Bartlet's Triumphant Radio Tribute to Overlooked Women Pioneers
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Bartlet delivers an impassioned radio address highlighting overlooked female scientists and pledges congressional action to rectify the lack of monuments honoring women.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Absent but framed as honor-bound critic.
General Barrie is invoked by name as the crisis focal point—C.J. seeks instructions on his containment, Bartlet defends his Vietnam service granting him unfiltered speech rights, overriding staff pressure.
- • Exercise earned right to voice military dissent publicly
- • Evade direct accountability through media proxies
- • Vietnam sacrifice confers perpetual authority on readiness critiques
- • Administration frailties demand public exposure despite loyalty oaths
Professionally urgent, tempered by deference to presidential authority.
C.J. enters the Oval Office purposefully, inquires about handling Ed Barrie despite Abbey's deflection, receives direct presidential orders to release him, and acknowledges with professional deference before exiting the exchange.
- • Seek guidance on confronting General Barrie's media ambush
- • Execute Bartlet's directive on military loyalty without delay
- • Presidential wisdom balances policy critique with service honor
- • White House unity requires swift resolution of external threats
Approving warmth laced with playful anticipation, tinged with mild frustration at interruption.
Abbey watches Bartlet's radio delivery with quiet approval, offers warm praise ('Very nice, babe'), engages in playful flirtatious banter urging him upstairs, attempts to shield their private time by dismissing C.J., then exits gracefully after Bartlet's whisper.
- • Secure intimate time with Bartlet post-address
- • Shield presidential couple's personal moment from staff intrusion
- • Bartlet's public tribute honors shared values on women's recognition
- • Duty yields briefly to marital intimacy amid chaos
Calmly procedural, focused on technical closure.
Technician crisply announces 'We're out' immediately after Bartlet finishes speaking into the microphone, signaling the end of the live radio recording and transitioning the room from broadcast formality to casual aftermath.
- • Confirm successful completion of radio address recording
- • Facilitate smooth handoff from broadcast to off-air interactions
- • Technical precision ensures institutional communication integrity
- • Prompt cutoff maintains broadcast schedule amid Oval unpredictability
triumphant and flirtatious
delivers continuation of radio address praising Ellen Swallow Richards and Maria Mitchell, decrying lack of women monuments, pledges to lobby Congress, removes glasses, banters flirtatiously with Abbey, defends Ed Barrie to C.J.
- • champion overlooked women pioneers via public radio address
- • defend General Ed Barrie's right to speak freely
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Bartlet's Oval Office Radio Microphone serves as the vital conduit for his passionate broadcast tribute to women pioneers like Richards and Mitchell, capturing his pledge to Congress amid the room's pan to Abbey; its hum underscores the shift from public address to private banter post-Technician cutoff, symbolizing the veil between official voice and personal intimacy.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Abbey's discussion of Nellie Bly directly inspires Bartlet's radio address about overlooked women in history, linking personal conversation to public action."
"Abbey's discussion of Nellie Bly directly inspires Bartlet's radio address about overlooked women in history, linking personal conversation to public action."
"C.J.'s exposure of Barrie's stolen medal leads to Bartlet granting him leniency on Meet the Press, showing the aftermath of her confrontation."
Key Dialogue
"BARTLET: "Ellen Swallow Richards, the first woman to be a professional chemist. Maria Mitchell, who discovered a comet in 1847, and was the first woman admitted to the Academy of Arts and Sciences.""
"BARTLET: "Oh I could go on and on, and on, and on. The fact remains that of all the monuments built with public money, only fifty of them pay tribute to the women who helped build this country, and opened its doors to all our daughters who would follow. In the coming months, I'll try to persuade Congress to rectify that.""
"ABBEY: "Very nice, babe.""