Adamley Ambush: Tribunal Draft Ignites Military Fury
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Leo and General Adamley exchange warm greetings in the lobby, masking the tension of their upcoming discussion with military camaraderie.
Adamley reveals his concerns about the President's draft radio address supporting the War Crimes Tribunal through veiled humor about past diplomatic gifts.
Adamley directly quotes the contentious draft speech while Leo attempts to downplay its significance, exposing a fundamental policy rift.
Adamley lays out the unified military and congressional opposition to the War Crimes Tribunal stance as Leo deflects, suggesting a private meeting.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Warmly friendly and humorous initially, shifting to calmly reassuring and deflecting amid rising tension.
Leo approaches patiently waiting Adamley in the lobby, exchanges big smiles and handshakes, leads him into the hallway toward his office while bantering jovially about the Middle East trip and gifts, then downplays the draft's significance as early and non-committal before suggesting private talks inside.
- • Build rapport with military ally through personal banter
- • Minimize perceived threat of draft to preserve administration unity
- • Early drafts are fluid and not binding policy
- • Tensions with military can be managed through private dialogue
Cordial and light-hearted in banter, abruptly turning gravely urgent and oppositional upon revealing the draft.
Adamley waits patiently in the lobby, responds to Leo's greeting with big smiles and handshakes, recounts his positive trip details including meetings with Hassan and Aviation Prince plus gift downgrade anecdote while walking hallway to Leo's office, then pulls out and reads from draft file to quote tribunal endorsement and warn vehemently of opposition.
- • Convey military discontent over tribunal stance directly to White House leadership
- • Persuade Leo to influence Bartlet against the draft's direction
- • Tribunal endorsement risks catastrophic military and congressional backlash
- • Bartlet's 'made up mind' signals irreversible policy peril
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Adamley holds and reads aloud from this NSC-cabled draft file during hallway walk, quoting its key passage linking U.S. founding of UN and Nuremberg Tribunal to current moral leadership imperative, framing it as proof of Bartlet's firm commitment; it catalyzes the confrontation, shifting banter to dire warnings and exposing policy rifts.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
They transition into the West Wing Hallway heading to Leo's office, where banter about gifts flows seamlessly into Adamley's draft revelation and heated warnings; the confined passage intensifies the urgency, propelling the duo toward private negotiation amid colliding West Wing crises.
Northwest Lobby serves as the initial staging ground where Adamley waits patiently before Leo's approach, hosting the warm handshake greeting and early banter; its vast stone expanse frames the pivot from camaraderie to conflict as draft is revealed, amplifying the abrupt emotional shift in White House power corridors.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
NSC Communications Office is invoked as the source that cabled the provocative draft directly to Adamley abroad, thrusting early-stage Oval rhetoric into military hands and sparking his lobby fury; it underscores bureaucratic misfires amplifying ethical divides over war crimes policy.
Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal is directly quoted from draft as U.S.-backed WWII moral beacon, with Bartlet's endorsement seen as unbetrayable tradition; Adamley wields it to ignite warnings of backlash, tying past justice to present warfare reckonings.
United Nations is quoted from the draft as a WWII-era U.S.-forged institution symbolizing moral leadership, now at risk of betrayal per Bartlet's stance; Adamley uses it to frame tribunal support as historical continuity under threat.
Pentagon is named by Adamley as a core opponent viewing tribunal endorsement as catastrophic, alongside Fitzwallace; it looms as institutional fury against White House moral pivot, fracturing defense alliances in lobby showdown.
House and Senate Foreign Relations Committees are cited by Adamley as vehement blockers against the draft, forming congressional barricade with Armed Services peers; their opposition amplifies catastrophe scale in hallway warnings.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Adamley's initial concerns about the War Crimes Tribunal escalate into a flat refusal, highlighting the entrenched ideological standoff."
"Adamley's quote of the contentious draft speech sets up Leo's later strategic play about the ratified treaty threshold."
"Leo and General Adamley's discussion about the War Crimes Tribunal reflects the broader theme of moral complexities in governance and warfare."
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"ADAMLEY: [reads from a file] "At the close of the last World War, our nation was instrumental in the creation of both the United Nations and the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal. Now, at the dawn of the millennium, we cannot betray that tradition of moral leadership. He's made up his mind.""
"LEO: It's an early draft. It's not a big thing."
"ADAMLEY: Well, I know that Hutchison and Berryhill are for it, but to me, to Fitzwallace, the Pentagon, the House and Senate Armed Services, and the House and Senate Foreign Relations, it's a thing of catastrophic proportions."