President of the United States



The President of the United States of America (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The President leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. Since World War II, the President, when undergoing travel, frequently utilized a passenger transport plane called Air Force One. Family members of the President also utilized the title of "First" before their position (ie, the First Lady of the United States being the President's wife ).

During its existence, the U.S. Presidency often came under the influence of the American branch of the Philosophers, a secret cabal consisting of the supposed true holders of power in the country. The President would ultimately assume the role of a puppet under the Philosophers' usurpers, the Patriots, until the latter's destruction in the early 21st century.

Described below are some examples of U.S. Presidents, in chronological order of their respective presidency.

George Washington
George Washington was the first President of the United States, inaugurated on April 30, 1789. A statue of him stands in front of Federal Hall, located at 26 Wall Street in New York. Largely because of his status as the first president, he was later immortalized on Mt. Rushmore. As a result of this, his initials would later be applied to the Patriot AI, GW.

Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States, serving from 1801-1809. He drafted the Declaration of Independence. In large part because of this, he was later immortalized on Mount Rushmore, and by extension, had his initials applied to the Patriot AI TJ.

Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President, serving from 1861-1865. When he was elected, the South ended up seceding from the North, which ultimately resulted in the American Civil War, with Lincoln proceeding to have the North attempt to reunify the nation. Because of the situation, he underwent emergency powers and gave them up after the war was over. He was ultimately assassinated while watching the play Our American Cousin by John Wilkes Booth. Largely because of his role in the Civil War, he was immortalized on Mt. Rushmore, with his initials also being applied to the Patriot AI AL as a result.

Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt, also known as Teddy Roosevelt, was the 26th President, serving from 1901 to 1909. He was well known for expanding America to the extent that it got involved in world affairs, as well as instituting various reforms and trying to implement law and order and virtue. Largely because of these, he was eventually immortalized on Mt. Rushmore, and as a result, also had his initials applied to the Patriot AI TR.

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, referred to as FDR, was the 32nd President, serving from 1932 up to his death in 1945, and was the only President to serve more than two consecutive terms (four by his death). He was also a relative to Theodore Roosevelt, a preceding president, though unlike Theodore Roosevelt who was a Republican, FDR was of the Democrat Party. A President during the Great Depression, he was responsible for creating the New Deal. In addition, he also backed Anastasio Somoza García's rise to power to gain American influence in Nicaragua, with him being quoted as saying "He [Somoza] may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch." He eventually died of a cerebral hemorrhage by Victory in Europe Day.

Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President, serving from 1953 until 1961. He gave orders to the legendary World War II hero The Boss, in June 1959, to undertake a secret mission to sabotage Soviet developments, due to the Missile Gap, which resulted in her abruptly leaving her protégé, John. The CIA, upon learning this, did not agree with the President going behind their backs, and took it out on The Boss.

John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy, often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his death in 1963. He was one of the few Presidents of the 20th century to have no previous ties with the Philosophers, something the CIA used to their advantage when trying to discredit The Boss.

In 1961, Kennedy authorized a CIA-sponsored operation to support Cuban exiles in the overthrow the Castro regime, in what became known as the The Bay of Pigs Invasion. The invasion ultimately failed when Kennedy, wanting to neither commit the United States to the invasion of Cuba nor risk going to war with Castro's Soviet allies, refused to authorize air support for the rebels. The same year, Kennedy fell into disfavor with the Philosophers. On September 25, he also gave a speech to the UN General Assembly stating that the creation and promotion of the organization was the only true alternative to war. He also promised on the same day to put an American on the moon by the end of the decade, something that eventually proved to be true in 1969, although Zero expressed doubts about it.

The following year, Kennedy agreed to hand over Russian defector Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov to the Soviets if they would withdraw their forward-deployed IRBMs and strategic bombers from Cuba, during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, and was succeeded by Lyndon B. Johnson. His death came as a blow to then-Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev's power base, with the Red Army's extremist faction seizing the opportunity to revolt against his leadership.

Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974, when he became the only President to resign the office. His time as President coincided with the formation of the Patriots in 1970. Nixon was involved in the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty talks that Leonid Brezhnev was promoting, which resulted in the abandonment of a secret Soviet missile base on the San Hieronymo Peninsula.

Nixon resigned in 1974, after his involvement in the Watergate scandal was exposed by an FBI agent known as "Deepthroat."

Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. Ford traveled to Vladivostok in November 1974, to meet with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev for the SALT II (Strategic Arms Limitations Talks) treaty. CIA Station Chief Hot Coldman used this to his advantage during the Peace Walker Incident, ensuring that most of the White House cabinet were unavailable to make a decision regarding nuclear retaliation, in response to a seemingly imminent Soviet attack on the United States.

Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan was the 40th President of the United States, serving from 1981-1989. He was well-known for being very hardline in his politics. He at one point nearly ended up assassinated on March 31, 1981 in front of the Washington Hotel, though he ultimately survived. This led to the presumed end of the Tecumseh curse that plagued every president that had been elected on a year divisible by twenty. In a speech on March 8, 1983, Reagan famously called the Soviet Union the Evil Empire.

President (2014)
A United States President in 2014 was forced to respond to the crisis caused by Liquid Ocelot's Guns of the Patriots project, during his term in office. When the U.S. military received reports on Liquid's preparations in the Middle East, the President authorized immediate action in order to thwart his planned insurrection against the United States. After U.S. forces failed to prevent Liquid seizing control of the SOP system in Eastern Europe, the President delayed making an official announcement to the public, despite some media outlets starting to pick up on the story.

Hamilton
Hamilton was the President of the United States during the events of the World Marshal Incursions of 2018. In May of that year, he attempted to engage in talks with Pakistani President Farooq Salam regarding forming an alliance to stop anti-American sentiment in the FAMA region of Pakistan. However, he was redirected back to America after supposed jihadi insurgents attacked the base, backed by the PMC Desperado Enforcement LLC. In actuality, however, this was orchestrated by World Marshal Inc. (who was allied with Desperado, and framed Desperado for the attack) and Colorado senator and 2020 Candidate Steven Armstrong, as part of Operation Tecumseh to ensure a reignited war on terror. He ultimately returned to Pakistan sometime later, when he and Salam organized a joint task force to combat escalating terrorism. Hamilton was pragmatic and the type to do even really unscrupulous and lewd things just to raise his approval ratings, as remarked upon by Maverick member Kevin Washington, where he claimed bluntly that Hamilton would "strip naked and dance on his desk at the Oval Office" if he thought it would have bolstered his poll numbers.

Unconfirmed history
Richard Nixon attended a meeting with Dr. Clark and U.S. Army general Jim Houseman in 1972, to oversee the progress of the government project Les Enfants Terribles, which his predecessor Lyndon B. Johnson had initiated.

Behind the scenes
Presidents of the United States appear often within the Metal Gear series, sometimes as a brief mention, and other times as supporting characters. Games with historical settings feature fictional versions of real life Presidents, whereas those set during the 21st century feature entirely fictional characters, beginning with George Sears. Fictional Presidents were and have been created for games set in the future. Some of these characters' Presidency took place in the then future. They are Sears, who is the President in the 1998 video game Metal Gear Solid (MGS1; 2005), James Johnson, who is the President in 2001 video game Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (MGS2; 2009), and the 2014 President in the 2008 video game Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (MGS4).

Regarding 21st century Presidents, official timelines have mentioned actions attributable to those of the real world, such as the U.S. leading multilateral strikes on Iraq in 2003, (George W. Bush), and a pledge to close the Guantanamo Bay prison in 2008, (Barack Obama). In these instances, the Presidents are unnamed and are assumed to be their fictional counterparts in their respective articles.

Main series
The President is first canonically mentioned in MGS1, and remains unidentified for much of the game, until the final twist in the "Meryl" ending reveals that he is secretly Solidus Snake, the third clone of Big Boss. He is first named as George Sears in MGS2, and his successor James Johnson serves a major role in the game, being taken hostage by terrorists led by the former. Solidus intended to lead a new American revolution against the Patriots, his actions being inspired by George Washington. In addition, the AI GW was named after George Washington.

John F. Kennedy first appears in archived film footage in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (MGS3), which was used for both the Virtuous Mission briefing and flashbacks. His initials, JFK, were first used in the script for MGS2, to identify the AI that communicates with Raiden, following the GW AI's supposed destruction. Kennedy's successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, appears in person during Naked Snake's award ceremony, following the success of Operation Snake Eater. Kennedy is also indirectly referenced by Drebin 893 in the Naked Sin epilogue of MGS4, when citing his September 25th speech to the UN General Assembly. In addition, Kennedy is the reason why the setting of MGS3 takes place the year after Kojima's birth rather than the year of, as he wanted to have Kennedy's assassination play a major role in the plot of MGS3. The Metal Gear Saga timeline implied that Kennedy's assassination had been arranged by the Philosophers due to his losing favor in them, although Peace Walker would later reveal that, at least at the time of his inauguration, he had no prior ties to the Philosophers.

A President is mentioned in MGS4 by both Meryl Silverburgh and Roy Campbell, in Act 3 and Act 4, respectively, although it is unknown whether he is the Vice President who took over Johnson's role after his death in MGS2 or another individual holding the office altogether. In addition, George Washington was given an indirect mention with the AI GW, which had been named after him. Aside from this, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln were all given indirect mentions regarding three of the other proxy AIs, which had been designated TJ, TR, and AL after the respective presidents, who alongside George Washington had been affixed to the Mount Rushmore National Memorial.

Richard Nixon is mentioned in "The Watergate Scandal" article in the Metal Gear Solid 4 Database, an event that is mentioned in the manual of the non-canon Snake's Revenge, and in MGS1. However, the Database mistakenly identifies him as the 36th President, rather than the 37th. Nixon is also referred to indirectly in the novelization to MGS1, as the gray-haired President of 1972. At the 2009 Tokyo Game Show's showing of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Hideo Kojima implied that Nixon's resignation from the Presidency would factor into the events of the game, though this is not featured in the final version.

Aside from the gray haired President and Solidus, the MGS1 novelization also briefly references Franklin D. Roosevelt and his administration, when Dr. Clark speaks about the reason for choosing the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico to undergo the Les Enfants Terribles project.

The President during November 1974, as mentioned in Peace Walker, is implied to be Gerald Ford, the 38th President of the United States (1974-1977). Ford succeeded Nixon when he resigned from office as a result of the Watergate scandal. He also created the Nuclear Emergency Support Team. Although he did briefly visit Vladivostok to negotiate missile reduction, the meeting was erroneously referred to as SALT II, which was actually the name of his successor, Jimmy Carter's attempted negotiations with Russia on the matter. Also, a Vice President is mentioned in-game even though Ford himself did not have one until December 19, 1974. The Phantom Pain later confirmed that Ford was the President mentioned and corrects the previous mistakes by saying that he visited Vladivostok alone (with no mention of a Vice President) and that SALT II still hadn't gone into effect due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In addition to Ford, there are also brief references to Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson in the game, and the briefing files "Messages from EVA," detailing The Boss's activities between her leaving Big Boss and the events of the Virtuous Mission, imply that the President mentioned is Dwight D. Eisenhower (although he is not identified by name). Similarly, FDR is also briefly indirectly mentioned by Amanda, quoting him when referencing why Somoza rose to power and America's involvement in his rise. Although not actually mentioned in-game, Hideo Kojima in his blog during the development of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker referenced Barack Obama's speech on "A World without Nuclear Weapons" in Prague, and implied he had hopes for Obama's speech to mean a new era. He also briefly quoted a line of dialogue made by Hot Coldman from the same game in this blog entry, implying that Coldman's dialogue was inspired by Obama's speech. Like in MGS4, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt were all given indirect mentions relating to the AI pod designations used for the four AI weapons in the Peace Walker project, including the Reptile Pod, with Strangelove claiming that the designations for the AIs had been Coldman's idea in a briefing file.

On the official website timeline for Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection, real life President Barack Obama is mentioned as having supplied the speech about "A World without Nuclear Weapons" in April 2009, although James Johnson is actually the President during this time in the Metal Gear continuity. Barack Obama was later quoted in a hidden ending for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, unlocked after clearing nuclear disarmament mode on FOB mode. In the main game, aside from the aforementioned that Ford was the president alluded to in Peace Walker, it also briefly referenced Ronald Reagan, the president at the time of the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan.

Spin-off games
President Nixon was given an indirect mention in Portable Ops due to the references to détente as well as said event playing a major role in the events of the game, with it also being implied that he supplied Snake with a medal for his heroism at San Hieronymo Peninsula. Similarly, Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson were also given indirect references regarding the Cuban Missile Crisis and Big Boss's ceremony, respectively.

Halting the assassination of President Hamilton is a major plot point and is part of the climax in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. While little is revealed about the President in the main game, Codec calls establish what he is like. Besides Hamilton, George Sears was also referenced frequently in the game, in large part because his training of child soldiers in Liberia is made into an important plot point via the Sears Program. George Washington is also given an indirect mention in Chapter R-02 of the same game when George introduces himself, where he comments that his name is "the name of all dem American presidents" (with Raiden briefly recognizing the name due to it being the same name as Solidus Snake, himself a former President). Despite him not actually being President in the Metal Gear series, events relating to George W. Bush are given indirect mentions in the final chapter. The first of these mentions, in an optional Codec call with Kevin Washington, has Raiden joking that Senator Steven Armstrong is probably athletic enough to dodge shoes from angry protestors, alluding to an incident on December 21, 2008 relating to then-President Bush, where during a speech he held in Iraq, an Iraqi journalist named Muntazer al-Zaidi proceeded to throw his shoes at Bush, who dodged them effortlessly before al-Zaidi was forcibly escorted out. The second of these mentions is when Raiden learns that the leaked images of the attack on various journalism site and various comments calling for blood, where one of the comments mentioned that Pakistan was a member of the Axis of Evil, referring to a term coined by Bush during his January 29, 2002 State of the Union Address in reference to Iran, Iraq, and North Korea, and later expanded by then-Undersecretary of State John Bolton and then-recently announced Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice on May 2002 and January 2005, respectively, to include Cuba, Libya, and Syria, as well as Burma, Belarus, and Zimbabwe, respectively. The third of these is during his rant about his motives to Raiden during their fight, where he mentions that when Americans will fight for themselves, their reasons to fight is "not for oil!", alluding to a common critique on President Bush's invasion of Iraq by various left-wing educators and journalists claiming that his invasion of Iraq was simply to raid it of its oil.

In addition to the canonical games, the President also has a role in two of the non-canonical games: In Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, the President is contacted by the main antagonist, Augustine Eguabon, on two different instances: the first being after Metal Gear GANDER launches a dummy warhead at Nevada, and the second shortly after Solid Snake destroys the power plant. The President is also involved in Metal Gear Acid, in the beginning and the ending of the game, where he meets up with the Secretary General, Chairman, Secretary, and Prime Minister to discuss the events of the Lobito Island Incident, as well as deciding on an action drastic enough that they consider labelling themselves as the "bad guys." In addition, the Snake Tales mission A Wrongdoing refers to the President being taken hostage in the Big Shell.

In addition, in the third MG America Facts on the official Metal Gear Twitter account, the Mt. Rushmore Presidents (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt) were referenced as being the namesakes of the four proxy AIs, with a picture of Mt. Rushmore being included in the post alongside a picture of GW from MGS4.

Appearances

 * Snake's Revenge (Nixon indirectly mentioned, non-canon)
 * Metal Gear Solid (Sears, audio only; Nixon indirectly mentioned)
 * Metal Gear: Ghost Babel (non-canon)
 * Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (J. Johnson and GW mentioned, JFK indirectly mentioned)
 * Snake Tales "A Wrongdoing" (mentioned, non-canon)
 * Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (LBJ; JFK mentioned)
 * Metal Gear Acid (non-canon)
 * Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (JFK and LBJ mentioned, Nixon indirectly mentioned)
 * Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2014 President mentioned; JFK, GW, TJ, AL, and TR indirectly mentioned)
 * Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (Eisenhower, JFK and LBJ mentioned; FDR, Ford, GW, TJ, AL, and TR indirectly mentioned)
 * Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Hamilton and Sears mentioned; GW, AL, JFK, and Reagan indirectly mentioned)
 * Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Reagan and Ford mentioned, Obama indirectly mentioned)