 | |
|---|---|
| Presidency of Claire Hale Underwood | |
| March 15, 2017 – present | |
| Vice President | Mark Usher |
| Party | Democratic |
| ← Frank Underwood • | |
 | |
| Seal of the President | |
The Presidency of Claire Hale began on March 15, 2017, following the resignation of incumbent President Frank Underwood, and was inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States. She became the third U.S. President to ascend to the presidency after their successor resigned after Frank Underwood and Gerald Ford, and is the first female president.
Timeline of Presidency[]
On March 15, 2017, following the resignation of President Frank Underwood, Claire Hale 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.
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".