (South Sudan) in large part due to his actions.
He interacted with the UN pretty deftly, got a UN peace ambassador appointment, got a summit peace award from the Nobel Prize Laureates, got a hearing from the Obama administration, and got hearings from the Chinese and Egyptian Governments on the Sudan issue.

Scott Adams, who sort of called Trump winning the primary based off of his (Trump's) persuasive skills has said Clooney is the only person on the Democratic side with a comparable persuasive skillset.

Had Clooney gotten some the Special Envoyship for the Sudans following South Sudanese independence (there is a Special Envoy position for Sudan and South Sudan) that might be enough to give him the space for a Presidential bid. He uses the position and his celebrity to deal with a variety of humanitarian crises in the region and later helps coordinate a response to Joseph Kony. In Obama's second term he appoints George Clooney UN Ambassador.

From there, Clinton picks Clooney as her running mate in 2016. Clinton has a strong working relationship with Clooney from when they were together in the State Department for a year and a half, and decides his speaking skills and persuasiveness would be helpful. Clinton's collapse at the 9/11 memorial ceremony goes a bit worse and she hits her head. She'll pull through, but she cannot campaign and Clooney gets bumped up to nominee. Clooney asks Biden to be his running mate (the country needs somebody experienced etc etc) and they proceed to sweep the race.
Click to expand...
To add to George Clooney's credentials, his dad Nick Clooney is a renowned journalist, helped organize and work with a lot of George's NGO work including Not On Our Watch, and Nick Clooney himself ran for Congress in 2004.
 

Wendell

Jackson Lennock said:
George Clooney.

He's a near-billionaire after having sold that tequila company he started.
He's involved in the NGO sphere (the Not On Our Watch Project, Haitian relief, etc) and was involved in anti-Iraq actions.
There's a country that exists on earth (South Sudan) in large part due to his actions.
He interacted with the UN pretty deftly, got a UN peace ambassador appointment, got a summit peace award from the Nobel Prize Laureates, got a hearing from the Obama administration, and got hearings from the Chinese and Egyptian Governments on the Sudan issue.

Scott Adams, who sort of called Trump winning the primary based off of his (Trump's) persuasive skills has said Clooney is the only person on the Democratic side with a comparable persuasive skillset.

Had Clooney gotten some the Special Envoyship for the Sudans following South Sudanese independence (there is a Special Envoy position for Sudan and South Sudan) that might be enough to give him the space for a Presidential bid. He uses the position and his celebrity to deal with a variety of humanitarian crises in the region and later helps coordinate a response to Joseph Kony. In Obama's second term he appoints George Clooney UN Ambassador.

From there, Clinton picks Clooney as her running mate in 2016. Clinton has a strong working relationship with Clooney from when they were together in the State Department for a year and a half, and decides his speaking skills and persuasiveness would be helpful. Clinton's collapse at the 9/11 memorial ceremony goes a bit worse and she hits her head. She'll pull through, but she cannot campaign and Clooney gets bumped up to nominee. Clooney asks Biden to be his running mate (the country needs somebody experienced etc etc) and they proceed to sweep the race.
Click to expand...

Clooney is not going to keep the same VP Obama had...
 
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