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Illustrated portrait of Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip

A character in It Can't Happen Here

Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip

Windrip is a senator who wins the presidency through extravagant promises, resentment, and a public style that makes authoritarian ambition sound like common sense.

The book

Cover of It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis
It Can't Happen HereSinclair Lewis, 1935

An American dictatorship arrives through elections, promises, resentment, and a leader who insists only he can fix the country.

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Who they are in the book

Spoiler-free

Windrip is a senator who wins the presidency through extravagant promises, resentment, and a public style that makes authoritarian ambition sound like common sense. He wants power and admiration more than a coherent program. Once in office, he dismantles constitutional restraints and rules through the Corpo system. Sarason and Haik later depose him and send him into exile in France.

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