I had heard about this movie for years and even knew how it ended, but I decided I should finally see it for myself--it was on TCM this past weekend. As a feminist, I was prepared to be offended, but parts of the movie pleasantly surprised me. President Leslie McCloud, well played by Polly Bergen, is a strong, smart woman more than capable of handling the duties of president. And Eli Wallach is very funny as the Castro-like dictator seeking aid for his country. Today the casting of a non-Latino actor in the role wouldn't go over, but Wallach, a gifted character actor, does a good job. The character is a bit stereotypical, but hey, he's a dictator-- we're not supposed to like him. Fred MacMurray's performance is OK--I prefer him cast against type, as in Double Indemnity and The Apartment--but his "first gentleman" character is such a bumbler, until he redeems himself in the congressional hearing, that it's hard to believe he was ever a successful businessman. And Edward Andrews, like Wallach a fine character actor, is excellent as the smarmy senator who had run against McCloud. But the movie finally does a cop-out on the idea of a woman president--she has to resign because she's pregnant! So for most of the film, the script takes the idea of a woman president seriously, and shows Leslie McCloud to be a serious, intelligent, competent one, but in the end biology dictates her destiny. So yes, we needed the women's movement and still do--even in 2016, a lot of Americans wouldn't vote for a woman for president, and don't tell me sexism had nothing to do with it. One more problem: Even though the movie was made at the height of the civil rights movement, the only black character who gets notable screen time is the White House butler.