Theodore Vogel

**Theodore William Vogel** (April 17, 2197 - June 20, 2298) was an American politician who served as the 99th President of the United States. He is known for being the first Atomicist President. His Presidency is ranked as average by most historians.

## Early Life

Theodore William Vogel was born on April 17, 2197, to the upper-class family of George and Alexandria Vogel in rural Massachusetts. When Vogel was only four years old, his father was found and executed by The Empire's Hand, the totalitarian police force Emperor Thorton used to silence his political opposition. Due to this tragedy, Vogel's mother would move the both of them to New Hampshire, in which the Emperor possessed much less influence, and where Vogel would work as a propaganda artist for the New English Independence Movement, a rebel faction in the Second American Revolution.

Upon the conclusion of the Revolution in 2215, Vogel would act as Chief of Staff for his mother, who was elected to New Hampshire's Executive Council. The Vogels would be members of Commawatch ever since its creation and would advocate, during this time, for maintaining a strong State Guard in distrust of what might happen to the federal government. Vogel would serve in this position until 2220, whereafter he would run for a position in, and successfully be elected to New Hampshire's state House of Representatives on the basis of keeping New Hampshire's defenses strong. Vogel would even propose a law which would restrict how much one can charge for a gun-sale, on the basis of Second Amendment protection; although this bill did not pass, it would be popular amongst many in the New Hampshire General Court. More successfully, Vogel successfully passed a reform limiting the tenure of New Hampshire public officials (including Congressmen) to no more than 12 years in office; Vogel argued that term limits were a necessity for keeping individuals in check. In 2230, Vogel announced that he would be using this logic to not run for a sixth term (even though he possessed the ability to) in the General Court and instead declared a candidacy for Governor.

## Campaign for Governor

In his campaign, Vogel ran on a platform of united defense of the former states part of the New English Independence Alliance (New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine) for better defenses for the states against foreign and domestic tyranny. Due to his track record and policy, he would successfully be elected.

## Governor of New Hampshire

In addition to successfully forming this interstate alliance, Vogel also renounced the use of the veto (similarly to President Sanford Frost and many Governors across the United States) and signed all legislation which came to his desk. After serving three terms as Governor, Vogel would announce that he would not run for re-election, having been offered the position of Secretary of State by Commawatch Presidential nominee Normand Rafferty, who was impressed with Vogel's interstate alliances; upon Rafferty winning the Presidency, Vogel was nominated and successfully confirmed to the Cabinet position.

## Secretary of State

Vogel would serve as Secretary of State for the next four years, before losing his position when the Rafferty Administration lost re-election. Following this, Vogel would successfully be elected to the national Senate in 2242, running on his experience and claiming that he would serve the nation to protect democracy, the bill of rights, and the citizens' defenses. Being highly popular in New Hampshire, he would successfully win the election and would serve in the Senate for the next two years; during his time in the Senate, Vogel would become Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, in addition to serving on the Armed Services committee.

## Campaign for President

In 2244, Vogel would become the running mate of Commawatch Presidential nominee Chadwick Fitzpatrick, who would successfully be elected. As Vice President, Vogel would commit himself to impartiality and would largely play a role as President of the Senate, actively recusing himself from political agendas. Although he would lose this position when the Fitzpatrick Administration lost re-election, Vogel's service in this position would see him gain prestige within the Commawatch Party that would urge him to run for President against Henry Doss; Vogel declined this, however, due to the fact that he "respect[ed] the Doss Administration" and didn't want to be the one to bring it down. Instead, Vogel ran for President in 2256 and successfully won the election.

## Presidency (2257 - 2261)

As President, Vogel would dissolve President Doss's law enforcement program and replace it with the "Bipartisan Executive Office", which was composed of two "Executors" nominated by Vogel and confirmed to office by a simple majority of the Cabinet, one being from each political party. Vogel would successfully appoint his Vice President, John Staur, as the Commawatch Executor. He offered the Liberty position to former President Doss, yet faced Doss's decline on the basis of him "serving enough time in the executive". Thus, Vogel instead appointed Virginia Governor Thomas Frederickson as the Liberty Executor. With this, Vogel would leave law enforcement to the two Executors and would allow his Cabinet to vote on issues of dispute; Vogel himself would remain largely passive throughout the course of his administration, claiming that the job of a nation's leader was to only step in during emergencies and to ensure everyone else was performing their job.

## Re-election campaign

In the Presidential Election of 2260, Vogel would face scathing criticism from Liberty Presidential nominee Omarosa Sandoval, who claimed that Vogel was an establishmentarian who subverted the will of the people by delegating all of his duties to unelected officials (who Vogel chose at that). Additionally, Sandoval accused Vogel of being too traditional to take the best course of action for the people, claiming that he willingly signed bills which imposed too much from the federal government onto the American people, and stated that he would utilize the old power of vetoes to protect the interests of the citizens. Vogel dismissed these claims as preposterous, stating that had Sandoval known enough about the Second American Revolution, he would know that consolidating power in one man was the worst thing one could do for the people, and that his plan of vetoing based on policy would bring about more elite power than the "safeguards" Vogel and his predecessors instated. Despite this, Sandoval's zealous message would strike a cord with many Americans; although Vogel won the popular vote by a slim margin, Sandoval would obtain a majority in the electoral college, thus seeing Vogel unseated. In his defeat speech, Vogel conceded, claiming that the democratic process had deemed his time for the Presidency to be concluded and that he would not run for the position in the future. He announced, however, that he would still serve the American people in other positions.

## Senate Campaign

Vogel declared his candidacy for the Senate once again in 2262, and was successfully elected to the position. Upon his election, many Senators would encourage him to run for the position of Majority Leader, yet Vogel would take little interest in the position. As a Senator, Vogel would introduce an amendment that would abolish the electoral college and have the President be elected directly by a simple national popular vote. Whilst initially unpopular, Vogel compromised with those who opposed the bill to reduce the amount of electoral votes from 538 to 488 (each state only possessing one initial vote instead of two), in addition to mandating states to distribute their electoral votes proportionally. Whilst popular, this proposal failed to be ratified as an amendment, leading Vogel and other proponents of the bill to not alter the distribution of electoral votes, yet to instead simply mandate proportional distribution by states. This proposal would be vastly more popular (especially given the actions of President Sandoval) and would successfully be ratified as a Constitutional amendment.

## Retirement

After one term in the Senate, Vogel declared that he would not run for re-election, stating that he's served the people of New Hampshire and the United States enough and that it's time to "hand over power to a new generation". Vogel would live in retirement for the next 30 years, before dying at 101 years old on June 20, 2298.