Allison Taylor


 * "She wasn't like you...wasn't like any politican I've ever known."
 * &mdash; Secretary of State Ethan Kanin to Charles Logan, "Day 8: 10:00am-11:00am"

Allison Taylor was the successor of Noah Daniels as President of the United States during 24: Redemption, Day 7, and Day 8. Prior to this she was a United States Senator from Missouri. She was the first female President of the United States. Taylor had to face tough decisions throughout Day 7 which, whilst resulting in the death of innocent American lives, proved herself as a President unwilling to cave to terrorist demands. During her Presidency she had to deal with many difficult situations and by the end of Day 7 was left with a murdered son, incarcerated daughter and a husband who had been shot and who could not forgive her for her actions which resulted in the dire situations of their children.

Personal

 * Husband: Henry Taylor (divorced)
 * Son: Roger Taylor (deceased)
 * Daughter: Olivia Taylor

Before Redemption
The day that Allison won back her father's seat in the Senate he gave her a silver bracelet.

Redemption


Senator Taylor won the general election against the incumbent, Daniels. She was present at the White House to complete her transition work during the events of Redemption with her husband Henry. She expressed interest to Tom Lennox that she wished to weigh in on the unstable political and military situation in the African nation of Sangala, even though she was to be sworn into office in less than two hours. Taylor spoke to President Daniels, and did not agree with his decision to empty out the American embassy. She did not decisively answer Daniels' question about why he lost the election, and was asked by him to address him as "Mr. President" when she turned down a shot of liquor in his toast to her upcoming Presidency.

She was sworn in by Chief Justice Edwin Ross shortly before 12:00pm EST, and delivered a live televised speech. Among those in the crowd were her husband, son Roger and his girlfriend Samantha Roth, and Ethan Kanin. In her speech she indicated a firm resolve and a national posture that was different from Daniels'.

Day 7
By Day 7, President Taylor had been in office for 65 days. She had mobilized military support to restore the ousted government of Ule Matobo in Sangala, but the efforts of Iké Dubaku caused a dire threat to US national security at home. Dubaku blackmailed Taylor by telling her that if she did not pull the American navy away of Sangala, then he would begin to kill Americans using a device which hacked through the CIP firewall.



She spoke with Matobo and told him the choice that she had to make. Matobo still asked her to protect his people. President Taylor made the choice to keep the the ships near in Sangala. Learning that Ule Matobo had been kidnapped by Emerson, Chief of Staff, Ethan Kanin urged the President to meet the demand of Dubaku. He knew that without Matobo, it would be worthless to keep troops there. Taylor still believed that she must maintain Sangala. Knowing that the President did not go with his demands, Dubaku had her witness two planes crashing to prove he meant what he said. Taylor then addressed the Cabinet and explained why she made the decision.

Sometime after 2:00pm, the President was informed about a possible attack on Boyd Chemical Plant on Kidron, Ohio. After alerting all first-responders, she was informed that the attack was suddenly canceled by the terrorists. She wanted to know why Dubaku would abort an attack of that magnitude. A few minutes later she got a call from Ule Matobo. He claimed that he was rescued from Dubaku, and told her that he wanted to come there and speak with her in person. Later on, Ethan Kanin informed her that Secret Service Agent Brian Gedge was unreachable and that her husband was with him. She became deeply disturbed that her husband so suddenly went missing.

When the Prime Minister arrived, President Taylor met him at the Oval Office and demanded an explanation from Matobo's rescuers, Jack Bauer, Bill Buchanan, and FBI Agent, Renee Walker. They explained their undercover operation and how some members of the government were corrupt. During the meeting, The President received a call from Dubaku informing her that he had Henry Taylor. To keep him alive, he asked for American forces to retire from Sangala as well as having Matobo delivered to him. To prove he was serious, Dubaku had one of his men cut off the First Gentleman's finger while on the phone. Despite this, Taylor decided not to give in. Jack Bauer assured her that he would find Dubaku and rescue Henry. While Jack and Renee worked on their leads, Taylor agreed to partially retire American forces to buy some time, as well as handing a Matobo lookalike to trick Dubaku. However, when Dubaku realized he was being tricked, he ordered the bombing of the car which the President witnessed via satellite.



When Jack Bauer called the President, he told her that her husband had been shot in the chest and was on his way to the hospital. She told Bill and Ethan that she wanted to visit Henry at the hospital. Bill offered to take charge of her security and transport her there since they didn't know who they could trust. Taylor effectively replaced her previous head of security, Ted Hovis, with Bill. When they arrived at the hospital, Taylor learned that her husband needed surgery. While she visited him, she told him that he was right all along about Roger's death. The President wanted her daughter Olivia to come visit her father in case he didn't make it. Bill told her that he knew someone trustworthy that could pick her up.

As Taylor waited for her husband's surgery, Ethan briefed her on the ongoing success of the invasion of Sangala. However, she was distracted in her grief and Ethan comforted her. Bill Buchanan then told her about the FBI capturing Iké Dubaku and finding the list of corrupt officials. He also told her she should leave for the White House where she'll be more secure. She was reluctant to leave her husband, but Ethan and Bill convinced her. At the White House, she met her daughter and told her about the situation.

At around 6:05pm, Taylor and Admiral John Smith watched a recording made by Benjamin Juma where he claimed that the US invasion on Sangala had been successfully repelled. Knowing that's not true, Taylor urged Smith to find Juma to prevent any further threat from him. Taylor then met with Senator Blaine Mayer to try and convince him from stopping the investigation on Jack Bauer, considering all that he had done during the day. Mayer refused to do so, but while they were meeting, Taylor received an urgent call from Larry Moss who informed her that Jack was illegally interrogating Mayer's Chief of Staff Ryan Burnett somewhere in the White House.

After locating Jack and stopping him from continuing the torture on Burnett, Taylor asked him why he hadn't come with the information about Burnett's involvement to her first. He told her that she wouldn't have trusted him. Taylor then ordered the guards to take him into custody. She then offered Burnett immunity in exchange for any information on Juma's next attack, but he refused to give any and only asked for his lawyer.

Sometime after, Tim Woods communicates Taylor with Larry, who gave her more information about the next attack and informed her that Juma himself appeared to be leading it. When it is discovered that the target is the White House, Bill Buchanan and some Secret Service agents transfer Taylor to a safe room. While Bill leads Juma and his men to another section of the White House, Jack and Taylor lock themselves just as Juma's men arrive. While inside, Taylor helps Jack to short-fuse the control panel and hold Juma awhile longer.

When Juma finds about Taylor's daughter, Olivia, being in the White House, he captures her and brings her in front of one of the surveillance cameras to force Taylor out of the safe room. She agrees to come out and when she faces Juma, he slaps her across the face for what he claims are crimes against his country. She then comforts her daughter and tells her to be aware because she and Jack had devised a plan.

At 8:06pm, she is forced by Juma to read a statement condemning her own invasion of Sangala, while it is transmitted live through the Internet. While she is doing so, Bill sacrifices himself by creating an explosion sparked by gas that she and Jack had opened in the safe room, and while Jack kills the terrorists, Aaron Pierce takes her and Olivia into safety. When FBI Agent Reynolds tells her they plan to transfer her to Andrews Air Force Base she refuses to do so. She then starts working on a speech with Angela Nelson. She also tells Ethan that she decided to bring Olivia to his team as a special adviser. When Ethan expresses his disagreement, she dismisses him and asks him to present the offer to her himself. She accepts and offers her mother suggestions about her speech.



Sometime after 9:00pm, Ethan informed her about Burnett's failed interrogation and apologized to her. At around 9:30pm, she addressed the nation regarding the attacks of the day assuring the nation that they will prevail. When Ethan came to her about Olivia allegedly leaking information to the press about the Burnett incident, they confronted her but she denied it.

At 10:05pm, she talked with her husband who was recovering from her surgery. She briefed him on all that had happened since he was shot and also told him that their daughter had returned home and was at the White House serving her as special adviser. After she hung up, Ethan came to her office to present his resignation. She was shocked and tried to convince him otherwise, but he insisted it was the best for her.

Shortly after 11:00pm, Taylor and Olivia discussed possible replacements for Ethan Kanin. Taylor then told Olivia that in the meantime, she would like to have her as a provisional Chief of Staff. She was surprised and accepted. Taylor then met with Tim Woods who informed her about Starkwood plans and the bio-weapon they smuggled. She asked to meet with her Cabinet and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. At the meeting, she expressed how she wouldn't allow a paramilitary organization to illegally threaten their country and looked for ways to stop them. When Admiral John Smith and General Vincent told her how difficult it would be to raid the Starkwood compound, she was concerned as to what to do.



Taylor was later at the Oval Office watching a video of Sangalan villagers infected with the weapon Starkwood had developed. Taylor was shocked to see this and told Olivia that they couldn't allow this to happen in US soil. Tim Woods arrived later with news from Larry Moss, who had just been contacted by Tony Almeida from within Starkwood. Moss and Almeida informed her how he had been captured, but Greg Seaton allegedly helped him and would offer them help in exchange for a presidential pardon. Taylor digitally signed the agreement and waited for results.

Jack later informed her of the ambush on Starkwood and she was angered at Hodges' boldness. However, she was somewhat relieved when Jack told her that Tony was still in the compound and that he would try to intercept the canisters. Taylor asked Jack to visually confirm it. She also told Jack how grateful she was for his service despite him being infected with the prion variant pathogen. When the location was confirmed, she met with the Joint Chiefs in the Situation Room to oversee it. When the pilots were approaching the compound, Tim Woods told her of a call from Hodges. When she answered it, he told her he had loaded the pathogen on some Python missiles he had seized from a Starkwood mission on Pakistan and threatened to use them on several eastern coast cities. When she asked him what he wanted, he asked to meet with her at the White House. She reluctantly agreed and returned to the Situation Room ordering Admiral John Smith to abort the air strike without giving any explanations.

After walking out, Tim entered her office worried about her decision and she confessed him about Hodges' threat. At around 1:08am, Hodges and Seaton arrived at the White House and met with Taylor. Hodges then presented his demands for her to turn Starkwood into one of the main defense sources of the country again with him at the helm of a Strategy and Defense committee. She agreed to look upon his demands until Tim called her outside and told her that Tony Almeida had managed to successfully blow up the missiles. When she returned to the Office, she had Hodges and Seaton taken into custody and told him she would make everything in her power to have him pay for his treason.

After 2:00am, Taylor met with Olivia and told her about Hodges' threat. As they thought about it, Taylor told her daughter that she would have Hodges transferred to the FBI for further questioning. Olivia told her that Hodges would probably try to break a deal through his attorneys and that she shouldn't allow it after what he did to Roger. Taylor simply told her that the FBI would take care of it.



After 3:00am, Jack and Renee called her and revealed to her that Tony Almeida had deceived them all and was in possession of the canister. Knowing it was their only lead, she agreed to offer Jonas Hodges a presidential pardon in exchange for information on the conspirators that employed Tony. Olivia was angered at the suggestion and asked her how she could do this after what Hodges had done to her son. Taylor argued that it wasn't an easy decision for her but she was President of the United States and had to do what was best for the country.



With the impending threat of an attack, Taylor ordered to have Henry transferred to the White House. At around 4:44am, she was taking care of him when Olivia also came in to meet with him. As they shared the moment together, Henry talked with Olivia about the agreement Allison had made with Jonas Hodges. Both were happy to see Olivia changing her mind about the subject. Later, Taylor was meeting with Tim Woods who was briefing her on the lead from Jibraan Al-Zarian that Jack and Renee were following. At this moment, someone called Tim and informed him that Hodges was killed. When Tim told the President, she was angered and ordered him to find who did it. Towards the end of the day, she found out that Olivia had been responsible for the assassination of Jonas Hodges and had to make the decision of whether to cover it up or prosecute her. Much to the dismay of her husband Henry Taylor she decided she was not going to cover it up and had Olivia taken into custody.

After the arrest Taylor met with Ethan in a corridor. She confessed that she felt like she had lost everyone; her son, daughter, and husband (who was angered with her for turning over their daughter to the authorities). Kanin reminded her that she still had him, and he offered to take back his resignation and rejoin her administration, which she graciously accepted.

After Day 7
Allison and Henry eventually divorced after Olivia's arrest put a strain on their marriage.

For almost a year Taylor worked with President Omar Hassan of Kamistan to help coordinate a peace agreement with the two countries. The preparations culminated in a summit in New York, attended by delegates from many other countries who would sign the peace treaty, that took place during Day 8.

Day 8
President Taylor was at the United Nations in New York to negotiate a nuclear arms treaty with Kamistani President Omar Hassan. During the final stages of the American-Kamistani negotiations at around 4:06pm, Taylor and American Secretary of State Ethan Kanin represented the United States to negotiate the nationality of the nuclear inspectors. Kanin and Taylor desired the inspectors to be American, meeting strong opposition from Kamistani Presidential Chief of Staff Farhad Hassan. The calm of President Hassan in handling the contentious issue impressed Taylor, which prompted her to ask Kanin to find a way to give the Kamistanis what they want.

At around 4:36pm, Kanin informs Taylor that the Kamistanis accepted their proposal to allow the weapons inspectors to be from the IAEA, but led by an American. Taylor remarks that before becoming President her husband and herself spoke about achieving an everlasting agreement with the Islamic Republic, but Kanin reminds her the lengths her husband went to during their public divorce over President Taylor's decision to charge her daughter for murder. They are interrupted by Taylor's Chief of Staff Rob Weiss who informs them of the planned attempt on President Hassan's life. Kanin advises her to withhold the information from the Kamistani delegation so as to prevent their withdrawal while Weiss advises her to inform them so they will not pull out of negotiations should the attempt take place. Taylor dismisses the two, but ultimately agrees with Kanin and keeps the information from the Kamistani delegation.

After 5:42pm, Taylor meets with President Hassan and thanks him for desiring the continuation of the negotiations even after journalist Meredith Reed is arrested by CTU on suspicion of being involved in the attempt on Hassan's life. Hassan remarks that the peace is worth the threat to his life, and Taylor assures him that security has been tightened.

At 6:31pm, Taylor is at the negotiating table with Hassan when Weiss passes her a note from CTU New York Director Brian Hastings who requests to speak with President Hassan. Taylor informs President Hassan who exits the council chamber with Farhad Hassan. After 6:44pm, the security council chamber is notified of a potential bomb threat in the United Nations, and UN Security Agent Manners escorts President Taylor and Weiss out. They enter Taylor's presidential limousine at 6:52pm, and Taylor leaves the United Nations Building according to her evacuation detail.

A little after 7:00pm, Hastings calls the Weiss and informs him that the bomb threat was a hoax designed to lure Hassan out of the United Nations Building. He informs Taylor and Weiss about Hassan's vehicle coming into close contact with the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) placed underneath a manhole, while the vehicle driven by Cole Ortiz took the brunt of the IED and saved President Hassan's vehicle from total destruction. Taylor and Weiss return to the UN Building at around 7:17pm after being assured that there was no bomb in the building. Weiss asks Taylor to contact President Hassan to encourage the continuation of the peace talks, but Taylor decides that it was not the appropriate time.

Major legislation

 * Sending United States troops into Sangala to help secure peace and stop the genocide of Benjamin Juma.
 * Peace talks with many delegations including Kamistan, the United Kingdom and Germany.

Controversial decisions

 * Refusing to cave in to terrorists' demands on multiple occasions throughout Day 7 and Day 8
 * Her refusal to withdraw U.S. troops from Sangala which resulted in the crash of two passenger flights (Day 7: 1:00pm-2:00pm) and her husband being shot, albeit not mortally (Day 7: 3:00pm-4:00pm).
 * Her refusal to save New York from a nuclear attack by Kamistani terrorists by not handing over President Omar Hassan to them (Day 8: 5:00am-6:00am).
 * Her decision to employ her daughter as temporary Chief of Staff (Day 7: 8:00pm-9:00pm)
 * Her choice to have her daughter accountable for her complicity in the murder of Jonas Hodges after she has granted him immunity for cooperating (Day 7: 7:00am-8:00am)
 * Her decision to go ahead with the peace process that included the Russians, even though she knew that they were behind the terrorist attacks of Day 8 and the murder of President Hassan (Day 8: 9:00am-10:00am).

Background information and notes

 * As Day 7 is set 65 days after 24: Redemption, Taylor was in office for little more than two months as of Day 7.
 * Henry Taylor occasionally referred to her as "Ally".
 * Though not stated explicitly in the show, she is likely a Republican. This may be the case because President David Palmer was a Democrat, and it does not seem likely that his brother and chief of staff, Wayne Palmer, changed parties before becoming President himself. However, as this has not been confirmed in any in-universe source to date; none of this speculation is permissible for inclusion in an article's main body of information.
 * Her Secret Service codename is Liberty.
 * Day 8 marks the second time a president has been involved in a conspiracy and cover-up, and features President Taylor in a semi-antagonistic role in the Day's third act (albeit driven by Charles Logan, the first president to be complicit in a conspiracy on the show).