It's somewhat more complicated. Lansbury's second husband is a buffoonish Senator who is another McCarthy (the novel that this film is based on is more of a satire than a straight-out thriller like the film was), but it's clear that he's being manipulated by Lansbury. He gets nominated as Vice-President, and the plot is to have Harvey kill the Presidential candidate so the husband will assume the Presidential candidacy and undoubtedly win because of the sympathy factor and the idea that the Commies are out to get him. The Manchurian Candidate is, in my view, the best performance ever by Lansbury (who was Oscar-nominated in what's considered one of the great all-time villainous roles), Harvey, and Sinatra.ghostjmf wrote: That the Manchurians (prolly North Koreans; been a while, like almost 60 years, since I saw the movie) have as their agent the *vice* president, not the president.
It's a good thing this is fiction and we don't really have easily manipulated buffoons running for the Presidency who are easily manipulated by a foreign government, all the while proclaiming how tough they are on that same foreign power.