Manchurian candidate

English

Etymology

From the title of the 1959 novel or 1962 film The Manchurian Candidate, in which the son of a prominent US political family is brainwashed into being an unwitting assassin for a communist conspiracy. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term. When was it first used generically?

Also comes from the infamous Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo during World War II.

Noun

Manchurian candidate (plural Manchurian candidates)

  1. A person of influence, especially a politician, who is being manipulated by an enemy power to harm the interests of their own country, possibly without their own full awareness.
    • 1997, “Wait and Bleed”, performed by Slipknot:
      Get outta my head 'cause I don't need this!
      Why didn't I see this?
      I'm a victim Manchurian Candidate
      I have sinned by just
      Making my mind up and taking your breath away
    • 2008 February 11, Roger Cohen, “No Manchurian Candidate”, in The New York Times‎[1], →ISSN:
      The attacks, mainly anonymous e-mails, have woven together various threads […] —to portray Obama as the Muslim Manchurian candidate.
    • 2009, Arthur Goldwag, Cults, Conspiracies, and Secret Societies‎[2], Vintage Books, →ISBN, pages 108–109:
      Most of the conspiracies covered in this book are different. […] The plots themselves run the gamut from planting a Manchurian candidate in the White House to aiding and abetting alien space invaders.
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