Emperor of America

The Emperor of America

The title brazenly assumed by "a swashbuckling, power-mad fiend"—a "grasping, ruthless opportunist" bent on usurping absolute power in order "to seize the riches of the United States of America for his own"—who, having invented a "monstrous ray machine" designed to destroy individual initiative and the "will to resist" and having "blanketed the nation with [its] invisible rays," strides calmly into the White House with a handful of henchmen and seizes control of the United States government, overnight transforming America from the "land of the free and home of the brave" into the "land of the enslaved and home of the craven" where justice is a mockery and a mind-controlled populace does nothing but meekly "obey orders" and hail the nonexistent accomplishments of its "new mighty leader." Indeed, "of the 130 million citizens throughout the land, there [is] none to oppose him—except one solitary individual," Superman, who moves swiftly and heroically to dethrone the self-styled "emperor," and demolish his ray machine, and restore America to its democratic institutions.

Terrifying though this tale may be, there are indications that it is only imaginary, for the text cautions that "This is a tale that could occur only after the war---many years hence! It's up to all of us to see it doesn't!" (Act No. 52, Sep 1942: "The Emperor of America"). (TGSB)