In 1935, journalist Dorothy Thompson reflected on the rise of dictators:

No people ever recognize their dictator in advance … He never stands for election on the platform of dictatorship. He always represents himself as the instrument [of] the Incorporated National Will.

She also noted how the same thing would happen in the United States:

When our dictator turns up you can depend on it that he will be one of the boys, and he will stand for everything traditionally American.

(h/t Smithsonian)