Mackenzie Allen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mackenzie Spencer Allen
President of the United States (Commander in Chief)
Incumbent
Assumed office  unknown
Vice President(s)	Warren Keaton (resigned)
Preceded by	Teddy Bridges
Succeeded by	Nathan Templeton (acting)
Born	late 1960 Connecticut, USA
Political party	Independent
Spouse	Rod Calloway

In the television show Commander in Chief, a political drama aired by ABC, Mackenzie Spencer Allen, played by Geena Davis, is the first female President of the United States.

She is called "Mac" by those close to her (except some relatives) and "Madam President" by others.

Allen is the daughter of the late Michael Allen, who was a lawyer, and Kate Allen, a restaurant owner.

After serving as a prosecutor, Allen was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives twice as an independent representing a district in Connecticut. Allen was a moderate Republican who was encouraged by fellow moderates in her party to run as an Independent when a far right Republican had secured victory in the primary election. Both she and her husband, Rod Calloway, were surprised at the suggestion; both had assumed that they were going to ask Rod, who was then Attorney General of Connecticut. After four years in Congress she decided not to seek a third term, outraged that campaign finance reform measures were failing and unwilling, in her own words, "to be part of a corrupt system that couldn't heal itself." She was then chancellor of the University of Richmond, with expertise in Middle Eastern affairs, until she was asked by then Vice President Teddy Bridges to be his running mate. She was then elected as Vice President on a ticket with Republican Bridges, although she technically remained a political independent. About two years into his term of office, Bridges suffered a massive stroke which soon led to his death, causing Allen to succeed to the presidency. However, prior to his death, Bridges and key figures in the Republican Party urged Allen to resign her office before Bridges' death so that Nathan Templeton, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, would instead be in line for the presidency. Allen, after thinking about it, had her speechwriter write a resignation speech. However, after talking with Templeton, who shows prejudice against both Muslims and women, Allen decided not to resign and instead to take the oath of office.

Listen to this article · (info)

This audio file was created from an article revision dated 2005-11-15, and may not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (Audio help)

More spoken articles

   

Allen's husband, Rod Calloway, served as her chief of staff while she was Vice President before becoming the first First Gentleman of the United States. They have three children: fraternal twins Horace (who is older by four minutes) and Rebecca, a conservative who disapproved of her mother's decision not to resign; and Amy, who is very young. All three children attend public school, following in the footsteps of both Allen and her husband.

When she graduated from law school, she was recommended to her first job by Anthony Prado, who would eventually become her National Security Advisor.

While on board Air Force One en route to negotiate a trade deal between protesting airline unions and managers, Allen suffered a ruptured appendix requiring several hours of surgery and at least a day of recovery. Prior to surgery she invoked the 25th amendment believing the Senate Pro-Tempore would temporarily assume the presidency, however Speaker of the House Nathan Templeton surprisingly stepped up, costing his seat in Congress (though in reality, a special election would be scheduled to fill the vacancy and he could return to the House in 90 days). With his new position of power, he quickly forced an end to the airline labor strikes, undoing Allen's weeks of careful negotiations. He was officially Acting President for approximately one day during Allen's medical leave.