There are many hoaxes about false US presidential candidacies, but one of the best known, and almost believable, involved the actor Christopher Walken. The story said he intended to run for president of the United States in 2008.
Why it sounded possible
Our original write-up suggests that some pranksters may have been inspired by the actor turned California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and thought they could pull off a similar story with the Pulp Fiction star. For a very short time it sounded credible. The bubble burst quickly, and no serious harm was done.
The fake campaign website
The hoax came with a website built to make the campaign look real. According to our article, the walkenforpres site carried a banner message, supposedly from Walken himself, saying the country was on a downward spiral and that people should focus on what matters to them, such as children, people and the future.
Not the first satirical candidate
The article names two earlier gags in American politics: Yetta Bronstein for President in 1964 and Nobody for President in 1976. Countless smaller hoax candidacies came and went with far less attention. The Walken story worked better, the article argues, because it involved a real and famous person.
What to take from it
A hoax needs a believable person, a believable setup and a place to point people. A website did that job in 2008. For more stories like it, see the full Historical Pranks list.
