Mrs. Ken Cochran

defensive under pressure private socially influential vulnerable to reputational damage dignified dependable bureaucratic connected stabilizing pragmatic/transactional socially-networked

Ken Cochran serves as the U.S. ambassador posted to Bulgaria and functions as a career diplomatic figure whose personal conduct creates acute political exposure. The administration leverages an alleged affair tied to a foreign prime minister's family to engineer his quiet removal, using a face‑saving corporate board offer to secure his resignation. Cochran arrives at the White House defensive and visibly shaken, recognizes familiar social contacts, and ultimately accepts a transactional out. His role in the episode highlights how diplomatic postings become instruments in domestic political bargaining.

6 appearances

Security Clearance Protocols

Also known as: Ken Cochran's wife, Ambassador Cochran, Ambassador Cochran's wife, Ken, Cochran, Mrs. Cochran, Cochran's wife

Mrs. Ken …'s Journey

A timeline through the narrative

6 moments

S1E21 · Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

Memo Fight and the Ambassador Shuffle

Not present, but logically threatened and likely alarmed about reputation and career consequences.

Ambassador Ken Cochran is offstage but central: he is identified as the diplomat implicated in an alleged affair and becomes the object of the promotion‑not‑firing strategy intended to remove him …

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S1E21 · Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

Promote to Remove: Cochran as Political Leverage

Not present to display emotion; inferred to be embarrassed, threatened professionally, and at risk of reputational damage.

Although absent from the room, Ambassador Ken Cochran functions as the event's human subject: Sam and Toby discuss his alleged affair and decide to move him through promotion and reassignment, …

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S1E21 · Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

Containment: Bartlet's Quiet Trades and the White House in Crisis

Shaken and conciliatory; relief mingled with wounded pride as he negotiates an involuntary exit.

Mrs. Ken Cochran (Ambassador Cochran) is defensive and rattled when confronted with the administration's private offer; he recognizes the need to accept a board position to exit gracefully and preserve …

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S1E21 · Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

Containment and Coercion: Bartlet Shields Sam and Clears the Board

Humiliated, anxious, and resentful — trying to preserve face while absorbing an enforced dismissal.

Summoned to the Mural Room and bluntly told to resign; reacts with indignation and nervousness (wiping face with a handkerchief), attempts to assert dignity, recognizes and greets Charlie, then offers …

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S1E21 · Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

Bartlet Engineers Cochran's Exit

Agitated and indignant on the surface, then unsettled and chastened as the President shifts from factual accusation to implicit social threat.

Ken Cochran arrives in the Mural Room defensive and visibly shaken; he protests outrage, dabs his face with a handkerchief, initially tries social bluster, then hears Bartlet's demand to resign …

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S1E21 · Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

Closing the Soft‑Money Loophole — Bartlet's Lobell Deal

Flustered and aggrieved on the surface, trying to salvage dignity while privately alarmed about career and social standing.

Ken Cochran sits in the Mural Room, visibly shaken; when confronted by the President he is told to resign and nervously wipes his face and hands with a handkerchief while …

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