The Depression really rocked the political firmament... there were a lot of spooky-bizarre things going on in federal, state, and local governments across the country. 

It's been decades since I've seen it, but doesn't the publisher who wants to be governor in MEET JOHN DOE have a private corps of "husky militiamen with machine-guns"* on motorcycles? That Time story also makes me think of Broderick Crawford's Huey Long-like governor in ALL THE KING'S MEN.  


*Not to be confused with the Cramps' "Bikini Girls With Machine-Guns." R.I.P., Lux.