John Keeler

John Keeler was elected as President of the United States after David Palmer dropped out of the election. He was succeeded by his Vice President, Charles Logan, when an assassination attempt left him incapacitated on Day 4. He had one son, Kevin Keeler, who died from the attack on Air Force One.

Day 3

Keeler near the end of Day 3

Senator John Keeler stood against incumbent President David Palmer during Palmer's bid for a second term in office. Keeler had early success in the campaign, closing the gap between Palmer and himself in the time up to the Presidential debates. Keeler attempted to use information regarding Palmer's partner, Anne Packard, to discredit the President, but Palmer, having had prior information about this tactic, was not fazed by it. However, when Palmer was forced to cancel the debate at a crucial moment, Keeler seized this opportunity and tried to show the President as unable to cope. When Palmer raised the nation's terror alert level, proving there was a national emergency, Keeler's campaign appeared to be in tatters before a timely visit from Sherry Palmer, who gave Keeler information regarding Palmer's role in the death of Alan Milliken. Keeler went to Palmer with this information, demanding the President's withdrawal from the race, which would guarantee Keeler a win in the election. Palmer stood his ground, but after learning of the death of Sherry, he withdrew from the race anyway.

After Day 3

After President Palmer withdrew from the race, Keeler became the frontrunner for the presidency. He chose Senator Charles Logan as his running mate, and won the general election, becoming the new President, with Charles Logan as his Vice President, James Heller as Secretary of Defense, a man named Taylor as Secretary of State and Mark Kaner, his former campaign manager, as one of his advisors.

Day 4

President Keeler aboard Air Force One

Keeler boarded Air Force One around 2 a.m. and was still in the air when Secretary of Defense James Heller and his daughter, Audrey Raines, were abducted by terrorists working for Habib Marwan. In order to save the country embarrassment from having its Secretary of Defense killed on a live broadcast, Keeler ordered an air strike that would presumably result in Secretary Heller's death, but at the same time kill the terrorists and stop the broadcast. However, when Jack Bauer managed to stop the broadcast himself, Keeler called off the air strike. He remained on board when Marwan's people subsequently sabotaged several nuclear reactors in order to create a meltdown.

Keeler confers with the Joint Chiefs of Staff ("Day 4: 1:00pm-2:00pm")

Though control of the reactors was restored, the incident had the added effect of keeping Air Force One in the air much longer than intended, thus exposing the President to an air attack. Mitch Anderson, a disgraced former Air Force captain working for Marwan, stole a stealth fighter and fired on Air Force One. A nearby escort fighter exploded instead, damaging Air Force One at the same time. The craft crashed, killing most of its passengers, including the President's son, Kevin Keeler. Keeler himself survived, but was unconscious and in critical condition. Another survivor was a Secret Service Agent named Patterson, with whom Jack Bauer made contact.

President Keeler and his son Kevin embrace moments before Air Force One is hit with Mitch Anderson's missile

During President Keeler's incapacitation, the cabinet unanimously voted to invoke the 25th Amendment and Vice President Charles Logan was sworn in as President.

After Day 4

After being Acting President in the short-term, Charles Logan assumed the office of the Presidency after Day 4, with Hal Gardner as Vice President. Keeler never returned to office.

Selected cabinet and administration officials

Office	Name
Vice President	Charles Logan
Secretary of Defense	James Heller
Secretary of State	Taylor
Attorney General	(name unspecified)
Cabinet member	Jennie
High-level advisor	Robert Franklin
High-level advisor	Melissa
Campaign manager, then staffer	Mark Kaner
Secret Service bodyguard	Patterson
Secret Service bodyguard	Aaron Pierce

Memorable quotes

• John Keeler: Once this crisis you're dealing with is over, you can resign with whatever face-saving reason you wanna give.
• President Palmer: Get out of here.
• John Keeler: I'm offering you the chance to leave office with honor, to control how your legacy is written. It's a good deal, David. You should take it. ("Day 3: 10:00am-11:00am")

Background information and notes

• In an interview with the 24 Inside, writer Howard Gordon mentioned that John Keeler was not dead, but "convalescing in a home in Maryland." According to Gordon, the decision to leave Keeler's fate unclear was a result of a mandate from Fox forbidding the writers from outright killing a sitting President on-screen.
  • This mandate apparently did not apply to the killing of President Omar Hassan during Day 8, most likely because he was the President of a fictitious foreign nation. Neither did it apply to Wayne Palmer, since his death didn't take place until the Day was over.
• In a contradicting interview, show writer Manny Coto remarked that Keeler was deceased in his mind: "Personally, I think he's no longer with us." Since Coto made those remarks after Gordon, it is possible that Keeler died from his injuries sometime after the events of Day 4.
  • Jon Cassar also claimed that Keeler was dead, despite what little was shown[1].
• Originally actor Powers Boothe was considered for the role of John Keeler. Powers Boothe was unavailable at the time but later was cast as Vice President (later President) Noah Daniels in the sixth season of the series.
• Seeing as Keeler ran against David Palmer, who was a Democrat, for presidency, it is likely that Keeler and his VP Charles Logan were Republicans. However, as this was not explicitly stated, it is not included in this project.
• Keeler was the only on-screen president not to be credited as part of the main cast.
• Geoff Pierson plays the Vice-President in the 2008 movie Get Smart and a former president in the series Designated Survivor (again with Kiefer Sutherland in the lead role).
• He is the only President not to have his name featured in the Previously on 24 segment.
• In 24: The Official CTU Operations Manual, a picture of James Prescott is accidentally labeled with Keeler's name.

See also

Wiki 24 has 20 images related to John Keeler.

Preceded by: David Palmer	President of the United States	Succeeded by: Charles Logan