Robert F. Kennedy 1968 presidential campaign are the ones, the President of the United States, President Johnson, they are the ones who divide us." In late March, three days before LBJ announced that he would not be seeking the Democratic Party's nomination, James H. Rowe sent LBJ a memorandum charging that RFK's backers had said "the president would not run and that the best course for the Democrats was to 'Stay loose and stay committed.' " A late-March Gallup poll showed RFK defeating President Johnson in a national election. RFK was at his apartment in the United Nations Plaza the night President Johnson announced his withdrawal
The American President Minnesota senator Howard Stackhouse (George Coe) in the two "West Wing" episodes "The Stackhouse Filibuster" and "The Red Mass". In the same way, the French President attending a state dinner in "The American President" seems to be the same President d'Astier that is often referred to in the "West Wing". Several actors from "The American President" reappear in "The West Wing", including Martin Sheen (whose character in "The American President", A.J., is at one point accused by Shepherd of lacking the courage to run for office himself) as President Josiah Bartlet, Anna Deavere Smith as National Security Advisor Dr. Nancy