Character Information Sheet
NS Nation Name: Taridaria
Character Name: Elmer Russel Stevens
Character Gender: Male
Character Age: 46
Character Height: 5’11”
Character Weight: 146
Character Position/Role/Job:
- United States Senator from Texas (1948-Present)
- United States Representative from Texas 7th Congressional District (1944-1948)
- Absence from Public Life post Assassination Attempt, Columnist and Poet (1942-1944)
- Pro bono Civil Rights Lawyer (1936 - 1942)
- Columnist at University of Texas (1930-1935)
Appearance:
Character State of Origin: Texas
Character State of Residence: Texas
Character Party Affiliation: Democratic Party
Main Strengths: Well liked, straight shooter, popular with progressive Democrats, prominent anti-segregationist, large sympathy vote, skilled lawyer, bit of a wordsmith, and debater
Main Weaknesses: Dismissive of counterviews, history of radical views during youth, significant anti-segregationist sentiments, single father of a girl that is growing up way too fast for him to keep up with, Insomniac, trauma from both assassination attempts, undiagnosed depression, chronic leg pain and limp
Biography: Elmer was born in the summer of 1913, with the world on the precipice of chaos, and spent the first few years of his life in relative isolation on his family farm. He spent most of that time with his father, the two of them close – the older man keen to see his son ready for the duties of land and people, and Elmer took great pleasure in watching his old man organise and plan and ready and generally be a quality farmer. The man was one of principle and one of unwavering moral fibre – and he instilled in the boy – even in his youth – a sense of duty towards all those who work under, with or over oneself. When his father left in the first months of 1917 and never came back, Elmer was lucky to enjoy the memories that seemed to stay with him throughout all his life.
His mother had been a beautiful, charming, and warm woman – who had come from the north and who had loved his father with a fervour few romances of the time seemed to match. His loss had, instead of breaking her, solidified her desire to see his work not go to waste. The good standing his family had with those who worked on their lands made it relatively easy for her to take over, learning from both the farmers and her son how to manage her husband’s legacy – and when questioned by those in the arounds – questioning whether she would marry and have another take care of her son and her home – she would firmly state that there was already a man of the house, before ruffling his hair – the two of them making their way away.
The vultures swooped in soon enough – and pressure had them selling the farm before he turned fifteen. They settled into a well furnished and well-made home – while the land was taken over by a local man that had seemed decent enough a buyer. Elmer had in his free time gone to the farm many times, until he could not take it anymore – the conditions of the workers – even within the law – had become so distressing he could no longer stand looking. With nothing they could do about it – and his father being away – his mother insisted that he take ‘this feeling of hopelessness and weakness – understand that what he felt many felt, she felt, and that he – being what he was, had a better chance of changing’ – something he only really understood some years later.
He went to study law in 1930, immediately signing up for a student newspaper, circulating ideas that had him more often than not come into conflict with both political influencers and police – his words allowing for a lot of leeway and many close calls with officials that seemed to take a liking to his candour even if they thought him a naïve little shit. He wrote often and debated just as often – riling up conflict where there perhaps should not have been, sometimes pushing too far, saying too much – until confident rebuttals and derision turned to threats of violence and death – first to him, which he found too unintimidating to take seriously, and then to his mother, which finally informed him to the consequences of publicity. His written sympathies with groups such as the LSNR stopped, as he found that if he wanted to make changes, he would first have to understand the laws through which the need for change was hampered. He graduated in 1935 – two years faster than most.
He spent the next few years working within the South trying to circumvent the constricting presence of segregation within the law – challenging with privately funded legal action the most egregious of the offences, learning many of the challenges of society and the falsehoods shared by those in power over those who they overpower. During this time he married Betty Watson, and together with his like-minded wife they set towards drawing in political and financial will with those who shared their sentiments. This fame – within the guise of official political manoeuvres and within the bounds of legal action seemed to limit the threats towards him for a while . During a fundraiser had been to raise awareness of the black presence within the war in Europe and show the value of all men as equal in the strife against fascism and racial discrimination, he had fallen from the stage in a freak accident - startled by the noise of sudden protestors against his legal support of southern laborers. Having been planning to go over himself – publicly unofficially recruiting as he went – it was a great disappointment for him that he would be considered a cripple and unable to sign up and emulate his father’s heroics. He spent much of his recovery time writing extremely frustrated critiques of the hypocrisy of men who would call for war and freedom and justice then rob a man of his right and duty to serve his country.
Till 1944 his wife took a backseat in the active work he did, taking care of their beautiful daughter that was spoiled rotten by her loving mother and father. His talks had shifted by this point towards the family, and the beauty of sharing love and equality in such a wondrous thing as the family unit – privately raising even sentiments of countering anti-miscegenation laws and suggesting that if a man could fight for the lives of a white woman in a war – then surely, he could fight for her hand in marriage as well. His daughter had been with her aging grandmother while Elmer and Betty had gone to a fund-raiser. There was a commotion and two shots. Both missed him. One met the brow of Betty. The newspapers the next day had pictures of a man using his walking cane to knock the gun out of the shooter’s hand, beating the man to near death – rage and tear-filled face obvious in even the grainy pictures. Publicly the man had admitted that Elmer had represented a girl the man's brother had abused and had put him away to the shame of his family.
The next two years were filled with quiet and intense depression – taking care of his daughter along with his mother, refusing to be seen publicly – writing non-stop, winning over hearts and minds with the words of a broken and desperate man, unsure of how to care for a little girl, and unsure of how to continue doing the work that he knew was critical and important – while knowing that he could not only leave her without a father, but had already cost her a mother. His mother had convinced him over a great deal of time – that nothing he had done was for the wrong reasons – and that putting his head in the sand would only allow this terrible reality to remain. It could only be changed by action. And he had already changed so many hearts – and perhaps he did not know it.
He ran for the seventh. He won. And so he was away, and he was in a place where the things he said so often were – if not welcomed at least endured with some level of honour. And he found that his hard truths could cut deep and swiftly when they had to, and he found that change was possible. Should he know the right people. Should he present the right ideas in the right way. With his daughter in a safe school, away from a place where people knew her and who her father was – he could dedicate himself to his goals – of racial and gender equality and freedom, with his nation taking responsibility for what they are and answering for the past, and readying for their future on the world stage.
Officially during his time as a representative and in the Senate he had been pushing for and voting for further rights and protections of southern black laborers. His decision to focus on workers has extended over into countering legislation seeking to further undermine the freedoms of women - particularly laws that would seek to undermine their rights to own property or the systems in place to discourage women setting out towards building their own wealth. This was partly augmented with his focus on the protections of free speech and the rights of leadership to voice their opinions and their goals without having to fear for the safety of their family members - something which was quite powerfully conveyed with him having lost his wife to southern radicals' responses to his views.
He also found that he has a soft heart for veteran’s affairs - pushing for security in the rewards for service, his rather popular 4H Plan pushing housing, health and honours for heroes of the second world war, hoping to offer the best of them land with which to prosper and raise families that understand the values of heroism and sacrifice. He has also pushed for fair trade of farmers in the hopes of celebrating an ‘honest’ living as a testament to his father. His road was ahead of him - and if that road took him to the Senate – then it did. And if that road took him to the presidency… well then – so it may.
Other Info: He does not date and still wears his wedding ring even though he feels that he needs to find a mother for his daughter. He has not been able to – and now at 17 he is not sure if she needs one anymore.
I have read and accepted the rules of the roleplay: Taridaria
Do Not Remove: 84721
