David Palmer

David Palmer was the President of the United States from January, 2003 until January, 2007. He was the first African-American to be elected to that office. David Palmer was a United States Senator for Maryland who ran for President, Palmer was a Democrat, as mentioned in season 1.

He was elected after the assassination attempts made on him were foiled by Jack Bauer. Although he initially sought a second term, he bowed out of the race after the opposing candidate learned that David lied to the chief of police in order to protect his ex-wife, Sherry Palmer, who was under suspicion for involvement in a man's death.

Uncharacteristic for a politician, David Palmer has built his political career on integrity, honesty, commitment, and honor. He appears to genuinely care about the welfare of the American people.

Throughout the series, Palmer's role as president is often vital to the successful foiling of terrorist plots. Palmer is seen as a good leader who makes difficult decisions without much hesitation. On several occasions, his intervention as president and the execution of his presidential powers helped the Counter Terrorist Unit.

At the end of Season 3, after a presidential debate, he decided to cancel his re-election campaign. His opponent in the election, United States Republican Senator John Keeler, became president in Season 4. However, after Keeler was incapacitated when Air Force One was shot down by terrorists, Palmer was called in to advise the Acting President, Charles Logan, the former Vice President.

Day One


In the first season, Palmer was a viable candidate for the Democratic Party ticket for the presidency. His life was threatened during the course of Day 1. His politcal life was threatened on other fronts. His son, Keith, was shown to be a viable suspect in the murder of the man who raped his daughter. Palmer did an investigation, but found that telling the truth was preferable to covering it up with lies, and took a stand in favor of his son. However, he found out his wife, Sherry, was trying to manipulate him, both in that potential scandal, and the one Sherry tried to create. David was furious with Sherry, and divorced her.

David Palmer also confronted Jack Bauer in person over the events of the first 10 hours of 24. He was no-nonsense, demanding a private, unrecorded interview with Bauer. Palmer, believing that Bauer wanted payback for the deaths of his covert operations team, started by demanding Jack to tell him of the other people involved in tbe assassination attempt on his life. Jack said he was trying to protect Palmer's life, which ultimately led Palmer to realize he was wrong about Jack and his motives. Jack did lead the covert operation which ultimately cost Jack his team, but Jack had no knowledge of Senator Palmer and his authorization of the mission. Jack carried the guilt over the loss of his team into his personal life, leading to a separation from his wife, and an affair with Nina Myers. However, Jack ended the affair, and Senator Palmer realized that Jack had been through a bad day. He authorized Jack's reinstatement on Day 1. After Jack's unwitting involvement in a second assassination attempt on Palmer's life, and Jack once again saving his life, Palmer returned the favor by having his staff claim that the assassination attempt succeeded so that Victor Drazen would spare the live of Jack's daughter, Kim Bauer.

Day Two


Over a year later, in Day 2, David Palmer is the President. He is alerted to the threat of a nuclear bomb detonating in the U.S. He also is informed that Bauer, now an inactive agent, has contacts with people who could lead them to the bomb. Jack ignored calls from CTU, but responded to the call from President Palmer. Jack became an active agent again and eventually caught the bomb and detonated it in a remote area.

Day Three


In Day 3, Palmer is faced with re-election. However, he is still the President, and is faced with many problems during the day. His lover, Anne is implicated in a scandal--although she is innocent, she leaves. Palmer's brother admits his affair with the wife of his biggest supporters, and Palmer is forced to choose life or death for Jack. Palmer chooses death, but eventually is informed of a huge terrorist threat where Jack had to go undercover. He doesn't like it, but his faith in Jack prevails. However, Palmer falters in the end. He brought Sherry Palmer back into his life to help. She does, but in the end David can't agree to her terms (i.e. re-marrying her). He ultimately resigns, again preferring his principles over everything else.

Day Four
In Day 4, Palmer is an ex-President. However, Mike Novick, a longtime friend, recommended he be brought in to assist the Acting President, Charles Logan, since the incumbent President Keeler was in a coma. Logan showed poor judgement abilities. He demanded the arrest of Jack Bauer, who led a raid on the Chinese Embassy to get a man who knew about the nuclear threat. When the raid failed, Logan called in Palmer. Palmer effectively led the events in the last part of day 4, but realized that Logan was a politican. He blamed Palmer when things went wrong, but took full credit when things went his way.

David Palmer is one of the few people who knew Jack Bauer was alive after he faked his death. He paid his debt to Jack by warning the Secret Service was going to kill him and the Chinese demanded the man who killed their ambassador.

Day Five


In Day 5, while writing his memoirs at his brother, Wayne Palmer's, penthouse apartment in Los Angeles, Palmer was killed by a sniper from another nearby building with a .308 (NATO 7.62x51mm) round to the throat. He was instantly killed and it was done approximately at 7:03 AM.

This was done in order to prevent him from informing Martha Logan, the wife of President Logan, about an impending attack. He had called her some time prior to his assassination with the intent of talking to her about a "matter of national security". It is believed that this knowledge was what led to his assassination.

The assassin (named Haas) was later tracked down by Jack Bauer, who killed the man in cold blood to avenge his long-time friend.

Experience

 * President of the United States
 * United States Congress, Senator (Maryland)
 * Senate Appropriations Committee, Member
 * Senate Special Defense Appropriations Committee Chairman
 * Senate Commerce Subcommitee, Member
 * United States Congress, Representative (Maryland)
 * House Ethics Committee, Chairman
 * House Ways and Means Committee, Member
 * House National Security Subcommittee, Member
 * Maryland State Congress, Representative (Baltimore)
 * Fidley, Barrow & Bain, Attorneys at Law

Education

 * Juris Doctorate, University of Maryland School of Law
 * Bachelor of Arts, Political Economy, Georgetown University

Honors

 * NCAA All-American, Men's Basketball
 * Big East Conference Defensive Player of the Year
 * Attended Georgetown
 * Sporting News College Player of the Year
 * Wooden Award for Player of the Year

Published papers

 * The New York Times, Op-Ed Page, "Serb Intransigence and European Destabilization"

Major legislation

 * Defense Appropriations Bill (sometime between Season 1 and Season 2)
 * Social Security Bill (sometime between Season 1 and Season 2)
 * Job Creation and worker Assistance Act (sometime between Season 2 and Season 3)
 * A bill to improve health care for Americans (Palmer's biggest contributor, Alan Miliken, threatened to stop this bill, and it is unknown whether the bill was passed) (Season 3)

Selected cabinet and administration officials

 * Vice President: Jim Prescott (Season 2-3)
 * Chief of Staff: Mike Novick (Season 1-2), Wayne Palmer (Season 3)
 * Director of the National Security Agency: Roger Stanton (Season 2)
 * Deputy Director of the National Security Agency: Eric Rayburn (Season 2)
 * Counselor to the President: Lynne Kresge (Season 2)
 * Press Secretary: Jenny Dodge (Season 2)
 * Secretary of Homeland Security: Joseph O'Laughin (Season 3)

Controversial decisions

 * Secretly authorized an operation to take out Balkan war criminal Victor Drazen (2 years before Season 1)
 * Took reporter Ron Weiland into custody against his will (Season 2)
 * Ordered the torture of NSA Director Roger Stanton (Season 2)
 * Enlisted ex-wife Sherry Palmer's help (Seasons 2, 3)
 * Authorized a prison break-in to covertly release terrorist Ramon Salazar, as per terrorist demands (Season 3)
 * Gave in to demands of terrorist Stephen Saunders several times, including the murder of Ryan Chappelle (Season 3)
 * Lied to LA police chief to provide an alibi for Sherry Palmer (Season 3)
 * Authorized a covert operation to extract a vital witness who was a Chinese national from the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles. During this operation the consul was killed, which could be considered an act of war, even though he was killed by friendly fire. (Season 4)

Family and Personal Life
Although not much is known about Palmer's family and personal life, he was married to Sherry Palmer, also an African-American, whom he divorced after losing trust in her. However, he maintained contact with her, using her as an informal special assistant during both Season 2 and Season 3's terrorism crises. He was horrified when she was killed by a woman Sherry had implicated in a murder. He also has a daughter named Nicole (a rape survivor) and a son named Keith, who was accused of murdering Nicole's rapist during his campaign for the presidency.

Around the time he was running for re-election, he dated his personal physician, Dr. Anne Packard, a divorcee. On the day of the first debate with his opponent, that debate was complicated when his opponent brought up charges that Packard had conspired with her husband to 'cook the books' at a pharmaceutical company they were previously involved with. She was innocent and Palmer supported her. She sometimes came between Palmer and his chief of staff and brother, Wayne, who disliked her. On that same day, Packard broke up with him because his life was too complicated for her to continue the relationship.

Memorable Quotes

 * President Palmer: (To Sherry) You're not a member of my staff. You're not a government employee and you're not my wife.

Senator Palmer: You're not qualified for that job.
 * Sherry Palmer: Mike's job is to tell you what you want to hear. Mine is to tell you the truth 

Senator Palmer: What have I been doing, Mike? Mike Novick: Telling the truth. Senator Palmer: Oh, yeah. Right.
 * Mike Novick: If you keep doing what you've been doing, you'll be fine.


 * President Palmer: [Explaining to President Logan, whom he is advising, why he authorized a covert operation that could be construed as an act of war; Logan disagrees] We didn't bring this crisis on ourselves, but we'll be the ones to settle it. This is a dirty business and we have to get our hands dirty to clean it up!


 * President Palmer: Now, Jack, if it were anyone else, I would ask you if you were sure. But with you, I already know the answer. God bless you, and good luck.

Mike Novick: Uh, what's going to happen, sir?  President Palmer: If this is what the people are going to be watching, let's show them how we're going to respond. I want them to see how we protect our citizens. We will not put up with racism or xenophobia. If this is where it's going to start, this is where it's going to stop.
 * President Palmer: All right. This is what we're gonna do. We may be short on manpower, but it doesn't have to appear that way. Send all the Eastern Georgia National Guard to Marietta, and tell the media that this is where something's going to happen. 

Senator Palmer: Who is he? [Mike leans over, and whispers to Palmer]  Mike Novick: He used to be in Special Forces. He led a six man team into Kosovo a couple of years ago.  Senator Palmer: That's what it was. The Drazen mission.  Mike Novick: Bauer picked his own men and trained them. Only Bauer survived.  Senator Palmer: He blames me for the death of his men.
 * Mike Novick: That was the Pentagon. Remember you asked me to look up the name Jack Bauer? 


 * President Palmer: Make no mistake: if we unleash our military power on nations that later prove innocent, it will rank as one of the most despicable sneak attacks in history. Any chance for peace in the Middle East will vanish forever. Even if it'll cost American lives in the future, we must delay this attack until we are certain of our ground.


 * President Palmer: Jack, you saved my life. I trust you as much as I trust anybody.

Senator Palmer: Sure did. Georgetown.  Second Grader: My daddy says Georgetown sucks.  Senator Palmer: I think I need to have a little talk with your daddy.  Second Grader: He also says there will never be a black president in this country, ever.  Senator Palmer: Would you give your daddy a message for me? Tell him I understand where he's coming from, but he's wrong. And I'm gonna prove it.
 * Second Grader: Is it true you played basketball? 

Senator Palmer: I'm not mad at you.  Sherry Palmer: Oh, good.  Senator Palmer: I feel sorry for you.  Sherry Palmer: You feel sorry for me? <BR> Senator Palmer: You've lost touch of what it is to be a friend... a parent... a wife. After today, I never want to see you again. <BR> Sherry Palmer: David! <BR> Senator Palmer: Please, Sherry, I've heard it all before. And I don't care what this may do to my candidacy. And it's not because I don't want to be President. I do. I just don't think you're fit to be the first lady.
 * Sherry Palmer: We've had a hard day, but when you look at it in perspective, you'll realize I was acting in your best interest. And I know you're so mad at me.

Sherry Palmer: And what's the first most important? <BR> Senator Palmer: Oh, I think you know. <BR> Sherry Palmer: I want to hear you say it. <BR> Senator Palmer: Okay. The most important day of my life is when I hit the game-winning shot against DePaul in the Final Four. <BR> Sherry Palmer: You have just lost my vote, Senator.
 * Senator Palmer: This is going to be the second most important day of my life. <BR>


 * Senator Palmer: Dammit if that child dies!

Day 1
David Palmer has appeared in every episode of Day 1.

Day 2
David Palmer has appeared in every episode of Day 2.

Day 3
David Palmer has appeared in every episode of Day 3.

Day 5

 * Day 5 7:00am-8:00am