James Johnson

James Johnson was the 44th President of the United States of America, serving during the time of the Big Shell Incident. He was the successor of George Sears.

Early life and career
Describing himself as an insignificant son of a senator, Johnson was selected by the Patriots to become the 44th President of the United States and George Sears' successor, after he pledged his loyalty to the organization. During the Shadow Moses Incident, Johnson was Vice President, serving in the Sears administration who ascended to the Presidency once Sears resigned, though in reality he had been removed from office.

U.S. Presidency
During his Presidency, Johnson was little more than a pawn for the Patriots. Under Patriot orders, he initiated programs in Space Defense and also added programs to National Missile Defense, also making reductions in income tax. Due to his policies, Johnson was re-elected as President in 2008, though again, this was merely a charade played by the Patriots. During his presidency, he also authorized and initiated the development of a new weapons system, a purified hydrogen bomb.

In April 2009, President Johnson visited the offshore cleanup facility Big Shell as part of an inspection tour, along with numerous other government and business VIPs. However, the facility was taken over by armed terrorists led by Solidus Snake and Dead Cell, and Johnson was immediately captured.

During a rescue attempt by SEAL Team 10, Johnson was successfully rescued though he was quickly recaptured thanks to the efforts of Dead Cell members Fortune and Vamp. Originally, Johnson planned on working together with Solidus, in order to blackmail the Patriots into giving him more power and influence within the group. But, the Patriots manipulated even that desire, however, making him an unwitting accomplice in the S3 Plan. Johnson punched in the nuclear launch sequence himself into the nuclear football, but he later had doubts when Solidus planned on actually getting rid of the Patriots – an organization which, in Johnson's mind, must continue to exist.

After being relocated to the Shell 2 Core, Johnson met up with special forces operative Raiden, whom he initially mistook to be a female Patriot assassin. After Raiden claimed to be a member of FOXHOUND, Johnson realized that the entire situation aboard the Big Shell was actually part of the S3 Plan. Previously believing that he had betrayed the Patriots on his own volition, it transpired that his ambitions had been manipulated all along. Abandoning all hope, Johnson decided to carry out his allotted "role" in the plan.

Johnson revealed the real truth behind his administration, and the existence of the Patriots, to a disbelieving Raiden. After explaining why the organization must continue to exist, and the terrorists' plans to hijack the newly-constructed Arsenal Gear, he ordered Raiden to stop Solidus by disabling Arsenal's AI, GW. Providing him with a disk containing a computer worm cluster, Johnson told Raiden to hand it to GW's system programmer Emma Emmerich, for her to upload into the AI.

After revealing all that he could, Johnson demanded that Raiden carry out his "role" by assassinating him, before the launch sequence confirmed his identity. However, this was taken care of by terrorist member Revolver Ocelot, secretly a Patriot himself, who shot and mortally wounded Johnson. With his dying breath, the President reiterated his final orders, as Commander-in-Chief, for Raiden to find Emma and stop Arsenal.


 * 44th President of the United States
 * In Office: 2005 - April 29th 2009
 * Preceded by: George Sears
 * Succeeded by: Vice President of the Johnson administration

Behind the scenes
James Johnson (ジェームズ・ジョンソン) and Kenneth Baker have the same Japanese voice actor (Yuzuru Fujimoto). This was presumably done intentionally to make the events that happened aboard the Big Shell even more similar to that of the Shadow Moses Incident.

James Johnson going on an inspection tour on the Big Shell and thus his being held hostage by the Sons of Liberty was added into the game because the production staff realized that having terrorists attack a clean up facility in itself was slightly weak storytelling.

In the aftermath of the Tanker Incident, Ocelot referred to his contact as "Mr. President." The game script, included in The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2, stated that this person was Solidus. However, this is later contradicted by Otacon, who claims that it could not have been Solidus as he was underground at that time, so the only group he could have been working for was the Patriots. It is unclear whether Ocelot is directly speaking to James Johnson or to the Patriots.

Appearances

 * Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty