Sebastian Summers

2024-11-30T22:48:37Z

Aspara: Created page with "{{Icons|Altverse II|Continental|UC_pol}} {{Short description|President of the United Commonwealth from 2001 to 2009}} {{Redirect|Summers||Sebastian Summers (disambiguation)|and|Summers (disambiguation)}} {{Infobox officeholder |honorific-prefix = |name = Sebastian Summers |honorific-suffix = |image = Jesse Jackson 2013.jpg |imagesize = 200 |smallimage = |caption = Summers in 2008 |order =..."

{{Icons|Altverse II|Continental|UC_pol}}
{{Short description|President of the United Commonwealth from 2001 to 2009}}
{{Redirect|Summers||Sebastian Summers (disambiguation)|and|Summers (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix =
|name = Sebastian Summers
|honorific-suffix =
|image = Jesse Jackson 2013.jpg
|imagesize = 200
|smallimage =

|caption = Summers in 2008
|order = [[President of the United Commonwealth]]
|term_start = 20 January 2001
|term_end = 20 January 2009
|1blankname = [[Premier of the United Commonwealth|Premier]]
|1namedata = {{unbulleted list|[[Michael Broussard]]|[[Helen Poirier]]|}}
|2blankname = {{nowrap|[[Vice President of the United Commonwealth|Vice President]]}}
|2namedata = [[Joseph H. Seadon]]
|predecessor = [[Jackson Rothko]]
|successor = [[Helen Poirier]]

|order2 = [[Chairman of the Central Military Commission]]
|term_start2 = 8 December 2003
|term_end2 = 29 January 2008
|predecessor2 = Jackson Rothko
|successor2 = Helen Poirier

|order3 = [[First Secretary of the Continentalist Party]]
|term_start3 = 25 May 1997
|term_end3 = 25 May 2009
|3blankname3 = {{nowrap|[[General Secretary of the Continentalist Party of the United Commonwealth|General Secretary]]}}
|3namedata3 = {{unbulleted list|Jackson Rothko|[[Sarah Volantino]]|}}
|predecessor3 = Sarah Volantino
|successor3 = [[Daniel Muir]]

|order4 = [[Vice President of the United Commonwealth]]
|term_start4 = 20 January 1997
|term_end4 = 20 January 2001
|president4 = Jackson Rothko
|predecessor4 = Sarah Volantino
|successor4 = Joseph H. Seadon

|order5 = [[Vice Premier of the United Commonwealth]]
|term_start5 = 20 November 1992
|term_end5 = 25 November 1996
|premier5 = [[Aeneas Baker]]
|predecessor5 = [[Lawrence K. Williams]]
|successor5 = Michael Broussard

|subcommanders =
|birth_date = {{nowrap|Sebastian Martin Jordan}}<br/>{{birth date and age|1942|1|25|df=y}}
|birth_place = {{flagicon|Mississippi}} {{W|Hattiesburg, Mississippi|Hattiesburg}}, [[Mississippi]], [[Okaloosa|Okaloosan CR]], United Commonwealth
|death_date =
|death_place =
|resting_place =
|nationality =
|constituency =
|party = [[File:Continental Star.svg|22x20px]] [[Continentalist Party of the United Commonwealth|Continentalist Party]]
|parents =
|rhouse =
|spouse = {{marriage |[[June Norris]]|1965}}
|multiple_spouses =
|children = 5, including [[Sebastian Summers Jr.|Sebastian Jr.]]
|issue =
|residence =
|alma_mater = {{w|Florida A&M University}} ({{W|Bachelor of Science|BS}})
|profession =
|religion = {{Nowrap|{{W|Southern Baptist Convention|Southern Baptist}} (1942-1966)<br/>{{W|Irreligion|Irreligion}} (1966-present)}}
|signature =
|website = {{URL|sebastiansummers.ucom|Official website}}

| mawards = ''[[Sebastian Summers#Awards and honors|See below]]''
| footnotes =
{{Collapsible list
|titlestyle= background-color:#FCF;text-align:center;
|title= Central institution membership
|bullets=on
|2003-2008:[[22nd Central Military Commission of the United Commonwealth|22nd]], [[23rd Central Military Commission of the United Commonwealth|23rd]] Central Military Commission
|1992-2009: [[Presidium of the 20th National People's Congress|20th]], [[Presidium of the 21st National People's Congress|21st]], [[Presidium of the 22nd National People's Congress|22nd]],
[[Presidium of the 23rd National People's Congress|23rd]] Presidium
|1993-2009: [[Secretariat of the 30th Congress of the Continentalist Party|30th]], [[Secretariat of the 31st Congress of the Continentalist Party|31st]], [[Secretariat of the 32nd Congress of the Continentalist Party|32nd]], [[Secretariat of the 33rd Congress of the Continentalist Party|33rd]] Secretariat
|1989-2012: [[Central Committee of the 29th Congress of the Continentalist Party of the United Commonwealth|29th]], [[Central Committee of the 30th Congress of the Continentalist Party of the United Commonwealth|30th]], [[Central Committee of the 31st Congress of the Continentalist Party of the United Commonwealth|31st]], [[Central Committee of the 32nd Congress of the Continentalist Party of the United Commonwealth|32nd]], [[Central Committee of the 33rd Congress of the Continentalist Party of the United Commonwealth|33rd]], [[Central Committee of the 34th Congress of the Continentalist Party of the United Commonwealth|34th]] Central Committee
|1988-2012: [[19th National People's Congress of the United Commonwealth|19th]], [[20th National People's Congress of the United Commonwealth|20th]], [[21st National People's Congress of the United Commonwealth|21st]], [[22nd National People's Congress of the United Commonwealth|22nd]], [[23rd National People's Congress of the United Commonwealth|23rd]], [[24th National People's Congress of the United Commonwealth|24th]] National People’s Congress
}}

----
{{Collapsible list
|titlestyle= background-color:#FCF;text-align:center;
|title=Other offices held
|bullets=on
|1994-1997: Secretary, Continentalist Party
|1989-1992: Party Secretary, Florida
|1984-1988: Governor, Florida
|1982-1984: State Treasurer, Florida
|1978-1982: Party Secretary, Callahania
}}
}}

'''Sebastian Martin Summers''' ({{W|né}} '''Jordan'''; born 25 January 1942) is a retired [[United Commonwealth|Continental]] politician who served as [[President of the United Commonwealth]] from 2001 to 2009. He assumed the office as the first [[African-Continental]] in the union's history and was also the first president to be born after the [[Great War]]. Before and during his presidency, he held several other important positions, including [[Vice Premier of the United Commonwealth|Vice Premier]] from 1992 to 1996, [[Vice President of the United Commonwealth|Vice President]] from 1997 to 2001, and [[First Secretary of the Continentalist Party of the United Commonwealth|First Secretary]] of the [[Continentalist Party of the United Commonwealth|Continentalist Party]] from 1997 to 2009. He was the de facto [[List of leaders of the United Commonwealth|paramount leader]] of the United Commonwealth from 2003 to 2009.

Born in {{w|Hattiesburg, Mississippi|Hattiesburg}}, [[Mississippi]], Summers grew up in a working-class family and graduated from {{w|Florida A&M University}}. He became involved with running labor unions in {{w|Jacksonville, Florida|Callahania}}, where he began his political career. After serving in several offices, such as the city's Party Secretary and governor of [[Florida]], he was named a permanent member of the [[Central Committee of the Continentalist Party|Central Committee]] in 1989 as the new Party Secretary of Florida. Summers' abilities caught the eye of president [[Jackson Rothko]], who promoted him to Vice Premier and then Vice President. In [[2000 United Commonwealth legislative election|2000]], he campaigned for the presidency being seen as the only successor to Rothko, and that year, the [[National People's Congress]] elected him to the position almost unanimously.

During his first term, Summers generally followed the policies set by his predecessor. He championed the slogans "[[New Democracy]]" and "[[21st-Century Continentalism]]" to actively introduce cutting-edge technology into society. On the economic front, his government oriented toward {{w|economic democracy}} and urged companies, especially {{w|state-owned enterprise|state-owned enterprises}}, to expand domestic demand. As the Continental Republics increased the introduction of {{w|foreign direct investment|foreign capital}} more than late 1990s, the Commonwealth's economy maintained steady growth with an average {{w|gross domestic product|GDP}} growth rate of 3%. Despite Summers' leadership on the home affairs, general secretary Rothko still had the final say on diplomacy. The two criticized [[2004 invasion of Syria]] by the [[Anglo-America|Anglo-American]] coalition forces, showing solidarity with the [[Syrian Civil War|anti-war]] protests around the world. Half a year later, Rothko announced his full retirement from politics after which Summers was reelected president.

Summers' second term differed in many ways from his first. He worked out the "[[Rainbow Project]]" to mandate the federal government to increase the percentage of female and disabled bureaucrats. Following the failure of the response to {{w|Hurricane Katrina}} in 2005, Summers began to work seriously on {{w|social policy}}. With the help of his push, it was accomplished that the amendment of the [[Federal Housing and Development Act of 2006|Federal Housing and Development Act]], which allowed providing public houses to the low-income bracket and paying subsidy for their renovation. He also signed the [[Federal Community Health Improvement Act of 2006|Federal Community Health Improvement Act]], helping rural populations gain more affordable access to healthcare and reduce the financial burden associated with it. To secure the financial resources for these reforms, his administration raised {{w|corporate tax|corporate taxes}} despite resistance from industry. As for diplomacy, he sent military supplies to the [[Syrian opposition]] in an attempt to stop the [[Northern Treaty Organization]]'s intervention in the Middle East.

Summers transferred his presidency to [[Premier of the United Commonwealth|Premier]] [[Helen Poirier]] in 2009 and left his seat in the National People's Congress by 2012, ending his career in politics. He was widely endorsed among African-Continentals, however, his efforts to boost welfare for the poor while in office brought about discontent from the urban middle class. Many analysts at home and abroad agree that such people fueled the rise of radical {{w|populism|populists}} like [[Anthony Malito]]. Externally, Summers was condemned by the [[Conference of American States]] and the [[European Community]], for continuing the suppression of [[Factions of the Continentalist Party of the United Commonwealth#Democracy movement|democracy movements]] and for running reeducation camps targeted at dissidents. Meanwhile, his reputation was high in Asia and Africa since he had taken a strong stance against the invasion of Syria in the name of {{w|anti-imperialism}}.

==Early life and education==
Sebastian Martin Summers was born {{w|Legitimacy (family law)|out of wedlock}} on 25 January 1942 in {{w|Hattiesburg, Mississippi|Hattiesburg}}, [[Mississippi]]. His mother, Rebecca Jordan, was a 17-year-old housekeeper when she gave birth to him. His natural father, Thomas Benjamin Lewis, a construction worker who served as a soldier in the [[Continental Army]] during the [[Great War]], died of a car crash in 1947. The two broke up soon after their child's birth and {{w|Child custody|custody}} was awarded to Jordan. In 1943, Summers moved to {{w|Jackson, Mississippi|Choctaw}} with his mother and her new partner, Aaron Phillips. He attended the local Smith Robertson Elementary School, but left at age 8 when his parents split up due to {{w|domestic violence}}. After leaving Phillips, his family welcomed Vernon Summers as their new stepfather and relocated to {{w|Tampa, Florida|Tampa}}, [[Florida]].

In Tampa, Summers first went to Tampa Bay Boulevard Elementary School and then Memorial Middle School. He had to go to work after settling in Florida because his father's earnings from {{w|Cleaner|cleaning buildings}} were not enough to pay for his stepson's education expenses. Neighbors said that Summers held jobs as a {{w|paperboy}} and {{w|Butcher#Butcher shop|butcher shop}} clerk in the 1950s. At home, his energies were devoted to caring for his six half-siblings. He then attended {{w|Hillsborough High School (Tampa, Florida)|Hillsborough High School}}, gaining {{w|Letterman (sports)|letters}} in basketball, baseball and sprint. Since Summers stood out in his schoolwork, his principal encouraged him to enroll in college. Though his parents opposed it on grounds of financial burden, he agreed to the proposal.

He attended {{w|Florida A&M University}} on a full scholarship in 1960. Summers' motive behind choosing there lay in its heritage of being a {{w|Historically black colleges and universities|historically black college}} since the [[United Commonwealth (1866–1921)|Federalist Commonwealth]] era. Summers lived in a college dorm and took a part-time job at a sporting goods store. His savings during the undergraduate years were small owing to sending around half of the money he made to his parents' home in Tampa. Despite facing financial difficulties, he graduated from FAMU ''{{w|Latin honors#United States|magna cum laude}}'' in 1964 with a {{w|Bachelor of Science}} in Engineering.

==Union career==
Summers moved to {{w|Jacksonville, Florida|Callahania}} from {{w|Tallahassee, Florida|Tallahassee}} after college. He spent five years as an electrician for [[Continental Electric]]'s transportation department and found himself interested in union activities. Later, his leave from the job began his work in the management of the Callahania Railroad Workers Union. He was elected the chief of the union's youth wing in 1970 and secretary-general in 1972.

The {{w|union organizer}}'s activities enabled him to get involved with local politics. In 1974, {{w|Labour council|Callahania Labor Council}} appointed Summers as its chairman. He asked the city government to improve the worsening employment situation linked to {{w|stagflation}}, threatening a mass strike if it was not granted. Through negotiations with Summers, the city council decided to request the state government to raise the minimum wage by 5%, which was later accomplished. This event made him famous among the Continental Party members in the city and rapidly raised his rank.

==Early political career==
===Entry into politics ===
Summers had little opportunity to engage in politics before coming of age because his family was devout {{w|Baptists|Baptist}} and indifferent to socialist ideas. In 1963, he joined the [[Continentalist Party of the United Commonwealth|Continentalist Party]] at the urging of his friend and future wife, {{w|Civil rights movement|civil rights activist}} [[June Norris]], and formally renounced his belief in God. On admission, he also entered in the [[Continentalist Youth League]], where he remained until the age limit of 28 arrived.

Considered adept at the knack of winning over labor, Summers climbed the ladder of success in the local chapter of the party. He was tapped for the director of the {{w|Propaganda|Publicity Department}} in 1975 and moved up to Deputy Party Secretary of the city two years later. In August 1978, his immediate boss, Callahania Party Secretary Victor Lowe, resigned amid bribery allegations, and Summers replaced him to the de facto highest officer in the state capital. In November 1980, he was elected to the [[Continental Congress of Okaloosa]], joining Florida's congressional delegation.

He supported a host of innovative policies presented by [[Simon Valure]]'s new administration and offered an oblique criticism of the [[Okaloosa]] government's reluctance to enforce them. Under his leadership, the city authorities pushed for a tougher crackdown on corruption among the party members active in Callahania and helped clean up the {{w|St. Johns River}}, which had been polluted. He also built a monument in {{w|Downtown Jacksonville|Downtown Callahania}} honoring former president [[Elaine Carroll]], a reformist sympathizer, on her death there in 1981.

As a result of personnel changes following [[1982 Amendment to the Constitution of the United Commonwealth|constitutional amendment]] in June 1982, Summers resigned as the Party Secretary. Instead, governor [[Stephen Hendrix]] made him the {{w|state treasurer}} of Florida and chairman of the party branch's Finance Committee. Almost half a year into his office, he ordered {{w|Internal audit|internal audits}} of the Florida State Pension Office. These revealed that it had spent excessive costs to carry out its duties compared with its counterparts in other states. At his behest, the body began to correct its expenditure situation.

===Florida governorship===
In November 1984, Summers ran for governor of Florida and won unopposed thanks to the withdrawal of incumbent Lieutenant Governor [[Lydia Boyd]] from the ticket owing to a sudden illness. His main role as governor was to implement the policies set by Hendrix, who had been transferred to the state's Party Secretary. Florida's new {{w|Florida Cabinet|executive committee}} was formed at the same time as Summers' inauguration and consisted mainly of seasoned apparatchiks with more than 15 years of experience there.

Right at the start of his term, he had to respond to the issue of the military exercise in the {{w|Florida Straits}}. It had been planned by senior officials of the [[Continental Armed Forces]] and the [[Continental Revolutionary Guard]] as a check on the new [[Antilles|Antillean]] president, [[Eric Abarough]], who was to be installed in January 1985. The background lay in conservative dissatisfaction with president Valure's wimpy diplomatic approach, demonstrated by his handling of the [[Antillean War]]. In response, Hendrix and Summers expressed concern about what they saw as an attempt to escalate tensions. The [[Secretariat of the United Commonwealth|Secretariat]] supported them and forced the officers to cancel the military exercise plan in late December 1984, claiming that they lacked local approval.

Summers also helped curb property overdevelopment in his state. Florida's {{w|economic liberalization}} and deregulation in the late 1970s accelerated private home ownership and sales, especially in urban coastal areas. So the governor raised {{w|Inheritance tax|estate and inheritance taxes}} by 3 percent in 1987, which curtailed the speculative frenzy. In addition, his efforts were put into environmental protection policies. He imposed restrictions on {{w|industrial wastewater}} discharges to improve the water quality of {{w|Lake Okeechobee}} and {{w|Tampa Bay}} for the long term. His administration poured more funds than any before into protecting {{w|West Indian manatee|Florida manatees}} and {{w|American crocodiles}}, whose populations had dwindled.

===Florida party leadership===
Summers was elected to the National People's Congress in November 1988 and shortly thereafter finished his term as governor. He served on the Environment and Resource Conservation Committee and the Industry and Trade Committee of the [[House of the Republics]] (NPC's lower house). In June 1989, Summers was named Party Secretary of Florida at the same time that he rose to be a full member of the [[Central Committee of the Continentalist Party]]. He endorsed the crackdown campaign against corruption that the Rothko administration conducted at the federal level, removing and indicting some 150 state officials and party leaders, such as Eugene King, head of the [[Florida Department of Transportation]], and Robert C. Medina, chairman of the Organizational Bureau of the local party. Their vacated positions were filled afterwards by Summers' followers.

He reversed economic policies that had favored large state-owned and private enterprises. As a result of Summers' 1992 revision of [[state law|state law (United Commonwealth)]], subsidies to small businesses were increased and wealthy urban residents were tightened into their stranglehold economically. In answer to a petition from the [[Federation of Continental Women]], the party secretary pushed for women's career advancement. He decided in 1990 to raise the retirement age for female officials from 65 to 70 for the Florida chapter of the party to offset delayed promotions due to childbirth. Along with this, state legislation passed mandating priority career advancement for female civil servants with minor children.

When {{w|Hurricane Andrew}} hit in August 1992, Summers busied himself responding. Initially, the state government requested disaster assistance from the [[Okaloosa People's Commissariat for Emergency Management]], and later received help from the federal government, which deemed the situation serious. Summers mobilized members of the Continentalist Youth League across the country to volunteer for recovery efforts, galvanizing trade unions and student organizations to donate supplies. Such actions led to his nationwide recognition beyond his party.

==Rise to power==
===Vice Premiership (1992-1996)===
Summers was nominated as Vice Premier under the [[second Aeneas Baker government]] formed in November 1992. This personnel decision allegedly reflected the strong wishes of Rothko and the Okaloosa leadership, who highly valued his track record of implementing successful reformist policies in Florida, one of the most populous states in the union. As Vice Premier, Summers' portfolio covered internal affairs, transportation, labor, and social welfare. With little experience in federal government, he relied heavily on his aides and the other People's Commissars to perform his duties.

===Vice Presidency (1997-2001)===

==Presidency (2001-2008)==
==Post-presidency==
==Legacy==
==Public image==
==Personal life==
==Awards and honors==
==See Also==

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Sebastian Summers

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