Henry Coelho

### Occupation

Formerly:President of the United States of America (2001-2005)Speaker of the House (1997-2001)Representative from Massachusetts 5th Congressional District (1997-2001)Member of the Methuen City Council (1990-1996)

## Physical description

### Eye color

brown

**Henry Beaumont Coelho** is an American Politician, that served as the 43rd President of the United States of America from 2001 to 2005.

He previously served as the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Representative from the 5th Congressional District of Massachusetts (both from 1997 until 2001) and, even more behind, he served as a member of the Methuen, Massachusetts City Council, from 1990 until 1996.

## Early Political Career

He began his political career when he ran in 1989 for state representative of Massachusetts, from the 15th Essex District. He lost the race, tho he claimed a special attention by the Media because he was an independent, who was running a campaign that came in second. He then decided to run for the Methuen City Council, winning the race.

## Representative and Speakership

In 1996, after serving 6 years as City Councillor, he announced that he was running as an independent to the 5th District of Massachusetts, against the incumbent Marty Meehan, the incumbent, who was unopposed. He ran as a Center-right independent, gaining support of many republicans, but also having support of most of the independents and some Democrats. In the end, he won the election with about more 4000 votes than Meehan.

He was elected Speaker in his first term in the House, becoming the First Independent Speaker and the First Speaker not being of the Majority Party in American History. He caucused with the democrats, stating that "America comes before the Party".

He was reelected in 1998, after the Democrats got the majority. He helped President Hunter Barrett with the "New Lowering Taxes Act", aswell as having a very good relation with everyone.

## Candidacy for President in 2000

In February of 1999, he announced that he was running for President in 2000, in the Democratic Primaries. His major opponents are Governor Joe Biden and Former Senator Paul Wellstone. He won the nomination and picked Paul Wellstone as his Vice President.

He faced 3 other candidates in a Historic Election: Firstly, there was the republican nominee, Izzy Ramirez, who had won a very contested primary, splitting his party in a lot of factions. Then, there was Ross Perot, who was a Former Vice President and the Incumbent Senator from Texas. Finally, there was Pat Buchanan, a 2000 Republican Primaries Candidate who after losing the primaries decided to run as an independent.

## Presidency

Coelho won the election by a wide margin due to the Republican Party being split in three, and became the President Elect of the United States.

He became the second Independent President (after George Washington), the second Speaker of the House serving as President (after James K. Polk). He is also the youngest president ever to take his oath of Office (with just 36 years old).

He took his Oath of Office in January 20, 2001, as the 43rd President of the United States of America. He picked the first multiparty cabinet, with his main opponent, Izzy Ramirez, as Secretary of Defense.

He was the President during 9/11 and the following War on Terror. After the 9/11 Attacks, he had an approval of 84%, with only 9% disapproving on him.

At that time Congress was in Chaos because of the Reform Party taking away the majority of both parties, so it took a long time to pass any legislation. That was why it took a lot for the President to be able to pass a Budget and put an Authorization for the Use of Military Force on the floor. After the failure of the AUMF, the President issued an Executive Order to Declare War of Afghanistan, In a way that it didn't break the law. The War on Terror had began, and there was a lot of pressure on it. After the Operation Chad's success, he occupied Afghanistan, what was going against the War Powers resolution, making Senator Bill Weld writing the Impeachment Articles.

## Re-election Campaign of 2004

Go to the Main Article, Henry Coelho 2004 Presidential Campaign

At the time of the Announcement, President Coelho had an Approval on the low 40's. He started as the only candidate in the race for the Democratic Primaries, announcing that he would pick Izzy Ramirez as his Running mate for the 2004 Election. Izzy Ramirez was violating the Hatch Act after accepting, which lead to him being prevented for holding any federal office for the next 5 years. That lead to him not having a VP for the next election.

Feeling betrayed by President Coelho, Vice President Wellstone decided to challenge Coelho on the Primaries. Wellstone was in first place nationwide at the beggining of the race. After winning in Iowa and New Hapshire, and losing South Carolina, Coelho got major victories in Super Tuesday and Super Tuesday II. Even then, Coelho was only 35 delegates ahead of Wellstone, having to contest about some last primaries.

After his impeachment was being holded on the floor by Speaker David Mills, who was a great allie of Coelho in the House, Paul Wellstone called Mills asking him to pass the impeachment. Being the first in line, if the Impeachment passed Wellstone would become the President, making that a conspiracy crime, and an impeachable offence. While the House was drafting the Impeachment, Paul Wellstone died in a Plane crash while heading to Washington DC. That made Coelho the Nominee by default.

Coelho then began the hard process of selecting his Running Mate for 2004. He ended up picking the Governor of Rhode Island, Mark Collins, as his Running Mate.

He faced Pat Buchanan, the Senator from Virginia who was now running as a Republican, Ross Perot, third time candidate who was ready for another round and Andre Marrou, the Governor of Alaska and Libertarian Nominee. In the only presidential Debate, held by CBS, President Coelho attacked Buchanan, while Buchanan attacked Coelho saying that he was born in Kenya and that his age was false. The debate was seen by the pundits as a disaster.

A few days before the election, Pat Buchanan dropped out of the race, stating that there was major opposition inside the Republican Party. That changed the entire political map and rocked the entire system. Henry Coelho started polling ahead in states that were previously competitive.

When the election day came, Henry Coelho got 253 electoral votes, well ahead of what the polls said. Coelho gave his concession speech, stating that that was a time where history was being made.

## Impeachment

Go to the main article, Impeachment of Henry Coelho

After being in Afghanistan, for much more time that the War Powers Resolution allowed Senator Bill Weld from the Coelho's home state of Massachusetts, to write the articles of Impeachment of President Coelho.

Speaker David Mills tried to prevent the Impeachment of entering the floor, but after a lot of pressure from Congress the impeachement passed in the House, leading to a trial in the Senate. Speaker Mills prevented it from passing into the Senate, stating that it would only be sent to the floor after January 20, when the new President would take his oath.

After the House Elections, Mills lost re-election as Speaker and was replaced by Mike Pence. Mike Pence sent the articles of Impeachment to the Senate, but that didn't prevented that the Impeachment was only discussed on the floor after the President left his office.

The voting on the senate conducted to 55 "guilty" and 45 "not guilty", leading to his acquittal (67 votes were needed).

## Coelho Foundation

After his Presidency, Henry Coelho created a Foundation to preserve the memory of his Presidency. His foundation was based on foreign relations and on helping negotiations that would bring peace in the Middle East.

The Foundation is also in charge of building the Henry B. Coelho Presidential Library, that is expected to be built in Methuen, Massachusetts.