America's previous two Black presidents, and where they come from

Hendryk

Banned
There may be other fictional Black US presidents that I'm not aware of, but the most famous ones are doubtless Tom Beck (played by Morgan Freeman in "Deep Impact") and David Palmer (played by Dennis Haysbert in "24").

What I'd like to know is, was any thought given to their respective backstories? What are their political biographies, and if they weren't provided by the screenwriters, can you think of a plausible one for each of them? (Assuming, obviously, that they live in different ATLs).

morgan%2Bf.jpg


Palmer_david.jpg
 

Grimm Reaper

Hendryk, you've finally scared me.

One of those presided over American cities destroyed by atomic weapons and the other over all the world's coastal cities being destroyed by a rogue...was it a comet or an asteroid?

Dare we even consider a third African-American president with that history?:(


;)
 

michaelrbn

America had a fictional black president long ago.

In Irving Wallace's "The Man" (played by James Earl Jones), written sometime in the 1960s, the Senator Douglas Dillman, President Pro Tempore, succeeds to the presidency when the President and Speaker of the House both die in an accident during a trip to Germany. The vice-president's office in this pre-25th amendment tale is also vacant due to a death.

Spoiler space for those who care:





















end of spoiler space: The president is impeached and narrowly survives being ousted over a number of issues, including sending US troops to intervene in some African country.

From the Amazon listing:

The time is 1964. The place is the Cabinet Room of the Where House. An unexpected accident and the law of succession have just made Douglass Dilman the first black President of the United States.
This is the theme of what was surely one of the most provocative novels of the 1960s. It takes the reader into the storm center of the presidency, where Dilman, until now an almost unknown senator, must bear the weight of three burdens: his office, his race, and his private life.
From beginning to end, The Man is a novel of swift and tremendous drama, as President Dilman attempts to uphold his oath in the face of international crises, domestic dissension, violence, scandal, and ferocious hostility. Push comes to shove in a breathtaking climax, played out in the full glare of publicity, when the Senate of the United States meets for the first time in one hundred years to impeach the President.
 

Ibn Warraq

Banned
Grimm Reaper said:
Hendryk, you've finally scared me.

One of those presided over American cities destroyed by atomic weapons and the other over all the world's coastal cities being destroyed by a rogue...was it a comet or an asteroid?

Dare we even consider a third African-American president with that history?:(


;)
Click to expand...


It wasn't till season six that L.A. was nuked, by which time David Palmer was assassinated.

Palmer was a Democrat, which was made clear on season one, where the opening narration of every episode reminded us this was "the day of the California Democratic Presidential Primary" and ended with Jack Bauer intoning "this is the worst day of my life"(which now seems pretty ironic).

We know he's a Senator and that he graduated from Georgetown, where he played basketball and I believe either made the Final Four or won the National Championship.
 

BlackMage

Luckily, I'm brilliant at really, really obscure backstory.

As FOX notes, Palmer was a Senator from Maryland, formerly a State Representative and Congressman. He's got a more filled-out backstory on that site than I've lived, so far.

(And, incidently, Charles Logan was Lieutenant Governor of California and a company executive, and Wayne Palmer's sole political experience was as his brother's chief of staff.)

No info about Tom Beck, Freeman's character, but something I've always found interesting was that the president in Independence Day had as his sole political experience being a fighter pilot in the Gulf War, or something like that. I'd like to write a story on how terrible such a president would really be...
 
Redem

Redem

BlackMage said:
No info about Tom Beck, Freeman's character, but something I've always found interesting was that the president in Independence Day had as his sole political experience being a fighter pilot in the Gulf War, or something like that. I'd like to write a story on how terrible such a president would really be...
Click to expand...

Well you see the president in independance day actually crashed his plane in the white house and killed the president accidently he tried to impersonnate the president for a while eventually winning re-election as his predescor was the best president ever even though the impersonator was really lame. He was busted a little short while after the re-election but people kept him power and he can get re-elected mainly caused he said "well you didn't elect me the first time!"
 

BlackMage

maverick said:
That couldn't have been he's only experience...I bet he was a one term governor and then the Republicans drafted him or something at the convention...
Click to expand...

Well, Mort Kondrake (the real Mort Kondracke -- I know, the star power!) says in the beginning, 'Leadership as a pilot in the Gulf War is completely different from leadership in politics'. Or something like that. Which is, you're right, room for a one-term governor.

But hey -- he's got more experience than Pat Buchanan, Jesse Jackson, and Ross Perot combined...
 
Redem

Redem

BlackMage said:
Well, Mort Kondrake (the real Mort Kondracke -- I know, the star power!) says in the beginning, 'Leadership as a pilot in the Gulf War is completely different from leadership in politics'. Or something like that. Which is, you're right, room for a one-term governor.

But hey -- he's got more experience than Pat Buchanan, Jesse Jackson, and Ross Perot combined...
Click to expand...

Well maybe he was a pilot during the golf war, but was actually station in germany in something
 

Hendryk

Banned
BlackMage said:
Luckily, I'm brilliant at really, really obscure backstory.

As FOX notes, Palmer was a Senator from Maryland, formerly a State Representative and Congressman. He's got a more filled-out backstory on that site than I've lived, so far.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the link. That's what I was looking for.

EXPERIENCE:
President of the United States
United States Congress, Senator (MD)
Senate Appropriations Committee - Member
Senate Commerce Subcommittee - Member
United States Congress, Representative (MD)
House Ethics Committee - Chairman
House Ways and Means Committee - Member
House National Security Subcommittee - Member
Maryland State Congress, Representative (Baltimore)
Fidley, Barrow & Bain, Attorney at Law

EDUCATION:
Juris Doctorate
- University of Maryland School of Law
Bachelor of Arts, Political Economy
- Georgetown University

HONORS:
NCAA All-American - Men’s Basketball
Big East Conference - Defensive Player of the Year
Sporting News - College Player of the Year
Wooden Award for Player of the Year

PERSONAL:
Divorced
Son - Keith Palmer
Daughter - Nicole Palmer
Click to expand...
Now, what could be Beck's own backstory, since it seems none was provided by the screenwriters of "Deep Impact"?
 

Doctor What

BlackMage said:
Well, Mort Kondrake (the real Mort Kondracke -- I know, the star power!) says in the beginning, 'Leadership as a pilot in the Gulf War is completely different from leadership in politics'. Or something like that. Which is, you're right, room for a one-term governor.

But hey -- he's got more experience than Pat Buchanan, Jesse Jackson, and Ross Perot combined...
Click to expand...

Actually it's stated in the film that he was a Senator for only a few years before getting the nomination.
 

ZaphodBeeblebrox

Doctor What said:
Actually it's stated in the film that he was a Senator for only a few years before getting the nomination.
Click to expand...
Sounds Like a Republican Obama ...

Strangely Enough, I've Always Seen President Thomas J. Whitmore as a Slightly More Conservative Version, of Bill Pullman himself ...

Now there's a Republican I could Get Behind!

:p
 
Redem

Redem

ZaphodBeeblebrox said:
Sounds Like a Republican Obama ...

Strangely Enough, I've Always Seen President Thomas J. Whitmore as a Slightly More Conservative Version, of Bill Pullman himself ...

Now there's a Republican I could Get Behind!

:p
Click to expand...

Well there something I don't really get the gulf war was in 1990-1991, the election was in 1992, so was he like only senator for one year? (would make sense if the election is in 1996)
 
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ZaphodBeeblebrox

Redem said:
Well there something I don't really get the gulf war was in 1990-1991, the election was in 1992, so was he like only senator for one year? (would make sense if the election is in 1996)
Click to expand...
It's Usually a Good Bet, that a Science Fiction Movie takes Place at an Unspecified Time in The Future ...

In this Movie's Case, an Occurrence Year of 1997 Makes The Most Sense Given The Inherent Back-Story ...

Weren't you The Poster, who Wrote up a Time-Line Regarding a Worse Gulf War and The Resulting Knock-on Effects, for The Movie's Set-up?

:D
 
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