Floyd Hercule Bolson

Floyd Hercule Bolson was an Evancyan politician and X+1th Grand Chancellor from 551 to 552. He is noted for his role in bringing down the Government of Stannis Valorum, the Demarki Missile Crisis, War on Corolacopium, his intervention against the Heph Insurgency, stopping the 'February Incident' coup attempt, drafting the New Constitution of Evancya and ultimatly his assassination. He is also associated with the New Civil Rights Movement and the 552 Civil Rights Act as well as Evancyan intervention in Mbab.

## Early Life

Floyd Hercule Bolson was born to Mary and James Bolson in South Breton. Born as the middle son into a wealthy family of businessmen and investors, he was cultivated as a politician by his father alongside his 3 older brothers, 2 younger sisters and one younger brother many of whom were also pushed to enter politics. In school he showed a great aptitude for Mathematics and High Evancyan Studies and in secondary school his prowess for public speaking was also demonstrated when he won the position of Chancellor of the Year Group. With these notches on his belt, as well as very good exam grades, Bolson was accepted to study political philosophy and political science at the University of Cheston. He graduated with full honours.

## Political Career

### Regional Politics

Bolson remained in Cheston, where he became a vocal voice for progressive politics in the urban area of Cheston - which is surrounded by rural Savothite voting regions. Despite privately detesting the practice of segregation, Bolson refrained from supporting outright abolition of it in public due to his understanding that it would demolish his chances of winning election. He assisted the campaign of local progressive candidates for the Worker's Labour Party in the 475 election, at age 44, and helped to secure the election of Cheston Mayor Larold Farnborough in 480. During this time he became aquainted with rising WLP star Memmold Tibbson and the two became good friends. Bolson stood for election in the 503 House elections but was just narrowly beaten by incumbent Free Market Liberal Candidate William Herbertine.

### House of Representatives

Bolson stood for election again in 505 and managed to beat incumbent Herbertine, with the Worker's Labour Party also securing the Grand Chancellorship in the same election. Memmold Tibbson, friend of Floyd Bolson, was elected Grand Chancellor and the two remained in contact - though their friendship became strained as Bolson continued to pressure Tibbson to adopt progressive legislation on civil rights. Between 505 to 514, throughout the years of the Tibbson Administration, Bolson worked to create a progressive wing of the WLP which exerted growing pressure on the government to continue expanding welfare programs and pass civil rights legislation. Following the WLPs victory in the 510 Government Election, Tibbson appointed notorious Savothite Lewis Smedley as his new Vice Chancellor. This move angered many progressive Representatives, with some threatening to defect, but with Bolson's help Tibbson managed to calm the progressives and reassure them that Smedley's appointment was done to appease Savothites.

#### Relationship with Terrence Pooe Johnson

During the Tibbson Administration, Terrence Pooe Johnson was made Chancellor of the House. In this role he frequently conferred with Bolson and the two developed a working relationship. While both were cordial and respectful of one another, both ideologically and personally, the two never developed much of a friendship in this time. Johnson was receptive to Bolson's progressive ideals but refused to hear him out about civil rights or join him in pressuring Tibbson to adopt civil rights legislation. TPJ has said since that "The time was not right for civil rights change, as much as I wanted it. It would have destroyed Tibbson's Government."

As it happens, Tibbson's Government was brought down in 514 with the Kamgo Crisis and the ensuing Satoil Crisis, economic recession and debt crisis. The large welfare spending of the Tibbson administration had not been supported by tax increases or an increase to the debt ceiling, due to staunch conservative and FMLP opposition, which in turn led to a debt crisis in the government which shook economic confidence. High spending had also pushed inflation to concerning levels, and so when the Kamgo Crisis sparked a shortage of Satoil in Evancya this sent inflation spiralling and pushed the economy into recession as confidence hit an all time low.

#### The Parker Years

Bolson remained as Representative of Cheston throughout the Parker Years and right up until his own Chancellorship. He was a vocal critic of both Meniboff Parker and Kelsey Faygan's economic policies, but was very supportive of their foreign policy. He was a big supporter of the Revelations Act and campaigned for the WLP to support the act - calling it "the most important act in our planets history." As Evancya opened up relations with the other planets of the Kalooki Corner, he paid close attention to events and particularly to the first deals and trade agreements made with planets. He took a particular interest in Ficko and the presidency of Drankli Panda whom he regarded as an 'inspirational figure' at the time.

In 522 (1991,Mt) , with the Southern Tetron Kingdoms falling to Communism and uniting into the Union of Dagrothi Socialist States, Anti-Communist sentiments in Evancya reached fever pitch. Bolson was swept up in this anti-Communist rhetoric and believed in it strongly till his death, he took Kelsey Faygan's 'Domino Theory' to heart and truly believed in it. Bolson convinced the Progressive Wing of the WLP, which he led, to support the WLPs public endorsement of the 'Pendlebroad Doctrine' of containing Communist aggression and preventing the 'domino effect' of nations falling to Communism.

#### Reaction to the Hipfeld Sex Scandal

In 529 (1998,Mt) it was revealed to the public that former Vice Chancellor Anthony Hipfeld had been engaged in extramarital homosexual acts during his time as Vice Chancellor - having resigned just two years prior. The news of a cover up from the government about the information prompted a number of resignations from the Parker Administration, including Vice Chancellor Shooberu. The Worker's Labour Party promptly condemned the Government for its cover up of the affair, but the party was split over the issue of condeming Hipfeld for his homosexuality. Out of his own personal beliefs, as well as him having eyes on a run for the Grand Chancellorship, Floyd Bolson supported condeming Hipfeld's homosexuality. This move alienated a number of members of the Progressive Wing, but endeared Bolson with the moderate and conservative wings of the WLP. Bolson opposed the election of Kelsey Faygan as Vice Chancellor, calling it a move "oozing with crookedness and sleaze" due to the known friendship between Faygan and Parker.

#### Leader of the Opposition

Memmold Tibbson, who had remained leader of the WLP after his Chancellorship, resigned from politics in 541. In the ensuing leadership election, Bolson ran against Terrence Pooe Johnson for the leadership of the party and to be leader of the opposition. A number of other candidates, including Savothite Eugene Stromley and progressive Harold Lumper, also ran for the leadership but were never considered serious contenders. The race between Bolson and TPJ proved to be incredibly close, but Bolson managed to just beat Johnson as some WLP members believed that Johnson would be better off staying as Party Whip. Therefore in 541 Floyd Bolson offiically became the leader of the Worker's Labour Party and of the Opposition. At 110 years old he was considered very young for the position, which it was hoped would enader him to a wider range of voters as a fresh face and energetic voice in comparison to the now very aged Meniboff Parker and Kelsey Faygan.

Bolson's time as leader of the opposition peaked with the election of Marvin Coolacher as the WLP managed to gain a significant number of seats in both Houses. Internal divisions withing the Outward Liberal Coalition also made the Coolacher Government an easy target for Bolson, who frequently attacked and mocked him for his inability to keep control of his coalition or party on important matters. He pressured the Government to act on the question of civil rights, welfare, healthcare and the falling fortunes of the domestic mining industry. Bolson also criticised the Government harshly in this time for its lack of action on the interstellar stage, which culminated in Bolson co-sponsoring the United Planets Reform Bill with Vice Chancellor Stannis Valorum. The Bill passed and led to the creation of the United Planets Reform Charter Commission, which drafted the United Planets Reform Charter that would eventually be brought to the UP by Stannis Valorum and passed.

#### Valorum Chancellorship

Floyd Bolson and the WLP were pushed out of the position as head of the opposition as the Outward Liberal Coalition was officially dissolved prior to the 550 election and the FMLP secured the second largest number of seats in both Houses. Stannis Valorum's landslide victory was not necessarily seen as a crushing defeat for the WLP though, as they managed to retain most of their seats and the ICP had stolen many of its seats and votes from the FMLP. Bolson opposed Valorum's 'Bust Prevention' economic plans and called on him to begin implementing protectionist measures to protect domestic industries from growing foreign competition. Bolson was also strongly opposed to Valorum's Bill for the Suppresson of Un-Evancyan Activities and lobbied Emperor Talbuth II to estabish an Imperial Committee on the matter to ensure bipartisan enforcement of the Bill following its passage.

##### The War on Dagroth

In 550, tensions between the UDSS and Evancya on Dagroth boiled over into war. Bolson was supportive of the war at first as a means of containing communist expansion and as a means of flexing Evancyan power to the rest of the KC. However, with initial UDSS successes in Operation Chainbreaker pushing Evancyan forces in Tetron to their limit and forcing the implementation of a draft in Evancya Bolson quickly turned against Valorum's handling of the war. He believed that the way to fight the war was not by throwing more men at the issue, but by mobilising firepower and the airforce against the technologically inferior foe.

When Stannis Valorum announced Operation Saving Grace, an enormous offensive across the entire front to retake the Tetron region, Bolson was again opposed to this move fearing that it would cost a humiliating amount of Evancyan lives. With the Operation underway and indeed resulting in the deaths of many Evancyans, Bolson and the WLP began drafting the Bill for Responsible Military Action. During this time Bolson used his position on the Privy Council to pressure the Emperor into calling a House election, citing growing opposition to the war and the changing domestic political landscape as evidence that the current make up of the Houses was not truly representative of the views of the people anymore. Talbuth II agreed and would call House Elections in August that year.

During these elections the Social Liberal Party formed as a splinter party of the FMLP, focusing on social issues instead of economic issues. The Imperial Conservative Party's dominating position in both Houses was drastically reduced, with the Worker's Labour Party winning most of the seats off of them in a great victory for Bolson - who now became leader of the opposition again. He soon put the Bill for Responsible Military Action before the House of Representatives which passed through both houses after much debate and filibustering attempts from pro-war MPs and Peers. The passage of the Bill meant that both the House of Representatives and Peers must sign off on any proposed offensives the Government wished to initiate. This was seen as a huge victory for Bolson and the WLP with many seeing them as having 'slain' the political behemoth of Stannis Valorum and the ICP.

Following this Bolson retained his anti-war stance and continually criticised Valorum for his handling of the war, saying that he was sending "Evancyan boys to die when they needn't." He became closely affiliated with the anti-war movement in this time and became a face for the youth of Evancya who identified both with his politics and relative youth in the political arena. During this time he also became known as the 'Political Guerrilla' for his ability to keep his political career and the WLP alive despite facing an immense power in both the ICP and the Outward Liberal Coalition. He became an incredibly well respected politician during this time.

#### Death of Talbuth II and Interim Government

Following the death of Emperor Talbuth II in early 551, Stannis Valorum agreed to form an interim national government in the interests of planetary stability. This interim government was a coalition government between the ICP and WLP and passed The Corolacopium War Bill (2020, Mt). Bolson remained publicly supportive of Evancyan intervention in Corolacopium as a means of "standing up to tyranny" but said that "we must never again face another War on Dagroth" and had promised to prevent any major deployment of Evancyan ground troops to Corolacopium. The Coronation of Empress Aurora offered a unique opportunity to Bolson and he used her inexperience and youth as a means to influence her by promising to mentor her in the ways of Evancyan politics. The Empress was more than happy to listen to Bolson's advice and she very quickly came to trust him as a "firm but gentle politician, whose genuine desire to use politics for good and his real interest in improving peoples lives could be when he spoke about it."

### Grand Chancellorship

The societal and political situation in Evancya in early 551 produced a revolutionary change in Evancyan politics that was established by Floyd Bolson. In February of 551, two months prior to the election, Floyd Bolson and Timothy Mendel announced that the WLP and SLP would be forming the 'Progressive Bloc' effectively merging their two parties into a coalition, This announcement was soon followed by the ICP and FMLP forming the 'Institutionalist Bloc' in response. Bolson won the nomination of the Progressive Bloc uncontested as part of the power sharing agreement with Mendel, in which Bolson agreed to give Mendel a prominent position within the Government should they win.

In April that year Emperor Talbuth II died and a Government Election was called

Bolson and the Progressive Bloc won the 551 election by a tiny margin - securing a majority of just 24 seats. Despite the small victory, it was a victory nonetheless and Bolson soon got to work on Dagroth. He announced plans to begin withdrawing ground troops but increasing the presence and role of the air force.