John Fitzgerald Byers
The most "normal" of the Lone Gunmen, named after John F. Kennedy.
John Fitzgerald Byers, portrayed by Bruce Harwood, is one of the Lone Gunmen, the trio of conspiracy theorists, government watchdogs and computer hackers who frequently assist Mulder and Scully. He was born in Sterling, Virginia on November 22, 1963, the day on which John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and was named after the fallen president; his parents had planned to name him Bertram, after his father.
Lore & Background
Byers worked as a public affairs officer for the Federal Communications Commission in Baltimore until May 1989, when he met Susanne Modeski at a consumer electronics show and instantly fell in love with her. She revealed herself to be a scientist at the Army Advanced Weapons facility and asked for his help in stopping a gas causing fear and paranoia from being used on civilians; with Melvin Frohike and Richard Langly he helped her, and the three went on to publish the newsletter The Lone Gunmen. He has some working knowledge of medicine, genetics and chemistry, and in "One Breath" he tells Mulder that Scully's blood has been tampered with.
Reader's Guide
All three of the Lone Gunmen die in the ninth-season episode "Jump the Shark", sacrificing themselves to save thousands from a terrorist-created plague, and Skinner arranges for them to be interred at Arlington National Cemetery. Byers also starred in the 2001 spin-off series The Lone Gunmen.
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