Thang Levin

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**Thang Martin Levin** was the 64th President of the United States (2129–2133), serving immediately prior to the Second American Civil War. He represented Oregon in the United States House of Representatives and later the Senate, then served as Ambassador to Japan under President Stewart Li. He was named Secretary of State under President Christopher Reagan and continued to serve under the Weinstein administration for just over a year before retiring.

One of his primary goals as president was to reduce or end hostilities in the Mexican-American Cold War. However, his indecision in times of crisis has led to his downfall.

## Early Life and Career

Thang Martin Levin was born in Beaumont, Texas in 2084 to a lower middle class family. His father was of Russian-Jewish descent while his mother was a Vietnamese immigrant. He was the middle child out of three siblings. Levin's father became the wealthiest person in the city under Oscar Lachman's presidency, becoming a prosperous real estate agent after an opportunity opened itself after Lachman's deportations. Levin's old birth home in Beaumont was later turned into the Levin Hotel in 2150s after a few modifications.

Despite pressures of his older sibling (and later younger) volunteering to fight in the Second Vietnam War, Levin decided to instead spend his time trying to get into a political career rather than a military career. Levin attended Lamar University in the spring of 2103 before he graduated with high honors and a masters degree in Law.  A year after, he moved to Oregon to begin his political career. Levin began his political career as a speechwriter under Representative Mike Haas, a House of Representative representating the 9th congressional district of Oregon, for the Conservative party.

### **Congressman**

After Mike Haas retired, Levin ran as a representative in his place in 2110 midterm elections and used skills he acquired under Representative Haas to win after delivering a heartfelt speech. During his career as a representative, his notoriety as a legislator helped him became a popular figure in the House of Representatives. Levin believed in a small but active government, high tariffs on goods from Mexican-funded countries, and reinforcement of the American identity over immigrants. He left office in 2113 but later ran for Senate later in the year and easily won his seat during the 2114 elections.

As a senator, he was a loyal supporter of President Stewart M. Li despite slightly differing views. His career as a senator was cut short when President Li recognized Levin's talent for speech along favoring views of Japan and Buddhism before offering him a job as an Ambassador. Levin reluctantly accepted in late 2115 and left office in early 2116 shortly after to move to Japan.

### **Ambassador to Japan**

His time in Japan was relatively uneventful, which he would later stated in a post-presidential interview that he 'was consistently homesick'. However, his time in Japan had helped relations between the US and Japan that led to crucial Japanese involvement on the American side in the Third Mexican-American War. During the early years of Christopher Reagan's presidency, Thang Levin had met his future wife, Lin Miyanagi, in 2118 and controversially marry later in the year, he would later divorce her in the early 2140s. However, he later said in the same post-presidential interview that it made his time in Japan much more bareable. He would later adopt Buddhism through his wife.

### **Secretary of State**

Thang Levin shared many of Reagan's foreign policy views, and Levin was offered the position of Secretary of State in the Reagan administration in 2119. Though he considered the possibility of instead staying as an Ambassador of Japan, Thang Levin accepted the position and served as Secretary of State throughout Reagan's lone term in office. During that time, Levin had helped Reagan to nearly double the territorial size of the American territory in Neptune.

## Presidency

### **Presidential Election of 2128**

Levin was nominated by the Conservative Party in the 2128 presidential election in an effort to appeal to the nation's desire for a reprieve from the patronage scandals of the Weinstein administration. Levin's character for meritorious service was seen as unimpeachable, and the Conservative party threw their whole weight behind his candidacy. His subsequent election victory took place in a four-person race with Avery Johnson, Yanna Lynne, and Eliza Jin Tao. Levin surprised everyone with his unity ticket with Senator David Castillo, the most high profile member of the Dignidad Party. In truth, the Conservative National Committee had been working for years on a coalition with the MLP, and Levin's clout as a meritorious serviceman was seen as the perfect opportunity to solidify the coalition.

### **Division**

As President, he often battled with more traditional elements of the Conservative Party who were displeased with the breakdown of the Conservative-Libertarian coalition. His presidency was plagued by weak coalitions and promises, preventing him from making any real changes to the country.

Problems for Levin heightened during the 2130 midterm elections had caused a sharp division that resulted in a breakdown of the coalition when many prominent politicians, including those from the Conservative Party, became concerned with the growing power of the MLP in the Southwestern States. The tension between the politicians of the Dignidad and the politicians of other parties resulted in violence in the streets as crowds began attacking each other during rallies.

Levin sent troops to try to maintain peace within the Southwestern states resulted in backlash when police began to be seen attacking civilians that had met with harsh criticism from the media, whom many citizens had watched with mixed reactions all over the country had coupled with the fact of denouncement of Mexico with such acts and alienation Levin from much of his political allies when public outcry was ignored.

Levin's efforts to maintain peace in the Southwest alienated much of the country, and the Southwestern states declared their secession in the prologue to the Second Civil War.  His view of record was that secession was illegal, but that going to war to stop would only drag the country into a larger conflict with Mexico.

## Legacy

By the time he left office, popular opinion was against him, and the Conservative Party had split. Levin had once aspired to be a president that would rank in history with Oscar Lachman. However, his inability to identify a ground for peace or address the sharp divide in the country on the brink of the Second Civil War has led to his consistent ranking by historians as one of the worst presidents in American history. Historians in both 2156 and 2160 voted his failure to deal with secession the worst presidential mistake ever made. Second only to that, was his once praised nomination of David Castillo, who would go onto lead the Aztlan Rebels as their President.

His legacy and actions were consistantly compared with President James Buchanan of similar events leading up to the First American Civil War . Many historians had provided James Buchanan and Thang Levin's Presidencies as an another major example of a repeat of history.

## Quotes

>  "If there is one thing I wish to do in my life, is to do the whole presidency thing again. I don't understand, why can't both sides agree on anything now? We all once did. This is not the Dark Ages, isn't it? Is it too much to ask? But there's one thing I have come in terms with: it will never be my fault. It was inevitable. I was just unlucky. History will understand that... I hope..."
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> — Thang Levin, 2135 post-presidential interview.
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