The Vickie Hilton case: the White House must choose between deferring to military justice and chain-of-command norms, or intervening for political, moral, and gender‑fairness reasons. Staffers (esp. Josh, Toby, C.J., Charlie) and the President grapple ...
The Vickie Hilton case: the White House must choose between deferring to military justice and chain-of-command norms, or intervening for political, moral, and gender‑fairness reasons. Staffers (esp. Josh, Toby, C.J., Charlie) and the President grapple over whether to shield Hilton, quietly mitigate punishment, or force formal accountability—balancing institutional integrity, political optics, and justice for a pioneering female pilot.
Events in This Arc
Outside the West Wing C.J. interrupts Bartlet with a brief that a decorated Navy pilot, Lt. Cmdr. Vickie Hilton, has been arrested — not primarily for adultery but for failing …
President Bartlet explodes at what he perceives as a gendered double standard in the Navy's handling of the Vicky Hilton case, storms into Leo's meeting to hurl historical examples (Eisenhower, …
During a fraught Oval Office exchange about whether the White House should intervene in a Navy disciplinary case, a UN call interrupts. Bartlet deliberately takes the line and launches into …