Hal Gardner

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24 character

Hal Gardner
Gender	Male
Jobs held	Vice President President of the United States (Offscreen)
Affiliation	White House
Family	NA
Spouse	NA
Current status	Active
Portrayed by	Ray Wise
Seasons	5

Hal Gardner is a fictional character from the TV series 24, played by Ray Wise.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

During the fifth season, he is Vice President to Charles Logan.

During the fourth season, Logan became Acting President of the United States when President John Keeler fell into a coma. At the start of the fifth season, the show presents Logan as President and Gardner as Vice President. (Gardner was probably appointed to the office pursuant to section 2 of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, but the show does not make that explicit.)

In stark contrast to the indecisive Logan, Gardner is a bold and assertive leader. Mike Novick and Martha Logan mistrust his motives, believing him to be grandstanding to secure his own bid for the Presidency.

Gardner is in Salt Lake City at the start of Day 5, until that evening when he makes a surprise visit to Logan's California retreat. He suggests that most of Los Angeles be put under martial law until the Sentox crisis is resolved, a move which troubles both Novick and Martha. At one point, he was suspected to be the manipulator behind the day's events. However, this suspicion is cleared when President Logan himself is revealed to be the manipulator.

When Logan issues a warrant for Jack Bauer's arrest without giving any justification, Gardner becomes suspicious of the President's conduct. His suspicions are further heightened when he learns the President was allegedly using the military rather than the CTU flank team to arrest Bauer. At 1:00 AM, he was summoned into Logan's office where the President told Gardner that he was forcing the resignation of Secretary of Defense James Heller for accusing Logan of being complicit in David Palmer's death.

After Logan has been detained near the end of the season finale, other characters speculate that Gardner will soon be sworn in as President. He appears to have served out the rest of Logan's term, approximately a year and a half, as dialogue establishes that Wayne Palmer has only been President for three months as of Day 6 - which takes place 20 months after Day 5. (It is unknown whether Gardner ran against Palmer and lost, or if Gardner simply decided not to run.)

[edit] Trivia

If Gardner had become president, he would have been 24's Fifth on-screen President (after David Palmer, Jim Prescott, John Keeler, and Charles Logan), and the third to take office under the 25th Amendment. (Prescott was twice Acting President under the 25th Amendment during Palmer's presidency.)

Because he was apparently appointed Vice President under the 25th Amendment, Gardner could become President without ever having been elected as either Vice President or President, just as Gerald Ford did in real life after the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974.