When the film opens, U.S. President Judson C. 'Judd' Hammond (Huston) (possibly a reference to Judson Harmon) [speculation?] is variously described as "a Hoover-like partisan hack"[6] or "basically a do-nothing crook, based on, to some extent, Warren G. Harding." Then he suffers a near-fatal automobile accident and goes into a coma. Through what Portland State University instructor[7] Dennis Grunes calls "possible divine intervention,"[8] Hammond (an "FDR lookalike")[9] miraculously recovers, emerging "a changed man, an activist politician, a Roosevelt."[3]
President Hammond makes "a political U-turn,"[5] purging his entire cabinet of "big-business lackeys." When Congress impeaches him, he responds by dissolving the legislative branch, assuming the âtemporaryâ power to make laws as he "transforms himself into an all-powerful dictator."[10] He orders the formation of a new âArmy of Constructionâ answerable only to him, spends billions on one New Dealâlike program after another, and nationalizes the manufacture and sale of alcohol.[6]
The reborn Hammond's policies include "suspension of civil rights and the imposition of martial law by presidential fiat."[11] He "tramples on civil liberties,"[12] "revokes the Constitution, becomes a reigning dictator," and employs "brown-shirted storm troopers"[13] led by the President's top aide, Hartley 'Beek' Beekman (Tone). When he meets with resistance (admittedly, from the organized crime syndicate of ruthless Al Capone analog Nick Diamond), the President "suspends the law to arrest and execute 'enemies of the people' as he sees fit to define them," with Beekman handing "down death sentences in his military star chamber" in a "show trial [that] resembles those designed to please a Stalin, a Hitler or a Chairman Mao,"[11] after which the accused are immediately lined up against a wall behind the courthouse and "executed[6] by firing squad."[14] By threatening world war with Americaâs newest and most deadly secret weapon, Hammond then blackmails the world into disarmament, ushering in global peace.[15]
The film is unique in that, by revoking the Constitution, etc., President Hammond does not become a villain, but a hero who "solves all of the nation's problems,"[13] "bringing peace to the country and the world,"[9] and is universally acclaimed âone of the greatest presidents who ever lived.â[14] The Library of Congress comments:


â
The good news: he reduces unemployment, lifts the country out of the Depression, battles gangsters and Congress, and brings about world peace. The bad news: he's Mussolini.[16]
â
What does Congress do to the president?
Impeaches him