Amir Xerxes (2056-2064)

Official Portrait of President Amir Xerxes

**Amir Xerxes** was the first Futurist President of the United States, serving from 2056 to 2064. He was the president during a transitive phase of American history, as the 2-party system gave way to a new rising 3-party system, as well as dealing with the initial outbreak of World War 4 in the process. A former Navy SEAL, he lost one of his eyes during a special operation, leaving him with his distinctive eyepatch. His name comes from his Iranian ancestry, making him the first president of Middle Eastern descent. His family say that he descended from a long line of warrior kings, going all the way back to King Xerxes himself. Wrangling with members of his coalition, and juggling an increasingly unstable frontline and war against the Eurasian union, facing down the greatest challenge the American nation had faced yet, he is remembered fondly in the history books, if overshadowed by the brutal Jackson regime that would come after him, with his successor, Ryan Jackson.

## Background

Amir Xerxes' family immigrated to the United States in the 1980's, during the fallout of the Iranian Revolution and the rise of the religious theocracy that would control Iran all the way to the end of the 4th World War. They were forced to move fearing religious persecution, as both his mother and father were noted skeptics. On religion himself, Amir is suspected to be a religious skeptic, which some use to say he was the first atheist, or agnostic president of the United States. Amir Xerxes was born in 2006 in New York City, before moving to Long Island at the age of 16 with the outbreak of the 2022 Unravelling, the mass recession that followed, and his parents looking for work. He had always grown up less well off than his peers, a background that would drive him to attain excellence. At the age of 18, finding no job opportunities in New York state, he signed up for the navy, where he would distinguish himself, and eventually find his way up the ranks, and eventually becoming a Navy SEAL.

He would lose his eye during the 3rd World War, where he was conducting a special raid on a Chinese aircraft carrier, and ended up in a firefight with multiple Chinese soldiers. From his time in the navy, he eventually came to believe that experienced and competent leadership was required to win any battle. He developed a dislike for President Buchanan, seeing him as responsible for the failures of the 3rd World War, but also disliking the radical Christian direction the Republicans had developed. He started out as an independent, but eventually became involved in various technocratic circles around the United States, as technocracy began re-emerging as a viable ideology.

He played a part in the initial creation of the Futurist Party, serving as one of its low-level volunteers, before being promoted to chairperson, and then eventually becoming the primary candidate of the Futurist Party following the turbulent L Leaks, allegedly leaked by a disgruntled libertarian. From there, he would cobble together a coalition with the Patriot Party and the Progressive Party, convincing them to work together to topple the 2-party system. In his personal life, Xerxes is said to have a personal interest in space, seeing Elon Musk as one of his heroes when growing up, and being very pleased to have met Musk during his time in the Futurist Party, as Musk was one of the party's founders.

## Presidency

President Xerxes would spend the first few years organizing and rallying his loose and dysfunctional coalition, further codifying ranked-choice voting into law, passing general infrastructure spending, and securing funding for space exploration, which was a lifelong passion of his. His first term mostly locked in gridlock, he turned his attention to foreign policy. He continued heaping pressure on the Worker's Internationale, encouraging various countries to boycott them, worsening their economic conditions, as their centrally-planned economies began to malfunction under the strain of international pressure, and internal market forces. However, his true legacy would not become known until the outbreak of war against the Eurasian Union in 2059, when Eurasia declared its final war against Atlanticism. The rally around the flag effect began immediately, and Xerxes became immensely popular overnight. Due to immense military buildup during the intermediate period between World War 3 and 4, the Eurasian military was estimated to be about as strong if not stronger than the American military.

The opening stages of the war would start with repeated usage of the Leidan Superweapon, which the United States had stolen from China during the collapse of the Chinese Federation, in retaliation, the Eurasians launched a cyberattack on American infrastructure, crippling power grids, essential communications networks, and others. As the United States was far more technologically advanced, and therefore reliant on these technologies, this allowed Eurasia to gain a decisive advantage for a few weeks as the United States repaired its damaged infrastructure, leading to a decisive victory where the Eurasian navy wiped out a major portion of the American Pacific fleet.

The Eurasians had concentrated all of their naval forces into the Pacific, and destroying the Panama Canal allowed them to defeat the US Pacific Fleet in detail, while the US Atlantic fleet was unable to provide reinforcements in time. Eurasian landings on American soil would begin shortly afterwards, and elections were suspended in states deemed under high threat, or actively under attack. Despite this, the Futurist coalition won another victory in 2060, in no small part due to the rally around the flag effect, and lingering distrust of the Republican Party. Xerxes would spend much of his remaining term rallying much of the war effort, getting the Midwest Steel Belt to mobilize for war, beginning to set up a orbital factory system, and providing strong leadership for the United States during the opening years of the war, before eventually he hit his presidential term limit, and was replaced with incoming president Ryan Jackson.

## Assassination Attempt

During 2062, during the height of Eurasian advancements against the United States, 5 teenage neo-nazis attempted an assassination by walking into the White House, and then broadcasting a message on the Presidential Broadcast while the President was out for lunch. However, only one of them was armed, who was to stand guard while the other 4 broadcast the message proclaiming the downfall of "Judeo-American civilization" and hailing the rise of the "Aryan-Eurasian civilization". The 4 doing the broadcast were quickly arrested after being captured by the secret service, and the 5th ended up attempting to assassinate President Xerxes, who proceeded to beat the crap out of the neo-nazi. He was described as "skimpy", "pale", and "genetically deformed" by many in the media.

While being taken into custody, one of the 5 lobbed a home-made pipe bomb at Xerxes, screaming "FOR THE WHITE RACE", but the bomb was so poorly wired it exploded in his face as opposed to killing the president, leading to him being sent to the hospital.