| “ | I, Thomas Adam Kirkman do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. | „ |
| ~ President Kirkman taking the oath. |
Thomas Adam Kirkman, PhD is the main protagonist of the television series Designated Surivor. He was portrayed by Kiefer Sutherland, who also voiced Prince Hans/The Nutcracker in The Nutcracker Prince.
After the election of Robert Richmond to serve as President in 2012, then Cornell University Professor Kirkman was offered the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development position on the cabinet. He was an independent who did not belong to either of the major parties.
In early 2017 Kirkman was still serving on President Richmond's cabinet. Kirkman was named the Designated Survivor for President Richmond's State of the Union speech when the Capitol was bombed by terrorists, largely destroying the building. The bombing resulted in the deaths of Richmond, all the other members of the Cabinet, and nearly all of Congress.
The Secret Service quickly brought Kirkman and his wife to the White House where an DC appellate judge swore him in as President. Kirkman was faced with the immense task of assuring the world that the US Government continued and that it was not the time for other nations to capitalize on the disaster. In the days that followed Kirkman began working on restoring Congress and the Supreme Court and facing down the power hungry Michigan Governor James Royce, who was trying to take Michigan out of the union to set up his own fiefdom before Kirkman had him arrested. He sparred with various Governors in getting temporary Senators appointed to replace those who had died, along with setting up elections to elect a new House of Representative.
Meanwhile the FBI and other various agencies began tracking down who was responsible for the attack on the Capitol. While evidence strongly suggested a foreign terrorist group linked to al-Qaeda, Kirkman resisted strong demands from within the Department of Defense to immediately go to war with Iran. It was later revealed that it was a domestic right wing militia called the True Believers, led by one Patrick Lloyd. Members of the group were arrested by the FBI. Lloyd escaped and spent several months on the run until he was tracked to a bunker in Maryland. After refusing to surrender he was killed after threatening to release sairn gas on Washington, DC.
Despite the enormous cost, Kirkman pushed through the rebuilding of the Capitol building, with the reconstructed Capitol completed one year later. Even though Kirkman felt the building to be little more than a glorified office building, he recognized the symbolism of having it rebuilt and that it was worth a lot more than the cost of rebuilding.
As the 2020 election got closer, Kirkman decided to run for a full term as President. Despite offers from both the Republican and Democratic parties Kirkman remained an independent. Kirkman ultimately defeated both the Republican and Democratic candidates, securing a full term in office. He was the first President since George Washington to run for and win the office as an independent.
Trivia[]
- As a non US Citizen, Kirkman portrayer Kiefer Sutherland would in real life be ineligible to take the office of President.
- It was mentioned during the show that Kirkman was the first independent to serve as President as George Washington. This is not quite accurate as 10th US President John Tyler had run on the Whig ticket as Vice President in the 1840 election and operated as an independent during most of his time in office as President. Tyler also had become President after the death of the previous President, William Henry Harrison in April 1841. Tyler was expelled from the Whig party soon after becoming President. His Presidency was marked by conflict with Congress and his legacy did not fare well.