President of the United States
The President of the United States is a character in several Transformers stories.
Generation 1
Marvel Comics
The President was alerted by his advisers to the hostile robots establishing a fort on American soil. The USSR was suspected as being behind it (they weren't). Prisoner of War!
Optimus Prime met with the President on the lawn of the White House to ask for peace, sort out an understanding, and perhaps form an alliance. Their handshake was cut short by an attack from the Insecticons, who attempted to sabotage the union by claiming to be Autobots. The Autobots forced the Insecticons into retreat but left immediately themselves, deciding that the President wouldn't believe they were framed. To the contrary, the President did give the Autobots the benefit of the doubt — until, that is, they left without an explanation. Plague of the Insecticons!
The same President was unaware of the Intelligence and Information Institute's Centurion project. After the robot damaged part of Portland, the Institute became worried that the President would have them all arrested if he found out they were involved. In the National Interest
Years later, the next President was alarmed when a Decepticon civil war erupted near New York City and threatened to hurt innocents. He asked G.B. Blackrock to call his Neo-Knights into action. ...All This and Civil War 2
Generation 1 cartoon
A memorial to deceased President Abraham Lincoln exists in Washington, D.C.: a statue of him sitting on a large stone seat. Megatron once took out the statue so he could sit there, but the Autobots put it back later. Atlantis, Arise!
Colorforms Books
The 40th President of the United States awarded Dr. Heath Blaisedale the The President's Award for Outstanding Scientific Breakthrough for her work on the solar reactor. Sun Raid
Dreamwave Comics
The President flew to the Pentagon, where he was greeted by "Defense Minister" Dawson. Dawson briefed him on the Decepticon assault on San Francisco, and suggested an air strike. But before a military solution could be devised, Dawson was informed that a nuclear launch had been authorized (by General Robert Hallo, unbeknownst to either man). The President tried to abort the launch, to no avail. During this crisis, he displayed a level of concern that could only be adequately portrayed by his unique command of facial expressions. Prime Directive issue 6
Keepers Trilogy
Associated Characters
The Vice-President
The Vice-President is the President's attack dog. He goes to pick up Allister Greaves in person after his spy in the Executive office is revealed.
Greaves isn't much impressed by the Vice-President, he has too many skeletons in his closet. Greaves threatens to release documentation of the Vice-President's tryst with a minor girl in Topeka to the media. The Vice-President dis-involves himself from further direct contact with Greaves. Keepers Trilogy
John
John is the Secretary of State. He is one of the President's confidantes in his plan to kidnap General Michelle Grajkowski and frame her for the attack on the Autobots.
Bill
Bill is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. He, along with John, are the President's confidantes in his plan to frame General Michelle Grajkowski.
Elisa
Elisa is the President of the United State's secretary. She speaks several languages, and always answers the phone with a different accent. A member of the Followers, she secretly gives Edmund Greaves information about goings-on in the Executive Office.
When Greaves requested information about the Keepers, Elisa promised to send him a synopsis of the upcoming cabinet meeting about them, and then requested Greaves try to remove the Followers agents from Las Vegas, which she felt had become too dangerous. He agreed to try.
The President became aware of Elisa's 'second job,' and when she called Greaves to warn him that the attack on Las Vegas had been pushed up, she was killed. A CIA agent informed Greaves the President very much wanted to speak with him, and a car was being sent.
Elisa's death shook Greaves badly, and was one of his prime motivations to go public with the Followers.
Elisa is probably the source of at least some of the blackmail material Greaves has on the President and the Vice President.
Susan
Susan replaced Elisa as the President of the United State's secretary. An unattractive woman with a tough-as-nails attitude, she takes her job as the President's gatekeeper very seriously, once refusing to let the Secretary of State through because he hadn't phoned ahead for an appointment.
Susan may be based on the character Deborah Fiderer from the TV show The West Wing.
IDW comics
After the Decepticons had established an infiltration team on Earth, Republican Senator Alexander Holt unwittingly talked to a facsimile construct of a politically powerful military general about concerns that stability in the Middle East would cause problems for his Big Oil backers. The false general assured Holt that the military and the government were in the region for the long haul. This would presumably include the current President. Nine months later, shortly after Megatron took command of the infiltration team, the Decepticon leader sent Thundercracker and Skywarp to attack the El-Jira nuclear power plant in the Middle East to inflame global tensions. By this time, Holt had become the favourite for the Republican presidential candidate and was recommending more direct intervention in the region. Escalation issue 2
Over a year later, during the full-scale Decepticon attack on the United States, the President requested Colonel Witwicky take command at New York City. All Hail Megatron issue 2 He then thought it was a good idea to get on Air Force One while flying robots were attacking; this caused his death after Starscream crashed the plane into the Lincoln Memorial. All Hail Megatron issue 3
Three years after the Decepticons were driven away, the new President made a live adress in response to North Korea using the Combaticons to attack South Korea. He announced that any nation using or allying themselves with Cybertronians would be considered by the United States to be in possession of weapons of mass destruction. This was a huge setback for Spike Witwicky, who had just organized an alliance between the Autobots and Skywatch, and was planning to use them to take care of the Combaticons. International Incident Part 1: "The Land Ironclads"
Generation 2
In the mid-1990s, the current President was a Democrat. Terrorist mad scientists aren't fans of Democrats. Goin' South
During the Decepticon onslaught on America, the President was not seen. Rumours abounded that he was hiding in a bunker and refusing to come out. The Gathering Darkness
Unicron Trilogy
Cybertron cartoon
- Voice actor: Nicole Oliver (US), Mariko Takigawa (Japan)
The President knew about Colonel Franklin's investigation of the Transformers, and didn't believe it was a sensible project. Family
She was still a "new President" during the summer, and made confusing promises at the United Nations. She was well known for speaking in incomprehensible jargon. Shortly before the landslide at Boulder, Colorado, Six-Speed was pulled over by the police, he used a hologram of the President to disguise his lack of a driver. Naturally, seeing the leader of the free world at the wheel of a tiny green race car totally freaked the cops out, and the Mini-Con was able to drive off in the confusion. Collapse
After the Transformers were revealed to Earth, the President admitted to Franklin that she was wrong for doubting his project. Family
Much later, the President officially named Franklin as Earth's ambassador to Cybertron. Beginning
Live-action film series
Transformers (2007)
President Herbert Hoover established Sector Seven in 1927, and had Hoover Dam built around the AllSpark. (See Notes)
The President seems almost insignificant during most of the Decepticon-caused military chaos, with Secretary of Defense John Keller pretty much running the show. Mostly, he wears red socks, has a penchant for Ding Dongs and speaks with a cheesy southwestern accent and stereotypical dialect ("Can you wrangle me up some Ding Dongs, darlin'?"). He also seems unconcerned with tiny, crazy robots hacking into the computers of his ride—that is, until he's thrown in a bunker somewhere after the resulting emergency landing.
The United States military began approaching potential conflict with Russia and China when Sector Seven realised it was the Transformers. The President ordered Tom Banachek to the Pentagon to inform Keller about the Transformers' existence.
He ordered Sector 7 to be terminated and the remains of the dead Decepticons disposed of into the Laurentian Abyss. Transformers
Titan Magazines Transformers comics
Following Decepticon occupation, the President was dead and John Keller was nowhere to be found. The hawkish Vice President, Theodore F. Allen, became the new President following the liberation of America. Allen distrusts both Autobot and Decepticon, viewing them both as hostile alien invaders using Earth as a battleground for their war, so it would probably piss him off considerably to know Starscream's Insecticons have planted a mind-controlling cerebro-strip in his head. Aftermath Part 1 Aftermath Part 2
While he was allowed to act autonomously during Earth's technorganic crisis Dark Spark Return To Cybertron, Part: 1, Starscream eventually trigged him. One of his last acts was to get the US government to order the Autobots off American soil - and then nuke their ship as they left. Revolution Part 1
Revenge of the Fallen
NEST was formed sometime in 2007 or 2008, under the last President. However, the Autobot transmission into space to summon reinforcements was not vetted by the President or any of his staff, only by NEST's Major Lennox.
Poor old President Obama; while running for office, he was asked about his policy on alien life and responded with a joke The Real Effing Deal... and then found himself a newly elected leader during an Autobot-Decepticon war! He appointed Theodore Galloway as his National Security Advisor.
Concerns with the growing casualties caused him to send Galloway to investigate NEST and the Autobots, and when they escalated further he shut down NEST. Following Operation: Firestorm however, he reactivated NEST Revenge of the Fallen and afterwards took a more supportive role, even authorising airstrikes on US soil. Tales of the Fallen issue 5
Dark of the Moon
John F. Kennedy initiated the race to the Ark on the moon, which Richard Nixon saw to completion.
Decades later, Obama awarded Sam Witwicky a medal for saving the world twice. Dark of the Moon
IDW Comics
In 1898, Theodore Joseph Wells and Walter Simmons were dispatched to investigate Archibald Witwicky's claims by order of President McKinley. His government's House Committee on Military Affairs would finance and back the early Sector Seven. Original
Wells would carry out mysterious missions for the President. This may have included missions for President Wilson, almost certainly President Taft,and a known 1900 mission for McKinley again. Irreplaceable
Future President Herbert Hoover and his wife Lou would be stranded in China during the Boxer Rebellion, and used a radio to transmit information on Boxer troop movement to American forces; it was here they met Wells of the future Sector Seven. As an expert on mining, Hoover was secretly tasked by Sector Seven to secretly divert the Colorado River so they could excavate "the Cube"; Lou, as a metallurgist, was hired as a Sector Seven employee. Both of them encountered Jetfire and helped stop him, and several AllSpark Mutations. Irreplaceable
During his political career, Hoover made it a key priority to construct a permanent base in Colorado where Sector Seven could keep the Cube. That's why they eventually called it Hoover Dam! Field Notes from John Barber #2
Transformers Animated continuity
The AllSpark Almanac 2
A Burger Bot placemat focused on presidential history. By the 22nd century, Mount Rushmore has added Nixon and Cobra Commander to its ranks. It also features the following presidents, and their accomplishments:
- Franklin D. Roosevelt, who led the country to victory during World War II.
- Walter Barnett, who articulated The Barnett Doctrine of open borders.
- Elaine Nakamura, the nation's first female president.
- Tommy Kennedy, who established the first colony on Mars.
- James K. Polk, who brought Texas and California into the union.
- Howard J. Nissen, who saved the rainforests.
- Edward Augutter, a president-elect who drove off the Inhumanoid menace.
- Benito Caruso, who restored diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and the United States.
- John Keller, who solved world hunger through the Los Bogos Project.
Time-Quake
While traveling through history, Bulkhead and a human encountered Abraham Lincoln, shortly before he gave the Gettysburg Address. In 2012 they also encountered Gabriella Constanza, then a teenager, who was destined to become president. She would be the 47th person and first woman to hold that title. Bulkhead saved her from being run over by a bus. Time-Quake
Shattered Glass
The President of the United States in the Shattered Glass series is President Colton. Colton is strong on national defense and doesn't care much about how the rest of the world thinks. He didn't appreciate the Autobots taking control of his defense satellite, or the Decepticons destroying it.
Notes
- The President never appeared in the original animated series, but he did have a cameo in The Inhumanoids, one of Transformers "sister series" produced by Sunbow and arguably set in the same continuity. Appearing only as a voice from offscreen speaking to his aides in The Surma Plan in 1986, the President of the United States was a soft-spoken man concerned about the future but full of faith in the better nature of humanity. He was portrayed by voice actor Neil Ross, also a great communicator.
- Optimus Prime's Holomatter avatar is modeled after Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th President of United States.[1]
- While unnamed, Marvel's presidents are clearly meant to be Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, while IDW's Tales of the Fallen #5 shows the hand of a President who is clearly meant to be Barack Obama. Dreamwave's Prez doesn't appear to be meant as George W. Bush, but since this is Pat Lee drawing it could simply be a bad drawing of Dubya.
- Irreplaceable is the first Transformers story to have a real-life President, explicitly named as such, as a main character.
- The 2007 film refers to President Hoover forming Sector Seven in 1927, forgetting that President Coolidge was in charge at the time. IDW's Sector 7 miniseries jumped through hoops to have Hoover in a position to form S7 before he became the Prez.
