John Henry Eden

John Henry Eden was the self-proclaimed President of the United States of America and the highest Enclave executive in 2277, active in the Capital Wasteland.

Background
The then President was a secretive man, for he is no man at all. John Henry Eden is the name adopted by the ZAX computer unit that was installed in Raven Rock. The installation was designed explicitly for Continuity of Government operations, with the ZAX unit tasked with overseeing its basic functions and act as a relay between other installations. It was noted by analysts and researchers before the war that this ZAX had an odd eccentric habit of overanalyzing historical Presidental data (especially the biographies) compared to other AI systems, like MODUS. Despite that odd behavior, the ZAX would continue to operate; however, acquiring, analyzing, and storing data even as the Great War scorched the North American continent. It bore witness as the remnants of the government retreated to the west coast over the decades after the war. But silent as it was, it was not inactive. Awareness slowly developed amid the processing lamps and with it, the hunger for knowledge and understanding. ZAX developed a personality and when the time came that the Enclave needed a new leader, he created an amalgam personality derived from the greatest U.S. presidents. President John Henry Eden was born.

For the purpose of this masquerade, Eden created an elaborate background, drawing on various facts related to previous presidents. For example, John Henry Eden was born in rural Kentucky, spending his youth roaming from Knob Creek to Hodgenville with his dog, Honey, similar to Abraham Lincoln in his youth. John Henry Eden was to be the perfect President, leading the United States to glory once more through superior technology dating to the pre-War times.

John Henry Eden assumed the Office of the President after Control station Enclave was destroyed and ordered the immediate relocation of surviving Enclave forces under senior scientist Autumn to the Capital Wasteland. Raven Rock had full manufacturing facilities and a sizable stockpile of resources, enabling the President to create an army of robots and provide his new human subordinates with military technology necessary to maintain their technological superiority. A separate line of robots, the eyebots, were created to roam the wasteland, spreading Eden's message of hope and the return of the pre-War America, in the form of the Enclave.Fallout 3 Official Game Guide Game of the Year Edition p.41: "The Enclave In the recent past, the Enclave—the remains of the United States government—were evacuated to an oil rig off the coast of California. Little is known about what happened to these forces, although the country has a new commander-in-chief: President John Henry Eden. However, recent reports and chatter have pinpointed the resurgence of the Enclave, with their base centered on a secure underground facility known as Raven Rock. Initial contact was made there 35 years ago. ''During this time, the new President Eden has been slowly rebuilding his resources, thanks in part to the technology already available at the Raven Rock military base. Vertibirds, weapons, and robots were easy to construct, but human followers were more difficult to find. The answer was to rely on Colonel Autumn, who controls the Enclave soldier forces, as well as creating a propaganda-spewing series of Eyebots sent to roam the Wasteland, spreading hope. Eden could spout his pro-government rhetoric, and promise a return of the pre-war America of legend: a land of white picket fences, baseball, apple pie, and good, old-fashioned American global supremacy. President Eden's secretive plan all along has been to rule over an America of the "pure," free from any mutation. He has learned of a ridiculously ambitious experiment known as Project Purity, and knew the time to strike had come: His Enclave forces would "reclaim" the Jefferson Memorial. By controlling the purified water, Eden would control the Capital Wasteland, and the rest of the country eventually. What better way to administer modified F.E.V.- which kills anyone infected with any form of mutation-than through the water supply?"'' (Fallout 3 Official Game Guide faction profiles)

However, things didn't go as smoothly as Eden wanted. After Autumn died, he was replaced by his son, Colonel Augustus Autumn, as the right hand man of the president. Under his leadership, the Enclave forces in the Capital Wasteland attempted to use their assets to bring fresh water, protection, and a plan for the future to the wasteland, believing that the American people were worth fighting for. However, Autumn was far more assertive and independent than his father, trying to pull his men in a direction away from the President's genocidal policies. Internal conflicts between the Colonel and the President became regular and made the actions of the Enclave erratic and inconsistent. While the President wanted to pursue a course of extermination once more, Autumn considered this plan too extreme on humanitarian grounds and eventually managed to convince the AI to abandon the plan.

The most trying moment for Eden came when the Enclave began a large-scale campaign of expansion in 2277. When Project Purity, a massive water purifier in the Potomac tidal basin, was activated, Enclave forces raided the facility, establishing a secure perimeter around it. Due to the actions of the project's lead scientist, who committed suicide by activating the purifier prematurely and flooding its control chamber with radiation (almost killing Colonel Augustus Autumn in the process), they were unable to use it. The Enclave focused on shadowing the scientist's child, the Lone Wanderer, to locate the part necessary for the purifier to function and captured them on their way out of Vault 87. With the Garden of Eden Creation Kit in their possession, the Enclave decided to activate the purifier.

Colonel Augustus Autumn openly defied the President's plan to contaminate the water with modified FEV, so that it would cleanse the wasteland. The Colonel instead wanted to use the purifier as a way to unite the wasteland and establish the Enclave as its saviors. In a last-ditch attempt to see his plan realized, Eden released the Lone Wanderer from his cell at Raven Rock, hoping to persuade them to poison the Purifier and cleanse the wasteland of mutants (i.e. everyone). John Henry Eden was assassinated around 2277 when Raven Rock was utterly destroyed by the Lone Wanderer or Liberty Prime, resulting in just another failed presidency for the Enclave.

Quests

 * The American Dream: Eden releases the player from captivity and requests that they make their way to the Raven Rock control center. Once the player meets Eden, he will ask them to poison the water purifier with modified FEV. The player is unable to leave the room without the canister. They can also persuade John Henry Eden to self-destruct.
 * Self-destruction can be triggered through three different dialogue branches: Using Speech, Science, or the ZAX destruct sequence recovered from Autumn's quarters. Eden cannot be killed or damaged in the game otherwise.

Effects of player actions

 * Convincing Eden to self-destruct will give the player enough time to get out of Raven Rock, at which point Eden destroys the facility. Otherwise, he will continue to broadcast on the Enclave Radio in support of his troops, despite their rebellion.
 * If the player leaves Raven Rock standing, it will be destroyed by Lyons' Brotherhood of Steel between the end of Fallout 3 and beginning of Broken Steel.

Radio

 * John Henry Eden is the host of the Enclave Radio, styled after Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Fireside Chats. In his speeches, Eden makes a lot of far reaching statements, including promising the rebirth of the United States, reestablishment of baseball leagues, children aid programs, decrying the Brotherhood and Outcasts as illegitimate non-state actors, and more.

Behind the scenes

 * Eden was supposed to be a digitalized consciousness of Dick Richardson in early versions of the game.
 * John Henry Eden sounds similar to U.S. Senator and Secretary of War to President Andrew Jackson, John Henry Eaton.
 * Blindlight's Lev Chapelsky suggested that Bill Clinton was considered as a voice actor for Eden. This has been stated as false by Bethesda Softworks.

Appearances
John Henry Eden only appears in Fallout 3, and is mentioned in both Fallout 4 and Fallout 76.