Thomas Marshall

    

Thomas Marshall
Official Portrait, 1994
President of the United Commonwealth of America
In office January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001
Vice President	Michael Lockhart
Preceded by	Eric Abarough
Succeeded by	Carlton Woodbridge
Antillean Senator from Puerto Rico
In office January 3, 1985 – January 20, 1993
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	David Quayle
Chair of the Liberal Party
In office September 8, 1989 – January 1, 1991
Preceded by	Dean Elvis
Succeeded by	Party dissolved (Ben Gordon as Chair of the Civic Democratic National Committee)
Personal details
Born	Thomas David Marshall (1948-04-03) April 3, 1948 Saint Johns, Puerto Rico, Antilles
Political party	Civic Democratic
Other political affiliations	Liberal (1983–1991)
Spouse(s)	Mary Addison
Children	4
Parents	George Marshall Elizabeth Marshall
Education	University of the Antilles University of New Charleston
Religion	Episcopalian
Awards	List of awards and honors
Military service
Allegiance	Antilles
Branch/service	Antillean Army
Years of service	1969–1971
Battles/wars	Vietnam War

Thomas David Marshal (born April 3, 1948) is an Antillean politician, businessman, journalist, and environmental activist who served as the 31st president of the United Commonwealth of America between 1993 and 2001. He previously served as an Antillean Senator from Puerto Rico between 1985 and 1993 as one of the first democratically elected senators to the newly created legislative chamber. He is a member of the Civic Democratic Party and was the last chair of the Liberal Party from 1989 to 1991 where he played a crucial role in the creation of the party via the Unity Plan that merged the Liberal Party with the Civic National and Reform parties.

The son of politician and Senator-in-Absentia for Arkansas George Marshall, Thomas had previously served as a journalist for CBS News where he served as both a contributor and as a reporter where he joined in 1973 while studying in university. In 1984, Marshall ran in the first democratic elections in the Antilles as part of the country's transition towards democracy where he ran to represent his home commonwealth of Puerto Rico in the Senate where he ran on the Liberal Party ticket and was successfully elected to the chamber. In 1991, he successfully merged the country's three main liberal parties into he Civic Democratic Party as a means of creating an effective opposition agains the Federalist Party and secured the party's nomination for the 1992 presidential election where he emerged victorious over his Federalist opponent Glenn Faulkner, becoming the first non-Federalist president in Antillean history. As president, Marshall oversaw a period of significant economic expansion and development along with the continuation of democratic transition of the country. Under Marshall, the nation's economy expanded at an unprecedented rate with the country's standard of living and quality of life improving in the process, rising from an average life expectancy of 68 in 1990 to 81 by 2000. Foreign investment and capital flooded into the country as a result of his economic policies and successfully diplomatic outreach that helped end the country's period of international isolation under Amelia Abarough along with a massive increase in the country's tourism industry helped in part by the legalization of gambling in the country via the Tourism and Entertainment Act and record growth for the Antilles Freedom Fund.

Due to Marshall's policy successes, the Civic Democrats held onto their majorities in the National Assembly and expanded them in the 1994 midterm elections with Marshall being successfully re-elected in 1996. In his second term, Marshall focused on domestic policy following major successes in his foreign policy with included the passing of the National Investment Act that expanded the country's social safety net to a previously unseen degree, establishment of a national pensions system and disability insurance program, and new welfare programs to alienating financially struggling citizens. Marshall also focused on addressing the economic gap between White Antilleans and racial minorities, in particular African Antilleans as part of a wider initiative at reducing levels of income inequality in the nation with the Civil Investment and Care Act in 1997. Marshall also passed major civil rights legislation including solidifying the end of legal racial segregation and passing anti-discrimination protections for all ethnic and racial minorities and even LGBT citizens with the Civil Rights Act of 1998. Marshall also had several government and military officials from the Abarough Period responsible for human rights violations and war crimes arrested and tried for their crimes with those involved in the concentration camp system as part of anglicization and pacification operations following the Cuban insurgency being tried and sentenced for their crimes. He would also appoint the first liberal justices to the Supreme Court. Marshall would not run for a third term in the 2000 presidential election, having taken the Washington Oath in November 1999 and instead endorsed his vice president Michael Lockhart for the subsequent general election against Carlton Woodbridge.

Following the end of his presidency, Marshall remained active in politics and became an author, public speaker, and environmentalist focusing on climate change and its effects, both worldwide and in the Antilles. Since the 2000s, Marshall has been a prominent figure in climate change activism and has been involved in several climate organizations and caused worldwide including founding the Climate Reality Project, co-founded and lead the American Climate Solutions Initiative, and has spoken at numerous political events worldwide. In 2006, he directed and released Reality Check: An Inconvenient Truth that helped garner mainstream attention and scission about global warming and lead him to winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 alongside the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He would release a sequel Reality Check: A Decisive Moment in 2016. Between 2016 and 2020, Marshall had served as a civil advisor and co-chair to the Conference of American States American Climate Commission.

Both during and after his presidency, Marshall has received numerous awards and honors by national governments, non-governmental organizations, educational institutions, and other organizations and entities. His first award was the Vietnam Service Award in 1972 and would be followed with several awards for Reality Check including an Academy Award and Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary Film. Marshall would win the Novel Peace Prize in 2007 for the film, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018 by Michael Abarough in commemoration for integrating the Antilles into the international community during his presidency, and was given the Award of Civil Excellence by the American Parliament in 2020 for his work on climate change and policy solutions.

Early life and education

Thomas David Marshall was born on April 3, 1948, in the state capital city of Saint Johns in Puerto Rico. He was the second of two children born to George Marshall, a Congressional Representative and later Senator-in-Absentia for the state of Arkansas and Elizabeth (Pauline) Marshall, a nurse and lawyer who was one of the first female law practitioners in Saint Johns. Marshall is the descendent of German and English immigrants who settled in Virginia during the colonial era in the 17th century before moving to Tennessee following the American Revolutionary War. His later ancestors had fled to Arkansas during the Continental Revolutionary War and later fled to the Antilles during the Great Retreat in early 1921 towards the war's end where they evacuated via New Orleans in the Republic of Acadiana before its conquest by the Continental Revolutionary Army. The Marshall family had initially settled in Whiteport, Hispaniola, however the subsequent carnage caused by the Hispaniola Anarchy forced them to move to Saint Johns, Puerto Rico in 1923 where they've lived since.

During the school year, Marshall lived with his family in the family home in one of the residential areas in west central Saint Johns. During the summer season when he was off, he lived at and worked on a family-owned farm outside of the city where he helped raise cattle and grow crops such as hay, wheat, and tobacco. When he was seventeen, he and his uncle had successfully grown fruit and sold them at a local farmers' market for a notable profit.

Presidency (1993–2001)

Main article: Presidency of Thomas Marshall

Awards and honors

Main article: List of awards and honors received by Thomas Marshall

See also

• Environmental activism of Thomas Marshall