David Scurr

David Levi Scurr (born 16th June, 2006), is the 54th and current President of the United States. He was the running mate of James McCain Jr. in the presidential election of 2056, where McCain became the first candidate of the Progressive Party to win the presidency, unseating the Democratic Party from their nearly uninterrupted 30-year-long hold over the White House. He succeeded to the presidency on 21st June, 2057 after McCain succumbed to a sudden bout of botulism and passed away barely six months into the presidency.

His term has been defined by a series of natural and man-made disasters, beginning with the crisis in the Middle East precipitated by the continuing famine in the Levant, culminating in the Famine War, where Iraqi dicatator Marduk Iskandar invaded Syria and attempted to conquer Israel. Scurr pushed for sanctions against Iraq and urged the formation of a peacekeeper force (UNIMOG) to end the conflict. Marduk, unwilling to repent, launched a final destructive nuclear attack on Israel's population centers before being unseated. Under Scurr, US forces have taken the initiative in relieving the areas afflicted by nuclear fallout, including the Mediterranean.

He further took over a nation which was still recovering from the 2053 cowpox pandemic which had infected nearly 10,000 Americans prior to being contained, and the Hawaiian tsunami in 2055, which claimed a death toll of tens of thousands and was still undergoing reconstruction. Partially founded in response to these, the fundamentalist organisation called the Church of the Thousand Gross and its associated militia, the Army of God, have proved to be a major source of domestic unrest.

A representative in the United States Senate for Rhode Island prior to running for Vice President, Scurr developed a reputation for tripartisan deal-making which tread lightly on the legalities of the legislative process, but included several key tariff and trade acts. The role of his media team in the 2056 election, especially regarding the campaign against the previous Vice President, Kathleen Kennedy, as well as his sudden ascension to the presidency, has raised questions to his character, but rumours of corruption have found little supporting evidence.

In Pillars of Fire
By the beginning of Pillars of Fire, the United States stands as a house divided against itself, with the Army of God conducting inflammatory rallies across the nation, and a hitman hired by the Church shoots Scurr in the head with a high-powered air rifle during a visit. The intent not being to kill the President, he recovers quickly, and Congress immediately declares the Church of a Thousand Gross and the Army of God to be domestic terrorist organisations.