''The President's Plane Is Missing'' is a 1967 novel by Robert J. Serling. The book was made into a

made-for-TV film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a terrestr ...

by the same name, directed by

Daryl Duke Daryl Duke (8 March 1929 – 21 October 2006) was a Canadian film and television director. Biography Duke was born at Vancouver, British Columbia, where he became one of CBC Television's earliest regional producers. His career continued with C ...

, which aired on 23 October 1973 in the United States. The book tells the story of a crash of

Air Force One Air Force One is the official air traffic control-designated Aviation call signs, call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States. The term is commonly used to denote U.S. Air Force aircraft modifie ...

in remote terrain and the uncertainty stemming from the lack of confirmation whether the

president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

is alive or dead. The

vice president A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

, an unpopular figure, pressures the

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

to declare him

acting president An acting president is a person who temporarily fills the role of a country's president when the incumbent president is unavailable (such as by illness or visiting abroad) or when the post is vacant (such as for death Death is the en ...

under the terms of the

25th Amendment The Twenty-fifth Amendment may refer to the: * Twenty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2002 – a failed proposal to amend the Constitution of Ireland * Twenty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution of India – dealing with public compensatio ...

so he can address a growing crisis with China with a

pre-emptive nuclear strike In nuclear strategy, a first strike or preemptive strike is a preemptive surprise attack employing overwhelming force. First strike capability is a country's ability to defeat another nuclear power by destroying its arsenal to the point where th ...

. ''The President's Plane Is Missing'' spent multiple weeks on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list, and its success enabled Serling to become a full-time writer. Serling later penned a sequel to the novel entitled ''Air Force One Is Haunted'', in which the ghost of President

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

haunts the

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be ...

president whenever he boards Air Force One.

Synopsis

Air Force One crashes in a storm in a remote area and the badly-burned and scattered bodies cannot be definitively identified, making it impossible to confirm that President Jeremy Haines has been killed, which would allow his vice president, Fred Madigan, to automatically assume the presidency. In this uncertainty, and amid a growing crisis with China that threatens to lead to war, Madigan (a weak character, pushed along by his ambitious wife) contemplates invoking Article Three of the 25th Amendment to become acting president, though he needs majority support from the cabinet to do so. He was not privy to Haines's plans, and receives contradictory advice from the national security advisor (who claims Haines was ready to declare war) and the secretary of state (who insists Haines was planning a more peaceful way of containing the threat). The cabinet is split on the issue and tensions increase when Madigan declares that once acting president, he will launch a pre-emptive strike on China. The novel's climax is the sudden appearance of Haines, alive and well. He'd never been on Air Force One (and had sent a look-alike to board the plane in his place), but instead had secretly traveled to

Camp David Camp David is a country retreat for the president of the United States. It lies in the wooded hills of Catoctin Mountain Park, in Frederick County, Maryland, near the towns of Thurmont, Maryland, Thurmont and Emmitsburg, Maryland, Emmitsburg, a ...

for highly-sensitive treaty negotiations with the leader of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

to contain China. Only the secretary of state knew of the plan but had been sworn to secrecy lest the treaty negotiation fail.

Film

In 1973 a film adaptation of the book was aired on television, starring

Peter Graves Peter Graves (born Peter Duesler Aurness; March 18, 1926 – March 14, 2010) was an American actor who portrayed Jim Phelps in the television series ''Mission: Impossible (1966 TV series), Mission: Impossible'' from 1967 to 1973 and in its reviv ...

and

Buddy Ebsen Buddy Ebsen (born Christian Ludolf Ebsen Jr.; April 2, 1908 – July 6, 2003), also known as Frank "Buddy" Ebsen, was an American actor and dancer. One of his most famous roles was as Jed Clampett in the CBS television sitcom ''The Beverly Hillb ...

. Filming for ''The President's Plane Is Missing'' had been completed in 1971, but Graves reported that the film did not air until 1973 due to the film's villains being Chinese and President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

's then negotiations with China.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:President's Plane is Missing, The (novel) 1967 American novels American novels adapted into films American political novels American thriller novels Aviation novels Doubleday (publisher) books Political thriller novels