United States of America
- You may be looking for the ship.
The United States of America, commonly the US, USA, America, or just the States, was a nation located in North America on the planet Earth. Its head of state and head of government was an elected president, chosen by general election every four years.
There were fifty-one states by 2003, (AUDIO: Minuet in Hell, Neverland, The Fall of the House of Pollard, PROSE: Rise of the Dominator) or only fifty, though it was widely believed as a result of the Mandela Effect that there were fifty-two, which Professor Maxwell Grey attributed to time being rewritten. (PROSE: The Mandela Effect, Or Monsters on the Streets of London)
Supposed Earthonomics expert Mr Copper mistakenly referred to the nation as "Ham Erica". (TV: Voyage of the Damned)
History
Early history
Prior to British settlement, the United States was primarily inhabited by Native Americans. (PROSE: Peacemaker)
The North Carolina colony was established by 1711, when Thomas Cary served as deputy governor. When Edward Hyde was appointed to take his place, Cary refused to give up his position, leading to Cary's rebellion. (COMIC: Hidden Human History)
The Ninth Doctor claimed to have participated in the Boston Tea Party. (TV: The Unquiet Dead)
In 1775, the American Revolutionary War against colonial rule by Britain began. The Rani was present at some point during this conflict, and extracted brain chemicals from soldiers, using the violence to conceal her presence. (TV: The Mark of the Rani)
The American founding fathers included, among others, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. (AUDIO: The Founding Fathers, TV: The Impossible Astronaut)
19th century
American Civil War
The American Civil War, which took place during 1862, was a conflict from which soldiers were kidnapped by the War Lords for use in their war games. (TV: The War Games)
While testing the temporal interocitor, Nyssa accidentally ended up in the Civil War during a battle in Virginia. There, she met a black Confederate soldier named Floyd, one of several people throughout history who'd been hearing the voices of Daleks all his life as part of their plan to make humanity more susceptible to Dalek ideals and enslave them. He assisted in thwarting this plan. (AUDIO: Renaissance of the Daleks)
Peri Brown and Erimem were separated from the Fifth Doctor after materialising in the Civil War. They witnessed its brutality first-hand. (PROSE: Blood and Hope)
On 14 April 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in Ford's Theatre in Washington DC. (AUDIO: Assassin in the Limelight)
Settling the West
The First Doctor and his companions once found themselves engaged in a particularly infamous and bloody incident known as the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. (TV: The Gunfighters) The Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones landed in Redwater sometime in the 1880s and faced down the Clades. (PROSE: Peacemaker)
20th century
1910s
America was involved in World War I. Initially, their involvement was limited to volunteers on the Western Front. (AUDIO: The Great War) However, the sinking of the RMS Lusitania at the hands of the U-20 on 7 May 1915 helped provoke the United States into entering the war two years later. (AUDIO: The Sirens of Time) It was in April of 1917 that America joined the fight against Germany, hastening the end of the conflict the following year. (PROSE: The Time Traveller's Almanac) Among the Americans who served were Solomon and Diagoras. (TV: Daleks in Manhattan)
1920s
The 1920s were described by the Tenth Doctor as the Roaring Twenties. As he claimed, New York was a boom town during this time, before Herbert Hoover took office as President of the United States in 1929. (TV: Daleks in Manhattan)
1930s
In 1930, the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones went to New York City where they found the Cult of Skaro. Many New York citizens were killed by the Cult after it tried to make them into a new form of Dalek-human as part of the Final Experiment. (TV: Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks)
In the early 1930s, following the onset of the Great Depression, a recovering inter-war Germany began to feel abused and neglected by the United States. With the coming of Hitler and the Nazis, Jewish scientists Albert Einstein and Fritz Haber fled to the safety of the US. Haber died there in 1934. (AUDIO: The Alchemists)
In 1938, the Eighth Doctor and Charley Pollard countered an invasion of New York by the Reggins during Orson Welles' broadcast of The War of the Worlds. (AUDIO: Invaders from Mars)
CIA agent Rex Matheson found a record of 22 pulp fiction authors in the United States who were potentially Victor Podesta following his disappearance in 1938. (TV: The Gathering)
1940s
In 1940, Winston Churchill pressured the United States to enter World War II to help the UK defeat Nazi Germany. (GAME: Amy's History Hunt) However, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was initially committed to maintaining American neutrality. (PROSE: Illegal Alien)
On Sunday, 7 December 1941 the United States entered the war after Japan attacked the US Naval Base in Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii. (PROSE: Only Connect) The Eighth Doctor explained the attack woke America from "an isolationist slumber", as it continued to play a big role in world politics even after the war. (PROSE: Fear Itself) America mobilised her plentiful resources to aid Britain and the Soviet Union, which proved disastrous for Germany. (PROSE: Just War)
By at least 1943, a system of racial segregation was in place in several states, particularly Southern states such as Alabama and Mississippi. Black people and Mexicans were usually forced to use separate facilities from the whites, and in Montgomery, black citizens had to enter and sit at the back of the bus. (TV: Rosa)
In 1944, film director Leonard De Sande discovered the Selyoids frozen in ice while filming The Cold Blooded in Alaska. (PROSE: Dying in the Sun)
In 1947, a spaceship crash landed at Roswell, New Mexico. (TV: Dalek, Dreamland, TV: Prisoner of the Judoon) In October of the same year, Leonard De Sande's film Dying in the Sun premiered in Los Angeles as part of the Selyoid invasion which was foiled by the Second Doctor. (PROSE: Dying in the Sun)
1950s
Racial segregation continued to be rampant in many states in the 1950s. Emmett Till was killed in Mississippi while on vacation from the north after a "couple words to a white woman." (TV: Rosa)
On 1 December 1955, while travelling home from work, civil rights activist Rosa Parks famously refused to give up her bus seat when the bus became crowded, leading to her arrest, an event that the Thirteenth Doctor, Ryan Sinclair, Yasmin Khan, and Graham O'Brien witnessed. Her arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and a further chain of events that would result in the abolition of segregation on Montgomery buses a year later. (TV: Rosa)
In 1958, the Tenth Doctor met Cassie Rice and Jimmy Stalkingwolf. They were arrested and taken to Area 51 to have their minds wiped. There they discovered the truth about the Roswell crash and Area 51. (TV: Dreamland)
In 1959, the Americans sent their first satellite up into orbit. Unknown to the public, it actually ended up in Wales. (TV: Delta and the Bannermen)
1960s
John F. Kennedy was elected president in 1960, (PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy) the first Catholic to assume the position. He was inaugurated on 20 January 1961. (PROSE: Time Traveller's Diary)
In the early 1960s, the United States confronted the Soviet Union and Cuba in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Fear of nuclear war during the crisis kept Barbara Wright awake at night. (AUDIO: 1963)
On 22 November 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly assassinated President Kennedy in Dallas, Texas. (PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy) The Ninth Doctor was present for this event. (TV: Rose)
By 1965, the United States was conducting research into psychic powers. (AUDIO: Peshka)
The first acknowledged American Moon landing happened on 20 July 1969. (TV: Blink, PROSE: Who Killed Kennedy)
In 1969, the Eleventh Doctor described Washington, D.C. as "the most powerful city in the most powerful country on Earth." At that time, a little girl phoned President Richard Nixon, told him about a spaceman that was coming to eat her, and warned him about monsters in the oval office. President Nixon recruited Canton Everett Delaware III to find out who the child was, and he was assisted by the Doctor, Amy Pond, Rory Williams, and River Song. During these events, the Silence were defeated by the Doctor through the use of their own post hypnotic suggestion. (TV: The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon)
In 1970, Melody Pond ended up in New York City, dying from a disease, and on the run from the Silence since her escape from them in Florida. She regenerated to cure herself and continue living, scaring away a homeless man that had been concerned about her health. (TV: Day of the Moon) This new incarnation of Melody ended up a toddler. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler)
During the Cold War in the late 20th century, America was counted as one of the superpowers alongside Russia and China. At one point, to avoid warfare, all three superpowers gave their destructor codes to Great Britain. (TV: Robot)
1990s
The Tenth Doctor alleged that by 1994, the US military would admit that Area 51 existed, having previously denied it. (TV: Dreamland)
The US had airbases in the United Kingdom. During the Martian Invasion of 1997, Home Secretary David Staines wondered what the Ice Warriors intended to do with them. Following the invasion, the US was among the powers that made generous reconstruction grants to the UK, although Britain would continue to remember their inaction during the Dying Days for some considerable years. (PROSE: The Dying Days)
In June 1999, President Clinton gave a Congressional Medal to Rosa Parks, recognising her as a living icon for freedom. (TV: Rosa)
Between 30 December 1999 and just after midnight on 1 January 2000, the Seventh Doctor was in San Francisco, where he regenerated into his eighth incarnation, and subsequently prevented the Bruce Master from causing havoc with time and space on New Year's Eve. (TV: Doctor Who)
21st century
2000s
By the 21st century, Survivor was being made in America. (PROSE: Have You Seen This Man? [+]Loading...{"writer":"Unknown","1":"Have You Seen This Man? (short story)"})
In 2000, the Eighth Doctor visited Dr. Grace Holloway and took her on a trip in the TARDIS. (COMIC: The Body Politic)
In 2003, part of the southern United States formed a 51st state, Malebolgia. Brigham Elisha Dashwood III, with the aid of the Psionovore Marchosias, planned to run for Governor of the new state, but was defeated by the Eighth Doctor, Charley Pollard and the Brigadier. (AUDIO: Minuet in Hell)
In 2006, following the London UFO crash, (TV: Aliens of London [+]Loading...["Aliens of London (TV story)"], World War Three [+]Loading...["World War Three (TV story)"], etc.) Mickey stated on his website that Henry Van Statten was a US dotcom giant. (PROSE: Henry Van Statten [+]Loading...["Henry Van Statten (short story)"])
By 2007, H.C. Clements had an office in the USA. (TV: The Runaway Bride)
In 2008, Harold Saxon, the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, announced first contact with the Toclafane, who he described as a friendly form of alien life. The United States sent President Arthur Winters to come to the Valiant and take charge, whereupon the Toclafane killed him. (TV: The Sound of Drums)
On Christmas Day 2008, supposed Earthonomics expert Mr Copper was under the impression that "Ham Erica" was at war with the nations of Europey. The Tenth Doctor corrected him with "not yet", but admitted that he could "argue that one". (TV: Voyage of the Damned)
In the 2000s,[nb 1] the New Dalek Empire attacked New York. The Daleks destroyed the UNIT New York Headquarters and killed most of the staff, including General Sanchez and Suzanne, although Martha Jones escaped thanks to Project Indigo. (TV: The Stolen Earth)
In 2009, Colonel Augustus Oduya noted, among other places across Earth, America to have witnessed every human child being compelled to suddenly stop and proclaim their message: "we are coming" at 8:40AM GMT on a Wednesday in September, despite most of the population being asleep at that time. (TV: Children of Earth: Day One) Angered that the British government had conducted secret negotiations with an alien race known as the 456, the President sent General Austin Pierce to London to convey his utmost fury at the matter. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Three) Austin, seeing the British government as responsible for the problem, took over the operation of handing over 10% of the world's children to the 456. British Prime Minister Brian Green later considered this "lucky": they could blame America. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Five)
2010s
In 2011, Carter sent letters written by the Eleventh Doctor to River Song, Amy Pond, Rory Williams, Canton Everett Delaware III, and the Doctor's younger self, asking them (bar the Doctor himself) to meet the Doctor in Lake Silencio in Utah. When they arrived the Doctor told Amy, River and Rory that they would have to go to "space, 1969." After Canton arrived, the Doctor, actually a Teselecta decoy, was shot by a younger version of River. Canton informed the others that the Doctor was really dead, and they cremated his supposed body. After Amy, Rory, and River found the Doctor's younger self, they travelled back in time to 8 April 1969. (TV: The Impossible Astronaut, The Wedding of River Song)
During the 2010s invasion of Earth by parallel universe Cybermen, America was among the places where they landed. (AUDIO: Master of Worlds)
In 2015, relations between the United States and Cuba remained tense. (AUDIO: The Eight Truths)
Also in 2015, the USA-Mexican border was among the places where newly-hatched Zygons were settled across the world as part of Operation Double, resulting in a minority of Zygons residing in New Mexico under the pretence of being British migrants. (TV: The Zygon Invasion)
The World Zone Authority was headquartered in the old United Nations building in New York. (TV: The Enemy of the World)
Mid 21st century
In the 2030s, the United States was a rival of the Eurozone. During the Felix Mather presidency, both blocs sent peacekeeping forces to North Africa. (PROSE: Trading Futures)
Circa 2037 the Wars of Independence broke up the United States. Terrorists destroyed the city of Phoenix, Arizona using a Tesla bomb. It was turned into a massive crater which came to be known as the "Phoenix Sandbowl". (PROSE: Alien Bodies)
The 2040s saw destructive super-storms sweep America as a result of climate change. Andy Stone's farming commune in Iowa pioneered ways of growing crops in the new conditions and these went global in 2045. (TV: The Waters of Mars)
America had a female president in 2049. While NASA still existed, it had been so long since they had gone beyond Earth's orbit that they had to refit an old 20th century shuttle to reach the moon. (TV: Kill the Moon)
In 2054, the Montana Republican Militia bought thermosystron bombs from the Selachians and tried to invade Canada. (PROSE: Alien Bodies)
America was part of the multinational Bowie Base One mission on Mars in 2058-2059. Andy Stone, Mia Bennett, and Roman Groom were part of the American team. (TV: The Waters of Mars)
Late 21st century
Due to the Myloki conflict of 2066-8 (in which New York City was destroyed by dirty bombs), by 2096 America was split into the warring North American Legion and Deep Southern States, with the Texas Republic selling weapons to both sides. Seattle was one of several independent city-states operating a slave-based economy. A large number of Americans served in SILOET.
When the Myloki returned, Atlanta was one of the areas hit with their blight. (PROSE: The Indestructible Man)
Fall
By 2118, America and Europe had been using Africa to grow new foodstuffs for their populations. (PROSE: The Art of Destruction)
In 2146 America's economy collapsed, causing food riots. (PROSE: Lucifer Rising) This, or perhaps a later economic meltdown, was abated by the Conglomerate. (AUDIO: The Sands of Life)
When the Daleks invaded Earth in 2157, New York City was destroyed. (TV: The Chase) It would not be fully repaired for decades. (PROSE: Salvation; AUDIO: Return of the Rocket Men)
26th century
Probably well before the mid 26th century, much of what was once the southern United States had sunk under the "Mississippi Sea". (PROSE: Home)
Legacy
In the 26th century the White House, which had been the residence for the president of the United States, had become the residence for the President of Earth. (AUDIO: Scorpius)
At one point, America was home to one of the five ioniser bases keeping back the glaciers of the second Ice Age. (TV: The Ice Warriors)
By the 51st century, America seemed to be unheard of by some humans. When River Song escaped from the Stormcage Containment Facility, she announced she was heading to America, which a prison guard mistook as a planet. (TV: The Impossible Astronaut)
- The date of River's escape was unknown in The Impossible Astronaut, but as the date of her escape in The Pandorica Opens was 5145, it seems likely her second escape was also in the 52nd century.
By 200100, the USA was part of the New American Alliance. When the Daleks attacked, most of the population was killed and the terrain was drastically altered. (TV: The Parting of the Ways)
The American city of New York became one of the most important cities in human history. Versions of New York city continued to exist for billions of years. (TV: New Earth, Evolution of the Daleks)
People and culture
U.S. popular culture had a significant influence on the rest of the Earth during the 20th and 21st centuries, especially in the Western world. U.S. music was heard all over the world, and included such forms as blues, jazz and rock and roll. As late as the final destruction of Earth during the expansion of its Sun, much of this music was still considered among the greatest ever composed by humanity. (TV: The End of the World)
The Master cited Uncle Sam and grits as American things. (TV: The Sound of Drums)
American DJs were well liked by the DJ of Tranquil Repose, who based his style of presentation on them. Peri Brown thought of "Tranquil Repose" as the sort of name for a place in America; the Sixth Doctor agreed but thought America did not have a monopoly on bad taste. (TV: Revelation of the Daleks)
Guns were readily available in the US. The Sixth Doctor joked that Americans gave away guns with breakfast cereal. (AUDIO: Shield of the Jötunn)
Languages
The United States was home to a variety of languages, including English (TV: The Gunfighters, Daleks in Manhattan, The New World, et al.) and Spanish. (AUDIO: The Dollhouse)
Economy
By the 20th century, the United States had a decimal currency. (TV: "An Unearthly Child")
Companions and Time Lords
- The Doctor had the company of American companions from time to time, most notably Peri Brown (TV: Planet of Fire to TV: Mindwarp) and Dr. Grace Holloway. (TV: Doctor Who) He also had two companions from New Mexico in 1958, Cassie Rice and Jimmy Stalkingwolf, (TV: Dreamland) and two from New York City, Gabby Gonzalez and Cindy Wu. (COMIC: Revolutions of Terror)
- The Master once briefly appropriated the body of an American paramedic (TV: Doctor Who) and later became Barack Obama, American president (along with every other person on earth). (TV: The End of Time)
- Though he was from the Boeshane Peninsula in the 51st century, Captain Jack Harkness had an American accent, as did his father and brother. (TV: Adam)
Largest cities
New York City was destroyed during the 22nd century Dalek invasion, (TV: The Chase) while Los Angeles was still a major global centre in the early years of the Earth Empire. (TV: Frontier in Space)
US states
- Main article: State#United States
Alternate timelines
In an alternate timeline in which Nazi Germany won World War II as a result of the Seventh Doctor and Ace accidentally leaving laser technology in Colditz Castle in October 1944, the Nazi scientists were able to refine uranium and create nuclear weapons. They subsequently bombed New York City, forcing the surrender of the United States and winning the war for Germany. (AUDIO: Klein's Story)
In an alternative timeline created by the Elder Gods in the hope of destroying Earth, World War III broke out on 9 November 1989 between the United States and its allies, and the Soviet Union. Given that nuclear weapons were used by both sides, hundreds of millions of people were killed in the conflict. This timeline was ultimately negated by the Seventh Doctor. (AUDIO: Protect and Survive)
In an alternate timeline in which John Hart married Queen Victoria in the late 19th century, he manipulated her into using the resources of the Torchwood Institute to reclaim the United States as part of the British Empire. (AUDIO: The Death of Captain Jack)
Parallel universes
In a parallel universe where Earth was affected by rapid climate change caused by an extraterrestrial force, the United States was part of the Big Six, with government officials knowing the truth about global warming. The country was governed by a female president. (AUDIO: The Flood)
In another parallel world, given England's irradiated landscape, the March of the Adipose took place in America, with sixty million Americans being dissolved into fat. (TV: Turn Left)
In the Unbound Universe, the Master recalled that the Probe 7 disaster had left "a line of mile wide craters across America". (AUDIO: Sympathy for the Devil)
Behind the scenes
- Despite the franchise's popularity in the US, since 1963 only a handful of TV episodes have featured scenes set within the US, and to date there have only been nine TV stories set in their entirety in that country:
- The Gunfighters, set in Arizona (the only story of the classic 1963-89 series set entirely in the US)
- The 1996 TV movie, set in California
- Dalek, set in Utah
- Daleks in Manhattan / Evolution of the Daleks, set in New York
- Dreamland, set in Nevada
- The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon, set in Utah, Washington DC, Florida, New York, and Nevada
- A Town Called Mercy, set in Nevada
- The Angels Take Manhattan, set in New York
- Rosa, set in Alabama
- A map of the United States is shown in the episode Dalek, set in the then future year of 2012. However, it contains some notable errors:
- Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island are shown as one state.
- New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland are also shown as one state.
- The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is completely missing.
- In the mid-1980s, plans were made to film part of The Two Doctors in the US, possibly in the vicinity of New Orleans. This plan was cancelled and the serial was filmed in Spain, instead. For most of Doctor Who's history, no story had undertaken major filming within the United States (the 1996 telefilm, though set in San Francisco, was filmed in Vancouver, Canada); some second-unit filming occurred for Daleks in Manhattan, but nothing involving the main cast. No major filming in America occurred until autumn 2010, when key scenes for The Impossible Astronaut, Day of the Moon, and The Wedding of River Song were filmed in Utah.
- Dapol, which produced a range of toys based on the classic series of Doctor Who, released an original Dalek variant (W008-USA) exclusive to the American market, coloured in red, white and blue to match the American flag.
Footnotes
- ↑ The present day of Doctor Who's fourth series is not consistently dated, with TV: The Fires of Pompeii, TV: The Waters of Mars, and AUDIO: SOS setting the present of the 13 regular episodes in 2008, and PROSE: Beautiful Chaos setting them in about April to June 2009.
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