It Can''t Happen Here is a semi-satirical fictional political novel by Sinclair Lewis published in 1935 . It features newspaperman Doremus Jessup struggling against the facist regime of President Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip, who resembles (to some extent) the flamboyantly dictatorial Huey Long of Louisiana. It serves as a warning that political movements akin to Nazism can come to power in countries such as the United States when people blindly support their leaders. In 1936, Lewis and John C. Moffit wrote a play version, also titled It Can''t Happen Here, which is still produced.