What's the list of US Presidents after 2009?
Fate of the British Monarchs after George VI
This is the list of US presidential administrations from 2009 through 2053. This is edited and expanded from an earlier version.
Sergio Hernandez, of the Socialist Party (2005-2013):
Sergio Hernandez, a former mayor of Havana, served as a Representative and later as a Senator from Cuba before winning the US presidential elections in 2005 as the nominee of the Socialist Party. Hernandez was the first politician from a former Confederate state to be elected to the presidency after the end of the Second Great War.
The Hernandez administration oversaw the continued economic expansion that had started under the previous Gutierrez administration, following the end of the Tech Recession in the 1990s. The president also focused on anti-crime efforts, following the West Philadelphia Riots of 2007 and the continuing problems posed by street gangs in many US cities.
President Hernandez also made the decision for the USA, and by extension the CDS, to support German, Austro-Hungarian, and EC efforts to stabilize the Middle East, following the overthrow of Sultan Abdul Hamid III by the Golden Wolves and the beginning of the Ottoman Dissolution. The USA and CDS would not ultimately deploy many soldiers to the Middle East, because of developments in Sudan.
The Islamist government of Sudan, which had been staunchly supportive of Abdul Hamid III, launched brutal military campaigns in the early 2010s against the black African populations in the southern and western regions of the country. These campaigns rapidly became genocidal. There was widespread anger from the US public when these crimes became known.
The refusal by the Sudanese government to agree to an ultimatum from the Hernandez administration to end these genocidal campaigns led to the outbreak of Sudanese War in 2012. The USA, supported by contingents from the rest of the CDS, drove the Sudanese forces out of what became the Republic of South Sudan and the Republic of Darfur, which would later join the CDS during the Astaire administration.
Sergio Hernandez left the presidency personally popular. It was not enough to prevent the victory of the Democratic Party in the 2012 presidential elections.
Alfred Astaire, of the Democratic Party (2013-2021):
Alfred Astaire, an ATL descendant of Fred Astaire, was the former head of the Bureau of Investigation. He was the first Democrat to win the presidency since Thurston DeFrancis in the 1992 elections, and the first Democrat to serve two terms since Joshua Blackford in the 1970s.
Astaire was sympathetic to efforts by the Business and Prosperity Caucus in the US Congress to ease regulations on financial markets, and especially on the activities of major banks and real estate firms, and supported legislation to enact as many of these pro-business measures into law as possible. Although the boom in the US housing market, as well as deregulation efforts, had started during the Gutierrez administration and had continued under the Hernandez administration, the highest rates of growth in the domestic housing market would be during the Astaire administration. This housing boom in the USA during the 2010s took place alongside similar housing booms in many other countries, including in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bharat, the Empire of Brazil, China, the German Empire, and Russia. There was also a dramatic expansion in international investment during the Astaire administration, as his government worked with other nations, especially the other great powers, to loosen the controls and restrictions on the movement of investment funds across borders.
While the US housing market was more regulated in comparison to the US housing market of 2007-2008 in our world, the housing bubble that developed in the 2010s in TTL was worse than in our world, and was tied to similar housing bubbles in other countries by banks and investment companies that overextended themselves in acquiring more and more real estate holdings.
The Astaire administration also coincided with a worldwide economic boom that was driven by high rates of investments in new kinds of technology, as well as high levels of demand for different commodities. The Astaire administration would also be remembered fondly by many Americans as another cultural golden age, as well as a golden age of tourism.
Alfred Astaire left office deeply unpopular due to the effects of the Great Housing Crash of 2019, which devastated the US economy and would also have catastrophic effects on US political stability.
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George Novak, of the Socialist Party/National Fusion (2021-2025):
George Novak served as Senator from Ohio before winning the Socialist Party presidential nomination in 2020. Novak was not without skills as a politician, given that he was elected to several statewide offices as a Socialist in a state that almost never supported the Socialists in presidential elections. Novak had a vision of US politics where the country would no longer be divided by separate political parties. Novak believed that this would lead to a permanent political and economic golden age for the USA.
Novak forged the “National Fusion” ticket with Governor Philip Wakefield of New Jersey, a member of the Republican Party, in the name of pursuing a “non-partisan” government, in spite of opposition from within the Socialist Party and the refusal of the Republican Party to endorse the arrangement.
George Novak became deeply unpopular while in office, due to his failure to address the effects of the Great Housing Crash. In 2024, he failed to win renomination from the Socialist Party in the face of a challenge from Representative Charles Holst, a long-time marginal figure in the Socialist Party and in the House of Representatives, due to his far-left political views. Novak and Wakefield attempted to win re-election by founding an actual National Fusion Party, only to lose in every state in the 2024 elections, due to Novak’s widespread unpopularity and the failure of National Fusion to gain ballot access in a number of states.
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Charles Holst (2025-2027), of the Socialist Party:
Charles Holst served as a Representative from a New York City congressional district for almost twenty years before successfully challenging President Novak for the Socialist Party nomination in 2024. Holst, for most of his political career, was considered a marginal figure in Congress, due to his far-left political views, penchant for over-the-top revolutionary rhetoric, and abrasive personality. However, Holst gained national attention and broader acceptance during the Novak administration after emerging as the unpopular Novak’s preeminent political foe. Holst won the 2024 elections against a Republican Party still suffering from the divisions caused by Wakefield’s defection to the National Fusion ticket, and a Democratic Party still unpopular due to the Great Housing Crash.
The Holst administration ended in failure and disaster. Congress refused to pass the president’s plan to nationalize whole sectors of the economy, or the president’s proposal to grant the executive branch the power to expropriate property and wealth from anyone labeled an “enemy of the people.” Holst also caused alarm and outrage when he started to openly talk about ending term limits, as well as when he started to openly use antisemitic rhetoric blaming Jews for the Great Housing Crash.
Charles Holst was ultimately undone when his administration was caught up in the Dixie Mafia Scandal in 2026-2027, following a years-long investigation by several law enforcement agencies. This scandal resulted in the arrest of Holst’s Vice President, Conrad Koehler, by the Bureau of Investigation, the arrest of several of Holst’s cabinet members during that year, and in Holst’s impeachment and conviction in April 2027. Holst was removed from office that month, and would later be sentenced to life in prison after being convicted on multiple charges related to the Dixie Mafia Scandal.
Due to the arrest of former Vice President Koehler, Representative James Davies, the Speaker of the House, was inaugurated as president in April 2027.
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James Davies, of the Republican Party (2027-2029):
A longtime Representative from Ontario, Davies eventually fulfilled his lifelong dream of becoming Speaker of the House, following the 2022 midterm elections. Due to the presidential line of succession, Davies was inaugurated as president in April 2027, following the collapse of the Holst administration in the Dixie Mafia Scandal.
Davies was the second Canadian-American to hold the presidency. He pledged not to run in the 2028 elections, but also promised a “return to good government,” following the now almost universally despised Holst administration. The most significant initiative by the short Davies administration was the creation of a congressional Joint Committee of Inquiry to fully investigate and publicize the criminal activity of the former administration.
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Arnold Burroughs, of the Republican Party (2029-2037):
Arnold Burroughs served as a Senator from Ontario, and was close political ally of former Speaker of the House James Davies, before his election as president in 2029. He was the third Canadian-American to serve as president. The Burroughs administration oversaw the economic recovery from the over decade-long recession caused by the Great Housing Crash. Burroughs who had been a member of the Infrastructure and Public Works Caucus while in Congress, embraced a massive program to improve US infrastructure, as well as a program of urban renewal. Burroughs also focused on improving ties between the US and the member states of the CDS, which had been neglected during the Novak and Holst administrations. It was the Burroughs administration that began the first tentative, quiet talks with government of Texas on the possibility of pursuing reunification, after the US government was approached by special representatives from the president of Texas.
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Eleanor Lehrer, of the Democratic Party (2037-2045):
A Senator from California before winning the Democratic Party nomination in 2036, Eleanor Lehrer was the first woman to serve as president. Lehrer had a strong interest in foreign policy and defense policy. The Lehrer administration also focused on improving the US position in the ongoing Space Chase.
Lehrer, the second Jewish-American to serve as president after Joshua Blackford, had also been a frequent target of former President Holst’s antisemitic rants.
The Lehrer administration also pursued the diplomatic talks with the government of Texas that had been started during the Burroughs administration on the possibility of Texas rejoining the Union. The government of Texas had originally instituted these talks for economic reasons, as the Great Housing Crash had been especially harsh in that nation. These talks would result in a referendum on reunion held in Texas in 2044, the centennial of the independence of Texas, the fall of the CSA, and the end of the Second Great War. This referendum resulted in the option for reunion failing by a margin of 51% to 44%.
The failure of this referendum, intended by President Lehrer to be the culmination of her administration’s until-then generally successful foreign policy initiatives, led to a temporary dip in national popularity for the Democratic Party in 2044. Combined with the Republican Party nominating a weak candidate, this would provide a window for the successful return to office by the Socialist Party through their nominee, Senator Dennis Beckford.
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Dennis Beckford, of the Socialist Party (2045-2053):
A Senator and former Representative from Jamaica, Dennis Beckford had risen in influence in the Socialist Party in the late 2020s and 2030s, as the party struggled to emerge from the twin disasters that had been the Novak and Holst administrations. Beckford, during this time, threw himself into initiatives to rebuild the party as a national force (mirroring previous efforts by the Republican Party in the Twentieth Century to do accomplish the same goals). By the time that Beckford won the Socialist Party’s nomination in 2044, the Socialists had restored a significant measure of influence in terms of congressional seats and governors mansions held by the party. Beckford managed to triumph in the 2044 presidential elections. He was first African-American to serve as president, as well as the second president to serve from the Caribbean region of the country.
Dennis Beckford proved to be a popular president, and enjoyed a number of legislative accomplishments during his two terms in office. Perhaps the most far-reaching initiative passed by the Beckford administration was the Clean Energy Act of 2045, which committed the US to powering its grid entirely through renewable sources of energy within a generation.
The biggest test for the Beckford administration would come late in his second term, with the advent of the Hubei Respiratory Syndrome-52 Pandemic, in the spring of 2052. President Beckford would become, in effect, a wartime president during the greatest national and international crisis faced by the United States since 1944.