Robert Nichols (Temporal Incursion 1918)

Robert Ignatius Pearson (born February 17, 1925) is an American politician, academic and author who served as the 39th President of the United States from 1981 to 1989.

Early life and career
Pearson was raised in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio during the most trying years of the Great Depression. His family was described as "dirt poor" and that they would live in cardboard boxes for a few years with the name Pearson painted in faded ink.

Despite his upbringing, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1943 until 1945, once he came of age. He was severely wounded in the Battle of Okinawa, late in the war, he was shipped back to the United States where he underwent several months of recovery. But this was where his childhood friend Mary began to visit him and help nurse him back to health.

In 1947, he proposed to Mary and the two were wed, the couple's daughter Karen was born in 1948, their only child. Pearson was able to find a job with the school-board of Columbus, Ohio's district while he acquired his doctorate in political science from Ohio State University.

In 1955, Pearson received his doctorate and began teaching political science at OSU until 1965 when his wife and daughter were killed in a car accident, temporarily plunging him into a drinking binge. With the help of friends and co-workers, Pearson was brought back from the brink and returned to work at OSU and began to occupy his time with additional work at the Ohio State Legislature.

In 1973, he was prompted to run for an open seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and won decisively. He would serve a total of three terms before announcing his candidacy for president in 1979.