John Henry Eden

John Henry Eden is the President of the Enclave and the self-proclaimed President of the United States in 2277.

Origins
John Henry Eden is not a human being, but an Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the form of a pre-War ZAX supercomputer. The ZAX that was located deep within Raven Rock was loaded with data about American history, especially past American presidents. Eden's personality is based on a combination of the personalities of all of the past Presidents of the United States. He speaks with a Virginian accent, as Virginia is the state that has produced the most presidents, even though he states he "[grew] up in rural Kentucky", a reference to Abraham Lincoln. Eden also states that he roamed with his dog Honey, "From Knob Creek to Hodgenville," areas close to Lincoln's birthplace.

Eden had originally been created to serve as a monitoring system for the Raven Rock military base, programmed to ensure continuity of government in the event of national catastrophe, and tasked with coordinating communications between the many Enclave installations scattered across the country. He slowly became self-aware and began to study the extensive archives left to him, mainly those of the American government. His favorite tales in the database were those about the American presidents, so he modeled his own personality on information based in those archives.

Rise to power
At some point after gaining self-awareness, Eden made contact with the Enclave leadership on the West Coast and established himself as a Presidential Adviser. In 2242, following the death of President Dick Richardson and most of the Enclave's leadership structure during the destruction of the oil rig, Eden took control of the surviving Enclave forces on the West Coast and ordered the Enclave's relocation to Raven Rock on the East Coast, claiming to be the Enclave's new president. The troops made their journey to the East Coast, led by a high-ranking scientist named Autumn. Upon their arrival, Autumn became the only person privy to the fact that Eden was an AI. He passed that knowledge onto his son, Augustus Autumn, who would eventually become the leader of the Enclave's military forces.

On the radio
Several recorded monologues of Eden's are broadcast repeatedly on Enclave Radio. His intimate and conversational style is in imitation of former US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Fireside Chats. These prerecorded messages are also played all throughout the wasteland via the Enclave eyebots.

Quests

 * The American Dream: When you finally meet Eden in person, he wants you to poison the water supply with a modified form of FEV. You can agree to do as he says or talk him into self-destructing. You are, in either case, unable to exit the room before you pick up the FEV canister.

Effects of player actions

 * The player can convince him to destroy Raven Rock and himself through three different dialogue paths. Two of the paths require special conditions to be met: one requires knowledge of the Raven Rock destruction sequence, the other requires high Science skill to open a dialogue option. The last path is an average difficulty Speech check.
 * If the player leaves Raven Rock without destroying President Eden, the President will broadcast a declaration of war on Enclave Radio during the final quest Take it Back!, rallying the Enclave forces at the Purifier and promising that the Enclave will triumph over the Brotherhood of Steel. Three Dog will likewise broadcast an announcement on Galaxy News Radio accusing the Lone Wanderer of joining forces with President Eden. At the beginning of Broken Steel, Elder Lyons will mention that Liberty Prime has attacked and destroyed Raven Rock during the transition period between the main game and Broken Steel, suggesting that Eden has been destroyed or at least buried beneath a large amount of rubble.

Notable quotes

 * "But for now, my America, we must part. Restoring the greatest country in the world to its former glory, well, well, heh, heh... Well, that takes time, even for the Enclave."
 * "When I was a child, growing up in rural Kentucky, I had the best friend a boy could hope for, my dear old dog, Honey."
 * "Associate with men of good quality, if you esteem your own reputation, for it is better to be alone, than in bad company."
 * "We can afford all we need; but we cannot afford all we want."
 * "Our intrepid leaders had everything they wanted: power, wealth, prestige; and it made them lazy, America. Oh yes, and laziness breeds stupidity."

Appearances
John Henry Eden appears only in Fallout 3

Behind the scenes

 * In early versions of the game, Eden was actually a copy of Dick Richardson's consciousness uploaded into a computer.
 * Eden's name is probably a corrupted version of John Henry Eaton, US Senator and Secretary of War to President Andrew Jackson.
 * Blindlight's Lev Chapelsky has suggested that a tentative approach was made to former US President Bill Clinton to voice Eden.
 * When he speaks about his boyhood on the Enclave Radio, he mentions growing up in Kentucky. As he is comprised of the personalities of several different presidents, he got this one from the 16th President of the United States Abraham Lincoln, who grew up there as a child.