MaleOscar Saint-Just was a Havenite politician and intelligence officer, the first and only chief of the Office of State Security, as well as the second and last Chairman of the Committee of Public Safety.
Biography[]
Early career[]
Around 1900 PD, Saint-Just[1] was married and had two children.
As First Undersecretary for Internal Security, he was the second highest-ranking man in the People's Republic of Haven's security apparatus. He managed to bring the support of some Internal Security officers to the plot led by Rob S. Pierre and Cordelia Ransom. Following the murder of Secretary Palmer-Levy, he became the last Secretary for Internal Security of the Legislaturist regime, aiding in the assassination of Hereditary President Harris. (HH3)
Chief of StateSec[]
Along with Rob S. Pierre and Ransom, Saint-Just became a member of the triumvirate which led the People's Republic under the guise of the Committee of Public Safety. He retained his office of Secretary for Security and amalgamated the many security and intelligence agencies of the People's Republic into a single organization known as the Office of State Security. He was responsible for the many purges in the military and the Legislaturist families. Despite these violent acts, he was not a bloodthirsty person like Cordelia Ransom; he only approved of these actions because he deemed them neccessary. (HH6)
Dictatorship and fall[]
Saint-Just was the only member of the Committee of Public Safety to survive the attempted coup by Esther McQueen; all the other members (except Rob S. Pierre, who was killed by McQueen's troops, Ransom, who had died during Honor Harrington's escape, and others who had been previously purged) died when Saint-Just ordered the detonation of a nuclear device placed under the Octagon, where they had been imprisoned by McQueen. He refused to evacuate the area around the building, because doing so might have alerted McQueen to his plans. He then became the last Chairman of the Committee of Public Safety, which had become a committee of one.
Made desperate by the loss of Rob S. Pierre, who had been both his friend and the man he viewed as the only hope for Haven, as well as the loss of the Octagon and a steady stream of unexpected military defeats, Saint-Just activated Operation Hassan, a "black ops" scheme to buy time by killing the leaders of Manticore and Grayson using Masadan fanatics. Though Queen Elizabeth and Protector Benjamin survived Hassan thanks to Honor Harrington, Manticoran Prime Minister Allen Summervale and the rest of his party did not.
When news of the death of Prime Minister Summervale reached Haven, Saint-Just offered a truce to Manticore's new government, which accepted it. Distrusting the military, he planned to place it under the direct authority of StateSec and begin a new round of purges, but Admiral Thomas Theisman launched a coup against him on May 10th, 1915 PD. Instead of capturing Saint-Just for public judgment in a show trial, the Admiral personally executed the Chairman and paved the way for the reconstruction of the Constitutional Republic under its new President, Eloise Pritchart. (HH9)
References[]
- ↑ His name is most likely a reference to Louis de Saint-Just, an important figure in the French Revolution, who sat in the original French Committee of Public Safety (Comité de Salut Public) with Maximilien Robespierre.
| Preceded by Rob Pierre |
Chairman of the Committee of Public Safety People's Republic of Haven 1914-1915 PD |
Succeeded by President Eloise Pritchart |
| Preceded by Office created during the establishment of the Committee of Public Safety |
Secretary of State Security People's Republic of Haven 1905-1915 PD |
Succeeded by Office abolished after the overthrow of the People's Republic |
| Preceded by Esther McQueen |
Secretary of War People's Republic of Haven 1914-1915 PD |
Succeeded by Thomas Theisman |
| Preceded by Constance Palmer-Levy |
Secretary for Internal Security People's Republic of Haven until 1905 PD |
Succeeded by Office replaced by the Secretary of State Security under the Committee of Public Safety |