Episode #47: Superman For President!

Two appropriate Superman stories for this election week show Superman as the President of the United States. Superman In The White House was published in Superman #122 (July 1958, on sale approximately May 1, 1958). In case you would like to read this story before listening to this episode, this story can be found in two reprint editions: Superman:The Man of Tomorrow Archives vol. I and Showcase Presents: Superman vol. I. The other story was Executive Action in Action Comics Annual #3, 1991. I could not find any reprint information for this latter story. So your best bet would be an online vendor or the back issue bins of your local comic book store.

Superman In The White House was written by Otto Binder and drawn by Al Plastino. The story begins with Perry White assigns stories for the Daily Planet's Patriot's Day issue. Clark is assigned a story on George Washington. Lois is assigned Abraham Lincoln. When Jimmy asks who he is assigned, Perry says to pick a president and let him know after lunch. On his way out the door Perry tells Jimmy to straighten the Superman picture hanging on the wall of Perry's office. As Jimmy thinks about Superman as President as he straightens the picture, it comes off the wall and hits Jimmy on his head, knocking him out. While he lays on the floor Jimmy begins to dream about Superman as President.

His dream begins with a glowing sign on the side of a building flashes the headline, "Superman elected President ... widest margin in history!" Superman is then sworn in as President, with Clark Kent sworn in as Vice-President. Superman hires Jimmy as his Press Secretary. Having Superman as President causes problems for the Secret Service. Superman flies out of the Oval Office window for a walk, and would be assassins unload on Superman in vain. The Secret Servicemen are going to resign, until Jimmy reminds them that Superman is vulnerable to kryptonite. Later, when Superman is speaking at a public appearance, the Secret Service frisk suspicious characters and confiscating green-k. Superman later throws a plane, filled with his aides to a UN conference, to its destination to save fuel. At another public appearance Superman shakes the hands of everyone in the crowd at super speed. On Opening Day of the baseball season Superman throws the first pitch in Metropolis, to a stadium in Tokyo. To pay off the national debtSuperman scours the sea floor for sunken gold. Superman christens a new destroyer, the USS Superman. When it gets stuck in the mud, he pushes it to the ocean.

After Jimmy awakens, he tells Clark about his idea. Clark reminds Jimmy that Superman is ineligible to run for president because he was born on Krypton, Then Clark winds at the reader and says, "Superman couldn't, but Clark could, not that he would want to."

Executive Action from Action Comics Annual #3, 1991 was a tie-in to the Armageddon 2001 DC event series of that year. That series involved the character Waverider traveling through time from 2001 to 1991 to find the hero who would become the villain Monarch, who killed all of the super heroes and conquered the world. Waverider could keep himself invisible, and would touch a hero and see his future, or possible future. His goal was to kill the one who would become Monarch and change the future.

In the Action Comics Annual, Waverider touches Clark as he and Lois are waiting at the elevator to go on a date. As Clark's future plays out for Waverider, after their date Clark finds a message on his answering machine. Ma Kent called to tell Clark that Pa had been hurt in a farming accident. Both Clark and Lois show up at the Smallville hospital. Ma informs them that Pa had been working on his tractor on an incline, and it tipped over on him. A doctor meets them and tells them that Pa Kent passed away.

After the funeral, Ma Kent sells the farm. Clark and Lois marry and Ma moves in with them at their Park Ridge suburb. Later Clark and Lois visit Pete Ross and Lana in Washington, D. C. Pete informs them that he has decided to run for president, and asks Clark and Lois to run his campaign. Soon after his public announcement, Pete is injured in an assassination plot. Clark jumps in front of the gunman to block the rest of the bullets, and his identity as Superman is exposed. In the hospital Pete asks Clark to run in his place. Eventually Clark/Superman decides to run for president. First Star Labs examines the "birthing matrix" that brought him to Earth. Then the Supreme Court, using the information gathered by Star Labs, ruled that Superman was born in the United States after his spaceship landed on Earth.

After the primaries, an unnamed political party nominates Superman as their nominee for president. His Vice-Presidential nominee is an African-American woman named Sarah Hemming. Of course Superman wins in a landslide. As Superman is sworn in, Lex Luthor meets with the losing candidate, Sen. Forrest, to plot Superman's assassination. Secret Servicemen barge in and arrest Luthor. Forrest had been wearing a wire for the Secret Service.

Early in his administration, Superman and Aquaman search the sea floor for shipwrecks. Using his heat vision, Superman cuts out a vault filled with gold to start paying off the national debt. The economy is given a boost as a result. Superman frees a diplomat who was kidnapped by terrorists. Later he initiates a reforestation project with the help of thousands of volunteers. Superman unveils plans to launch a series of solar power satellites around the Earth to provide cheap electricity.

Then Superman tackles a tougher project, international disarmament. After meeting with world leaders, Sueprman meets with the Justice League to ask for their assistance. He asks them to become more involved in world affairs by becoming weapons inspectors and assisting UN peacekeepers as nations reduce their armed forces. Guy Gardner rejects the idea and attacks Superman. After a brief battle Superman grabs Guy's ring hand. Superman's will power is greater, so the ring appears on Superman's finger. Hal Jordan and John Stewart take guy to Oa for punishment. Later, Hal returns to the Oval Office to offer Superman a Power Ring and become a Green Lantern. Superman respectfully declines, citing the quote about absolute power.

After Waverider disengages from Clark, Clark leaves Lois because of a "funny feeling". He flies to Smallville to find Pa Kent working on the broken down tractor on an incline. Just as the tractor is about to fall on him, Superman saves him. Waverider wonders if their contact left a memory in Superman's subconscious and made him react to this future event.

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