Tom Lennox

Infobox character
series=24
name=Tom Lennox


caption= Peter MacNicol as Tom Lennox
portrayer=Peter MacNicol
lbl1=Appearances

data1=6,

Thomas "Tom" Lennox, Ph.D., is a fictional character from the television series "24", played by Peter MacNicol.

Characterization

He first appeared in the first episode of 24's 6th season, where he plays the White House Chief of Staff of President Wayne Palmer. It was he who convinced Palmer to run for President prior to Day 6. Prior to serving as White House Chief of Staff, Lennox served as Policy Director on both Wayne and David Palmers' Presidential Campaigns. Thomas Lennox is a former member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. He also serves on the boards of the Georgetown Institute, the James P. Williams Center for Public Affairs, and the Catalyn Foundation. He has published numerous articles and essays on topics including constitutional law, political philosophy, and public policy, and has co-edited several books.

Appearances

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Both Sandra Palmer and David Palmer are reputed to have disliked Lennox, as he is willing to go beyond the boundaries of the Constitution when matters of national security arise. This is evident in hour 6 of Day 6. Karen Hayes learned that Lennox set up more radical defensive measures without the President's authorization, and confronts him. Lennox gets tired of Karen's persistence and asks an associate to make Karen "...go away." Later in the hour, Lennox blackmails Karen into resigning, stating "...I need room to work." Faced with the evidence, Karen does indeed step down within the hour, and Lennox is shown in the preview for episode 7 using her resignation as an opportunity to convince the President to sign off on the more extreme measures.

Despite Lennox's urging, the President convened the cabinet and the Vice President to tell them he refuses to sign off on Lennox's proposals. Despite a personal apology and expression of appreciation from Palmer immediately after, Lennox's frustration explodes into rage when he returns to the privacy of his office with his subordinate Reed Pollock. He declares he intends to resign, because he "cannot, in good conscience, be party to" Palmer's weak handling of the current national crisis, and asks Pollock to draft his letter of resignation.

Later, Pollock approaches him and hints at a conspiracy to "remove" Palmer from office in order to allow Vice President Noah Daniels to assume the Presidency, as Daniels would be much more likely to authorize the plan put forward by Lennox. Despite his own disagreement with Palmer's decisions, Lennox is horrified by Pollock's implications and refuses, asking him to leave and finish his letter of resignation. Shortly after, however, the White House receives a flash report regarding Abu Fayed's escape from CTU and his acquisition of a working arming device for his remaining nukes. Shocked by how drastically the situation has worsened, Lennox calls Pollock and asks him to forget the letter of resignation, stating that he would like to "discuss further" the darker matter they spoke of earlier.

Lennox and Pollock meet in an unmonitored room in the bunker, where Pollock asks Lennox to bring him a copy of Palmer's itinerary, particularly regarding Hamri Al-Assad's upcoming televised appearance. Lennox demands to know who else is involved in this conspiracy, but Pollock refuses to say. Lennox agrees to obtain Palmer's itinerary.

Later, Lennox tries to warn the Secret Service about the assassination plot but is knocked out by Pollock. Pollock proceeds to tie up Tom, and he can only watch as the bomb maker and Pollock carry out their threat.

After Pollock unsuccessfully attempts to kill President Palmer, he and the bomb maker release Lennox, on the promise that he will stay quiet. Lennox quickly betrays the two and hands them over to the authorities, but is unable to convince Vice President Daniels that Hamri Al-Assad is being framed for the assassination attempt on Palmer. Daniels says that he will clear Lennox of all charges, provided that Lennox will agree to blame Assad for the attack and go along with the plan to implement his original security measures. Lennox is visibly troubled at this.

When Karen Hayes returns in response to the assassination attempt on Palmer, both she and Lennox show apprehension at Daniel's decision to launch a nuclear missile at Fayed's country should another nuclear attack happen on US soil, knowing it could start World War Three. Lennox proposes that they do something immediately to solve the fragile situation. This happens within the hour in San Francisco, and though Jack Bauer is able stop the nuke from exploding, radioactive material is released in the industrial park where it crash-lands. Daniels decides to order the strike, despite both Hayes and Lennox's adamant objections.

Eventually President Palmer came out of his coma and canceled the strike, resuming his role as President. Daniels tried to keep him out of office by calling the 25th Amendment. But when Lennox records him approving his secretary to perjure herself, he makes Daniels revoke the appeal. When Karen Hayes hears of Daniels' revoke, she goes to Lennox, and agrees to a truce with him, realizing that he only wants what's good for the country. After they shake hands, Lennox gets a call on the phone. Much to the shock of both him and Karen, they learn that President Palmer resumed Daniels' plan to launch a nuclear missile in Fayed's country. Lennox immediately rushes to Wayne, who defends his decision by saying that everyone thought he was a weak president. "Do not confuse being reckless with being strong!" Lennox exclaims. He watches in horror as a missile is launched from a nuclear submarine. The ambassador of Fayed's country called to speak with Palmer, and it was revealed that General Mohmar Habib was arrested, as he worked with Fayed. Palmer called off the strike and asked the ambassador to come to the bunker. Lennox was shocked that the government of Fayed's country withheld information from them. Admiral John Smith then revealed the ballistic missile was unarmed, it was all a bluff.

President Palmer later confronted Lennox on Vice President Daniels' withdrawal of his affidavit. Palmer asked Tom if he had something on Daniels, but this conversation was interrupted when Palmer collapsed. Before Palmer collapsed, he told Tom to not tell anybody about his medical condition. Dr. Welton arrived in Wayne's office and was able to bring him into a conscious state. Welton advised him to check himself back into medical, but Palmer refused. When Palmer asked for another shot of adrenaline, Welton said it would kill him and he would submit his resignation before he administrated the drug. Before Welton left, he asked Tom to talk some common sense into Palmer, and Lennox insisted it was Wayne's decision.

After Palmer collapsed again, Daniels confronts Lennox on the recording. The two agree to continue to work together; Lennox also agrees to not blackmail Daniels should they disagree on policy matters.

It is later revealed that Lisa Miller was cheating on Acting President Noah Daniels with Mark Bishop, a lobbyist who used her position with Daniels to provide secrets to the Russians. Lennox and Daniels then forced Miller to feed Mark Bishop misinformation so he could relay it back to the Russians. When Lisa Miller begins attacking Mark Bishop, Lennox and his men rush in to save her. By the time they get there, Bishop has nearly strangled Miller to death. Lennox then forces Bishop to send the critical information to the Russians. But the Russian President isn't fooled by the information, due to the fact that he was monitoring his own operative Bishop. After returning to the White House, Tom receives a phone call from Phillip Bauer. Bauer wishes to strike a deal with the White House: Josh Bauer and safe passage to a country of his choosing for the Russian component. Lennox advises that Daniels take the deal — which promptly falls through, as Phillip sabotages the exchange (with a fake circuit board rigged to explode) and absconds with Josh anyway. After Karen Hayes, who had never approved of the deal, asks Lennox for his help in springing Jack Bauer from custody so he can help, Lennox says that he is unable to do anything about it but that he will look the other way if Hayes decides to try anything.

After Karen Hayes is caught and imprisoned, Lennox asks Daniels to pardon her. After some deliberation, Daniels agrees. Lennox also turns over to Daniels the recording that he had made of the conversation with Lisa Miller.

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Tom will appear in the upcoming TV movie 24: Redemption.

External links

* [http://www.fox.com/24/profiles/tl.htm Character biography] on the official 24 website

References