Norris was a President of the United States. According to the Eighth Doctor, he immediately succeeded Bruce Springsteen, who was president in 2003. (PROSE: Interference - Book One) He was a Republican. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Warhead)
His administration had promised that if a citizen were out of work, they wouldn't move about the country looking for work but instead stay where they were until the government found them a local job. This was justified as preventing the suffering of migrants as seen in the Great Depression. The policy was enforced by excessive force, including the use of guided missiles if someone unemployed attempted to drive outside of their area, and came at the same time when California's inner cities were walled off from affluent areas.
Cleaner Maria Chavez had her teenage years, which she considered "the good years", at the same time when the Norris administration declared Local Development. Realising what the law could mean, she escaped Los Angeles before the clampdown truly began. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Warhead)
Behind the scenes[]
- Norris' first name wasn't given in either of the stories in which he was mentioned but the implication of him being tagged as a Republican is that he was meant to be actor Chuck Norris. Lewis Christian does refer to the incumbent president as "Chuck" in Warhead but in the same book, Norris was president in Chavez's teenage years and she's presented as quite a few years past that; this could be an error.
- Norris is a possible parody of then-recent President Ronald Reagan, another actor turned Republican President.
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