The Great Dictator a ruthless fascist dictator and a persecuted Jewish barber. "The Great Dictator" was popular with audiences, becoming Chaplin's most commercially successful film. Modern critics have also praised it as a historically significant film and an important work of satire, and in 1997, it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant". "The Great Dictator" was nominated for five Academy Awards – Outstanding Production, Best Actor, Best Writing (Original Screenplay), Best Supporting Actor for Jack Oakie, and Best Music (Original Score). In his 1964 autobiography, Chaplin
Dictator of different kinds of regimes, such as military juntas, one-party states, dominant-party states, and civilian governments under a personal rule, have been described as dictators. They, in a sense, may hold left or right-wing views, or they may be apolitical. Originally an emergency legal appointment in the Roman Republic, the term "Dictator" did not have the negative meaning it has now. A Dictator was a magistrate given sole power for a limited duration. At the end of the term, the Dictator's power was returned to normal Consular rule whereupon a dictator provided accountability, though not all dictators accepted a return