United States government in Jericho
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| Successor States Following the Nuclear Attacks in Jericho | |||
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 Allied States of America |
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 United States of America |
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 Independent Republic of Texas |
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This is an outline of the various fictional remnants of the United States government created in the aftermath of the nuclear attacks in the CBS series Jericho.
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[edit] Successor states
In the second season of Jericho, the former United States are shown to be reorganized in three parts: a restored United States of America, which controls the states to the east of the Mississippi River; the Allied States of America, which controls the other states, excluding Texas; and the Independent Republic of Texas. Separating the United States and the new Allied States of America along their common border is the "Blue Line," a security perimeter set up by United Nations Peacekeepers. The status of Hawaii and Alaska is unclear: both have Jennings and Rall offices,[1] but the Allied States' flag has only 21 stars, accounting for the 21 continental states under its control, so whether or not they have joined any side is unclear.
[edit] Allied States of America
The Allied States of America is a separatist faction formed in response to the nuclear bombings. Its capital is located in Cheyenne, Wyoming (now known as the "Federal District of Cheyenne"); the states west of the Mississippi River (including Kansas, in which Jericho is located), except for Texas, are within its claimed borders. The Flag of the Allied States is an altered version of the Flag of the United States; its stripes are aligned vertically (as in the U.S. Coast Guard Ensign) and only 21 stars are present; the change in orientation of the stripes could be taken to represent "a new direction" for Americans. Soldiers in the Allied States military wear arm patches displaying the new flag.
The Allied States of America is led by President Tomarchio, a former United States Senator. Because a joint session of the United States Congress was being addressed by the President in Washington, D.C. at the time of the attacks, many of the successors to the presidency were killed, leaving the line of succession unclear. Six different officials were claiming to be the legitimate successor, Tomarchio among them. Several of these other leaders must have eventually capitulated, and the Allied States of America was born.
Administration of the Allied States appears to be largely staffed by former Jennings & Rall (J&R) employees; thus the corporation, and its paramilitary subsidiary Ravenwood, are afforded preferential treatment and sweeping monopolistic powers. The Allied States of America promotes itself as being born of a desire to create a much stronger government, but in reality it is a corporatocracy (like the East India Trading Company) with J&R firmly in control. Allied States citizens had little choice in these matters, due to the devastating aftermath of such a massive and shocking series of attacks. Many Americans, however, are so terrified and traumatized that they are fearfully willing to accept the new government freely granting itself fascistic powers in order to "keep America safe."
The Allied States has formed a new Constitutional Convention to totally rewrite the US Constitution, even though it does not control the entire country. This convention is known to have eliminated the right to bear arms ("Patriots and Tyrants"); prior to this, President Tomarchio suspended the Posse Comitatus Act ("Black Jack"). The Allied States military is seen throughout Season Two occupying and administering civilian areas and overriding the civilian state governments ("Reconstruction"), engaging in warrantless searches and seizures ("Sedition," "Jennings and Rall"), imprisoning individuals without due process of the law in conjunction with the Jennings & Rall corporation ("Oversight"), engaging in acts of torture and collective punishment ("Sedition"), suppressing free speech and freedom of assembly ("Condor," "Sedition"), and carrying out summary executions ("Condor"). This suggests that the Allied States legal system lacks analogues to the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, Tenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, lacks the writ of habeas corpus, and does not consider the Allied States to be party to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or Geneva Conventions. The Allied States government is also seen distributing completely rewritten history books which state that Iran and North Korea were responsible for initiating the nuclear attacks. The books lay strong blame at the feet of the former United States government for its "ineptitude" in allowing the attacks to take place and for its "gridlocked" reaction. The books further claimed that the Vietnam War was lost over the former government's "failure of will". The books are immediately recognized by the citizens of Jericho as thinly veiled propaganda designed to sway the American people toward the belief that they will be much safer in the future for pledging allegiance to the Allied States's "New America."
In the wake of the initial attacks, American nuclear missiles were launched in "retaliation strikes" against Iran and North Korea, ordered by President Tomarchio ("Condor"). It is implied throughout the series that this was to conceal the truth of their own nuclear plot to overthrow the United States; however, Robert Hawkins discovers in "Sedition" the secret that the nuclear attacks on America were actually the work of an unknown agent. The mysterious mastermind regarded the Jennings & Rall corporation as a "disease" on the United States government and had sought to orchestrate J&R's destruction by using the attacks to "uproot" it from its original position of influence. His plan assumed that the federal government would recover afterward, but backfired when the Allied States formed and took J&R as its ready ally, making the company more powerful than ever, and leaving the former government vulnerable to hostile takeover.
[edit] United States of America
The original United States still exists and is attempting to reassemble itself with those states east of the Mississippi River under its control. While still reeling from the attacks, the United States is also forced to compete for its very existence against the Allied States. Its leader is former United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Charles, sole surviving member of the Cabinet and thus the legitimate successor to the Presidency.
New York City and Columbus, Ohio, two major US cities targeted in the initial attacks, survived unharmed. Due to increased security measures by the New York City Police Department after the September 11, 2001 attacks, as well as from Hawkins's last minute tipoff, the nuclear bomb set to be detonated in New York City was intercepted moments before it would have exploded, and the city was saved. Hawkins was assigned to deliver the Columbus bomb, but instead brought it with him secretly to Jericho. As a direct result, the states east of the Mississippi River are in a significantly stronger position than the attack plans had assumed -- a major setback to the instigator of the nuclear attacks and to the Allied States in the struggle for continental power.
[edit] Independent Republic of Texas
Energy-rich Texas did not join the Allied States of America, nor has it reunited with the United States to the east; it became the Independent Republic of Texas, led by a Governor named Todd, and is the wild card in the struggle for Central North American supremacy after the nuclear attacks. If Texas were to ally with either the Allied States or the United States, it would drastically tip the odds in the inevitable oncoming civil war in their favor.
The major plotline of Season Two, prior to the unknown mastermind's introduction, consisted of the residents of Jericho trying to use Hawkins's Columbus-bound nuclear bomb as "smoking-gun" evidence to convince the Texan government that the nuclear attacks were actually a conspiracy by the current leaders of the Allied States to seize power, hopefully causing Texas to rejoin the United States. Despite major interference by the true architect of the conspiracy, who was pursuing the last bomb himself in order to detonate it in Cheyenne, thereby destroying J&R and the Allied States but also 1 million innocent civilians, the bomb is successfully delivered to Texas. As the series ends, the Texas government appears poised to rejoin the United States, even before having confirmed the last remaining Nuclear weapon from the September, 2006 attacks, was indeed from Severnsk, Russia and not from North Korea, as the "Allied States" Government had indicated. However the A.S. Governments attempt to keep this information from reaching the Texas Consulate in Cheyenne was an obvious attempt to hide something, and most likely the reason for Governor Todd sending two Texas Air National Guard F-16 jets, to escourt Mr. Green's plane to Texas soil, and in the process shoot down two Allied States Air Force F-15 fighters sent from Cheyenne to stop the bomb from reaching San Antonio.
In the final episode of Jericho, it is revealed in the way of a GPS map on board the Texan diplomatic plane, that the borders of the Texas Republic have significantly exanded following the attacks. The GPS map shows the main character Jake Green approaching the Texan border, which appears to now incorporate over half of New Mexico, which includes Albuquerque, but narrowly leaves Las Vegas, NM and Santa Fe, NM in the Allied States of America.
[edit] Original faction leaders
Immediately after the September 2006 attacks, a power vacuum ensued across the United States, as indecision and lack of communication began to take its toll on the various surviving regions of the nation. The following information was depicted in the Season One episode "Black Jack" and Season Two episode "Patriots and Tyrants."
| Area | Capital | President | Current Allegiance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Western | Sacramento, CA | Senator Morissette | Allied States of America |
| Central | Cheyenne, WY | Senator Tomarchio | President, Allied States of America |
| Southern | San Antonio, TX | Governor Todd | Governor, Independent Republic of Texas |
| Southeast | Montgomery, AL | Senator Snowden | United States of America |
| Midwest | Columbus, OH | HHS Secretary Charles | President, United States of America |
| Northeast | Rome, NY | Unknown | United States of America |
[edit] Original government reaction
[edit] FEMA camps
Shortly after the bombs went off, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) successfully setup refugee camps near blast sites. There are presumably numerous camps (with varying conditions), but only a few are specifically mentioned: Topeka ("Long Live the Mayor"), West Chicago Camp ("Casus Belli"), a camp near Baltimore ("Black Jack"), and a camp at an unknown location with 10,000 refugees ("Semper Fidelis"). A camp in Lexington, Kentucky, was also mentioned by Sarah Mason in the online video segment Ask the Mystery Woman. Semper Fidelis also noted that food riots occurred in the West Chicago Camp, resulting in the overpowering of their Marine guards.
[edit] Foreign relations
One of the questions posed to Robert Hawkins in his segments on the CBS website is whether any targets outside of the U.S. were attacked. His response is that he hasn't heard of any, but that "it wouldn't surprise [him]". The fake Marines in "Semper Fidelis" say that North Korea and Iran have been attacked in retaliation by the U.S., which is confirmed to be done by the Allied States under the orders of President Tomarchio in "retaliation for the September bombings". With Hawkins' intimate knowledge of the attacks, it is determined that the strikes on North Korea and Iran are likely a cover-up of a domestic conspiracy.
Also, China and Germany have apparently performed several air supply drops to U.S. citizens (mostly food, but also mechanical and medical supplies).
The United Nations is involved in keeping the peace between the Allied and United States.
[edit] Episode synopsis
| First referenced | Agency | Unit or division | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Episode 101 ("Pilot") | N/A | N/A | At the time the first explosions were noted from Jericho, the US President was in the midst of addressing a joint session of the U.S. Congress. Since Washington, D.C. was reported as having been totally destroyed in the attack, it is very likely that the President and most of the people in the upper echelons of the federal government and supreme military leaders were killed. |
| US CIA | Special Task Force | Robert Hawkins is dispatched to Jericho just prior to the explosion of several bombs Hawkins had intended to keep from going off. (CIA affiliation does not become clear until Episode 12, "The Day Before") | |
| Episode 103 ("Four Horsemen") | US DoD | 131st Fighter Wing, Missouri Air National Guard | F-16s spotted over Kansas, as described by two pilots during the attacks, on a recovered cockpit voice recorder. One of the pilots believes that the F-16s are from the 131st Fighter Wing, Missouri Air National Guard, originating at Lambert International Airport in St. Louis. In real life, the 131st Fighter Wing flies the F-15, not the F-16. |
| US DoD | Kansas Army National Guard | Stanley reveals he saw five tanks on I-70 heading west. It's not known where they came from, but it is suspected that they're from a National Guard unit in Goodland, Kansas. | |
| Episode 105 ("Federal Response") | US DHS | FEMA | Reverse-911 phone call from the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, asking everyone not to leave, and assuring that help and further information is on the way. |
| FCC/FEMA/US NWS | The Emergency Alert System is seen on the television feed and is later replaced with a podium bearing a US State Department agency seal, but the signal is lost before anyone comes into view to speak. | ||
| US DoD | USAF Space Command | At the end of the fifth episode, there is a rumbling and people rush outside to see ballistic missiles rocketing upward, which are presumed to be American. It is later revealed that the missiles were launched on orders from Tomarchio; it is unknown if Tomarchio was still operating in the name of the United States. | |
| Episode 107 ("Long Live the Mayor") | US DHS | FEMA | Gray Anderson reports that FEMA is operating refugee camps and that FEMA is running water to these camps, including one at Rogue River. |
| NYPD | ESU | The Bomb in New York was prevented from going off because NYPD has apprehended the bombers before the attacks | |
| Episode 108 ("Rogue River") | US DHS | FEMA | As Jake and Eric enter Rogue River they see FEMA evacuation symbols on the doors of houses indicating the date of evacuation and the number of alive/dead found. They also see leaflets scattered about the town from FEMA warning of the contamination of groundwater from the nuclear explosion in Lawrence, Kansas. |
| Jennings & Rall | Ravenwood | When Jake and Eric meet a Ravenwood mercenary at the top of the County Hospital in Rogue River, he says that Ravenwood were hired by Homeland Security because there were not enough National Guard in Kansas. | |
| Episode 110 ("Red Flag") | Chinese PLA | PLAAF (aircraft) USAF (equipment) |
Chinese supply air drops are conducted over Kansas air space by Russian-made planes from the 1970s (identified by Jake as two Antonov transports, and two MiG 19 fighter-escorts) using parachutes that utilize a modern U.S. Air Force RFID tracking technology. In reality Antonov only produce transport based aircraft and the PLA has retired the MiG-19 (known as the J-6 in Chinese parlance). |
| Episode 113 ("Black Jack") | N/A | N/A | When a party from Jericho visits the Black Jack Fairgrounds trading post, they are told that the federal government has split into at least six competing factions, with six Presidents claiming authority, and each with his own political and military allies. They are also told that some of the supply air drops in other areas were carried out by Germany. See the synopsis of "Black Jack" for more detailed information about the political situation. |
| Episode 115 ("Semper Fidelis") | US DoD | 4th Tank Battalion, 4th Marine Division, USMC | The fraudulent Marines stated that an actual company of Marines were dispatched to their refugee camp, leaving behind several weapons and an M1 Abrams tank when abandoning the camp. |
| Episode 122 ("Why We Fight") | AS DoD | ASMC AS Army Aviation Branch |
Regiment-size Marine unit and Army/Marine aviation units are stationed on the Camp Liberty, Nebraska under Colonel Hoffman's command. The camp does not fly the Flag of the United States. |
| Episode 201 ("Reconstruction") | AS DoD | Joint Task Force | Combined Army, Air Force, Marine units are dispatched to stop violent incidents between Jericho and New Bern under Colonel Hoffman's order. These forces are controlled by the new Allied States of America. |
| AS DoD | AS Army 10th Mountain Division | Detachment of 10th Mountain Division lead by Allied States Army Major Beck is dispatched to Jericho and New Bern. Major Beck commands all military forces in the region of Jericho and New Bern. | |
| Episode 202 ("Condor") | UN DPKO | Peacekeepers | United Nations peacekeepers are said to be stationed along the Mississippi River, which is known as the "Blue Line" due to the color of the UN troops' helmets. |
| AS DHS | AS Secret Service | The Allied States Secret Service protects AS President Tomarchio during his visit to Jericho. | |
| Episode 207 ("Patriots and Tyrants") | AS DoD | ASAF | Two Allied States Air Force F-15s attempts to shoot down a Texas consular plane carrying Jake, Hawkins, and the remaining nuclear weapon before it enters Texas airspace. |
| Texas State Military Forces | Texas Air National Guard | TANG F-16s shoot down the ASAF F-15s. The consular plane arrives in Texas. | |
| AS, US, and IRT governments | N/A | Texas aligns itself with the United States due to the nuclear bomb Hawkins and Jake delivered. The second American Civil War begins. |
[edit] References
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