The most powerful man in the world was missing when the bombs dropped on Fallout. He’d been missing for months. The last President of the United States had relocated to an Enclave oil rig in the Pacific half a year before armageddon. Why was he hiding, what did he know, and what role did he play in setting off nuclear war? To this day, even though he’s often referenced in the video games, no one even knows his name. But now he has a face. In season two, Prime Video’s Fallout has introduced Clancy Brown as America’s last President. And he might be the reason the world ended.
Who Is the Last President of the United States in Fallout, and How Does He Figure Into the Bombs Dropping?
The last President of the United States was himself a secret member of the Enclave, the deep state shadow organization who considered itself the rightful heir to the U.S. government after The Great War. The anti-communist, paramilitary group—the most evil entity from the Fallout video games—included high-ranking politicians, generals, and CEOs. Eventually, it also included POTUS.
Not much is known about this mysterious figure. The little information we do have about Fallout‘s last United States President is unclear* or disputed in the world of the games, like how his code name might have been “Bagman.” One thing we know about him for sure, though, is that six months before the bombs fell in Fallout‘s world, the President secretly relocated to a Poseidon Energy oil rig in the Pacific about 175 miles off the coast of California. For half a year, the American people had no idea where the President was while a skeleton crew operated out of the White House. On the morning the nuclear bombs fell—the same morning Prime Video’s Fallout season one, episode one confirmed the President of the United States was still missing minutes before they dropped—someone authenticated his nuclear codes.
*It’s even possible the President we saw in Fallout season two, episode seven, is not “the last” President of the United States, and the one played by Clancy Brown was impeached/out of office, and a totally different politician moved to the oil rig. This seems highly unlikely, considering who they cast in the role and the importance of the last President to Fallout lore. Until we have reason to think otherwise, the safest, most reasonable assumption is that Brown is playing the last President of the United States, the Enclave member who moved to the oil rig six months before nuclear war.
How Does The Last President of the United States, Played by Clancy Brown, Appear on Fallout Season 2?
Cooper Howard did not trust Robert House, Vault-Tec, or any other CEO or politician with cold fusion. He only trusted Congresswoman Diane Welch wanted to save the world, same as him. But since she didn’t exactly instill confidence in anyone, she got Cooper a meeting with someone he did on Fallout season two, the President of the United States… and a secret Enclave member.
(Yes, we’re now wondering if Welch was a clever member of the Enclave who feigned timidity to gain the trust of someone like Coop. How can we not? Especially when her head ended up powering House’s mind control mainframe.)
Fallout‘s first season revealed the Enclave ended up with cold fusion. It specifically ended up with someone, Siggi Wilzig, whom we recently learned was alive two hundred years ago when he worked for the secret “player” House can’t identify. Season two has also hinted that incredibly powerful “player” ran both the Enclave and Vault-Tec, all while having the capability to drop nuclear bombs. And we just watched Cooper Howard hand over cold fusion to someone that would fit all of those criteria, the literal President who controlled the bombs.
Did Clancy Brown’s Last President of the United States Actually Drop the Bombs on Fallout?
Was Clancy Brown’s last President the one who ended the world? He certainly fits the criteria. Occam’s razor would say the most powerful person in the world was actually the most powerful man in the world, the one capable of ending it. But there’s one major problem with that theory: Robert House and his algorithms would have known about the literal President.
It defies belief that Mr. House didn’t know about the Enclave, which had many members throughout the government, military, and corporate America. House was fully intertwined with all three sectors. Even if he didn’t know about the Enclave, though, he certainly would have known plenty about the sitting President of the United States. His computers would have known to factor in if the President was eager for nuclear war. That would seem to indicate the last POTUS wasn’t the secret “player.”
What Will the Fallout Series Reveal to Us About America’s Last President?
If the last President of the United States wasn’t responsible for the nuclear bombs dropping, why was he in hiding six months before that unknown individual killed the world? Did he know it was coming? Was the last President never actually in charge? Or, with cold fusion in hand, did he have a change of heart about nuclear annihilation? Was he not so much “in hiding” as he was “imprisoned”? Did the Enclave and its ultimate ruler dispose of the last President so he couldn’t prevent the armageddon the Enclave seemingly wanted on Fallout?
Fallout‘s last President of the United States now has a face thanks to the second season of the series. We also know Cooper Howard handed him cold fusion to save the world in Fallout‘s world, information we never had before. But that’s exactly why we now have more questions than ever about him and his role in the end of the world. We’ll just have to see what the Fallout series has to tell us about this mysterious figure who is coming into the light.
Fallout is streaming now on Prime Video.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. He interviewed Clancy Brown and you should definitely check it out. You can follow Mikey on Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.