Has America ever had a dictator? I may not be the best to answer this question, so think about it yourself for a few moments before going on. I would say, to some extent yes, America has had at least one dictator. Remember Abraham Lincoln was elected with less than 40% of the popular vote. A nice majority in the Electoral College, but over 60% of the voters went against Lincoln in 1860. Suddenly a large portion of the nation seceded, forming a 2nd nation, and one with which the USA was soon at war. Lincoln, a minority President, suddenly had the majority of the Congress with him, as many left to join the CSA against the USA. Lincoln's Adm. confiscated newspapers, deported some opponents to Canada, curtailed free speech, etc. It was a time of war, and many assumed Lincoln would be defeated in 1864 and a Democrat elected would make a peace-treaty with the new neighboring nation to the south, the CSA. But the war in 1864 began to change, as Vicksburg fell and opened the entire Miss. River to the Yanks, and Yankee armies marched into the Carolinas and took Atlanta, slicing the CSA into smaller pieces. Lincoln won the 1864 election, but elation was short-lived as Lincoln was assassinated, and a large plot to kill many American leaders was discovered. Perhaps Lincoln had allowed too many freedoms to continue so a major conspiracy could succeed in part.
Still, some of you may contend Lincoln was simply a war President, doing what any President would do in the circumstances - certainly NO Dictator. Look again, for on Jan. 1, 1863 Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared henceforth all slaves in rebellious territories would be freed. This freed no slaves on the day propagated, but it was effective propaganda in Europe, making foreign intervention in the war more difficult if it seemed they were barging in to defend slavery. This was NOT a law passed by Congress; but a proclamation of a war policy from the Commander in Chief, Lincoln. And though no slave may have been freed on the first day of enunciation, in time, with Yankee victories, all the slaves were emancipated. Lincoln's proclamation just happened to be the largest confiscation of private property in American history. Without a law being passed. On this most important point, Lincoln was a dictator. And a reminder from Google AI "Civil War Death Toll: The American Civil War remains the deadliest conflict in U.S. history.
Woodrow Wilson, the first Southerner elected Pres. after the Civil War was a staunch segregationist. An academic, for a time Chancellor of Princeton u., he prided himself that during his tenure there, not one black was admitted to the prestigious university. Elected Pres. in 1912, he quickly moved to segregate the American armed services, and the national civil service. Really, he hoped to prevent any blacks from entering the civil service, and a new requirement of a photograph was to accompany all applications. The photos would prevent hiring of the blacks. Those already hired, were segregated. WWI had broken out in 1914, and continued. Wilson sought to join in and make the world safe for democracy. Once in, Wilson did everything to prevent free speech opposition to the war, refusing to allow Socialist newspapers in the US Mail (the SP opposed the war), arresting Eugene Debs, leader of the SP, which had received 6% of the national vote in 2012. Germans were forced to learn English. I suspect prohibition of alcohol was a byproduct of the war-inspired hatreds. Blatz, Schlitz, Budweiser, and other German names were associated with beer, and Irish names with pubs and bars. The Easter Rebellion in Ireland showed many Irish were leaning toward the Germans. Prohibition will punish Germans and Irish in America. Results of the war for democracy were the Communist revolution in Russia, Bela Kun's short lived Comm. govt. in Hungary, a Soviet govt. in Bavaria, and a little later, Fascism in Italy, and after that Hitler in Germany. Wilson had pushed hard for a League of Nations, but was horrified when the Japs proposed a resolution declaring equality of the races. Wilson was horrified at such insanity might infect his pet project of the League.
The Great War ended with a victory for the British, French, American coalition. A flu hit America after the war, but America was tired of Wilson and the Dems. and voted for a return to Normalcy with Republican Harding in 1920. The nation was soon flourishing, and with new inventions, people were buying automobiles, there were folks doing acrobatics on aeroplanes in the sky, you could listen to a concert on the radio, play a record of a pop jazz singer, and see Wings, All Quiet on the Western Front and Rudolph Valentino at the flickers. In America, the age of dictators was over, despite the powerful depression that hit the US at the end of the 1920s. FDR was popular enough that he did not have to be a dictator. During WWII, there were rations on gas, sugar, eggs, etc., but nothing intolerable. The government regulations may have been annoying, but there was a major war going on. No need for a dictator here. After the war, there were restrictions on communists and left-wingers. Yet the govt. did not really go after some of the spies who helped Stalin develop his A bomb. There were restrictions in free speech, and some like Paul Robeson paid a price in popularity for his attacks on colonialism, but dissidents in the US had it easier than dissidents in the USSR or in its sphere of influence. America avoided a dictator and soon relaxed in the greatest period of growth and prosperity.
The next possible dictator I would say was Dr. Fauci. I do not begrudge his frolicking in the spotlight of popularity. A small guy whom no one noticed through much of his life, now receives phone calls from Julia Roberts and other Hollywood stars. Ok, Fauci became a "celebrity." Nothing wrong with that. And he would make surpirisn amounts of $$$, not too different from prominent politicians. Perhaps we are simply jealous of him on these grounds.
