Once secure in office he declared himself Emperor, shutting himself away from the populace. Soon he was controlled by the very assistants and boot-lickers he had appointed to high office, and the cries of the people for justice did not reach his ears
A fragment from the First Saga of the Journal of the Whills, circa 1976.
But read it carefully...
Soon he was controlled by the very assistants and boot-lickers he had appointed to high office
Doesn't that suggest something entirely different? That the original version of Palpatine Lucas envisaged wasn't a sith, wasn't the power crazed monster we have come to know.
Further...
Having exterminated through treachery and deception the Jedi Knights, guardians of justice in the galaxy, the Imperial governors and bureaucrats prepared to institute a reign of terror among the disheartened worlds of the galaxy. Many used the imperial forces and the name of the increasingly isolated Emperor to further their own personal ambitions.
This suggests that the real power in the galaxy was the Empire, not the sith. Here, the Emperor is but a figurehead, almost a pawn.
But maybe this fits the bill.
When Lucas wrote Star Wars in the mid-70's, he knew who the Jedi were. But had he yet envisaged the true details of the sith?
Kenobi refers to Vader as `Darth', almost like a surname (and no one else does this in the 6 films). This also infers that the concept of the sith wasn't fully realised.
And Palpatine's place as supreme ruler wasn't cemented either. Here he is a power-hungry politician (the aspect of which we see in the prequels), but there is little sight of the sith aspect (which is bountiful in the PT)
Interesting that, while the PT sticks so closely to the prologue of the original Star Wars novel, in that respect it should be so different.