Earth Alliance President

From The Great Machine

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The President of the Earth Alliance serves as the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the entire planet Earth and her colonies, including Mars. Barring death or impeachment, the Presidential term of office lasts for five years (S1E22, Chrysalis).

At least four separate Presidents have featured in the series:

1 Unnamed Female EA President
2 Luis Santiago
3 William Morgan Clark
4 Susanna Luchenko
5 See Also

[edit] Unnamed Female EA President

This President (played by Tricia O'Neil) served in 2248 during the Battle of the Line and the founding of Babylon 5. Although not proven, it seems highly likely she served throughout the entire Earth-Minbari War. Certainly, Londo gives a medical cure as a gift to a female President before the war begins:

How is your President? Well, I hope.

Much better. I just saw her in the ready room. She's starting to get some of the colour back in her cheeks. This damn flu's got half of my staff down sick.

He most famous moment is her speech to the troops at the Battle of the Line when all seems lost:

Are we on? This is...This is the President.

I've just been informed that our midrange military bases at Beta Durani and Proxima 3 have fallen to the Minbari advance. We've lost contact with Io and must conclude that they too have fallen to an advance force. Our military intelligence believes that the Minbari intend to bypass Mars and hit Earth directly and the attack may come at any time.

We have continued to broadcast our surrender and a plea for mercy. And they have not responded. We therefore can only conclude... that we stand at the twilight of the Human race.

In order to buy more time for our evacuation transports to leave Earth, we ask for the support of every ship capable of fighting to take part in a last defense of our homeworld. We will not lie to you. We do not believe that survival is a possibility. We believe that anyone who joins this battle... will never come home. But for every ten minutes we can delay the military advance several hundred civilians may have a chance to escape to neutral territory. Though Earth may fall, the Human race must have a chance to continue elsewhere. No greater sacrifice has ever been asked of a people than I ask you now... to step forward one last time... one last battle, to hold the line against the night. May God go with you all. -- (MoW2 In the Beginning)

She was also responsible for first founding the Babylon Project:

Together, we stood on the eve of destruction as a result of a terrible, terrible mistake. A mistake which none of us can afford to make again. The Babylon station will provide a place for us to work out our problems peacefully. It is, we believe, our last, best hope for peace.

[edit] Luis Santiago

See main article: Luis Santiago

After serving at least one term, President Santiago was re-elected in early 2258, defeating challenger Marie Crane. Santiago had strong policies on opening trade relations and discussions with alien races and supported the mission of Babylon 5:

With 70 percent of the vote tallied we are declaring incumbent President Luis Santiago the victor. Santiago promised to cut the budget and to keep Earth out of war. His agenda includes creating a relationship with the Mars colony and preserving Earth cultures in the face of growing non-Terran influences. -- (S1E01 Midnight on the Firing Line)

In late 2258, he was assassinated when his ship, Earthforce One, was destroyed near the transfer point off Io (S1E22, Chrysalis).

[edit] William Morgan Clark

See main article: William Morgan Clark

Succeeding Santiago in late 2258, his administration implemented increasingly draconian measures to crush dissent. He believed Earth to be in danger of being overrun by extraterrestrial races, and so Nightwatch, a paramilitary organization, was created to discover those suspected to be alien infiltrators. When his complicity in Santiago's assassination was made public in 2260, Clark declared Marshal Law, and was then forced to fight a civil war against members of the Earthforce Military led by John Sheridan. Facing defeat in 2261, rather than surrender, Clark tried to turn the planetary defence grid back towards Earth in an effort to wipe out as many people as possible before committing suicide.

[edit] Susanna Luchenko

See main article: Susanna Luchenko

A member of the Russian Consortium, Luchenko succeeded Clark in 2261 after serving in the Earth Senate; her first task was to clean up the aftermath of the civil war:

We realize that many of you want revenge against those who caused such great pain and suffering. We ask that you listen to the better angels of your nature. Give the courts and the legal system time to locate and prosecute those responsible. Only a sane and careful study of the facts will allow us to separate those who were willing partners in President Clark's reign of terror from those who cooperated only in fear of their lives. -- (S4E21, Rising Star)

Also in 2261, Luchenko pardoned Sheridan for his actions during the civil war, oversaw Earth joining the new Interstellar Alliance, and signed the order granting Mars independence for the first time.

She approved joint Human-Minbari program to build a destroyer-class Whitestar vessel, culminating in the Victory and the Excalibur. In 2266, she ordered a defensive fleet to confront the Drakh attack on Earth, and she used the Excalibur to search for a cure to the Drakh Plague (MoW4 A Call to Arms).