John Hersey

From Wikimerica, the United States encyclopedia

**Sir James William Lucas Hersey IV** (July 13, 2004 - January 3, 2105) also known as **John Hersey** or by his initials, **J.W.L.H I.V.** was an American politician, writer and actor who served as the 62nd President of the United States from 2049 until his resignation in 2056. He was also a British politician who served Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2069 to 2081. He portrayed the Sixteenth incarnation of The Doctor in Doctor Who (2026–2030). As Prime Minister he implemented structure and policy known as Herseyian Theory where the Government attempted to lift several bans on things like Public Ownership of Firearms, Melee Weapons and the abolition of T.V. Licenses.
His time as President oversaw a second Manifest destiny whereas the United States began the process of annexing new nations for the United States. He was President in the years leading up to the Third World War and was criticized for intentionally stoking aggression with China, something that some believe help set the stage for WW3.

His tenure as Prime Minister marked a sharp turn where the Conservative Party began to hold far more views in tandem with the United States Republican Party and Hersey was criticized for trying to make the U.K.'s political system look more like the U.S.'s.

He is remembered as a passionate populist who rallied citizen anger against the government to change it from the inside. His reforms over the post office, prisons and homeless outreach are seen as helping save thousands of lives. He is credited for leading the charge to annex much of the pacific ocean as well as parts of Antarctica. He is scorned for his role in starting World War 3 by his aggravating of china and is to this day a widely polarizing figure.

His time as Prime Minister is ranked as one of the most divisive of British History as his premiership oversaw Scotland vote to leave the UK, though unsuccessfully, the United Kingdom once again leave the European Union, the succession of Cornwall from England and the Anglo-Irish War.

## Early Life

John William Lucas Hersey was born on July 13, 2004, to John Hancock and Jennifer Hersey in Los Angeles, California. Hersey would live a devastating childhood filled with poverty and constantly moving apartments, until he and his family became homeless in 2012 within the State of Arizona. During this time, Hersey's father attempted to sell him for $500, yet was only able to obtain $50 from the transaction. By 2013, however, both Hersey and his mother successfully escaped Hancock and were able to flee to a homeless shelter that he did not know of. Following this, Hersey's mother finally obtained a stable job that could provide for both her and her son.

Following Hersey's high school graduation in 2022, he would enter the US Navy and serve in such until 2024, whereafter he would attend Harvard University for law school; Hersey would graduate with his law degree in 2027.

Upon graduating college, Hersey would work as a salesman for the following three years, before using his experience in economics to run for the US House of Representatives. In the Republican Wave of 2030, Hersey (Running under the Republican Party) successfully unseated Democratic incumbent Pete Aguilar, thus seeing him as the youngest Congressman elected to date.

## Entry into Politics

As a Congressman, Hersey's main agenda would be rooted in foreign affairs (As there was little he could do about the far left agenda of President Andrew Yang), as he would be quite hostile towards the People's Republic of China and would call for their isolation. Furthermore, in his first term, Hersey successfully passed a bill that would repeal the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act.

Due to Hersey's ambitions against China, he would oppose the isolationist agenda of President Tulsi Gabbard come time for his second term, claiming that without US influence across the globe, China would gain its own influence. Despite Hersey's opposition, however, President Gabbard's agenda would pass regardless.

Although Hersey and his supporters would consider his terms in Congress a success, he would not hold the influence to maintain a seat that was not safe for Republicans during a Democratic wave, and would thus be unseated in 2034.

Following his defeat in Congress, Hersey would run for Governor of San Diego in 2036. In his campaign, Hersey promised to counter China's influence in ways in which the federal government was neglecting, alleging that that "If the federal government is to neglect the United States's duty in maintaining this nation's foreign power, the states will carry its torch!" and advocating for an increase in the state's military spending in addition to forming agreements with foreign powers which would place sanctions on China. Hersey would successfully unseat incumbent Democratic Governor Jennifer Campbell and would thus begin his first term.

## Governor of San Diego

Upon being inaugurated, Hersey would sever domestic funding to San Diego's budget and would focus on building up its military. He would also begin negotiations with some nations which were becoming increasingly susceptible to Chinese economic influence to begin a trade union that was meant to hit the Chinese economy (In addition to placing tariffs on Chinese goods). The policies implemented by Governor Hersey would see many companies in California move to the state in the hopes of attaining better economic opportunity. Hersey would receive Congressional approval in his economic plan against China, and would utilize the military built by San Diego to monitor Chinese activity and protect areas that the US had drawn itself away from (Such as Taiwan). Hersey's innovative plans would see him win re-election in 2040.

When it was revealed that President Andrew Cuomo sold American military secrets to China, Hersey was horrified. He described Cuomo's actions as "nothing short of treason" and encouraged the Congressmen from San Diego to take action against Cuomo. Hersey's campaigning would ultimately show success, as all Congressmen from San Diego, including Democrats, would take complete action against President Cuomo in addition to Vice President Julian Castro, who was compliant in Cuomo's actions. Hersey's successful persuasion of the way San Diego Congressmen voted would display just how far his influence over the state had come, with some even going as far as to say that he is "the most influential man in the history of San Diego". In 2044, Hersey would run unopposed for a third term.

## Presidential Campaign

Over the course of the next four years, Hersey would be heavily critical of President Mike Johnson, accusing him of being a "McCarthy puppet" who had no leadership capabilities of his own. Because of this, Hersey declared his own candidacy for President in 2048 and faced Johnson in the primary. Eventually, the Republican primaries would only be between Johnson and Hersey. Neither candidate would concede until the Republican National Convention met and ultimately decided to select Hersey as the Republican nominee, thus seeing Johnson concede to Hersey at the convention. Following his victory in the Republican primaries, Hersey would successfully defeat House Democratic Leader Alexandria Ocasio Cortez to win the Presidency.

## Presidency (2049-2056)

### Inauguration

Hersey was inaugurated on January 20, 2049, succeeding Mike Johnson, In his inaugural address, Hersey said:

"Our Nation has chosen a path of peace and prosperity and on this day we begin that historic and amazing journey. We have the sacred honor to totally rebuild out Nation from the ground up, to defend our interests, to protect the world and make a Nation where all our children can see the best future possible. I will march to the White House and get to work immediately for the American people, we must embark on this path to ensure our future is secured."

##### Early Days

The early days of the Hersey Administration saw him use executive authority to expand the provisions and powers of the Postmaster General and to establish a commission to oversee the implementation of the "Homeless relocation Authority".

President Hersey's first term would surround involving the United States in the trade alliance he created as Governor of San Diego and ending the isolationist policies which had been maintained by the Gabbard, Cuomo, McCarthy, and Johnson Administrations. He successfully did this early on in his Presidency, and thus moved onto military matters.

In addition to increasing military spending drastically, Hersey created the "South Pacific Treaty Organization" (SPTO) towards the end of his first term; the organization was a defensive pact that would go to war (With a primary fear of China) should a country within the alliance ever be attacked; the nations that would join the United States in forming this would be Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Bougainvillea, Papua New Guinea, Brunei, East Timor, Tuvalu, Tonga, Samoa, and India (Although not a Pacific nation, their tensions with China would see the others happy to include them in the alliance).

In the Presidential Election of 2052, Hersey faced Democratic nominee John Isol, an isolationist who served as Secretary of State during the Gabbard Administration. In this election, it would be apparent what each party now stood for, as the Democratic Party was one of isolationism while Hersey had molded the Republican Party into one of interventionism and defense against international players on the world stage.

Furthermore, this election would re-open the debate on imperialism. In 2052, Belize's relaxed immigration laws were allowing drug cartels to harm the US State of Yucatan, which President Hersey planned on addressing. In the election, Isol criticized Hersey for, up until that point, being ineffective at dealing with the cartels and vowed to increase the funding of domestic programs to deal with the situation. Hersey, however, alleged that his warning to Belize was only a precursor to what he intended to do, that of which was to annex the nation entirely (Which was a proposal that Isol found "laughable"). Due to the fact that these imperialist beliefs were extreme for the political climate of the US and overall world at the time, Hersey would appeal to isolationist voters by abandoning his first Vice President, Hiram Kincaid, and instead running with Democratic isolationist Morris Hillquit.

#### Launch Code Incident

On April 21, 2051 President Hersey made a public appearance at Ann Taylor's Dry Cleaning with his close friend James Rigby and secret service agents. He was there to drop off his suit jacket to be cleaned in a photo-op and when asked to empty the contents of his jacket he pulled out notes, pens, playing cards and the biscuit. He started handing off his possessions to other people to hold when he handed over the biscuit to an elderly lady who was also in the shop but not had not come with the President. Hersey did not realize exactly what he had just done until a secret service agent informed him he had just handed over the launch codes to a random person. Hersey quickly asked for them back but was criticized by news outlets for his blunder.

### Second term

Upon winning re-election, Hersey would negotiate with the government of Belize, in addition to those of Nicaragua and Panama, which Hersey claimed were being too lenient towards Belize while secretly wanting to retake control over the Panama Canal. While the countries vehemently detested the notion of American annexation at first, Hersey blackmailed them into holding a national referendum for such, convinced that their people would vote in favor of American annexation, saying that they would be going against their people if they were not given a say. Upon the conclusion of the first referendum, however, which saw Panama vote to join the US with only 50.2% of the vote, Hersey decided that more drastic action needed to be taken.

Before Belize and Nicaragua commenced their referendums, Hersey offered to station the US military in the countries for the sake of maintaining stability in them while such a vital vote was occurring, whilst also saving the countries costs. Both countries agreed to Hersey's offer, thus making it seem like an act of selflessness from the US (Which would aid the effort to annex the countries); unknowingly, however, the Central American governments had played right into Hersey's hand. While in the countries, Hersey ordered the military to utilize brutality to suppress those in favor of independence whilst also sending in the CIA to perform other undercover operations to rig the votes and cover the military's tracks. These efforts would see Belize and Nicaragua join the US with a landslide of the "population" in favor, Nicaragua having 71% of the votes in favor and Belize having 85% of the votes in favor.

#### Threats against Congress

Hersey would frequently use threats of outright violence against members of Congress and his own Cabinet to get his way on issues. On September 19, 2049 Hersey got into an argument with Senator Joshua Thurman over the confirmation of his Supreme Court Justice Nominee. During the argument he was quoted as saying "God i hate you, you are being intentionally obstructionist. You have no idea how badly i want to kill you right now". Hersey's comments sparked anger and denouncement but he would continue to issue threats against Congress members and casually speak about beating senators who would disagree with him for the remainder of his term.

#### Impeachment

In 2054, however, Hersey's plot to rig the Central American referendums would be revealed to the public. Horrified by this, the House of Representatives would successfully impeach Hersey, yet would not see a conviction from the Senate. Meanwhile, Nicaraguan and Belizean would wreak havoc in the newly integrated territories in addition to the surrounding areas, such as Panama and the US states in southern Mexico; while this was happening, the remaining Central American countries formed an alliance known as the "Coalition for Central American Defense", which threatened war with the US if they didn't grant Nicaragua, Belize, and Panama independence. When Hersey refused to withdraw the military, the Coalition declared war.

By March of 2055, the resistance in American territory was eliminated, thus allowing the US to focus on occupying the Central American countries which declared war. By January of 2056, the countries were defeated, and thus debate began on what to do with them; many Congressmen both Democrats and some moderate Republicans advocated for their release, while others including Hersey and other hard line Republicans advocated for their annexation. Eventually, Hersey would reach a compromise with Vice President Hillquit Who advocated for their release to form a new nation known as the "Republic of Central America" unless one of the nations voted to join the United States. Since both voted against this notion Hersey not attempting to rig another more referendums, the Republic of Central America would be formed as an American protectorate.

Once the Central American War was dealt with, Hersey re-focused his attention on expanding US influence on the world stage. In 2056, Hersey formed a deal with Ukraine that promised them protection against Russia Who had recently been arming troops across the Ukrainian border as a show of force in exchange for Ukraine handing over numerous islands under their jurisdiction in the Black Sea if the US were to ever aid them. Ukraine agreed to this, and thus, Russia was deterred from invading Ukraine. This action, however, would see Hersey branded as a warmonger by Russian propaganda, which would not be helped by his prior war in Central America.

#### Vietnam Crisis

Hersey would aid in commencing negotiations with Vietnam to allow them to join the PATO. In September of 2056, Vietnam would be on the brink of passing the necessary documents to join the alliance, yet would be swiftly invaded and occupied by China before they could do so. On November 1st a Chinese soldier killed an American soldier in Hanoi sparking an escalation of conflict leading to for the first time ever, American soldiers directly engaging Chinese soldiers. This forced Hersey to request Congress declare war on China, something they did that same day. Historians credit China's invasion as the start of World War Three in Asia.

#### Assassination attempt

To boost support for the war, Hersey would take an approach that most of his predecessors did not; he would deliver speeches across the United States in its favor and preach how America was doing much better than the rest of the world. In one such speech, however, Hersey would need to defend more than just what was known at the time as the "Pacific War", which eventually became World War III. In Belize, Hersey was questioned by numerous rally-attendees about his care for Belize, to which Hersey responded that so long as Belize was part of the United States, he would do everything in his power to protect the territory. Many Belizean nationalists, however, would not believe Hersey, and one of whom would shoot him November 11 of 2056.

#### Resignation

Rocketing in and out of consciousness over the next few days, Hersey recognized that he was no longer physically fit to remain President, and thus decided to resign the Presidency. On November 22 he insisted on returning to the Whitehouse. He would give a farewell address on November 23 and would pardon 193 people. On the final full day of his Presidency, November 23 he would stay up all night walking around the Whitehouse, thanking staff and hurriedly passing executive orders as they came to his mind. On November 24, 2056 Hersey would pass a final 25 executive orders before handing Secretary of State Jack Mason his letter of resignation. Mason signed the letter and timestamped it 6:34 PM when he received it. Hersey would walk the Whitehouse lawn one final time towards Marine One, waving to reporters he entered and left the Whitehouse as President the final time. Following his Presidency, Hersey would retire until becoming Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 2069.

#### Kennedy's Inauguration

President Hersey met with Vice President Hillquit to inform him of his decision to resign, his only wish upon doing so was to attend the inauguration as the "outgoing President" and be walked to Marine One by Secret Service at the Capital. His wish was granted and Hersey's health improved by the time of the inauguration allowing him to attend.

## Immigration to the United Kingdom

In 2067 Hersey would immigrate to the United Kingdom as a means of entering British Politics. His move was seen as unusual and strange as Presidents very rarely returned to politics after leaving office, and never the politics of a foreign Nation.

## Member of Parliament for Vauxhall

James Hersey moved to the U.K. in 2067 and would officially declare a run for Parliament in the constituency oh Vauxhall. He'd narrowly win his election and would join Parliament in 2068.

During his time as an MP Hersey would rage against Prime Minister Finnegan Ripley and would be his most stanch opposition.

Within a year he lead the effort to get the Prime Minister to call for a general election. Prime Minister Ripley, under severe pressure would call for an election where he would lose overwhelmingly and Conservative Leader Andrew Morrison had resigned just days before for his part in the Wesley Monetary Crisis.

## Prime Minister (2069-2081)

Hersey would declare his run for Conservative Party Leader and won on the first ballot. On January 1, 2069 he would be invited by the King to form a Government. The 3rd person to become Prime Minister to have been born in the United States. And the first to have served as a foreign leader before becoming Prime Minister.

### First Term

On January 1, 2069 he was invited by the King to form a Government. Days after taking office he attended his first Prime Minister questions where he was questioned by Labour and Union MP's on his ability to put British interests first as his loyalty would be to the United States before the United Kingdom's. Hersey attempted to assure Parliament he was up for the task and would British needs before all else.

#### Cornwall Crisis

In early 2070, Hersey sponsored a bill to fund Heritage, Culture and Language preservation in Cornwall. By 2072 the program was seen as a massive success, but in doing so also revived the movement for Cornwall to gain it's own devolved parliament and autonomy. Hersey initially ignored these requests but on March 17, 2072 an internal non-binding referendum was held in Cornwall to determine it's future. There were 3 options, status que, independence or leave England to become a separate constituent country within the United Kingdom. Option 3 won out with 65% of the vote.

Hersey by June 2072 had drafted the "Cornwall Autonomy Act" to grant Cornwall Constituent Country Status in negotiation with the Leaders of the County of Cornwall, England and the Monarch. The bill passed parliament narrowly and went into effect July 4, 2072.

#### Scotland Independence Referendum

Emboldened by the changing of the status of Cornwall, Scottish First Minister Hugo Cowie demanded a second referendum to determine Scotland's future. The SNP backed the referendum and promised to campaign for Independence. Hersey stood firm in his stance that there would be no referendum and that dissolving the United Kingdom could only hurt all members involved. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats united to push back on referendum talks but over the weeks the SNP had convinced Labour and Union Leaders to support a referendum however Labour and Union actively supported Scotland remaining in the Union.

Hersey had to eventually relent on his refusal as protests were starting to mount in Edinburgh. Hersey agreed to a referendum to take place December 22, 2072. Most polls expected Scotland to remain in the Union.

##### Referendum results

 December 22, 2072
Scotland narrowly voted to **leave** the United Kingdom by a margin of 50.01% - 49.99%.

Location: Scotland

Outcome: Scotland votes for Independence to break away from the United Kingdom

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        Results

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 Valid votes
 Invalid or blank votes

##### Referendum aftermath

The world was stunned by the referendum results. Most all polls had declared that the referendum would fail by as much as 65%. Within hours of the result being clear Prime Minister Hersey gave a tearful statement at 10 Downing Street stating that he was shocked and upset by the results of the referendum but that he would respect the will of the Scottish people and would work with them on a separation deal.

The results of the referendum were a catastrophic disaster for Hersey and it was predicted he would resign, however he declared he would remain firm and not "pass the buck" on seeing Scotland out of the Union. Hersey set talks for independence for January 3, 2072 to "allow the United Kingdom one last Christmas together".

##### Independence negotiations

Prime Minister Hersey met with First Minister Cowie on January 3rd and right away hashed out that Independence should come no later than September 31st. On July 17th Hersey met with Parliament to present his bill for separation.

##### Scottish Government Collapse

On July 19th news broke that members of the Scottish Government were involved in a massive money laundering scheme as big as the Wesley Monetary Crisis. Soon it would come out that the same ministers and MP's that would be forced out of the U.K. Government were working with members of the Scottish Government to transfer funds from Wesley to Shetlands. On July 20th Scottish Metro Police announced it was working with London Police to investigate members of the Scottish Government. Hersey had taken the opportunity to bill the separation bill on July 21st to await the results of the investigation. On July 24th the full report was released incriminating the majority of the Scottish Government including the First Minister, Deputy First Minister and members of cabinet. It was found out that SNP members of Holyrod knew what was going on but refused to take action. On July 25, First Minister Cowie resigned his post followed by the Deputy Minister and cabinet one by one throughout the day. Resignations were massive in Holyrod with 20 MP's resigning and 8 SNP MP's resigned in Westminster Parliament.

###### Referendum backlash

The report also found links linking the Independence Referendum to the Laundering Scheme. News of this created even further backlash towards the Scottish Government, leaving many feeling betrayed. A poll taken on the 26th showed that at least 48% of people who voted for independence regretted doing so.

##### Third referendum

Many in Scotland called for a 3rd Referendum after all that had gone down, Hersey jumped on the opportunity and scheduled one for August 11th.

The 3rd referendum saw Scotland vote 53% - 47% to stay with the United Kingdom. Hersey elated at the results formally withdrew the independence bill.

## Death

James Hersey finally died on January 3, 2105 at 9:56 PM. He had been immobilized in the days before and was not expected to make it to 2105. He died at his home in San Diego.

Reactions to the news of Hersey's death were mixed across the US and world, ranging from tributes lauding him as a revolutionary hero to the common man to public celebrations of his death and expressions of hatred and personalized vitriol. Just days after he died celebrations held across the Republic of Central America and the U.S. States of Nicaragua and Belize with celebrations in Panama banned cracked down on by the Governor. Portraits of his face were lit on fire in the streets and dolls of him were torn apart. The reaction was opposite in places like San Diego and Vanuatu who held their own tributes to his life. His State Funeral was held on January 15th with President Riddely and President-Elect Washington attending the funeral along with Former President's Ojeda, Moore, Cardona, Kaminski and a rare public appearance of William Rowell.

He was buried in the Hall of the Presidents in Washington D.C.

## Legacy

In addition to cementing the Republican Party as one of imperialism, Hersey's influencing Presidency (Beit positive or negative influence) would see his family become one of prominence in US politics, as his eldest son, James Hersey, would serve as Vice President for President Benjamin Atwood, his second eldest son, Julian Augustus Hersey, would serve as Vice President for President James Capone and his great grandson, Adrian Hersey, would serve as the first Prime Minister of the United States.

### Political Impact

Hersey systematically transitioned the United States into a Nation once again obsessed with Imperialism. His annexations are a source of debate with historians generally citing his theft of Central America as a main reason for the region's hatred for the United States. He is looked on highly in many Pacific Nations for the great care he took in their protection and development. His annexation of Tuvalu and Niue is cited as a massive accomplishment in raising an "Iron Shield" against the Peoples Republic of China.