the president and sec . of state be kill when a building collapse and and the vice president have have a stroke a month earlier and so the oval office fall to a token black staffmember ( play by james earl jones ) . this coincidence seem even more plausible today consider recent terrorism and the health of current vice president cheney . serling unsentimental script ( base on irving wallace book ) include intrigue and plot twist and and the amazing confluence of recognizable character actor under effective direction transcend the usual tv movie standard and make this one of the good tv movie i have ever see . put another way and the film doesn not feel date at all and except for today increase racial visibility in political office . the film be also a mirror image of serling seven day in may and and represent the only way a good guy ( a true washington outsider ) could get catapult to power ( except for the prisoner of zenda esque comedy dave ) . ironically and while it be probably a sensation to see the portrayal of a black president in the 1970 and today audience aren not surprise to see james earl jones in the cia or white house in the tom clancy movie .