The Film Scene From the Great James Earl Jones That Speaks to Us Today

In "Clear and Present Danger," Jones' dying character teaches Harrison Ford's Jack Ryan what patriotism and being an American is all about. On "No Kings Day," these words are more relevant than ever

When the legendary actor James Earl Jones died last year, most people recalled his iconic role as the voice of Darth Vader — and the voice of CNN — along with his poignant turn in “Field of Dreams.”

But, for me, there was a largely forgotten role in a largely forgotten scene of a forgotten movie that hit home. As Americans prepare to rally across the nation today to make clear that no president is above the law, Jones’ words as Admiral James Greer to his protege, CIA official Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford), in 1994’s “Clear and Present Danger” resonate even more today than they did three decades ago. Because the "clear and present danger” that America faces today with a corrupt, amoral president who seeks to smash all Constitutional guardrails on his power is not hypothetical — it is real.

Dying in a hospital of cancer, Greer comes to terms with the reality that his commander in chief, President Bennett, has violated his oath of office and made a deal with a Colombian drug lord to boost his political standing while sacrificing the lives of American servicemen that he has illegally put into harm’s way. Greer’s words to Ryan, delivered in Jones’ commanding, yet halting voice as cancer ravages his body, speak volumes.

Conflicted with how to proceed with what he has uncovered, Ryan (showing none of the swagger of Ford’s Han Solo character who faced off against Jones’ Darth Vader in “Star Wars”) tells Greer: “I’m afraid that if I dig any deeper, no one is going to like what I find.” To which Greer responds:

You took an oath … if you recall … when you first came to work for me. And I don’t mean to the national security adviser of the United States. I mean to his boss, and I don’t mean the president. You gave your word to … his boss. You gave your word to the people of the United States. Your word is who you are.

I happened to come across “Clear and Present Danger” last night while scrolling through one of my streaming services, and got to experience that powerful scene again. It was fitting that it came at this time, for it is a powerful reminder of a basic truth embedded in our Constitution and system of governance that apparently has been lost on millions of Americans, including the occupants of the current administration. The president of the United States works for us; we do not work for him. And the only way that person can effectively serve us is if he or she obeys the rule of law and Constitutional principles — things Donald Trump has repeatedly trampled upon the past eight years.

While we acknowledge it or not, all of us — all of you reading this — took an oath when we became U.S. citizens, either by birth or choice. As American citizens who benefit each day from the freedoms and liberties embedded in our Constitution, and the opportunities this nation affords us, we take an oath to respect that Constitution, to respect the rule of law, and to do our part to ensure that it applies to everyone in this country, citizen or not, documented or not. That word is who we are as Americans, and to ignore it, or betray it, is to betray our country.

I do admit that the marches that have taken place since Trump’s second term began — and which will take place on an even grander scale today — leave me ambivalent. As much as I applaud those standing up to fascism and racism right now, I also can't help wondering where we might be if they had occurred in the days, months and years after the Jan. 6 insurrection. Why wasn't there the same passion for preventing this fascist from returning to power as there is now in trying to stop these horrific abuses of power? Why do we always wait until the destruction of our freedoms is upon us to respond, instead of preventing it from reaching our doorstep in the first place? If there had been these types of rallies in the aftermath of Jan. 6, perhaps we would have been able to bring accountability for what he caused that day, and in the years, months and days that led to it, and prevent what we're seeing now. I'll always remember attending a vigil on the one-year anniversary of Jan. 6 and seeing bystanders with perplexed looks on their faces. They had totally forgotten what had happened a year earlier, or perhaps they never cared to begin with.

As tempting as it is to remain bitter over that fact, we are where we are, on June 14, 2025. And as bitter as I feel about the path so many of my fellow Americans have chosen because in November they valued the president’s mythical power to control the price of eggs over the real power to obey and enforce the Constitution, I’m also reminded of James Earl Jones’ words earlier in the scene I quoted above, where he laments the betrayal of a government he spent his life serving.

You know what you think about when you’re lying here. You know you’re going to die, and you think, that’s all right. You lived a long time. You got a family that loved you. You had a job that you thought made a difference, that you thought was honorable. And then you see this.

So many of us have been horrified by what we’ve seen in the country that we thought we knew and loved, not just since Jan. 20, 2025 but since Jan. 20, 2017. It’s tempting at times to throw in the towel, just as the fictional Admiral Greer was surely tempted to do on his death bed. But after imparting his lesson to Ryan, he knows that giving up, and giving in, is simply not an option. He looks at a downtrodden Ryan and asks, “What else you got there?”

The forces of fascism and authoritarianism in America will find out what else we got today.