Judge Dredd and America’s Last President: Robert Booth
(AfroGamers.com) When you first dive into Judge Dredd, you’re treated to a late 21st century where crime still occurs even though the Judges are a trained and feared paramilitary force. They tend to hold ultimate control wherever they are because they upkeep the law and are supposed to be incorruptible. As for the citizenry, they tend to live comfy lives with severely reduced work hours because robots handle most of the work.
The result is often scammers and film-flam men presenting some new trend or sensation that has civilians—with time and money—to indulge that. When this happens, the Judges end up investigating this new thing and bust it up before further damage is done. That’s often the storyline loop of some early Judge Dredd standalone adventures.
The main setting of Mega-City One is one of several megacities in the franchise and the one that hasn’t been totally blown up by a nuclear strike. At one point it ran from Maine into Florida and out towards Montreal but now it goes from Maine to the Virginias. At one point, the population was at 800 million but in the “Day of Chaos” story arc, roughly 90% of the population was wiped out and now Mega-City One struggles to keep order, combat threats, and just economically.
How Did Mega-City One Get to This Point? President Booth
The reason the Judges rule things in MCO now and the laws are so strict is because they had to consolidate power during the term of the tyrannical President Robert Linus Booth. After servicing as governor of Texas City in the 2050s, he rose to the position of Vice President in 2060. Booth would achieve the role of President in 2068 but not without rigging voting machines.
Again, Mega-City One and the world of Judge Dredd is very corrupt. It’s a dystopian comic, after all.
While in office Booth pushed the Autonomy Law which allowed for Mega-City Two and Texas City to govern themselves, killed robot restrictions—so robots had more advanced AI, imposed strict immigration laws, and brought forth legislation that allowed for extreme violence in sports as long as it went down on the court or the field.
So, President Booth’s doing all of this was keeping rhetoric up around immigration and continued leaning hard into patriotism—to the point of accusing the rest of the world of leeching off of the U.S. Now, this wasn’t true as most megacities and countries pretty much handled their own business at this point without American intervention.
These threats and Booth’s push confirmed what the Judges had suspected: President Booth was unhinged and couldn’t be trusted. Chances were he’d have to be put down.
The 2070 Atomic Wars
Two years into his term, Booth had the U.S Army occupy different regions globally. Of course, this didn’t jive with everyone, and protests ensued. Booth would threaten dissenting voices to either get with the program or be clapped to sleep. At the time, megacities—or most of them—had a protection against a nuclear strike, so he Booth didn’t fear other countries spinning the block.
He launched nuclear missiles at America’s perceived enemies, destroying many cities. Missiles we’re fired back and much of the U.S was obliterated creating the Cursed Earth. Civilization would return to the Cursed Earth with some settlements popping up here and there.
With this, the Judges mobilized to bring Booth down and imprison him for war crimes. Since he had given robots advanced AI, he had his loyalists who joined him in fleeing MCO. A bloody war ensued between the robots and the Judges with Booth eventually being arrested. He was sentenced to 100 years in cryogenic stasis underneath what was left of Fort Knox. Three robot retainers would make sure Booth remained alive by cycling out his blood every year.
This would present a problem years later as the robot apparently ran out of blood and began taking it from locals who had established a settlement in the Cursed Earth. This led to rumors and folklore that a vampire existed in what was Kentucky.
Booth would return as a menace to the country until Judge Dredd entered the Cursed Earth en route to deal with zombie problem in Mega-City Two (California, Washington, and Oregon). He made his intent at a coup known and was handled by Judge Dredd and forced to work on a farm in the settlement where he had been imprisoned.
Ex-President Booth would return again planning another coup and had an army of mutants this time but he’d run into Judge Dredd once again. By this point his mutant army had tired of him and Booth was shot and killed as Dredd used him as a shield and hostage. Booth’s influence would take the form of the extremist faction Sons of Booth, led by his unaware son Linus.
So, a lot of the nonsense and insanity that goes on in Judge Dredd and the nature of the Judges running Mega-City One and other megacities? Yeah, an unhinged President Booth is the root of it.
Staff Writer; M. Swift
This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.
