Otto Cromwell

From Wikimerica, the United States encyclopedia

**Henry Otto Cromwell** (September 22, 2101 - October 2, 2221) also known by his Roman name **Henry Otto Cromwell Augustus Hersey** and regnal title **Otto I**, was an American Stateman and Politician who served as the 83rd President of the United States from 2149 to 2157 as well as the third New Roman Emperor in December 2150. He was also the founder of the Imperialist Party of the United States.

Having grown up in the years imminently preceding doomsday he watched nearly his entire family die one by one from the age of 9 onwards. His political views were shaped by a hatred of Founding father and President George Washington who was in charge during doomsday. He regarded the founders as hypocritical cowards who never meant for all men to be created equal.

His creation and emboldening of the Imperialist Party would quickly grow past what he intended once he left office and would eventually integrate with the American government morphing the Nation into a one party police state and eventually Federal Empire. He would live to see the end of Imperialist rule in America and would speak out against the Empire's actions, becoming a vocal supporter of the Commawatch.

Most historians do not blame him for the actions of the Imperialist Party as he had relinquished nearly all control after his Presidency by the time the Party began it's decent into authoritarianism. He is consistently ranked as one of the greatest Presidents for his actions pulling America out of the third great depression, leading America to victory in the Roman-American War, his public opposition to the Imperialist Party during the Dockery Administration, and various other things.

## Early Life

Cromwell was born and raised in Alberta and was born into severe poverty and had little to no schooling. He was 9 at the start of doomsday and nearly died from radiation poisoning, his family including Mother, Father and Brother perished from radiation sickness with only his younger sister surviving with him.

He held then President George Washington personally accountable for doomsday and his politial views were shaped around his hated for the Founding Fathers and Washington specifically.

In 2115, at the age of 14 he enlisted into the U.S. Army and due to a lowering of age requirements during the Atwood Administration, he easily got in. He served in the Army 6 years and left in 2121.

## Entry into Politics

After leaving the Army he ran for an unopposed House Seat in Alberta and won. He took office on January 3, 2121.

## Representative (2121)

Otto Cromwell would be sworn in as a Representative on January 3, 2121 but would resign after just 3 days citing his anger at several of his submitted bills being near unanimously tabled.

## Senator (2131-2149)

10 years after leaving the House he would be invited to be appointed to the senate to finish out the term of Senator Joseph Yikman who had died hours before. He reluctantly accepted and initially only wanted to serve out the remaining year of the term but after seeing who would replace him he decided to run for re-election and just held on by 5 votes total.

After his win he'd go on to to serve several more terms and during his time in the Senate he met Issac Mossim, a man who had embraced American's so called "second manifest destiny".

## Creation of the Imperialist Party

Through his connection to Mossim he decided to create an "Imperialist" Caucus in Congress in 2040 and by the end of it's first year had 12 Senators as apart. After 7 years as a caucus, Cromwell and Mossim decided to take agreeing members and break off to form an Official Imperialist Party on December 11, 2147.

# Presidential Election of 2148

Otto Cromwell chaired the Imperialist Party Convention to select a candidate to run for President. He had heavily supported Issac Mossim for President but Mossim declined to run and the party chose Cromwell overwhelmingly and he was their candidate for President with James Cannon as his running mate.

Incumbent President Ferdinand Vu had tanked in the polls due to a worsening recession and discontent over his foreign policy of supporting socialist revolutions and parties in other nations even at the costs of American allies.

On election day Vu lost overwhelmingly and Otto Cromwell was elected President.

# Presidency (2149-2157)

## Inauguration

Otto Cromwell was sworn in as President at the east portico of the Capital building at 12:00 PM, January 20th. His inauguration speech he stressed the long road to economic recovery ahead. He pledged unity and an and to Vu's "socialist nightmare".

## First 100 days

On his first day in office, Cromwell signed an executive order putting an end to the Vu Doctrine. Reestablishing the Governments position as firmly capitalist. Vu in turn took to news columns to rage against this move. Cromwell was called a "capitalist sellout" by Vu and his few remaining supporters. On January 25th Cromwell signed the "American Relations Restoration Act". An act officially apologizing to several Nations that were "unjustly targeted" during the Vu Administration.

On February 13, Cromwell signed an executive order to remove the phrase "workers of the world, unite" as well as the word "comrade", "proletariat" and "bourgeoisie" from official government documents.

## Foreign Policy

The foreign policy of the Cromwell Administration was entirely opposite than the four years of Vu and eight years of Kerr before that. Cromwell openly promoted capitalism during trips abroad and railed against communists and socialists in nations he visited.

### Roman-American War

In 2150, the New Roman Empire was facing political and economic crisis. The Roman Emperor, Octavianus Lanuarius is extremely unpopular. In a bid to regain his sunk reputation he seeks to reunite the Empire with one of it's most history cities, Athens. He offers the United States 458,000,000 for the city alone. The Cromwell Administration outright refuses. Otto Cromwell was extremely well liked and respected across the Empire. In a desperate bid to not look weak compared to Cromwell, Octavianus decided on January 31st to launch an invasion to take Athens and the surrounding area by force.

### British-American War

In 2150 the United Kingdom was in the midst of a civil war brought on by King William VI's dissolvement of parliament over accusations of civil rights violations. Parliament had declared war on the King and placed a bounty on his head.

King William had asked President Ferdinand Vu for his help in 2148, however Vu refused citing his support for Parliament. In 2150 King William asked the new President Cromwell for help. Their correspondence was leaked and parliament, having learned that Cromwell was considering giving support to the King declared war on the United States.

By 2153 the United States had taken control of London and the war was effectively over as the United Kingdom could no longer put up any real resistance.

## Imperialist Party Policy

Cromwell was massive supporter of the Imperialist Party during his term. His cabinet was made up exclusively of party members and the Imperialist dominated congress made passing imperialist legislation incredibly easy.

## German Policy

Cromwell appointed Anna Smith Second Servant of State of Germany. This outraged many Germans because of her Slavic background. Cromwell had a deaf ear to the protests as he held significant hatred for the German people.

### Anti-Germanic Sentiment

Cromwell was an outspoken anti-German. He blamed the German people for their role in doomsday and excluded those of German decent from political jobs in the White House. This was a very common view at the time as doomsday was still in living memory to most.

## Roman Emperor (2150)

Following the battle of Rome and the defeat of the Roman Legions, death of Octavianus and surrender of the Roman Senate, Cromwell had total control over Roman politics. Cromwell had long decided that he was going to allow the Empire to continue existence following the war, going to far as to force the renegade provinces back into the Empire. Cromwell however did not trust anyone in the Senate to succeed Octavianus as Emperor and until he could decide on a replacement, forced the Roman Senate to appoint himself as New Roman Emperor.

### Successor

On 24 December, Cromwell had settled on Decimia to succeed him, as Decimia had pledged loyalty to the United States as well as Rome and had agreed to Cromwell's reconstruction plans. Cromwell named Decimia his successor on the 25th and abdicated on the 26th.