Dilman obtains Wheeler's confession and hands him over for extradition. The scandal threatens Dilman's presidency. He shows a news film to Watson that proves Wheeler was in South Africa during the assassination attempt. The ambassador comments that his own country would never have a black man as president. Senator Watson visits the South African embassy.
Dilman subsequently reprimands Eaton and a group of senior leaders, questioning why such an important bill is not being brought to his attention. Dilman believes they are talking about a minority rights bill and pledges his support, until one of the congressmen corrects him.
Eaton doesn't tell Dilman about it, but several black congressmen have a meeting with Dilman to discuss their concerns. Senator Watson introduces a bill that would require Congressional approval of any dismissal of a cabinet member by the president. Robert Wheeler ( Georg Stanford Brown), a young black man, is sought for extradition by South Africa for an attempt to assassinate the defence minister of that country Dilman offers his help when the young man claims he was in Burundi at the time of the assassination attempt.
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He proceeds under his own initiative, deciding that as President he will have to make his own decisions.ĭilman, a political moderate, is confronted by both activists and extremists about his skin color. Dilman realizes that he's being manipulated, crumples Eaton's note, and shoves the briefing binder aside. Eaton scribbles a note and has it taken forward to the president. When Dilman stops to consult notes after each question, an aggressive reporter accuses Dilman of being a puppet. He initially follows Eaton's instructions. Eaton gives Dilman a binder of briefing notes, including responses to news media questions that support the positions of the Fenton administration.ĭilman meets the press for the first time as President. In the morning, Eaton and his advisers arrive at the Oval Office and Eaton begins maneuvering himself into a position as the " power behind the throne". Eaton assures her that he will become President once Dilman proves unable to handle the job. Eaton's outspoken wife, Kay, berates her husband for not pushing to become President, even though it would violate the succession order. Dilman, a black man, is sworn in and arrives at the White House to assume office.
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By law the serving President upon the death of the elected one, Vice President Noah Calvin is suffering from a terminal condition and refuses to assume the office.Īrthur Eaton, the Secretary of State, corrects the popular assumption that he is the next in the line of succession, explaining that it had been amended by the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, and that the next successor is the President pro tempore of the United States Senate, who is Douglass Dilman. President Fenton and the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives are killed at a summit in Frankfurt, West Germany when the palace hosting the legation collapses. Had we known it was to be released as a motion picture, we would have asked for more time and more production money. He replied: "I have misgivings about that one. In an interview with Greg Braxton of the Los Angeles Times that ran January 16, 2009, four days before Barack Obama was inaugurated as president, Jones was asked about having portrayed the fictional first black U.S. In addition to being the first black president more than thirty-six years before the real-world occurrence, the fictional Dilman was also the first president elected to neither that office nor to the Vice Presidency, foreshadowing the real-world elevation of Gerald Ford by less than twenty-five months.
The screenplay, written by Rod Serling, is largely based upon The Man, a novel by Irving Wallace.
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Jones plays Douglass Dilman, the President pro tempore of the United States Senate, who succeeds to the presidency through a series of unforeseeable events, thereby becoming both the first African-American president and the first wholly unelected one. The Man is a 1972 American political drama film directed by Joseph Sargent and starring James Earl Jones.