John Frederick Cleburne
His Excellency John Frederick Cleburne | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 35th President of the Ambrosian Confederal Republic | |
| Assumed office 10 November 2013 | |
| Deputy | Alistair Hammond Fish |
| Preceded by | David Kettering |
| Army Representative to the House of Burgesses | |
| In office 2 November 1998 – 6 January 2007 | |
| Preceded by | Joseph John Elkins |
| Succeeded by | Marion Holstead Francis |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 6 November 1969 Vicksburgh, Boxford, Ambrose |
| Nationality | Ambrosian |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Twynholm |
| Residence(s) | Executive Mansion, Elsbridge |
| Alma mater | Port Logan Military Academy |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Ambrose |
| Branch/service | Ambrosian Confederal Armed Forces |
| Years of service | 1987–present |
| Rank | .svg){kind=small} Chief of the General Staff |
| Commands | Ambrosian Confederal Armed Forces |
| Battles/wars | Second Northumbrian Emergency (WIA) 1995 Bell Riots |
John Frederick Cleburne (born 6 November 1969) is an Ambrosian military officer and politician who has served as the current President of the Ambrosian Confederal Republic since his election in 2013. In addition to this, he holds an active commission in the Ambrosian Confederal Army and concurrently serves as the general-in-chief of the Ambrosian Confederal Armed Forces.
Cleburne began his military career graduating from the Port Logan Military Academy as a Cornet in 1987, fighting syndicalist separatists during the closing stages of the Second Northumbrian Emergency. Steadily promoted up through the ranks, as a colonel he suppressed the 1995 Bell Riots. Believing the causes of the economic stagnation and debt crises at the turn of the century to be a result of globalization, as well as an outspoken opponent of the relegation of the military from politics; he was appointed to one of the military's seats in the House of Burgesses, allowing him to lobby on behalf of the army and make a name for himself in political circles. In 2011, he was promoted to the post of adjutant general, thus holding an advisorial position to President David Kettering on the Military Advisory Council. He was aligned with the Tories for a period before an independent run for the presidency in 2013, culminating in a narrow victory and his ascendance to the highest office in the the country.
Cleburne won the presidency with 56.6% of the vote, beating out his rival in the Reform Party, Rumbald Mulligan, after having won the support of of the Conservatives, becoming the second elected military leader in Ambrosian history, after Frederic Townsend 72 years prior. Despite his inexperience in holding elected office, he went against tradition and appointed all Conservatives to his government posts, causing a bitter rift with the opposition in the House. A proponent of economic deregulation, he reversed many of the nationalizations of the previous administration, leading to him being nicknamed the "General of Industry". Despite this, with the Namo stock market crash and ensuing global recession, his austerity policies avoided a sustained impact on the Ambrosian economy. Advocating for a hardline policy on the Third Northumbrian Emergency, he controversially authorized domestic airstrikes against separatists holdouts in the North Slope, nearly doubling the military budget in a year; this reduced the Northumbrian Republican Army from an effective fighting force to "a band of starved reindeer herders".
Cleburne's presidency has drawn mixed appraisals from political analysts, both domestic and international. Supporters point to the increased military presence in the Sea of Njord and the Hyperborean, stabilizing economic policy, and successful campaign against the NRA separatist groups. Critics counter that he has continued "archaic" policies, seen by his moving away from the modern welfare state and presiding over a growing social inequality, as well as drastically reduced Ambrose's position on the world stage, abandoning ties with friendly nations such as Swastria and the Esquarian Community in favor of illiberal democracies such as Razaria and Xiaodong. Despite this, his government retains broad popular support.
Early life
John Frederick Cleburne was born on the 6th of November, 1969, in Vicksburgh, Boxford, the fifth of six brothers and sisters, in a large working-class family. His father, William Patrick Cleburne (1938-1971), was a moderately-successful electrician, and his mother Edith Cleburne (1944-2008, née Heath) was a stenographer at an advertising agency. His father, who had previously completed National Service in the early 1960s, was once again drafted during the War of the Njord in 1971, and was killed during its closing stages. The now-widowed Edith, left with only a small inheritance and facing a looming mortgage as well as the prospect of raising her young children, made arrangements for the two-year old Cleburne to be adopted by family friend William Henry Thatcher, a well-to-do shareholder in the General Esquarian Petrol corporation. Cleburne would not see his family for another twenty years.
Though Cleburne's biographers have called his relationship with Thatcher "less-than warm", it did provide Cleburne with much more social mobility than usually would have been available for someone of his birth. He attended the prestigious Mark's House Grammar School in Vicksburgh, where he performed well in literature and civics but received poor marks in the sciences. Despite being an asthmatic, he became prominent student athlete, participating in the rugby and boxing teams; in 1983, he managed to place fourth in the Confederal All-Men's Boxing Tournament.
Thatcher's political connections secured a 16 year-old Cleburne an appointment to the Port Logan Military Academy in Port Logan, Rappahannock. There, Cleburne was able to excel academically, becoming one of the highest in his class despite frequent confrontations, both verbal and physical, with certain professors. He wrote his dissertation on "The Pitfalls and Successes of the Campaigns of Godfred Crovan," in which he advocated for a military build-up to pressure a peaceful return of the Seather region of Wosrac (disputed with Ambrose since 1917). He graduated in 1987 with the rank of cornet, and was posted to the 3rd Regiment of Artillery.
Military service
Northumbrian Emergency and Early Service
Shortly after graduation, Cleburne's service as a junior officer was cut short when his Regiment was deployed to the Northumberland during the Second Northumbrian Emergency, being posted at the Colmshead Barracks at Farranday. Despite negotiations between the Confederal Government and the leadership of the Northumbrian Republican Army, splinter factions of the NRA continued to pose a threat to Ambrosian control over the region. He was present during the bombing of the Tyre Hotel in January 1988 which killed fourteen Brunswicker diplomats, and in the ensuing shakeup was promoted to brevet lieutenant and assumed command of a battery of infantry support light howitzers. In May 1988, faced with the consolidation of dissident NRA factions on the River Maryes, his battery was attached to the 22nd Tidsmouth Regiment of Foot; in this capacity, Cleburne supported the infantry's advance against the insurgent positions at the Battle of Maryes Heights on 5 June. Due to inclement weather precluding close air support, operational commanders later cited the artillery during the battle as "instrumental in securing a separatist defeat."
With the decisive victory over the last massed NRA force, the Masthead Agreement was signed in August of 1988, and the 3rd Regiment of Artillery (which Cleburne had now rejoined) was returned to garrison duty in Peel Godred, Hawin Russaugh. His promotion to lieutenant was made official shortly thereafter, and was brevetted to captain in December of that year. Cleburne spent the rest of the 1980s attached to the Confederal Corps of Engineers, assisting in the selection of sites for coastal and river forts; his selection for the job was largely based off of an analysis of his Port Logan essays criticizing Ambrosian coastal defense during the Continental War. On the prompting of his colleagues in the Confederal Engineers, Cleburne's superiors simultaneously fully promoted him to captain and brevetted to major in 1992.
Bell Riots
Despite the introduction of a new constitution in 1988, by 1995 the Ambrosian government was in crisis. The tax cuts instituted by President Francis Osborne had caused the national deficit to balloon, in turn causing interest rates to skyrocket and unemployment and inequality to rise nationwide. Violent crime was also on the rise and the medical services were suffering from lack of funding. In addition, both the local and confederal government were stricken with corruption scandals that outraged the public. By June, Osborne's approval ratings sat at a meager 8%, and there were rumors the House of Burgesses would soon call for a vote of no confidence. This, coupled with highly publicized instances of labor unrest, made for a domestic situation that had reached a boiling point. Gabriel Bell, a radical Whig-Progressive lawyer, orator, and labor activist, called for "popular disobedience, and popular self-defense, if necessary" if the situation escalated. On July 14th, President Osborne announced his intentions to dissolve the House (at the time still within presidential power) and call for new elections. This was met with rioting nationwide, and a state of emergency was declared across the country.
At this point, Cleburne, now the executive officer of the 3rd Regiment, was posted at Fort Clinch in Hawin Russaugh. In the early morning hours of July 15th, rioters took to the streets in Peel Godred and, after burning and looting several stores, stormed the town hall. Osric Oswald, the corrupt Mayor of Peel Godred who had fled to Fort Clinch, refused to allow the chief-of-police to deploy the few riot forces under his command, in fear of provoking further provocation from the rioters. Despite his disapproval of the Confederal government's handling of the crisis, upon this discovery, Cleburne was, by most accounts, infuriated. He demanded to be put in command of the police forces; reportedly threatening to move the Regiment's machine guns into the city center if the civilian forces did not comply. The Mayor acquiesced, and Cleburne directly coordinated the police's movement of the city. He did so not through conventional tactics, instead taking strategic chokepoints by force and setting up military-style roadblocks similar to those in the Northumberland. By July 16th, most of the city had been placed back under civil-military control, with the exception of the city center. As a threat (and much to the consternation of his superior officers), Cleburne moved two light field guns into the city and demanded that the remaining rioters surrender themselves. Hours later, the rioters complied.
Upon his success, Cleburne's quasi-military tactics were implemented by certain Home Guard and local police forces in several other cities. By July 20th, the riots had been virtually ended, with Osborne rescinding his dissolution of the House. For his role, Cleburne was praised by politicians and the press alike, with many stories running about the young major who had successfully retaken a city with a substantially-smaller force. This was Cleburne's first national exposure; public support caused him to be brevetted to lieutenant colonel shortly thereafter. While the final resolution of the Peel Godred situation was met with praise by many in the media, however, a large number of observers, both domestic and foreign, criticized the "overbearing, bloody, and unnecessary use of military force." Cleburne himself has maintained in numerous interviews the incident with the field guns was intended as a "show of force, and nothing more":
It was Lapointe's Big Stick, pure and simple. I was never going to blow the walls of Peel Godred's City Hall, but elementary doctrine dictated: I must appear as if I'm going to. Believe me, I am not in the business of firing a cannon at anyone unless I have reason to believe they have a cannon too.
Ministry of War
With newfound media exposure and popularity among the ranks of the Army, Cleburne petitioned the House of Burgesses (through Joseph John Elkins, one of the two Army burgesses then seated) to authorize a diplomatic posting overseas, allowing him to work in a direct capacity with both the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The petition was approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee on January 11, 1996. He was posted as the deputy military attache to the Ambrosian embassy in Bethlehem, Luziyca. He continued in this role until October of that same year, when he was promoted to full colonel and reassigned as the head military attache in the embassy in Čiragrad, Razaria. Here he was introduced to the writings of Svetoslav Jastrebović and the ideology of Tvrdjavism, both of which would influence his future political leanings.
Despite having cultivated positive relations with many Razarian colleagues, including future head of state Zlatko Khojnović, Cleburne was removed from this position in December 1997, with the Foreign Affairs Ministry citing international backlash over "controversial comments" made concerning the aftermath of the 1958 Gozar War. This marked the end of his diplomatic service, and he returned to Elsbridge to work exclusively with the Ministry of War.
After a brief rotation in the Officer Assignments Section at Confederal Army Headquarters, Cleburne was reportedly offered to succeed Colonel Patrick Daniel Stewart as commander of the Northumbrian Constabulary, but declined. He was then slated to rejoin the 3rd Regiment; however at this point he learned of the retirement of Elkins from the House of Burgesses. Cleburne would immediately submit his candidature to the Ministry of War. His diplomatic postings, as well as a reputation as a stern, effective, and uncompromising negotiator, convinced the then-Minister of War, to nominate Cleburne to fill Elkins' seat in the legislature. Cleburne has since alleged that the administration of Reform President Abraham Webster Mudgett attempted to block the nomination, a claim which Mugdett has denied. Regardless, his nomination was confirmed by the Military Advisory Council, and he took his seat in the House on November 2nd, 1998.