Benjamin Atwood

From Wikimerica, the United States encyclopedia

**Benjamin Valintin Atwood** (March 9, 2057 - April 30, 2126) was an American politician who served as the 76th President of the United States from 2113 to 2117 and served after doomsday. His Administration was the first elected after the World ending events of Doomsday. His political philosophy known as Atwoodism went hand in hand with Continual Destiny as he was willing to use brutal and overtly cruel tactics to force the reconquest of American land after doomsday. He is the only President in American history to serve during a time when there were zero people in congress and no one on the supreme court, giving him near dictatorial amounts of power.

He is remembered for the near endless atrocities committed during his Presidency from the burning of entire cities that refused to reintegrate to American rule, to the drafting of kids as young as 12 into the United States Military to the torture and execution of people leading new American Nations. The largest success of his 4 year Presidency was the American Reconquista that saw America retake much of it's lost land. After leaving office there was mass calls for him to be put on trial for his "crimes against humanity". These calls would go unanswered as the next Administration sought to move on from his memory as fast as was possible.

He used the disconnected and still chaotic collapse brought on by doomsday to his advantage by starving out his enemies and offering false promise of clemency to rebel leaders who surrendered to him only to kill them after. His tactics worked as word could not spread from one group to another about what he was doing due to lack of communication.

Historians debate how he should rank as President as he justified his tactics as required in a world where society was gone, where every man was for himself and peace could not exist while resources where so depleted. Atwood is considered both one of the greatest and worst Presidents in American history. Atwood is revered for near single handedly retaking the majority of the United States and reestablishing order on the North American continent. It is theorized that the speed in which Atwood reunited the United States set the stage for global reestablishment and possibly shortened doomsday by 40 years. Atwood is criticized for his abject brutality and murder, his willingness to kill to get his way and his disregard for the rule of law, refusal to reestablish Congress, constant violations of the constitution, election fraud leave him disliked by many historians. Atwood would develop an alcohol addiction and die of alcohol poisoning at the age of 69 in 2126.

## Early Life

Atwood was born on March 9, 2057 to two relatively impoverished parents in Siberia. Upon graduating high school in 2075, Atwood did not think that he would be able to attend college due to his family's condition and therefore worked various low-class jobs upon receiving his high school diploma. That changed, however, when President Richard Ojeda's government services would make college free. Thus, Atwood enrolled in the State University of Siberia in 2079 and graduated from such in 2083 with a degree in political science.

For the next five years, Atwood would enlist as a border guard in the west of the state and would help ensure that the United States's immigration laws were followed. Seeing the success of domestic programs, and having lived through most of World War III as a child, Atwood believed that the United States was at its best when it was isolated from the rest of the world and could focus on aiding its citizens and therefore wanted to counter foreign influence, in the form of illegal immigration in his job's instance, by any means he could.

## Entry into Politics

In 2086, Atwood declared his first candidacy for the US House of Representatives, running as a Democrat on a promise to uphold former President Ojeda's domestic programs and to fight President Wes Moore's agenda to keep the US at war with the Republic of West Africa. In the Democratic primary, he criticized incumbent George Wilson for his interventionist beliefs, saying that President Moore's policies were detrimental to the United States and the American people, and said that Wilson "contradicted core Democratic values" by supporting Moore in this agenda. Wilson pointed, however, to the fact that he served as Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs during the Ojeda Administration (And the fact that the Department of State was not isolationist during this time), thus making his beliefs closer to the leader of the Democratic Party. This line of reasoning, supported by Wilson's long-time service and incumbent status, would see Atwood lose drastically in the Democratic primary.

Following his loss in the primary, Atwood's faith in the Democratic Party began to weaken. Two years following his loss, in 2088, Ojeda's open support of Wilsonian Intervention would be the final nail in the coffin that would see Atwood leave the party. In that very year, Atwood declared his candidacy for the Senate under the newly formed Nationalist Party and pledged to maintain isolationism. Atwood successfully won the Nationalist nomination and thus easily ousted both the Democratic and Republican nominees.

## Time in Congress

In Congress, Atwood would support President Raymundo Cardona's agenda to isolate the United States from global affairs. Initially, however, he did not support Cardona's plan to have government services available to only those who pay for them due to the fact that he believed it would keep those who were poor at the bottom and would only benefit those who had money in the first place. Atwood ended up voting in favor of the plan once it was revised to provide the services for free to those who could not afford them.

In 2094, Atwood faced a grueling re-election campaign against Globalist competitor Leonard Hamilton. Due to the fact that a majority of Americans opposed the Nationalists' agenda, Atwood would face blow back due to his party and would need to rely on his populism (Opposing agendas of the Nationalist President unless he was sure that all people would be ok) and locality to Siberia (As Hamilton was initially from Puerto Rico) to win the election. In the election, Atwood would be successful in doing so, as he would defeat Hamilton by a margin of 6 points to win re-election for his seat (Atwood obtaining 53% of the vote and Hamilton obtaining 47%).

Following the 2094 Midterm Election, Atwood faced no difficulty retaining his Senatorial position. He ran unopposed for two more terms, once in 2100 and once in 2106, before losing all Senatorial powers in 2110, the majority of Congress were killed following nuclear attacks on the United States that destroyed the government which became known as "**Doomsday**". Utterly distraught with the state of the nation following the nuke, and how practically no government existed across it, Atwood declared his candidacy for President in what became known as the "Capital Election", which was only held in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, and Washington DC.

## Presidential Campaign

*See: 2112 United States Presidential election*

The presidential election of 2112 was the most unusual in history, there were no primaries, nor conventions and incumbent President George Washington was not seeking another term as President and nearly the entire federal government was gone. The few states that Washington had any control over were still in chaos and most doomsday survivors paid little attention to the election.

Atwood was successfully elected with 76.8% of the vote but only with 2,245 total votes. His opponents were not well known before or after the election and Atwood easily won but his victory was unknown to most people outside the New Columbia. Independent Candidate Cletus McCutcheon held just 546 votes with Remnant Party Candidate Waylon Galarza taking just 132 votes.

## Presidency (2113-2117)

### Inauguration

*See: Remnant United States*

In his inaugural address, President Atwood announced his intention to retain complete control over the United States and to not re-establish Congress or the Supreme Court, stating that the nation required strong leadership in its current state and that he would "never let a piece of parchment three and a half centuries old stop him from restoring this country's greatness". Under the Atwood Administration, the age of the Constitution was over; the United States had entered its first dictatorship in every way but Officially.

### Birth of the Isolationist Party

Shortly after becoming President, Atwood established the "Isolationist Party", which was essentially the Nationalist Party's platform reformed. Atwood was now more confident than the had ever been in the failure of foreign affairs and thus insisted that the United States isolate itself entirely from them.

### Lowering the Enlistment Age

The fractured and chaotic reality of doomsday had not subsided by the time Atwood took office. Law enforcement did not exist at all and police departments had dissolved in the chaos. The Military was in charge of enforcement of law and the continued draining of available and able bodied soldiers made keeping law and order intact difficult. The first action the Atwood Administration took was to lower the enlistment age to 12. With those 15 years and older being trained for combat. This policy was scorned by every part of the government but the necessity of it kept action from being taken to stop it.

### The American Reconquista

#### Kanawha and Greenland

Atwood's first agenda as President following how he easily captured Kanawha, which attempted to claim independence would be to take control of the Arctic; as someone native to the northern parts of Earth, Atwood understood the military value that could come from those locations, and thus sent a task force to Greenland as a base since it an area of the US that was affected less drastically than the other parts of the country. Within roughly two weeks, Greenland fell to Atwood in February of 2113.

#### Siberia, Alaska and the Canadian States

     Following his capture of Greenland, Atwood successfully captured other parts of US territory in the Arctic in a three month operation that was completed in May of 2113; upon reaching his homeland of Siberia, most portions of it formally welcomed Atwood's rule and agreed to rejoin the United States, due to Atwood's good track record in relation to the state. In each of the recaptured territories, Atwood established military governments, which would also serve as armies which each held a distinct task. While Atwood tasked himself with ensuring that the election results remained consistent throughout the country in favor of Atwood, the Greenland Task Force was tasked with capturing eastern Canada, while the Siberian Task Force was tasked with capturing Alaska and western Canada.

### War with the South

*See:* Confederate States of Columbia, Erie

In June of 2113, Atwood was attacked by what was known as the "Southern Alliance", which was a union between Presidents Robert Dixon, who was elected by North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi, and Abraham Johnson, who was elected by Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois both of whom were now known as "Consul". At first, Atwood was very much losing the conflict, as most of West Virginia and Virginia fell.

### Use of Propaganda

In July of 2113, however, Atwood founded a new ideology that would give him a rhetorical advantage, that of which was known as "United America". Essentially, it stated that in order for something to be "American", it had to embody certain qualities, one of which was a yearn to keep the country united under historic processes. Despite the fact that Atwood partially contradicted himself with this ideology, it was effective in convincing the soldiers attacking Washington D.C. to mutiny in Atwood's favor, as both Dixon and Johnson were employing a system that was never seen in the United States before and they were making no effort to reunite with the parts of the country west of the Mississippi River. In September of 2113, this ideology began to aid in the morale of pushing the enemy forces away from Washington DC and to take back the land that elected Atwood as President.

     Atwood was beloved by his army for his willingness to lead soldiers into battle, his refusal to leave D.C. as it was actively under siege, and immediate amnesty to soldiers who defected to the American military. By contrast Robert Dixon and Abraham Johnson were generally disliked by their respective armies for their poor military strategy, callousness to casualties in battle, and general uninspiring personalities.

### Reconquest of Canada

While there was very much a stalemate between Atwood and the Southern Alliance, the Greenland and Siberian Task Forces were having far more success, especially with the advocation of the United America ideology. By January of 2114, the task forces were successful in uniting Canada under Atwood's rule and were thus given the assignment of capturing the Northeast, which, under President Andrew Lord, had recently invaded Atwood's land and launched another assault on Washington DC.

Within another six months, the task forces were successful in securing the Northeast for Atwood. President Lord would be the first to be executed for treason and would be made an example of what could happen if other states did not submit to the rule of the legitimate American President Atwood.

With the Northeast defeated, Atwood turned his full attention towards the Southern Alliance and began hitting them hard with brute military force. Massacres took place across all state part of the Southern Alliance, until local governments began to pledge their allegiance to Atwood. In August of 2114, Consul Abraham Johnson was captured in southern Tennessee; by September, all the Southern Alliance had left was South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida east of Alabama. With one last show of force, the Southern Alliance was finally conquered by Atwood in January of 2115. Robert Dixon would be found and brutally executed a month later.

### Creation of the Democracy Protection Agency

In December of 2114, Atwood also created the "Democracy Protection Agency", which held the purpose of "ensuring the legal election results obtained democratically were maintained within the United States." Its purpose was to uphold the Capital Election and to suppress those who challenged Atwood's Presidential legitimacy, as the number of citizens who did so were becoming larger and larger by the week.

In February of 2115, a show of naval force demonstrated in Lake Superior scared Midwest (Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota) President Linda Pax into submission. Due to her willing surrender, Atwood would not execute her, and on February 20, 2115, Atwood declared himself "undisputed President of the United States" and marked the day in question as "Unity Day."

### Further Conquest

Over the course of the next year, the land obtained by the US in the Louisiana Purchase (Which had devolved into tribal anarchy following Doomsday) slowly re-integrated into the country. By December of 2115, Atwood made contact with an entity which claimed to call itself the "United States of New Mexico" and which held a fair amount of control over California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico (The state), Arizona, Chihuahua, Sonora, and the Baja California peninsula. After negotiating with the New Mexican President, Garret Columbia, it was agreed that New Mexico would rejoin the United States under Atwood, so long as the Presidential Election of 2116 occurred on time. Due to the fact that the Democracy Protection Agency was starting to become a burden on funding, Atwood agreed to these terms, thus seeing the southwestern United States re-integrated in January of 2116.

With the land in North America and that of which bordering the Arctic Ocean mostly under Atwood's control (With the exception of Texas and US land in Central America), he decreased military operations for the time being (Saying that they would start again in his second term) and focused on constructing a new Trans-Continental Railway that would connect California to Pennsylvania, so that the United States would be more connected. This project would be completed by the end of Atwood's term, in January of 2117.

### Campaign for a Second Term

*See: 2116 United States Presidential Election*

In the election of 2116, Garret Columbia, who challenged Atwood for the Presidency, conducted his own investigation into Atwood's method of governance. What Columbia discovered shocked him; to fund his military for the American Reconquista (As Atwood's conflict to reunite the country came to be known as), Atwood would oftentimes steal from already impoverished civilians (Which were plentiful across the United States) and often utilized brutality without trial against his opposition (Especially in the case of the Democracy Protection Agency). Columbia used this to expose this to as many people as possible and bolster his campaign, and was ultimately successful in doing so. Atwood refused to acknowledge the results as legitimate, citing "voter fraud" and "Doomsday uncertainty", yet could do little against Columbia; if he used the Democracy Protection Agency against him, everyone would now know what happened and would likely incite instability against Atwood.

#### Attempts to remain in Office

When it became clear that Atwood could not hold onto power using electoral means he discussed his intentions to use the Military to arrest President-Elect Columbia and swear himself in as President imminently. The Secretary of Defense plainly told him if he gave any order to do anything of that nature he'd be arrested, tried for treason and executed all in the same day. Atwood seeing as he had no further support relented.

After all of Atwood's attempts to stay in office failed, he quietly left office when the time came on January 20, 2117. On leaving office, Atwood held a 24% approval rating.

## Post-Presidency

After leaving Office there were several calls to arrest Atwood and put him on trial for crimes against humanity for actions taken during his Presidency. These calls mostly came from areas that suffered under his Administration. The Columbia Administration caused fury when it's Department of Justice Acting under President Columbia's orders declined to persecute Benjamin Atwood.

## Death

Benjamin Atwood died from liver shutdown on April 30th, 2126.

## Legacy

Benjamin Atwood is considered one of the most cruel and ruthless Presidents of all time. He believed that the world order of old was gone, that strength by force was all that was left to protect an eventual peace. He also believed in restoring the United States by any means required at the time. A highly publicized interview released one year before his death in 2125 by the New York Times gave an unprecedented view into Atwood's mind.

1. ↑ Benjamin Atwood issued Executive Order 832391 on January 21st to relive himself of all duties as First Servant of State.