President Mendez

"Gentlemen, ladies, I don't think I need to tell you the situation is dire. Exactly how bad it is, that's what we're here to discuss. Ambassador Minich, you have a report?..."

- President Mendez to The United Nations Thomas Eliezer Mendez  was the second President of the United States during the Dollar Flu outbreak. He was the Vice President of the United States in President Waller's administration, and he inherited The White House under the 25th Amendment when Waller suffered a massive heart attack and passed away.

Soon after, the cities of New York and Washington, D.C. descended into chaos and despair due to his inability to manage the crisis. Mendez was left with no choice but to order the remaining officials of the federal government to evacuate, afterwards he was found dead from an apparent suicide.

It was later discovered through Audio Logs and an ECHO that President Mendez was murdered by two members of his Secret Service protection detail under orders by the Black Tusk. This allowed Andrew Ellis, the Speaker of the House of Representatives to assume the Presidency, under the 25th Amendment of the United States Constitution.

History
Mendez was born in Seattle. His family owned a business which he wished to inherit from a young age. Mendez was a statistical genius and ran a very profitable real estate venture before transitioning into politics. He was the former Vice President to President Lawrence Waller before the Green Poison outbreak occurred. As the VP, economics were at the centre-stage of his decision-making.

The Dollar Flu
When the Green Poison outbreak occurred in New York City, VP Mendez questioned then President Waller's decision to use Directive 51 and activate the Strategic Homeland Division and deploy them to assist the Joint Task Force in maintaining control of the city's Dark Zone. His belief that this would upset the American people and politically damage Waller's reputation, however he was quickly overruled by Waller and then Speaker Andrew Ellis in that the situation was dire enough to warrant such a drastic measure. When Waller died a few weeks after the outbreak of an apparent heart attack, under the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution; Mendez then became President.

Not long after, he calls for an emergency meeting with the United Nations, there he is seemingly unaware of the true devastation caused by the outbreak, finally he is briefed by Ambassador Minich that the Green Poison has spread to every continent in the world, casualties will be in the tens of millions and every attempt to contain and quarantine the disease has failed and it is truly the worst case scenario.

After serving as President for just a short time, Mendez realizing the true scale of the disaster on his watch and the city of Washington, D.C. falling into chaos, he orders the serving members of the federal government to evacuate. It is believed he is one of the last to leave but is discovered to have died, believed to having committed suicide. Due to chaos there was no proper investigation into Mendez's suicide, which would have found the circumstances of his death suspicious, including that even though Mendez is left-handed he shot himself on the right side of his head.

Rumors existed that say he committed suicide due to the stress of being the President during the outbreak, others say that he did it because he was infected with Dollar Flu, but they are unsubstantiated. After he died, the current Speaker of the House, Andrew Ellis, was sworn in as President at the undisclosed location the government was evacuated to.

It is later revealed in an ECHO that President Mendez was actually executed by two secret servicemen named Smith and Johnson, under Bardon Schaeffer's fake promise that they would be offered safe passage out of D.C. if they cooperated. They were quickly murdered by a Black Tusk operative in an underground parking lot to cover up the assassination.

Appearances

 * Tom Clancy's The Division
 * Tom Clancy's The Division 2