Hall of Fake Presidents – Washington, D.C. - Atlas Obscura
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Hall of Fake Presidents

Washington, D.C.

Where you can hail your favorite fictional commanders-in-chief. 

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Peter Sellers/Dr. Strangelove SEANETTA (Atlas Obscura User)
Terry Crew/Idiocracy SEANETTA (Atlas Obscura User)
Hall of Fake Presidents blimpcaptain (Atlas Obscura User)
Jack Nicholson/ Cars Attacks SEANETTA (Atlas Obscura User)
Harrison Ford / Air Force One SEANETTA (Atlas Obscura User)
Martin Sheen/ West Wing SEANETTA (Atlas Obscura User)
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In these divided political times, it can be tough to muster patriotism even among Washington D.C.’s breathtaking memorials to Lincoln and Washington. But a little farther away from the monuments and government buildings, you can find a Hall of Presidents devoted to American leaders too heroic to be real—because they aren’t.

Regally displayed in the cinema lobby, Alamo Drafthouse’s Hall of Presidents includes a dozen fictional U.S. Presidents from popular films. This is a bipartisan gallery that includes beloved leaders like Morgan Freeman in Deep Impact and Harrison Ford in Air Force One, to more polarizing Commanders-in-Chief like Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove and President Camacho himself: Terry Crews in Idiocracy. The hall’s centerpiece is a life-sized statue of President Whitmore (Bill Pullman) from Independence Day, framed by an engraving of his patriotic speech from that film.

The exhibit leads to the Highbinder, a lobby bar whose name refers to a dishonest politician. Indeed, authentic politicians are hard to come by inside the Beltway. So why not visit a monument devoted to our favorite fake ones?

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Pat Cassels
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Published
November 17, 2022
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Nearby
Benjamin Grenup Monument
0.47 miles
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