Rodney Kakafuji

**Rodney Toshiro Kakafuji** (Born March 3, 1941) is a Japanese-American politician who served as President, Vice President, Secretary of State, California Attorney General, U.S. Senator from California, and Mayor of Los Angeles. He is the First Asian-American to be President, and the Youngest Mayor of Los Angeles, he released one music album in 1959 in collaboration with Rodney Peters as the guitar duo The Rodneys.

## Early Life

Rodney Kakafuji was born on March 3, 1941 in Stockton, California to Toshiro Kakafuji and Juanita Kakafuji. as a child, he showed an interest in Guitars and Politics. He met his longtime friend, Rodney Peters, in 1956 at the age of 15, and they started a duo known as the Rodneys, when, Peters introduced Kakafuji to his future wife, Lillian West, the duo fell apart and Kakafuji moved to Los Angeles, because it's bigger than Stockton. They wouldn't meet again until Rodney Peters visited the white house during the Presidency of Valentino Pellegrino.

## Political Career

It's the 60's, and Kakafuji makes his money off of Guitar solos at the many local nightclubs in the city. Being within such close proximity to Hollywood, Kakafuji sometimes created music that would be used in Action and Western music. He built up a reputation in Hollywood and was in 5 movies; 1 Starring Role, 1 Co-Starring Role, and 3 Cameos. In 1973, he decided to run for Mayor of Los Angeles and defeated Ronald Reagan (this last attempt at politics for Reagan would, in this timeline, contribute to his extended acting career.) as Mayor, his motto was the semi-humorous "We're totally and entirely better than NYC.

Kakafuji built up a statewide reputation as an Honest, Hardworking man who did rather than said (A famous quote from him during the 1984 Democratic Presidential Debate was "Mr. Pellegrino, you've said all you can, but words don't solve everything. I could sign a bill into law and it would be in place, but I couldn't possibly talk it into law.") so he ran for Senator and won.

## Late Political Career

Rodney Kakafuji was elected to the U.S. senate by defeating incumbent republican Bill Adkins with 67.4% of the vote to Adkins' 28.9%. Never has an incumbent senator lost by such a margin. As senator he developed a near socialist political stance. He proposed several bills calling for free college, higher taxes for the rich, and universal healthcare. only the tax bill passed. After six grueling years as a senator he was appointed Attorney General of California. Nothing of interest happened during his time as Attorney General.

## Presidential Campaigns and time in White House

On December 13, 1983, Kakafuji announced his campaign for U.S. President as a Democrat. He won many early primaries but in the end, he lost to Ohio Governor Valentino Pellegrino. As part of a campaign promise, Pellegrino appointed his primary rivals to important cabinet positions after being elected. He nominated Kakafuji for Secretary of State and he was confirmed by the senate in a overwhelming 78-22 Vote. As secretary of state, he did most of the international traveling for Pellegrino, including important trips to the USSR, North Korea, and China. Pellegrino was very mean to Kakafuji during this time, saying "I don't know why i nominated a communist nutcase to represent us in Russia." Kakafuji said back about Pellegrino; "I may be a bit of a nut, but if we're talking planters, i'm the smallest nut in the tin, and he's the biggest."

When Pellegrino was assassinated on November 23, 1986, the new President Leslie Zimmerman chose Kakafuji as Vice President, where he was confirmed in the senate 54-46. as vice president, he did not have time to do much, as Leslie Zimmerman was impeached and removed from office just 4 months later.

Rodney Kakafuji was the new President, and his original choice for vice president, Colorado Senator Melvin Shelby, in a cross-party attempt, was vetoed 35-65. His next choice was Arkansas Senator Bill Clinton (yeah he's still around in this timeline.), was also vetoed 48-52. his third choice, NYC Mayor Danny DeVito, was vetoed 20-80. His final choice was the sitting Secretary of State, Gary Blackburn, the vote tied 50-50, and since there was no Vice President to break the tie, a re-vote confirmed him 52-48. As president Rodney Kakafuji negotiated important deals regarding nuclear weapons, and didn't do much else. He was elected to a full term in 1988.

## After Politics

Kakafuji decided not to run for a second full term in 1992. After his presidency was officially over on January 20, 1993, he returned to Los Angeles, where his old friend Rodney Peters was now residing. Together they re-formed the Rodneys, but when Peters went on a reality TV show in 2002, Kakafuji did not, due to his status as former President. after Rodney Peters won the season, he retired to Alaska, thus the Rodneys Broke up again, Kakafuji now works as a chef/cashier at subway, he says "Sometimes i get, Aren't you that President?, sometimes i don't, but when i get asked, i say Yeah."

## Personal Life

Kakafuji was married in 1960 to Lillian Kakafuji, they have a son named Rodney Kakafuji, Jr., who's currently the governor of Vermont.