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

Pre-Chimeran War

In 1898, the United States was on the verge of declaring war against Spain in response to the sinking of the USS Maine and American sympathies towards Cuban independence. Conflict was averted by President William McKinley, who successfully pressured the Spanish government to grant independence to Cuba. As a result, American oversea expansionism was prevented while U.S. foreign policy began a gradual acceptance of non-interventionism and eventually isolationism. American neutrality in international affairs became apparent during the Great War in which Congress, led by isolationist politicians, rejected Woodrow Wilson's declaration of war against Germany due to the lack of an overt threat posed to the United States.

Years after the end of the Great War, America steadily grew into a more prosperous and stronger nation. By the end of the 1920s, the United States escaped a potential economic depression after President Herbert Hoover vetoed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. In 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, which led to the creation of the Special Research Projects Administration. The increase on scientific research skyrocketed, creating a massive brain drain of the country's universities but 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 Roosevelt administration, the U.S. loosened its isolationist policies, and establishing a close diplomatic relationship between America and Europe. However, this act attracted dissatisfactions from American conservatives and isolationists. In December 1938, staunch isolationist Senator Robert Taft challenged President Roosevelt over the U.S. Navy's build-up of secure shipping lanes across the Atlantic and its relationship with the United European Defense, in which Taft viewed 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. By framing Roosevelt as a war monger and imperialist, Grace won the public's support and became the 33rd President of the United States. Taking advantage of the strong isolationist tendencies of the population, Grace turned America into an isolationist state and severed diplomatic ties to the UED. However, Grace allowed the military build-up to continue after becoming aware of the Chimera's existence and leading to the development of the world's first nuclear weapon in June 1944, to solely defend America from the alien threat and refusing to support Europe's imminent war against the Chimera.

Grace amassed growing political power and popular support from the American public and allowing him to surpass his two terms in office. Both the Democratic and Republican Parties failed to pass a constitutional amendment in limiting the president to a maximum of two terms, as Grace was reelected to an unprecedented third term in 1948. However, Grace's popularity soon eroded among some of the American public, as many began to criticize Grace's executive overreach, his unlimited term in office, and militarization. The growing discontent with the Grace administration led to the formation of the Alliance for American Autonomy, a militant isolationist organization which sought for the removal of Grace from office.

Chimeran War

In December 1949 the Chimera invaded Europe. In response, the U.S. government sealed its borders and executed a massive media blackout to keep the American public unaware of the Chimeran threat in order to prevent mass panic. The government created a cover story of a "devastating influenza outbreak" in Europe which successfully convinced the American public to accept the official narrative. However, the media blackout provoked the AAA to conduct an anti-government insurrection and even leaking government secrets, including the Chimera, in their underground newsletters.

Although the U.S. did not officially join the Chimeran War, it nevertheless prepared for the coming conflict by fortifying the country. By January 1950, the government finally agreed to lend military support after analyzing the Chimera's devastation in Eastern Europe. In the same year, the Department of War and the SRPA initiated Project Abraham with the goal of seeking a cure for the Chimeran virus, which later led to the creation of the Sentinels.

In July 1951, a U.S. military task force was sent 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 open warfare against the Chimera. On July 14, joint American and British forces managed to successfully liberate Britain in the Battle of London by destroying the London Tower, which in turn destroyed the Chimeran tower network buried throughout Britain, 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. Inevitably, on August 14, 1951, New England fell to a series of Spire attacks and became America's first Gray Zone, and the beginning of the Chimera's invasion of America. The attack on the northeastern states, combined with the AAA's underground press, exposed the American public to the Chimera. In response to the Spire attacks, the Grace administration approved the construction of the Liberty Defense Perimeter, a fortified safe zone in the American heartland. A month later, Chicago and the Upper Midwest fell to the Chimera, and following within the next year, parts of the American southeast and Northern California, specifically in Orick fell as well.

The results of the invasion produced millions of displaced refugees fleeing from the conquered regions and placed in protection camps, and further straining food supplies due in part to the Chimera's weather changing technology affecting America's farmlands. This led to Grace, believing that America would not survive against the Chimera, to secretly plan a truce with the Chimera which would have allowed the United States to be spared from the Chimeran onslaught at the expense of the rest of the world. However, Grace's attempt in the negotiations were foiled by the Sentinel Nathan Hale, who killed the president. The negotiations and circumstances surrounding Grace's death were quickly covered up by the government, and the public were falsely informed of Grace having died from an "undisclosed illness", and leaving Vice President Harvey McCullen to succeed Grace.

Under McCullen's presidency, many of Graces's policies were reversed and McCullen improved America's war efforts against the Chimera such as repealing Grace's immigration ban to bolster falling troop numbers, initiating "Operation Aloha", and seeing the final construction of the LDP to be ensured for every civilian to be admitted in the safe zone.

The Chimeran fleet over San Francisco on May 15, 1953.

Ultimately on May 15, 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 28, causing the deaths of over 63 million people, including President McCullen and his cabinet. Following the breach, General Douglas MacArthur became temporary leader of the U.S. government, and the seat of government and over two million survivors were relocated to Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and approximately five million other remaining survivors were scattered across the United States.

Although the remnants of the SRPA eventually destroyed the Chimeran fleet in Operation Black Eden, the United States was devastated and fell under Chimeran occupation. With the collapse of the federal government and the military scattered across the country, American citizens were reduced to scavengers and guerrilla fighters, forced into hiding to escape from the Chimera's genocide. Despite this catastrophe, resistance groups continued fighting back in limited numbers. However, with the Chimeran numerical superiority, many groups instead opted to hide from the established Chimeran Death Squads.

Four years after the downfall of the United States, the resistance against the Chimera changed in humanity's favor. On August 17, 1957, former Sentinel Joseph Capelli traveled to the New York tower in a desperate effort to destroy it and seal the wormhole. Through incredible odds, Capelli succeeded in his mission in which the Chimera were left leaderless and began to slowly die out after 1957. The remnants of the United States began to slowly recover after the extinction of the Chimera on Earth.

Government

The government of the United States is a federal constitutional republic similar to its real-life counterpart. However, the government grew increasingly authoritarian under the reign of Noah Grace. During the outbreak of the Chimeran War, civil rights and liberties were gradually curtailed as the government enforced a political censorship to prevent knowledge of the Chimera from going public, and dissidents were silenced in the name of national security.

President Grace had an unlimited term in office, with his growing influence and power discouraging politicians from limiting his term. There were two Congressional acts that allowed the Grace 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's permission, and the Executive Protection Act of 1950 which enables the president to have unlimited authority to ensure the safety of America. Federal agencies such as the Domestic Security Agency (DSA) were tasked to scrutinize and silence agitators and suspected "subversives" such as the Alliance for American Autonomy. Overall, the Grace administration was criticized by anti-Grace dissidents 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, located within the Liberty Defense Perimeter.

After Grace died under unknown circumstances, his successor Harvey McCullen reformed and reversed all of Grace's policies. McCullen and his entire Cabinet were killed shortly after the fall of the LDP. The remnants of the U.S. government was again relocated to Baton Rouge, Louisiana with General Douglas MacArthur becoming temporary leader of the U.S. After MacArthur was killed in Phoenix, what remain of the government was severely reduced to a holdout.

Propaganda

The government first became aware of the Chimera in the 1930s and had suppressed knowledge of their existence from the public in order to prevent mass panic. Following the outbreak of the Chimeran War, the Grace administration executed a prolong media blackout by taking complete control of all independent media and news outlet, and replaced with government propaganda that reports of a "deadly influenza" occurring in Europe. The Office of Perception Protection and Guidance was tasked to produce a series of government-approved programs such as Grace's Evening Conversation for television and radio to convey the official narrative. The propaganda were effective in convincing the American public to accept the narrative and support increased border protection.

The blatant censorship and misinformation campaign would later prove its undoing for the U.S. military when it first intervened in the liberation of Britain, as the lower ranking soldiers that arrived in Britain had absolutely no idea of what they would be fighting against, which lead to the catastrophic outcome of Operation Deliverance. The media blackout also led to a negative backlash from some American citizens, especially members of the Alliance for American Autonomy, who decried it as infringement on the First Amendment. The AAA defied the censorship and published their investigations on government secrets in their newsletter America First - America Only such as the Chimera, Project Abraham and the Fall of Europe. This lasted until the AAA's offices were raided on December 15, 1950.

The media blackout continued until the Chimera made their first attack on America and thereby making it impossible to contain the truth of the Chimeran threat from the public. By late 1951, American propaganda and censorship refocused its effort in providing confidence in American morale in the nation's war against the Chimera such as fabricating successful battles against the Chimera and trying to reassure the American public that the Gray Zones would return to American hands. However, the censorship did not reveal the horrific truth of the Chimeran conversion process and supplemented that Spire attacks only releases Spinners and Crawlers to lay eggs inside their human victims.

Known government members

Executive branch

• Harvey McCullen, 34th President
• Noah Grace, 33rd President
• Cabinet of the United States
  • William Dentweiler, Chief of Staff
  • Harold Moody, Secretary of State
  • Henry Walker, Secretary of War
  • Homer Clowers, Attorney General
  • Larry Farnsworth, Secretary of the Interior
    • Thomas Voss
  • George Seymore, Secretary of Agriculture
  • Lasky, Secretary of Commerce
  • Keyes, Secretary of Transportation
• Hanson, White House Counsel
• Tom Ridley, Director of the Office of Special Projects

Legislative branch

• Senator Robert Crowe

Military

The United States Armed Forces was the unified military of the United States. After the Chimera's existence made known to the government, the U.S. budget was invested into the armed forces. The U.S. military played a reclusive role in world events until their intervention in Operation Deliverance.

The Special Research Projects Administration was responsible for developing advanced weapons and vehicles supplied to the armed forces. Most of these weapons, such as energy weapons and existing weapons enhanced with sophisticated alterations, were reverse-engineered from captured Chimeran weapons.

Trivia

• Due to the timeframe of Resistance 2 in 1953, the United States was composed of 48 states, which also reflects on the 48 stars on the U.S. flag.
• 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 of the 50 million people were killed during the Chimera's attack on the nation's coastlines between 1951 and 1953, or on a minor reason that some Americans, such as Freedom First, who didn't register due to their anti-government sympathies.
• It can be inferred that the policy of racial segregation in the armed forces either never took hold in this alternate history of the country, or was quickly repealed by the government, largely as men like Benjamin Warner fought in the armed forces.