Adam Weisshaupt

President Weisshaupt from the cover of Cerebus No. 57

Adam Weisshaupt was a politician and political mover-and-shaker.

History

He served as the President of the United Feldwar States in Beduin . He told Cerebus how he discovered the Cockroach after Cerebus left him Beduin and how he had manipulated the Cockroach to be a "hero" of the people. He thought the people didn't care about the differences between Cirinism and Kevillism, but by pointing out their differences with the "Hsiffies" he could take control.

Weisshaupt believed he owed Cerebus for leaving the Cockroach passed out in Bediun, because he had used the Cockroach to gain wealth and power.

He claimed to have created "movable type. . .Individual letters cast in lead molds."

According to Weisshaupt, his uncle was Suenteus Po.

Quotes

• "I firmly believe that if you can't fool all of the people all of the time, you should start breeding them for stupidity..."
• "It never ceases to amaze me that the lower classes are as fascinated by money as they are...Money of all things! Hahahaha!"
• "Whenever I get the urge to do something, I just give a few orders and it goes away..."

Appearances

• Cerebus No. 21 and Cerebus No. 22
• Cerebus No. 54
• Cerebus No. 57
• Cerebus No. 59 through Cerebus No. 62
• Cerebus No. 64 through Cerebus No. 69
• Cerebus No. 76
• Cerebus No. 83 - cameo or mention
• Cerebus No. 84 - cameo or mention
• Cerebus No. 103 - cameo or mention
• Cerebus No. 104 - cameo or mention
• Cerebus No. 188 - cameo or mention
• Cerebus No. 300 - cameo

Basis

Weisshaupt is partially based on the historical figure Adam Weishaupt, founder of the Bavarian Illuminati, and partially on the portrayal of the historical figure in The Illuminatus! Trilogy (in which, among other things, it is alleged that Adam Weishaupt replaced George Washington and served as the first President of the United States). The wig he wears is in the eighteenth-century style.

Dave Sim on Weisshaupt

• "Weisshaupt was a millionaire nut. He is not unlike the current crop of 19th century conservatives who figure that you can run a country like a corporation. Once his face was known and there was no hope for Elrod to assist in getting his activities sanctioned, he was only going one place; military jail and then the gallows. The Military Government of Lower Felda doesn't tolerate any movement from the private sector into their domain; governing.".

• "As for Weisshaupt himself, I had decided with these two issues [21-22] to do a parody of Captain America, patriotism, xenophobia, revolution, literacy, "publish or perish", Bucky Barnes (Captain America's sidekick), Deadman, the "can-do" presidency (a la FDR and JFK), the aristocracy and mass appeal. Central to this story-line would be the most aristocratic, unorthodox, indefatigable obnoxiously self-confident and creatively schizophrenic individual in all of the Feldwar Valley.

As long as we're on the topic of my relentless quest to piss all of you, extremely, off, more than one fan has criticized the fact that Weisshaupt escapes his fate at the end of issue 22 and reappears some thirty issues hence with his plan for the United Feldwar States intact and nearing fruition (something of a mixed metaphor, but you get the idea). I even asserted something to that effect in Aardvark Comment when someone asked if Weisshaupt would be coming back and I replied that he would undoubtedly end up on the gallows for crimes against Lower Felda's military tribunal.

It was one of those times when I tried to move the storyline in a direction it wouldn't follow. Why? Because Weisshaupt is too smooth, too self-assured, too aware, ... too Weisshaupt, to just accept a verdict and start writing his will. He sold out.

You have to read between the lines to pick up on that, but then Weisshaupt is hardly the type to reappear and announce "Guess what? I abandoned all of my previous convictions and now I'm cooperating with the authorities because I've discovered it's an easier way to get what I want".

Notice how in this storyline he isn't talking about the peasants and the livestock? No disparaging of the common people. Quite the contrary. He's using the people against the established order. He's fighting a guerrilla war with established banking institutions, adopting a common, grass-roots perception of current events and offering it as an alternative to the present government. Then he got caught. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

His success in the more recent issues (circa Church & State I) stems from aligning himself with the vanishing aristocracy, the new merchant class (not so new by this point) and, basically, anyone with enough money and influence to help him move things along. And guess which previous allies he had to desert to achieve this goal? No. No hints.

The point I wanted to get across was that the Captain America-style character steeped in patriotism, thinking with his muscles and xenophobic as a son-of-a-bitch ... plays right into the hands of a ruthless schemer and opportunist like Weisshaupt. The presidential use of xenophobia as a means of unifying widely-differing factions behind a single leader was central to the story line."