United States of America

Flag of the United States as of 1953.

The United States of America (USA) is a federal constitutional republic located on the North American continent, between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

History

In 1898, the U.S. was close to declaring war against Spain in response to the American public's reactions to the sinking of the USS Maine and sympathies towards Cuban independence. Conflict was averted by President William McKinley, who pressured Spain to grant independence to Cuba. As a result, America had been slowly accepting a policy of international isolationism which furthermore resulted in the failure of Woodrow Wilson's attempt to convince Congress to declare war on Germany during the Great War in 1917. At the end of the Great War, the U.S. was not represented during the signing of the Treaty of Versailles and the ratification of the European Trade Organization.

In the following post-war era, America steadily grew into a more prosperous and stronger nation after President Herbert Hoover vetoed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act (which avoided an economic depression). By the 1930s, discoveries of unearthly artifacts were found scattered throughout America in which it led to the U.S. government becoming aware of the existence of the Chimera. In response, the government constructed a large number of military bases and research facilities to study the findings. The increase on scientific research skyrocketed, creating a massive brain drain of the country's universities and leading to several scientific breakthroughs, including the world's first digital computer and improvements to Nikola Tesla's Vertical Take-Off and Landing designs.

Under the the Roosevelt administration, the U.S. loosened its isolationist policies, and establishing a healthy trade relationship between America and Europe. However, this attracted frowning attentions from American conservatives and isolationists. In December 1938, staunch isolationist Senator Robert Taft challenged President Roosevelt over the navy's build-up of secure shipping lanes across the Atlantic and its relationship with the United European Defense, in which Taft views the administration's policy as a first step towards international political involvement and military endeavor. Taft however, being a lackluster public speaker, failed to inspire a following, except for a young Junior Senator from Montana, Noah Grace.

By August 1940, Noah Grace entered the presidential race on the Republican ticket against Roosevelt. After framing Roosevelt as a war monger and imperialist, Grace won the public's support and became the 33rd President of the United States with Harvey McCullen as his Vice President. As a result, Grace effectively turned America into an isolationist state. In June 1944 the United States developed the world's first nuclear weapon, which was first experimentally detonated in Alaska. By August 1948, both Democrats and Republicans alike had failed to pass a constitutional amendment in limiting a president to a maximum of two terms, which Grace was reelected to an unprecedented third term in office with America's lowest turnout of votes in 70 years. During his third term, Grace began a series of radio broadcasts called "Evening Conversations", "In order to better communicate with the American people the manner in which their government works for them."

In April 1949, King Edward VIII visited America on a supposed goodwill tour. During a closed meeting, King Edward revealed information about the Chimera to Noah Grace. Despite America's isolationist sentiment, Edward urged Grace to support Europe in any way he can. By May 1949, a portion of the American public had grown weary and dissatisfied with Grace's growing power which led to the formation of the isolationist organization, the Alliance for American Autonomy.

In December 1949 the Chimera invaded Europe. In response, the U.S. government controlled and censored all media outlet coming from Europe and the outside world, in keeping the American public unaware of the Chimeran threat to avoid mass panic, and even furthering their ignorance by creating false reports of an "influenza outbreak" in Europe. However, the AAA have been able to spy and distribute to the public of evidence in regarding to the Chimera's existence in the following months. Although the U.S. had not officially joined the Chimeran War, it nevertheless prepare for the coming war. By January 1950, the government finally agreed to lend support to Europe after analyzing the Chimera's devastation in Warsaw. In the same year, the Department of War and the Special Research Projects Administration initiated Project Abraham with the goal of creating a cure to the Chimeran virus which plagued Eurasia. The project led to the creation of the Sentinels.

By July 1951, the U.S. sent a military task force to liberate Chimera-controlled Britain in exchange for a captured Angel claimed by the British in Operation Deliverance. However, the operation became a dismal defeat for American forces, who were totally unprepared for encountering the Chimera for the first time. On July 14th, joint American and British forces successfully liberated Britain in the Battle of London by destroying the London Tower, which in turn destroyed the Chimeran tower network throughout British soil, thus eliminating the Chimera in the United Kingdom and becoming a major turning point for humanity.

Despite Britain's liberation, the Chimera remained a worldwide threat. On August 14th, 1951, New England came under spire attacks and becoming America's first Gray Zone and the beginning of the Chimera's invasion of America. The attack on New England, combined with the AAA's newspapers, opened the public's awareness of the Chimera. In response to the August 14th Spire attacks, the Grace administration approved the construction of a American safe zone, the Liberty Defense Perimeter. A month later, Chicago and the Upper Midwest later became America's second Gray Zone, and followed within the next year, parts of the American southeast and Northern California, specifically in Orick fell to the Chimera.

The result of the invasion produced millions of displaced refugees fleeing from the conquered state regions, and further straining food supplies due in part to the Chimera's weather changing technology affecting America's farmlands. On November 15th, 1951, President Grace became worried of the inevitable downfall of his nation, and secretly planned a truce with the Chimera known as Project Omega in allowing the United States to be spare from the Chimeran onslaught at the expense of the world. However, on December 24th, President Grace's attempt in the negotiations was foiled by Nathan Hale, who killed the president. The negotiations and circumstances surrounding Grace's death were quickly covered up by the government; and on December 25th Grace's death was released to the public under the fabrication of a sudden, suspicious illness and leaving Vice President Harvey McCullen to succeed Grace.

Under Harvey McCullen's presidency, McCullen was able to improve America's war efforts against the Chimera which includes repealing his predecessor's immigration ban to bolster falling troop numbers, initiating "Operation Aloha" to ensure the goal of "preserving the American culture, history and way of life should an unthinkable fate befall the continental U.S.", and seeing the final construction of the LDP to be ensured for every civilians to be admitted in the safe zone.

A Chimeran battlefleet over San Francisco during the initial invasion of America on May 15, 1953.

Ultimately by May 15th, 1953, the Chimeran fleet launched a full scale assault on America from both its coastlines in which 60% of the U.S. armed forces were killed in the first 72 hours of the assault. Despite the relative safety of the LDP, the Chimera inevitably breached the safe zone on May 28th, causing the deaths of 63-80 million people, including President McCullen and his cabinet. Following the breach, General Douglas MacArthur became temporary leader of the U.S. government until formal elections could be held; the seat of government and approximately two or three million survivors were relocated to Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and approximately seven million other remaining survivors were scattered throughout the United States.

After Operation Black Eden, the U.S. fell under Chimeran occupation, the entire military forces were isolated and scattered across the states. American citizens were reduced to scavengers and guerrillas fighters, and forced into hiding to escape from the Chimera's genocide. The United States is now the world's remaining nation to withstand against the Chimera, but the nation was too disorganized from the invasion as the economy collapse rapidly. However, after the worldwide defeat of the Chimera the remnants of the U.S. begins a reconstruction process.

Government

The American government is a federal constitutional republic similar to its actual counterpart in real life. However, when Noah Grace became president of the United States, he managed to extend his presidential term by entering his third term in office. Prior to Grace's third presidency, the Democrats in Congress had tried to pass a constitutional amendment limiting a president to a maximum of two terms, but failed to convince the Republicans, who were too (quietly) fearful of Grace's growing power to support their efforts.

It is during Grace's third candidacy that he approved the construction of the Liberty Defense Perimeter (LDP), passing a ban on foreign immigration to the U.S. (due to the "European influenza" epidemic), and broadcasting his "Evening Conversations". It was at the height of the Chimeran invasion of Europe that Grace's administration slowly began controlling the nation's media outlet and allowing the public to becoming unaware of the Chimera. Overall, this action violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Furthermore, another violation to the Constitution involves the Second Amendment, in which the government's plan to catalog all gun-owners in America, and later during the early Chimeran invasion confiscating the individual's weapon for so-called public safety and security reasons. However, such constitutional violations remained unaffected to the Grace administration as that neither Congress nor anyone (with the exception of some militant groups such as the Alliance for American Autonomy) dare challenged the administration over its violations due to its influential power over the American government.

It is known that two Congressional acts allowed Grace and his administration to overrule certain constitutional liberties and rights: the War Powers Act of 1946 which allows the president to control and mobilize the U.S. armed forces without Congress' permission, and the Executive Protection Act of 1950 which also enables the president to personally do anything in his actions to supposedly ensure the safety of America. Also in regarding to the administration's public dissidents, it allowed its own federal agencies such as the Domestic Security Agency (DSA) to scrutinized and silenced the public upbringing under the pretense of upholding the nation's safety. Overall the Grace administration was criticized by some as being "corrupt" and even totalitarian in nature. Following the sudden spire attack on Washington, D.C., the American seat of government was relocated to Denver, Colorado, in which it is within the Liberty Defense Perimeter.

Under the leadership of Harvey McCullen following his succession from Grace, McCullen reformed all of his predecessor's policies such as repealing the ban on refugee immigration to bolster falling troop numbers, overseeing the final fortification of the Liberty Defense Perimeter, and approving "Operation Aloha". After the Chimeran fleet invaded the United States and causing the subsequent fall of the LDP, the remains of the American government was again relocated to Baton Rouge, Louisiana with General Douglas MacArthur becoming temporary leader of the U.S. following the death of Harvey McCullen. After the death of MacArthur to a Titan at the battle of Phoenix, Arizona Deputy Director Voss became the President (although the title fell into disuse).

Statehood

The current number of the states in the United States as of 1953 is 48, since, in real life, Alaska and Hawaii earned their statehood in January 3rd and August 21st, 1959 respectively. Also the "colonization" of Hawaii during Operation Aloha gives further evidence that certain isolationist elements in the political government during 1898 opposed the annexation of Hawaii as a territory, thus the Hawaiian islands never became a military and naval outpost nor became fully populated with American citizens.

Military

Main article: United States Armed Forces

The U.S. budget was mostly spent on military research and development. As such, the army had advanced technology such as the VTOL U/AV-17 Hawk. The U.S. military played a reclusive role in world events until the Chimeran invasion of Europe, when the US Rangers were sent in to help the British retake Britain during Operation Deliverance. The U.S. Rangers suffered approximately 5,000 casualties during this operation.

The U.S. military is also highly regarded for its vast array of weaponry, including energy weapons and sophisticated alterations on more human weaponry, although many of these weapons are reverse-engineered from captured Chimeran weapons.

It is not given as to whether the United States Air Force is a separate military branch or not. In real life the American Air Force was part of the U.S. Army and was becoming an entire independent military branch during World War Two which the aftermath of the conflict eventually gave birth to the Air Force's formation in 1947. However, since World War Two never occurred in the Resistance timeline, it is safe to presume that the Air Force never became a independent military branch and is still part of the United States Army, still known as the U.S. Army Air Corps. This is based on speculation, however.

Among the Air Force's arsenal are the (historical) F-86 Sabre.

SRPA

Main article: Special Research Projects Administration

Sometime after the United States government became aware of the Chimera's presence on Earth, the military organization Special Research Projects Administration (SRPA) was created and tasked with finding ways of combating the Chimera. This ranged from attempting to find a cure for the Chimeran virus through Project Abraham, which resulted in the creation of the Sentinels, to creating new weapons and armor such as the highly enriched nuclear fission bomb used in Operation Black Eden.

Knowledge of the Chimera

The United States government knew about the existence of the Chimera during the 1930s. Under the Roosevelt administration, an unprecedented amount of government spending on the military and weapons development, such as the creation of America's first nuclear bomb, were all part of a preparation effort to counter the Chimeran threat.

Propaganda

Following the outbreak of the Chimeran War, Noah Grace and his administration took control of the American media and news outlet by creating the office of Perception Protection and Guidance to produce a series of programs for television and radio that spoke of an "influenza epidemic" in Europe. This explanation quickly raised public support for the increased border protection (and subsequently the passing of an immigration ban), and allowing all independent broadcasting to be replaced with government propaganda as President Grace's Evening Conversation radio program becomes an even greater national comfort and refuge from the flood of news on the airwaves.

This deliberate misinformation and censorship, however, proved its undoing for the American military when it first intervened in the liberation of Britain, as the lower ranking soldiers that were arriving to Britain had absolutely no idea of what they would be fighting against, which lead to the catastrophic outcome of Operation Deliverance. Despite the censorship, the Alliance for American Autonomy (AAA) covertly spied on their government and published in its newspaper (America First - America Only) the truth, concerning Project Abraham and the Fall of Europe. This lasted until the AAA's newspaper offices were raided in December 15, 1950, in ensuring the public's ignorance and "safety".

American censorship continued to covered up information of the Chimera and hosting false reports of the so-called "European Influenza" until the Chimera attacked the state of New York (initially covered up as a plague outbreak). It became inevitable that the public became increasingly aware of the Chimera. By late 1951, American propaganda and censorship were made useless in containing the truth of the Chimeran threat, but later refocuses its effort in providing confidence in American morale in the nation's resistance against the Chimera. Containing in these government censored reports includes providing make-believe fabrications of so-called American victories. But many of the public, especially survivors from gray territories, remained scornful and skeptical of these made-up news. Furthermore, the censorship did not completely revealed the Chimeran conversion process, and supplemented that spire attacks only releases spinners and crawlers to lay eggs inside their human victims.

Trivia

• In the San Francisco level, there is a flag that has 50 states. However, Alaska and Hawaii were just territories at the time.

• In one of President McCullen's speeches he says there are 130 million Americans, but at most only 80 million were killed during the fall of the LDP leaving a 50 million person gap. But it is possible that some 50 million people were killed during the Chimera's attack on the nation's coastlines or on a minor reason that some were part of Freedom First who didn't register because they thought that the government were trying to take away their identities.

External links

• Resistance: Fall of Man website