The United States has been led by 45 different presidents in its illustrious history, but some of them get a lot more respect then others. After all, how do you compete with the legacy of Abraham Lincoln, who held the country together during the Civil War, or Franklin Roosevelt, whose social welfare programs lifted America out of the Great Depression? Or Warren G. Harding, who… hm. What did he do again?
As John Oliver demonstrated on the most recent episode of Last Week Tonight, Harding is known today for the Teapot Dome, a bribery episode that, before Watergate, was considered as the biggest scandal in American political history… and for his many sexual trysts on top of that. But of course, everyone knows that the best way to teach the public about a historical figure is with a star-studded biopic, and that’s just what Oliver did, enlisting the help of Campbell Scott, Anna Kendrick, Michael McKean, James Cromwell, Laura “fucking” Linney… and a wax figure of Harding bought from the now-defunct Hall of Presidents and First Ladies Wax Museum in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.Yup, you read that right.
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The best part of this story, though, is that John Oliver wasn’t the only media luminary to jump at the chance to own a figure from the collection from the Hall Of Presidents (he actually now owns five). So did Rachel Maddow, Stephen Colbert, and Jon Stewart, who all have forgettable presidents of their own, too. I guess when you’re a political commentator with a bunch of money at your disposal, that’s what you do with it.
Jokes aside, you never know: a Harding biopic might actually do well if you actually cast a human actor in the lead role. Let us know what other presidents from America’s past you’d want to see star in movies in the comments below!
Image: HBO
