Noah Daniels

Noah Daniels is a fictional character from the TV series 24, played by Emmy winner Powers Boothe. He is the Vice President of the United States in Season 6, serving under the recently elected President Wayne Palmer. After an assassination attempt against Palmer left him incapacitated, Daniels became the Acting President of the United States.

Character background
Little has been established about the background of Noah Daniels, save for the facts that he is a widower. Politically, Noah Daniels can be described as a hawk on the issue of national security and was chosen by Wayne Palmer as his running mate simply for his strong views on national security, to make the ticket more appealing for voters who considered Wayne to be indecisive or inexperienced.

The character was originally introduced as a foil for the more liberal minded Palmer; while Palmer was reluctant to use overt displays of military power to punish countries that were suspected of harboring terrorists, Daniels had no compulsion whatsoever to debate the issue of a preemptive strike against potentially innocent countries. While Wayne Palmer would ultimately engage in such an attack, Palmer used dummy missiles; Daniels, had he been allowed to do so, would have used real nuclear missiles that would have killed thousands of civilians.

Daniels is close to Tom Lennox, a member of Wayne Palmer's staff of advisors. However, when Daniels agreed to allow his assistant to commit perjury to rig the vote for remove Palmer from power as President, Lennox revealed that he had bugged the room they were in and use the information to curtail the plot before it could be enacted. In exchange for his resignation, Palmer agreed to let Daniels resign from his position as Vice President. However, Palmer fell into a coma shortly after the ultimatium was made and Daniels (who had prepared his resignation letter) resumed power as Acting-President. Lennox then agreed to hold back the damning tape recording, citing that he would not use the tape to hurt his longtime friend now that he has assumed power.

Day 6
First mentioned in episode five, Daniels first appears in episode seven aboard Air Force Two. He is seen discussing Tom Lennox's security measures in a favorable manner and comments that he didn't believe President Palmer to be strong enough to face the challenges of the recent wave of terror. Daniels is visibly agitated by Palmer's unwillingness to authorize Lennox's racial profiling system and other security recommendations.

Later, Daniels calls Palmer again personally to express his displeasure and frustration directly, revealing in the process that Palmer had selected him as his Vice President to counter voters' potential concern over his own lack of political experience and perceived weaknesses on issues of national defense. Daniels ends the call by declaring to Palmer that if he insists on refusing to take the advice of the rest of his cabinet and approve Tom Lennox's internment policies, he will "stand alone".

There appears to be a conspiracy between individuals within the government -- Tom Lennox's subordinate, Reed Pollock, among them -- to forcibly remove Palmer from office (by assassination) in order to allow Daniels to assume the Presidency, though Pollock claims Daniels himself is unaware of this plot.

After President Palmer is critically injured in a bomb blast at about 4:59 p.m. on Day 6, Vice President Daniels assumes the powers of the President of the United States during the episode "5:00 PM - 6:00 PM" (but does not become Acting President as the 25th Amendment is not yet invoked). Daniels believes that Hamri Al-Assad is responsible for the assassination attempt, and accused Lennox of playing a part in it as well. However, Daniels intends to allow Lennox to be pardoned, provided Lennox goes along with the claim to Assad's responsibility. During 6:00 PM-7:00 PM, Daniels threatens war toward the ambassador of a (currently unspecified) Middle Eastern country if the attacks continue. Soon, Abu Fayed and Dmitri Gredenko (the masterminds of the day's attacks) launch a drone containing a suitcase nuke at San Francisco. While Jack Bauer is able to stop the drone from exploding, it crash-lands in an industrial park, leaking radioactive material into the area. Though the deaths will be minimal, Daniels decides to launch a nuclear missile in retaliation at an unpopulated section of Fayed's country as a "warning shot", anyway. Both Lennox, National Security Advisor Karen Hayes, and Bauer fear that such an attack will prompt intervention from the allies of the Middle East, thereby igniting World War III.

During 8:00PM-9:00 PM, Daniels was still conducting the strike when he learned that Sandra Palmer decided to bring her brother out of his coma in order to stop the nuclear strike. Also, CTU was able to capture Gredenko, but this still didn't stop Daniels. Finally, right when the strike was ordered, it turned out the order was held off by President Palmer, who managed to awaken from his coma in optimal condition. Daniels expressed his relief of Palmer's health, but after hanging up the phone, he decided the President was still unfit to regain power, and near the end of the hour, decides to invoke the 25th Amendment.

During the course of the next episode, Vice President Daniels loses his bid to invoke the 25th amendment. After his assistant Lisa Miller offers to perjure herself in an affidavit for the Supreme Court, Tom Lennox reveals that he had recorded the conversation. He then directed Daniels to call the Court and retract his appeal, which Daniels begrudgingly does. Palmer remains unaware of Daniels' conspiracy (since Lennox maintains his silence), but he has his suspicions. Lennox admits the details in episode 18. With this information, Palmer forces Daniels to resign. As Palmer suffers a cerebral hemorrhage before Daniels can hand his letter of resignation, he is instated as Acting President instead of having to resign.

During episode 19 (12:00AM-1:00AM) Daniels begins to take over office from Palmer. He ensures himself of Lennox's loyalty and asks him to remain in office. Then Daniels asks Lennox whether he should let Karen Hayes stay as well. It is obvious at this time, that Daniels and Lennox do not regret the fact, that 'they' have gained power on Palmer's cost.

Daniels later advances towards Lisa, asking her to spend the night with him- which is answered with an "I'll go home and get a change of clothes".

Acting President Daniels has also been shown to wear a wedding ring, but it is revealed he is widowed two years before he became the Vice President. He also breaks up with Lisa upon finding out that she was cheating on him with Mark Bishop. Daniels expresses extreme regret over his relationship with her, saying that he was "ashamed" that he let her take advantage of him. Tom Lennox then receives a call from Phillip Bauer demanding to speak to Daniels. Phillip wants his grandson and brought to a country of his choosing in exchange for the FB Sub Circuit Board. Daniels agrees to go ahead with the exchange going against Karen Hayes' decision on the situation.

Daniels was next seen confronting Karen for her insubordination, which involved freeing Jack from a CTU convoy intended to bring him back to detention, as Jack's interference could have derailed the exchange. However, the Acting President oversees a failed operation, which was actually a ruse by Phillip Bauer to retrieve Josh without giving up the circuit board. Faced with this and other mistakes he had committed during the night, he admits to Tom the overwhelming pressures of the office have indeed humbled him, and that he didn't know if President Palmer was right or wrong to reach out to Assad.

With CTU tracking Josh to an abandoned oil rig where Phillip and Chinese government agents awaited, and with Russian forces advancing on American military assets, Daniels pleaded successfully with the Russian president to allow American fighter jets to destroy the platform and the circuit board along with it. The crisis finally ended with Daniels overseeing the successful destruction of the platform, and Russian withdrawal from the prospect of war with the United States.

His final act towards the end of Day 6, on Tom's advice and persuasion, was the unconditional pardon of both Karen and Bill, pending their respective resignations. Tom, notably proud of Daniels, gives him the implicating recording from before.

Noah Daniels