House of Cards Wiki
Register
Advertisement
House of Cards Wiki
The subject of this article appeared in the U.S. TV series.



Claire Hale (formerly Underwood) is an American politician who is the 47th and current President of the United States. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the 51st Vice President of the United States during her husband Frank Underwood's short-lived second term in 2017, as Acting President of the United States during the contested 2016 presidential election, as First Lady of the United States from 2014 to 2017, and as Second Lady of the United States from 2013 to 2014. Claire is the first woman to serve as president and vice president.

Claire was originally from the exclusive Highland Park enclave of Dallas, Texas. While studying Environmental Health and Chemistry at Radcliffe College in Cambridge, she met Frank, a Harvard Law student from South Carolina, and they married in 1987. She subsequently achieved a masters in public health from Harvard University. Claire was the Chief Executive Officer of Clean Water Initiative from 2004 to 2013. She became Second Lady in 2013 after Frank became Vice President under Garrett Walker, and became First Lady in 2014 after Frank assumed the presidency following Walker's resignation. During her tenure as First Lady, Claire served as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations from April 2015 to November 2015, and bumped heads with Russian president Viktor Petrov.

Claire and Frank ran against Republican challenger Will Conway and his running mate Ted Brockhart in the 2016 presidential election, with Claire being appointed as Acting President while the election results were underway. Although neither candidate received a majority of electoral votes, Frank would go on to win new elections in Ohio, winning him the election. Frank's short-lived second term, however, was riddled with scandal. He and his administration was investigated by the Declaration of War committee, which led to his resignation from the presidency on March 15, 2017, with Claire assuming the presidency. Scholars and historians rank Claire as one of the worst presidents in American history.

Biography

Early life

Claire Hale Underwood was born in 1965. She was very close to her father; her mother even stating: "You got away with murder". This paternal closeness resulted in a strained relationship with her mother, Elizabeth Hale. As Claire moved from childhood to adolescence this strain turned to estrangement. Claire Underwood's mother always told her to frown less and smile more but never considered her personal feelings were in the way of her happiness; she just couldn't smile from the inside out.

Claire grew up in the elite enclave city of Highland Park in Dallas County, Texas. Her parents were referred to as being very wealthy and she has come from generations of ranchers. Before attending Radcliffe she went to school at the prestigious Phillips Academy. Claire was sexually assaulted by a classmate, future General Dalton McGinnis, during her freshman year at Radcliffe. Despite media suggestions, Claire refers to her childhood as a happy one.

Education

Claire earned her bachelor's degree in environmental health and chemistry at Radcliffe College and her master's degree in public health at Harvard University. At Radcliffe, Claire met Frank Underwood. The couple agreed not to have children, and in the finale of Season 1, it was revealed that Claire has had three abortions. Through an interview in Season 2, it was revealed that Claire's rapist is now a General in the military, and Claire falsely claimed she had an abortion afterwards in order not to reveal to the public that she aborted Frank's child during his first campaign.

During the military gala where McGinnis was to be given an award for his military deeds, Claire tells Frank the story behind freshman year, to which he reacts furiously.

Clean Water Initiative

Claire becomes the CEO of an environmental group while serving as her husband's primary accomplice. After President Garrett Walker goes back on his promise to make Frank Secretary of State, Frank enlists Claire to help him get revenge and propel them both to positions of power. She and Frank scheme nightly over a cigarette, and together they maneuver their way into Walker's inner circle. Frank says of Claire: "I love that woman, I love her more than sharks love blood."

Claire is aware of Frank's sexual relationship with reporter Zoe Barnes and approves of it as long as it achieves their ends. She herself has an affair with an old boyfriend, Adam Galloway. In 2013, Walker appoints Frank the Vice President of the United States, making Claire the Second Lady of the United States.

Second Lady of the United States (2013 - 2014)

As Second Lady, Claire advocates for a sexual assault prevention bill. During her campaign for the bill, a secret from her college days emerges: during a nationally televised interview, she admits that she was raped in college and that her rapist, Dalton McGinnis, is now a high-ranking general. (She had earlier had an uncomfortable encounter with McGinnis at a White House dinner, during which she had told Frank what the general had done to her.) She also admits to having aborted a pregnancy that she claims was the result of the rape; it is later revealed that she in fact aborted Frank's child, with his consent. She then converts the focus on that issue into political support that becomes critical to the Underwoods' ascension to the Oval Office.

Claire becomes increasingly ruthless as the season progresses. When Galloway leaks an intimate photo of Claire to appease his jealous fiancée, Claire intimidates him into publicly stating that he fabricated the picture, ruining his reputation. When Gillian Cole (Sandrine Holt), a pregnant former employee, returns to demand health care as part of her severance, Claire says, "I am willing to let your child wither and die inside you, if that's what's required, ... Am I really the sort of enemy you want to make?" Claire also manipulates First Lady Patricia Walker into believing that her husband is having an affair in order to distract President Walker from Frank's machinations.

She shows remorse for her actions only once. When another of McGinnis' victims, Megan Hennessy (Libby Woodbridge), comes forward, Claire uses her as the poster girl for the sexual assault bill, leaving the fragile young woman open to public scrutiny and reprisals from the bill's opponents. Before she can testify about her ordeal before Congress, however, Megan suffers a breakdown and attempts suicide. Upon realizing what she has caused Megan to go through, Claire bursts into tears. She urges Frank to humble himself before President Walker, with whom he has fallen out of favor, in order to complete the plan: "Cut out your heart and put it in his fucking hands." The gambit works: Walker keeps Frank as his Vice President, allowing Frank to succeed him when he resigns. Frank is now President of the United States, with Claire as the First Lady.

First Lady of the United States (2014 - 2017)

Underwoods

Claire with Frank Underwood

Claire becomes the First Lady of the United States after Frank assumed the presidency. She feels the need to be something more "significant" than the First Lady, and asks Frank to nominate her to a United Nations post. He nominates her, but the Senate rejects her after a rocky hearing. Frank gives her the job anyway in a recess appointment, but her tenure is brief; she ruins a treaty between the U.S. and Russia by publicly confronting Russian President Viktor Petrov about his anti-gay policies and is forced to resign when Petrov uses her as a bargaining chip during a diplomatic crisis.

During Frank's election campaign, Claire begins to question whether she still loves him. She and Frank get into an ugly fight in which she says he is not enough for her; Frank replies that without him, she is nothing. Claire leaves Frank as he prepares to go to the New Hampshire primary.

After leaving Frank, Claire goes back to Texas, where she has a tense reunion with her mother, who is dying of lymphoma. She sets her sights on running for a House of Representatives seat in Texas, with help from political consultant LeAnn Harvey. Frank persuades her to resume public appearances with him by promising to support her run. However, he sandbags her prospective candidacy by endorsing a political ally's daughter, in order to keep Claire focused on his campaign. Claire retaliates on the day of the South Carolina primary by covertly leaking a photo of Frank's father with a Klansman, imperiling Frank's candidacy. Frank figures out that she was behind the leak and confronts her. Claire calmly admits what she did and proposes that she join him in the ticket as his vice president. Frank rejects the idea.

2016 convention

Claire and Frank at the 2016 Democratic National Convention

Shortly thereafter, Frank is shot by Lucas Goodwin, in an assassination attempt, and falls into a coma. While Frank is in surgery, Claire helps guide Frank's weak vice president Donald Blythe through a diplomatic crisis with Russia. While Frank is receiving a liver transplant, she declines going to the hospital in favor of negotiating a treaty with Petrov, and strong-arms him into accepting the U.S.' terms. When Frank recovers from surgery, he agrees to let Claire be his vice president. He and Claire advocate for a controversial gun control bill for the sole purpose of creating an atmosphere divisive enough to pick off the potential running mates. In the ensuing open convention, they publicly endorse Secretary of State Catherine Durant for the job, while working behind the scenes to undermine her and ensure that Claire wins enough delegates to be nominated. Meanwhile, she reluctantly honors her mother's request to help her die. She and Frank then use the public sympathy from Elizabeth's death to win the nomination; they are now running mates.

When the terrorist group Islamic Caliphate Organization (ICO) takes an American family hostage, Claire negotiates with their imprisoned leader, Yusuf Al Ahmadi (Farshad Farahat), who agrees to tell his followers to release the hostages. Al Ahmadi reneges on the deal, however, and tells them to kill the hostages. At the same time, journalist Tom Hammerschmidt publishes an investigative news story detailing Frank's crimes. Claire gives Frank the idea to declare war on ICO and allow the public to see the hostage die in order to distract from the scandal and create an atmosphere of widespread fear that they can exploit.

On Election Day, Claire and Frank learn that they may lose because of low voter turnout. They exploit a possible terrorist threat to close down multiple polling centers in key states, such as Ohio. This leads to numerous states filing lawsuits and refusing to honor the election results.

Nine weeks later, with neither side winning the majority of electors, the House (now Republican-controlled) will decide the President and the Senate (Democrat-controlled) for the Vice President, the first instance of this happening for the President since the 1824 presidential election and the first time for the Vice President since the 1836 presidential election. Claire eventually wins when Blythe issues a bill to block any filibuster in the Senate; while the House cannot reach a majority. In the meantime, Claire is sworn in as Acting President of the United States and begins to exert her limited power by excluding Frank from certain presidential functions, such as the swearing-in of the new Justice of the Supreme Court.

Acting President of the United States (2016 - 2017)

During her short-lived presidency, a truck carrying nuclear material goes missing and puts D.C. into lock-down, a scheme devised by several members of Frank's cabinet and Conway's campaign. During the emergency, Claire is visited by diplomat Jane Davis (Patricia Clarkson), who says that she can track down a leader of ICO for the Underwoods. Claire is also faced with a series of diplomatic crises: Russian soldiers have taken over an American base, and the Russians and Chinese are vying for possession of a boat in Antarctica that has a stowaway American working for the Russians. After making a deal with the Chinese, Claire orders for the boat to be destroyed so that neither the Chinese nor the Russians can get what is on board. Around this time, Claire agrees to an open election in Ohio for not only the President, but also the Vice President, in order to avoid a possible Conway-Underwood administration.

Frank acquires a recording of Conway verbally abusing a pilot, as well as a recording of Conway's running mate, General Ted Brockhart, threatening to kill Frank, which Frank and Claire use to blackmail Conway's campaign manager Mark Usher into helping them; they then release the tapes anyway. Voters turn against Conway, and the Underwoods win the election.

Vice Presidency (2017)

After his second inauguration in February 2017, Frank appointed Claire as his Vice President. Soon afterward, Congressman Alex Romero encourages Republicans in the House to start up the Declaration of War committee to investigate Frank, which puts Claire and Frank in damage control.

By this time, Claire and Yates have fallen in love, which complicates both their lives. During an unguarded moment, Claire tells Yates that Frank murdered Zoe Barnes and Congressman Peter Russo. She immediately regrets it, and tells Yates that they can't see each other anymore. In response, Yates threatens to publish a book detailing the Underwoods' crimes. Claire invites him to Usher's home, and poisons him. He dies while having sex with Claire, and she has Usher get rid of the body. Around this time, Claire and Frank convince Stamper to take the fall for Zoe Barnes' death. Frank also starts to become suspicious of Claire as she disappears for a period of time (she had started talking to Davis in a secret corridor) and starts to memorize her testimony defending herself but not Frank, in case she has to testify.

Walker publicly testifies against Frank, prompting him to appear before the committee and resign the presidency. When an incredulous Claire confronts him, Frank says that it was his plan all along to resign and set her up to be president, so that the two of them can run Washington together—she from the White House and he from the private sector. For the plan to work, however, Claire must pardon Frank, which would damage her politically. Frank resigns and Claire is sworn in as the 47th President of the United States, becoming the first woman president.

However, Claire does not announce that she is pardoning Frank in her first address to the nation as President. Frank calls her repeatedly, but she forwards the calls. She sees that Frank has burned a hole into the American flag in the Oval Office, and breaks the fourth wall, saying: "My turn."

Presidency (2017 - present)

At archive 080f3d53f08fad25157ebf6478adac0d31d9667b

Claire in the Oval Office

On March 15, 2017, following the resignation of President Frank Underwood, Claire Underwood became the 47th President of the United States, with Mark Usher as her Vice President. A few days into her tenure, she oversaw the US killing of Ahmed Al Ahmadi and announced a troop surge in Syria in an address from the White House. She was initially expected to announce a pardon of Frank but later changed her mind.

In May 2017, Frank died of an apparent heart attack, but Claire suspects that he may have been murdered. Throughout her presidency, she tries to disassociate herself from Frank, returning to her maiden name and calling him "my biggest regret". She makes enemies of Bill Shepherd and his sister Annette, two political power brokers who oppose her agenda. As she returns to the White House from giving a speech, an attempt is made on her life; a disgruntled ex-soldier shoots at her motorcade and commits suicide.

Claire also faces a threat in Stamper, who recants his confession and makes a deal with federal prosecutors to give them Claire as revenge for her turning her back on him and Frank. She makes a shaky alliance with him, however, by promising to protect him in return for his help getting rid of Durant, who she fears will testify against her regarding her and Frank's crimes. Days later, Claire pardons Stamper, and Durant apparently dies of an embolism; it is later revealed, however, that she faked her death and fled the country.

Meanwhile, Claire grows suspicious of Usher, who is secretly working with the Shepherds. She fires her cabinet to neutralize his influence, and leaks information tying him and Bill Shepherd to laundering money for the Russian government; she also punishes Annette Shepherd by revealing to the press that Annette's son, Duncan, is in fact the biological child of one of her serving staff. To clear the field of potential threats to her power, Claire has Durant, Davis and Hammerschmidt killed. When Stamper confronts her about what Frank left him in his will, Claire says that she is pregnant with Frank's child. The Shepherds try to undermine her by developing a voting app that would essentially steal the upcoming midterm elections; Claire retaliates by having Duncan, who created the app, arrested for treason.

Dougdead

Claire after killing Doug Stamper

Claire arranges a meeting with Stamper, whom she suspects has been hired by the Shepherds to kill her. During a heated exchange, she gets him to confess that he poisoned Frank in order to stop him from killing her, in order to protect the Underwood "legacy". He attacks her with a letter opener, superficially wounding her in the throat, but cannot bring himself to kill her, instead collapsing into her arms. Claire grabs the letter opener and stabs him in the stomach. As he lies bleeding on the floor, she covers his mouth and suffocates him. Claire's last words while Doug died was "No more pain".

Behind the Scenes

Robin Wright

Claire Hale Underwood was portrayed by Robin Wright

Claire Hale Underwood was portrayed by Robin Wright in Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 of House of Cards. She is the wife of the show's protagonist Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) and the main protagonist in the final season. She is a lobbyist and runs an environmental nonprofit organization, but in later seasons ascends to the positions of Second Lady of the United States, First Lady of the United States, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Vice President of the United States, and finally the 47th President of the United States. Claire made her first appearance in the series' pilot episode, "Chapter 1". The character is based on Elizabeth Urquhart, a character from the eponymous British miniseries from which the American series is derived.

Following season 4, Robin Wright stated that she felt Claire Underwood was the equal of Frank Underwood and demanded equal pay for her performance. Netflix acquiesced. The role has been critically acclaimed. Wright won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama for this role at the 71st Golden Globe Awards, becoming the first actress to win a Golden Globe Award for a streaming television online-only role in a series. She was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for this role at the 65th, 66th, 67th, 68th, 69th and 71st Primetime Emmy Awards.

In November 2017, Netflix fired Spacey from the series after a number of people accused him of sexual misconduct. The Frank Underwood character was written out of the show as having died, and Claire became the main character of the show's sixth and final season.

Appearances

Season 1
"Chapter 1" "Chapter 2" "Chapter 3" "Chapter 4" "Chapter 5"
"Chapter 6" "Chapter 7" "Chapter 8" "Chapter 9" "Chapter 10"
"Chapter 11" "Chapter 12" "Chapter 13"
Season 2
"Chapter 14" "Chapter 15" "Chapter 16" "Chapter 17" "Chapter 18"
"Chapter 19" "Chapter 20" "Chapter 21" "Chapter 22" "Chapter 23"
"Chapter 24" "Chapter 25" "Chapter 26"
Season 3
"Chapter 27" "Chapter 28" "Chapter 29" "Chapter 30" "Chapter 31"
"Chapter 32" "Chapter 33" "Chapter 34" "Chapter 35" "Chapter 36"
"Chapter 37" "Chapter 38" "Chapter 39"
Season 4
"Chapter 40" "Chapter 41" "Chapter 42" "Chapter 43" "Chapter 44"
"Chapter 45" "Chapter 46" "Chapter 47" "Chapter 48" "Chapter 49"
"Chapter 50" "Chapter 51" "Chapter 52"
Season 5
"Chapter 53" "Chapter 54" "Chapter 55" "Chapter 56" "Chapter 57"
"Chapter 58" "Chapter 59" "Chapter 60" "Chapter 61" "Chapter 62"
"Chapter 63" "Chapter 64" "Chapter 65"
Season 6
"Chapter 66" "Chapter 67" "Chapter 68" "Chapter 69" "Chapter 70"
"Chapter 71" "Chapter 72" "Chapter 73"

Personality

Claire-0

Claire Hale Underwood is a strong and determined individual, traits she admires in others such as Gillian Cole and Zoe Barnes. She doesn't want to be coddled and held on a pedestal and mentions that Frank was the only man she dated that understood that. As the former leader of CWI, she held a position of power that she uses for the betterment of herself as well as Frank. When she became the Second Lady, she uses this same influence to bring a controversial topic into the national spotlight while recruiting Patricia Walker, the First Lady, to aid in her fight.

She can be just as cold and calculating as Frank, as demonstrated by her decisions to fire half of her staff as well as later betray Frank by helping to defeat an important bill. Despite her ambitions and devotion to Frank, part of her also yearns for a life of spiritual freedom. This is what drew her to freelance photographer Adam Galloway, although she admits that she can't give up what she has with Frank.

However, she has shown to have some guilt and sadness with her ruthless pragmatism, which is demonstrated following her visit to a rape victim who becomes suicidal after Claire uses and discards her. While she has previously had three abortions, her decision not to have children is perhaps something she second-guesses, as she has previously shown interest and affection towards Peter Russo's two children.

Relationship with Frank

While Frank is Machiavellian, Claire presents a woman urging on her husband's assertion of power in the image of Lady Macbeth. She encourages his vices while noting her disapproval of his weaknesses, saying: "My husband doesn't apologize ... even to me." This gives a credibility to their symbiosis.

In season 3, when the Underwoods are President and First Lady of the United States, Claire's marriage to Frank begins to falter. She tires of being in a subordinate role to him, wanting to be "significant" in her own right, and decides that he is "not enough" for her. She leaves him in the season finale but comes back in the fourth season, treating their marriage as a purely political arrangement to further her own career. When he is shot during a campaign event, Claire privately admits that she feels nothing for him. Throughout the season, she works behind the scenes to undermine Frank's election campaign, before finally joining forces with him in order to become his vice president. She also has an affair with her speechwriter Tom Yates (Paul Sparks), with Frank's approval.

Prior to Spacey's departure from the series, season 6 was going to center on a divorce battle between Frank and Claire, with the two attempting to destroy each other; after Spacey was fired, however, the season's story arc was drastically rewritten. The new season plot had Frank dying offscreen, and Claire—now the president—publicly distancing herself from him, and privately calling him her "biggest regret". Later in the season, she reveals that she is pregnant with his child.

Affairs

Claire Underwood had a previous relationship during her youth with Adam Galloway. She left Frank for a time in Season 1 and went to stay with Adam in New York.

During Season 4, Claire develops a close relationship with novelist Thomas Yates upon his return to the White House. During Chapter 49, they are seen to engage in a relationship of a sexual nature. This continues over into Chapter 50, until Yates temporary departure. At the end of the episode, Claire is seen telling Yates she doesn't want him to leave, telling him "I want you back.", to which he replies, "I want you back too.".

Quotes

  • "You know what Francis said to me when he proposed? I remember his exact words. He said, “Claire, if all you want is happiness, say no. I’m not gonna give you a couple of kids and count the days until retirement. I promise you freedom from that. I promise you’ll never be bored.” You know, he was the only man, and there were a lot of others who proposed, but he was the only one who understood me. He didn’t put me on some pedestal. He knew that I didn’t want to be adored or coddled. So he took my hand and put a ring on it. Because he knew I’d say yes."
  • "My husband doesn't apologize. Even to me."
  • "I like irons. But I love fire."
  • (to Gillian Cole) "I'm willing to let your child wither and die inside you if that's what's required."
  • "I will talk about this if you want but if you’re doubting yourself, I can’t indulge that."
  • "Behind every great man is a woman with blood on her hands."
  • "You don’t ever let the opponent walk all over you. If you’re getting attacked, you fight back."
  • "I’m done trying to win over people’s hearts."
  • "You’re a fool, Donald. You always were. You and your dumb, dead wife that you never, ever shut up about. Principled? Idealistic? A champion for the people? What did you ever actually do? Nothing. The great crusader? I don’t think so. You just liked the position of the bumbling idiot that you are. The optimist. The idealist. You loved it so much that you couldn’t even make a deal or move a single thing forward. You have a legacy of nothing."
  • (to Frank) "I can be a part of your campaign, or I can end it. I'll do whatever it takes."
  • (to Frank) "I should have never made you President."
  • (to audience) "My turn."
  • (about Frank) "It’s not true what he told you all those years ago. That there are two kinds, useful and useless. There’s only one kind. Pain is pain."
  • "It’s important to be organized and ruthless. Three piles, I always say. The stuff you wanna keep, the stuff you might need later that you put in storage, and the stuff you have to destroy."
  • "A man like Francis doesn’t just die. That would be… what’s the word? Convenient."
  • "The people that know us best, know best how to hurt us."
  • "Presidents aren’t allowed to be human. You have to choose. Power or love."
  • (to Doug Stamper) "No more pain."

Resume

  • CEO of Clean Water Initiative: 2004-2013
  • Second Lady of the United States: November 10, 2013–October 30, 2014
  • First Lady of the United States: October 30, 2014–January 20, 2017; February 17, 2017–March 15, 2017
  • United States Ambassador to the United Nations: April 2015–November 2015
  • Vice President of the United States: January 20, 2017–March 15, 2017
  • President of the United States: March 15, 2017–present

Trivia

  • Claire is the only person who refers to Frank as Francis, and he is also listed in her phone as Francis. In what may have been a deliberate dig and power-play, in the midst of aiming to end their affair, Zoe Barnes does refer to Frank as Francis. His reaction to this is subtle but clear: no one calls him that but Claire.
  • Claire is fluent in French as seen in Chapter 30.
  • Claire is the first female to assume both the office of Vice President and President of the United States.
  • Elizabeth Urquhart is Claire's counterpart in the UK series of House of Cards.
Political offices
Preceded by
Frank Underwood
President of the United States
March 15, 2017 - present
Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by
Donald Blythe
Vice President of the United States
January 20, 2017 - March 15, 2017
Succeeded by
Mark Usher
Advertisement