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Ryanverse refers to the fictional universe created by Tom Clancy featuring Jack Ryan and other characters, such as John Clark and Domingo Chavez.

The first book written to feature Jack Ryan was The Hunt for Red October.

By publication date

Books in the order in which they were written:

• The Hunt for Red October (1984)
• Patriot Games (1987)
• The Cardinal of the Kremlin (1988)
• Clear and Present Danger (1989)
• The Sum of All Fears (1991)
• Without Remorse (1993)
• Debt of Honor (1994)
• Executive Orders (1996)
• Rainbow Six (1998)
• The Bear and the Dragon (2000)
• Red Rabbit (2002)
• The Teeth of the Tiger (2003)

Chronological Order

In the order in which they occur in the storyline (and when they occur):

• Without Remorse (1970–1971)
• Patriot Games (circa 1981/1982. Ryan states in The Cardinal of the Kremlin these events happen "5 years ago". There is however an erroneous reference to the rising number of terrorist incidents between 1982 and 1985)
• Red Rabbit (circa spring of 1981, based on the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II)
• The Hunt for Red October (circa 1984)
• The Cardinal of the Kremlin (circa 1987)

Starting with the following novel, the Ryanverse becomes distinctly different from real history as noted below.

• Clear and Present Danger (1988) - "The President" is referred to as distinct from Ronald Reagan, but events in Cardinal of the Kremlin are referred to as having concluded less than a year before the start of the novel, which takes place during an election year. Setting "Cardinal of the Kremlin" in 1991 misplaces the state of US-Soviet relations, and 1984 is before the War on Drugs warranted the attention given in "Clear and Present Danger." The only logical date left would be 1988.
• The Sum of All Fears (1991) – Israel partially cedes sovereignty over Jerusalem to the Vatican and Saudi Arabia, and the city becomes a UN protectorate policed by Swiss Guards. Residents of Jerusalem can choose between either Vatican, Israeli or Islamic judicial law. Denver is devastated by a terrorist nuclear explosion. The book occurs after the Persian Gulf War and before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, both events that occur at the same time in the Ryanverse as in actual history, hence the 1991 date.
• Debt of Honor (1993) — The U.S. and Russia destroy all of their ballistic missiles. After crippling the US economy and becoming a nuclear power, Japan invades and takes the Marianas Islands; the US and Japan fight a brief war, which the Japanese lose (they are subsequently denuclearized); an embittered Japanese pilot and proponent of the war crashes a 747 into the US Capitol Building immediately after Ryan's confirmation vote for the Vice President, killing most of the House and Senate, the President, all nine Supreme Court justices, the senior military establishment (including the JCS), and most of the Cabinet; Ryan is left in charge of a gutted government.
• Executive Orders (1993-1994?) — Saddam Hussein is assassinated; Iran and Iraq merge forming the United Islamic Republic; the UIR launches a biological attack on the U.S. using the Ebola virus; the US launches the Second Persian Gulf War against the UIR and defeats them; the Ayatollah is killed in a smart-bomb attack by the US.
• Rainbow Six (Takes place between Executive Orders and The Bear and the Dragon)(although events seem to be based around the Sydney Olympics held in 2000) RAINBOW - an elite counter-terrorist force - is created and engages terrorists across Europe. Ecoterrorists plan to create a genetically-enhanced virus based on Ebola and cancer cells, which they plan to use to wipe out much of the world's population.
• The Bear and the Dragon (1994-1995?) – Russia is admitted to NATO; China and Russia fight a major war, in which the US intervenes on its NATO ally's side. It implies that the British Prime Minister is Tony Blair.
• The Teeth of the Tiger (circa 2003-2005, based on the age of Jack Ryan Jr.) The U.S. is now engaged in a global war on terrorism, in response to the September 11th attacks which occurred in the Ryanverse as they did in the real world. It is mentioned that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq occurred in the Ryanverse continuity, and that the Jerusalem Treaty signed in The Sum of All Fears has failed as Israelis and Palestinians went back to fighting each other.

Presidents in the Ryanverse

A total of five presidents are explicitly shown in the Ryanverse;

• The unnamed man referred to only as "the President," first introduced in The Hunt for Red October; he remains in office through The Cardinal of the Kremlin, and Clear and Present Danger. At the end of the last novel, he runs for reelection and is defeated.
• President J. Robert Fowler, the former governor of Ohio, who defeats the incumbent at the end of Clear and Present Danger and is in office during The Sum of All Fears. After his failure to handle the Denver crisis nearly results in nuclear war, he resigns from office at the end of the novel.
• President Roger Durling, Fowler's former vice-president, the former governor of California and a Vietnam veteran with service in the 101st Airborne Division. Durling replaces Fowler when the latter resigns, and is the President in Debt of Honor. At the end of the novel, he is assassinated along with most of the government by a Japanese terrorist.
• President John Patrick Ryan; is confirmed as Durling's new vice-president at the end of Debt of Honor, and becomes the President when Durling is murdered on the same day. His claim to the presidency is contested by Durling's former VP, Edward Kealty, but the courts eventually rule in Ryan's favor. He remains in office in Executive Orders, Rainbow Six (though he never appears) and The Bear and the Dragon.
• President Edward Kealty^[1]; Durling's former vice-president, replaced by Jack Ryan after a sex scandal. During Executive Orders, he tries to steal the presidency from Ryan by claiming that he never actually resigned, but those allegations are tossed out by U.S. courts. However, after Ryan leaves office, Kealty is elected President in his own right, a position he holds in The Teeth of the Tiger though he is never seen. It is mentioned that Kealty's presidency only occurred "by accident," after Ryan's vice-president, Robby Jackson, who was presumably leading in the polls, was assassinated^[2].

It should be noted that in later books there are nevertheless multiple references to both the Reagan Presidency and the George H.W. Bush Presidency as if they had happened.

List of Presidents in the Ryanverse

References