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 a United States Senator, and 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.

Taylor moved towards a peace treaty with the Islamic Republic of Kamistan in the hopes of improving relations with the Middle East. However, the treaty became hard to hold together and when the Russians threatened to pull out, she was forced to call upon the help of former President Charles Logan, who coerced the Russians into the treaty. However in doing so, Logan convinced Taylor to sacrifice her integrity, and she covered up the Russians' involvement in the death of IRK President Omar Hassan to help the deal go through. In the final moments before the treaty was due to go through, Taylor buckled and decided to tell the world of her cover-up and of Yuri Suvarov's part in Hassan's death. In doing so she realized that she would have to sacrifice her Presidency, and fearing for Jack Bauer's life, she advised him to flee the country.

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

After President Noah Daniels completed his predecessor's term in office, Taylor decided to run against Daniels in the election, apparently with help from her old friend and current Secretary of Defense Ethan Kanin. During the campaign, Daniels claimed that Taylor wasn't strong enough to assume the duties of the presidency. Later, Taylor's daughter, Olivia, asked Martin Collier, a political consultant with a shady reputation, to dig up dirt on Daniels which would allow her to destroy Daniels's campaign and give her mother the presidency. Olivia's actions were uncovered and Taylor fired her from the campaign. It was also around this time that Taylor chose Mitchell Hayworth as her running mate.

Taylor later won the general election, defeating Daniels and becoming the first female President of the United States. She chose Ethan Kanin as White House Chief of Staff, Joe Stevens as Secretary of State, Tim Woods as Secretary of Homeland Security and with Hayworth as her Vice President.

Redemption


Taylor 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 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 Senatorial 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 White House 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 (UN) 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 Farhad Hassan, the brother and chief advisor of President Hassan. The calm of President Hassan in handling the contentious issue impressed Taylor, which prompted her to ask Ethan to find a way to give the Kamistanis what they want.

At around 4:36pm, Ethan informed Taylor that the Kamistanis accepted their counter proposal to have International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors led by an American. Taylor remarked that before becoming President she had discussed achieving an everlasting peace agreement with the Islamic Republic with her husband, but Ethan reminded her that Henry went to great lengths to discredit her during their divorce over Olivia Taylor. White House Chief of Staff Rob Weiss interrupted them and informed them of the threat to President Hassan's life uncovered by the Counter Terrorist Unit in New York (CTU New York). Ethan advised Taylor to withhold the intelligence from Hassan's delegation while Weiss advised her to inform the Kamistanis of the threat. Taylor eventually decided to hold the information for the time being.

Taylor met President Hassan after Meredith Reed's dramatic arrest later on and thanked Hassan for his willingness to continue the talks despite the threat on the Kamistani Head of State. Hassan remarked that his life was worth giving for peace and he was willing to do so. 45 minutes later Weiss passed Taylor a note from CTU Director Brian Hastings and Taylor informed Hassan of Hastings' request. The Hassan brothers exit and reenter a few minutes later. Soon the security council chamber was notified of a potential bomb threat in the United Nations, and UN Security Agent Manners escorted President Taylor and Weiss to the Presidential Motorcade.

A little after 7:00pm, as Taylor was in her vehicle Hastings called Weiss to inform him that the bomb threat was a hoax designed to lure Hassan out of the UN building. He informed Taylor and Weiss that Hassan's vehicle came 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 Hassan's vehicle from total destruction. Hastings also informed Taylor that CTU did not know Hassan's status yet. Taylor and Weiss returned to the UN Building at around 7:17pm after being assured that there was no bomb in the building and Weiss asked Taylor to contact President Hassan to encourage the continuation of the peace talks, but Taylor decided that it was not the appropriate time. Taylor contacted Hassan who was brought to CTU and expressed her regret that the attempt was carried out on American soil and Hassan told her of his desire to return back to the UN.

Ethan met Taylor and Weiss later on and informed them that Hassan's security forces were cracking down on opposition politicians and military officers in Kamistan. Ethan stated that the American Ambassador in Kamistan confirmed that Hassan was violating the rule of law while making these arrests, without regard to human rights. Taylor was concerned that Hassan's credibility as a peace maker would be lost if he allowed this to continue and requested to meet President Hassan. Taylor confronted Hassan on the arrests but Hassan insists that his actions were necessary by the circumstances within his nation, which forced Taylor to turn a blind eye to Hassan's actions domestically.

Taylor was briefed on the existence of radiological rods in New York. Later in the day, Taylor spoke to Jack Bauer for the first time since the Sangala Crisis as Jack requested that she grant immunity to Sergei Bazhaev in exchange for the location of the radiological rods. Taylor asked Jack if he could torture Bazhaev for information instead of giving immunity, but after Jack's doubts she granted Bazhaev immunity.

When the Russian conspiracy was full blown, and Dalia Hassan threatened to withdraw, she immediately blackmailed her saying that she can implicate the IRK with the nuclear device planted in New York, which would give her just cause to retaliate.

Taylor was the last signatory of the peace agreement, and used a pen that was given to her by Omar's widow, but after listening to a recording by Jack Bauer, she returned the pen to Dalia, and admitted the conspiracy and her role in it. She would call Jack and let him know she would resign as president and turn herself in to the Attorney General's Office, and told Jack to do the same, but she told him to flee the country as the Russians would not stop until they have killed him.

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 had granted him immunity for cooperating (Day 7: 7:00am-8:00am).
 * Her decision to not only 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, but also to withhold this information from Dalia Hassan, the wife of murdered President Hassan, who had decided to take his place and sign on the same peace agreement that led to his death (Day 8: 9:00am-10:00am).
 * Her decision to act upon the advice of Charles Logan.
 * To withhold information from Dalia Hassan, the wife of murdered President Hassan, about her husband's murder (Day 8: 9:00am-10:00am).
 * To let a private security firm get a hold of Dana Walsh and extract from her - using whatever means necessary, including torture - the whereabouts of the implicating material against the Russians (Day 8: 10:00am-11:00am).
 * To lock down Jack Bauer, then to chase him across New York with orders of shoot-to-kill when he threatened to reveal the Russians' involvement (Day 8: 1:00pm-2:00pm).
 * Her censorship of the press; namely Meredith Reed and the evidence given to her by Jack Bauer of the Russians' involvement in Hassan's death (Day 8: 1:00pm-2:00pm).

Background information and notes

 * As Day 7 is set 65 days after Redemption, Taylor was in office for little more than two months as of Day 7.
 * Henry Taylor occasionally referred to her as "Ally".
 * 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 an 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).
 * Taylor is one of four characters to have her name featured in the last Previously on 24 segment of 24. The others are Chloe O'Brian, Jason Pillar, and Jack Bauer.
 * Taylor's downfall from her principled roots was not planned from the start of Season 8. Howard Gordon said, "My initial impulse, and our initial impulse, was that there was no more story to tell. That she, this character, had pretty much exhausted her story. And we needed her mostly to tee-up Omar Hassan, and help ennoble him as a character, rather than you know, step front and center stage herself. So the idea was always to have her at the edges of the stage, teeing up this character, and as it turned out, she became a profound player in the drama. It’s not just the death of Renee so much as it is the deprivation of justice that gets Jack to this place. I think it’s really important to look at those two as being, you know, a flip side to the same coin." He said that it was a "big challenge" to have her fall from her principles. "I know she was surprised, and she was such a great sport, and such a phenomenal actor. But I have to say, it was challenging both to write and then to communicate to her what we were trying to do."
 * With the cover-up of Day 8, Taylor did exactly what Christopher Henderson, among others, did that got Jack Bauer to file corruption charges against them, as mentioned by Jack during the pilot episode: a compromise against her principles, this time to cover up the Russians' involvement in the murder of Omar Hassan so that the peace treaty would go on as planned. As he did with Henderson before Day 1, Jack fought for justice against Taylor, Logan and the Russians, and succeeded in the end.
 * Howard Gordon stated that a possible storyline for Season 8 was to have Taylor and Ethan Kanin in an relationship. "We did consider it. Bob Gunton [Ethan] confessed one night after a couple glasses of wine to having some imaginary past with her that extended beyond their professional one."
 * Taylor is the last President of the United States in the series, even though she resolved to resign. It is most likely that her Vice President, Mitchell Hayworth (seen in the prior season), would be her replacement.
 * Taylor is the only active President of the United States to physically set foot in CTU while in office.
 * Taylor is the only female President in the series.