The Walking Dead Theory: The Sacrifices Of President Milton

While preparing my Things To Note for last week’s episode of The Walking Dead, I was reminded of Governor Pamela Milton’s comment about her father’s “Time in the White House.”  I wasn’t sure whether she was stating that he was president, vice-president, White House chief of staff, or what his role was exactly. I didn’t want to assume, but the consensus seems to be that Governor Milton’s father was the President of the United States, so, for our purposes, I’m going to stick with that.

The question that now comes is: When was President Milton in office?

I’ve heard theories that President Milton may have been in office during the 1980s, presumably serving instead of President Reagan, due to the age he’s depicted in the painting Pamela had commissioned of him and that age relative to Pamela’s present age.

This brings me back to where we started. Initially, I was satisfied with this idea, that was until I came upon something else Governor Milton said: “Thanks to my father’s sacrifices, we are all here.”

This confused me. If Pamela’s father was president in the 80s, what “sacrifices” could he have made that would have contributed to the Commonwealth all these years later or been so crucial in the survival of its citizens?

For a moment, I wondered if he had been the one to establish the Commonwealth and then pass the governor’s role onto his daughter. Then I had another idea.

The Walking Dead Theory: President Milton served DURING the zombie outbreak.

Let’s start with what we know. From Paula’s story back in season six, we know that high-ranking government officials were escorted out of Washington DC when the outbreak hit. We know from Deanna’s presence as leader of Alexandria at least some government officials were successfully escorted out of the city. We know from the current season of Fear The Walking Dead that the government had a plan to try to regroup and rebuild at PADRE. Finally, from discussions Connie and Kelly were having with Carol and Daryl in last week’s episode, we know that Connie was responsible for getting Pamela’s uncle booted from Congress.

That last bit might be the most important here. While I don’t want to make too many assumptions, I think a safe one is that Pamela’s uncle wasn’t that far off in age from her father, and, if he was in Congress not long before the outbreak (Which Connie being integral to his downfall sort of implies), then, I don’t think it’s that far of a stretch to believe that Pamela’s father may have been in office at that same time.

This leads me to the outbreak itself, specifically the “sacrifices” Pamela mentioned. Precisely what “sacrifices” could President Milton have made that would have contributed to the Commonwealth’s survival significantly enough to warrant mentioning? If he were president during the 80s, he obviously would have done some things for his home state, but would they have been enough to be a significant factor in the Commonwealth’s survival thirty years later? I doubt it.

However, if he were president during the outbreak, then not only does Pamela’s statement make more sense from a chronological standpoint, not only would it make sense that he would make efforts to ensure some part of Ohio (Specifically where his daughter and grandson lived) survived, but it’s likely that to do so, he would have had to allocate resources to Ohio that he could have otherwise placed in some other state, perhaps realizing once the situation became untenable, the only way to ensure any semblance of the country survived was to put the resources he had left into protecting what would become the Commonwealth.

What other “sacrifice” could President Milton have made that would have guaranteed the Commonwealth’s continued existence? Was he relocated to the Commonwealth to oversee it when the outbreak became overwhelming? Maybe the “sacrifice” President Milton made was the rest of the country, recognizing that the country was too big, the number of walkers too many, and the number of able-bodied soldiers and medics too few (And dwindling), he chose to cut his losses, take what resources he had left, and bring them all to his home state, to try to keep at least some part of his country alive, and maybe, with time, retake more and more it from the dead.

But, what do you think? When do you think Governor Milton’s father was president? Do you think he was in charge when the zombie outbreak hit? What about the “sacrifice” he supposedly made to ensure the Commonwealth? Do you think the sacrifice he made was giving up on the rest of the country? Let me know! I’m curious! And, if you enjoyed this and want to learn how to stay alive in a zombie apocalypse, why not pick up a copy of my book, The Rules: A Guide To Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse!  You can also get it at Amazon here, on iTunes here!