The Timeline of Bill Dewey - A Character Analysis

Now that Bill Dewey is no longer mayor of Beach City (and is hopefully going to be the new Donut Boy), I thought it appropriate to go through the history of everyone’s favorite political family.

(Years based on this math: https://www.reddit.com/r/stevenuniverse/comments/6ngcxl/story_for_steven_takes_place_in_1996/, and this list: https://captainjzh.tumblr.com/post/159469798696/steven-universe-timeline)

We know that Beach City’s founding goes back 200 years to one William Dewey, and can guess that the family simply stayed in power there ever since. This would mean there was an unspoken expectation of sorts that Deweys HAD to run for Mayor in Beach City and win. It’s just what Deweys did.

In Story for Steven we see a sign that says, “Elect Buck Dewey For Mayor”

From this we can assume this was Bill’s father and the Buck we know now was named after him.

So, in 1996 Bill Dewey wasn’t Mayor yet, his dad Buck was still in charge (and considering how it doesn’t say “re-elect,” reusing his original, decades-old campaign billboards year-round)

Let’s say that Bill is currently 50 at the time of the show (which by my math is 2015). That would make him 31 at the time of Story For Steven, probably under pressure from his dad to “take on the family business” as it were.

Then Bill had a child.

Assuming the Cool Kids are roughly the same age (estimated to be 18 by my math), Buck Jr. would’ve been born around 1997.

I imagine that during this part of Buck’s upbringing, they had a closer relationship due to Bill not being mayor yet.

At the time of Three Gems and a Baby (which I estimate to be 2000/2001), Buck’s age looks to be around 4-6. Bill isn’t Mayor yet.

In Dewey Wins, Bill says that he had been Mayor for a decade, placing his initial election in around 2005. Buck was probably 8-9 years old.

Which is when we probably got this drawing:

After this point, Bill was probably so obsessed with living up to the expectations of mayor that his son fell to the wayside, explaining their seemingly distant relationship.

And considering how Bill named his son after his own father, we can guess that he respected the guy in some regard, which put all the more pressure on him to deliver when the time came.

Assuming Buck Sr. was 30 when he had Bill, he was 65 when Bill took office and probably retiring specifically so his son take his place. Bill wasn’t ready.

If you look at his mannerisms during actual crises (Ocean Gem, Political Power, The Return), it all screams of a man just barely holding it together while putting on a happy face for the constituents:

This guy was not made for high-stress situations.

Heck, considering how he’s never had an opponent, I doubt he’s ever had to work for anything, really. He practically fell ass-backwards into a job I don’t think he was ever truly confident in.

He was faking it until he made it, frankly. The going never got rough in Beach City until Ocean Gem, so there wasn’t really much for him to do as mayor. This explains all those wastes of taxpayer money witnessed during the latter years of his mayorhood.

Like the random baby-kissing ceremony, the speeches on the beach, the funding and writing of a play that‘s just a thinly-vieled power fantasy and election promo, the bench dedication (plus those two guards he doesn’t really need), not to mention the giant ice cream:

This was a man who was only competent as mayor when nothing was happening, but after a while of nothing happening, he became bored with his life. So he made stuff up to keep busy, even when it got exceedingly ridiculous.

I think that’s why Bill decided to withdraw in Dewey Wins. The dude was taking political advice from a 14-year-old for crying out loud. He saw just how unsuited for the position of mayor he was, and how pathetic he was as a politician.

And at the risk of sounding schmaltzy, Dewey did win in that episode. He won by breaking free of the mold that society had made for him and went off to find a job he could actually take pride in (perhaps something modest, like Donut Boy).

Which fits nicely with the ideaology of the Crystal Gems, if I do say so myself.

But that aside, I wish Bill Dewey the best. Here’s to you, former Mr. Mayor. May you find happiness in other pastures.