The first time Captain America running for president came up was in Roger Stern and John Byrne’s milestone 250th issue of “Captain America,” published in 1980. The cover depicts a “Captain America for President” campaign pin, with Steve’s smiling face stamped on it.
The issue features the “New Populist Party” trying to draft Captain America to run for president as their candidate. Steve is pretty reluctant, but the idea takes the media by the storm. In the end, Cap gives a public speech declining the candidacy, saying that his duty is to represent the American Dream. Essentially, he’s there to be a symbol that other Americans strive towards, and the realities and compromises that being a politician takes run contrary to that.
Sure enough, the issue is purposefully vague about Cap’s own political leanings (if he even has any). That’s why it’s a fictional third party that tries to draft him; the story never infers what the NPP actually stands for (beyond wanting to break up the two-party duopoly), they’re just there so the issue doesn’t tie Cap to either the elephant or the donkey. “Populist” is a vague description that has been used by both leftists and fascists, but it does suggest someone on the side of the little guy like Cap is. (This is why all factions of the political spectrum try to use it.) Once the idea of Cap running takes off, both the Democrats and the Republicans send letters to Avengers mansion asking him to be their nominee, much like how, in the early 1950s, both parties tried to recruit the real-life American hero of World War 2 — Dwight D. Eisenhower (who, of course, went for the Republicans.)
In the letters page of “Captain America” #250, Stern revealed the backstory of the issue, and also that the idea for it wasn’t all his own. A couple of years prior, “Captain America” writer Roger McKenzie and artist Don Perlin came to Stern (who was the book’s editor) with a pitch: Captain America would run for president, and win. Then, the next four years of “Captain America” would follow him serving as president in Washington D.C.
Stern dismissed the idea out of hand, saying it would be “too much a distortion of reality.” The Marvel Universe is meant to reflect the real world in fundamental ways, like who is currently in the White House. Then, a few years later, when Stern had become the writer of “Captain America” and issue #250 was approaching, he sarcastically suggested they do the “Cap for President” story that McKenzie and Perlin pitched. Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter agreed, saying they could use the issue to show why Cap as president wouldn’t work. Stern agreed, and the rest (including story credits to McKenzie and Perlin) is written in colored ink.
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