Fitzwallace Reframes the Charlie Question
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Josh reveals details about Charlie Young's background—his mother, a cop, was killed in the line of duty—and expresses his desire to hire him, despite concerns about optics.
Leo and Admiral Fitzwallace discuss the President's need to calm down and reassure him that he's handling the crisis appropriately, emphasizing the importance of old friendships.
Leo seeks Fitzwallace's opinion on hiring Charlie Young, and Fitzwallace dismisses concerns about race, focusing instead on respect and decent wages.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Calm, wry, and impatient with trivialities; quietly indignant about wasting energy on cosmetic fights when substantive battles remain.
Admiral Fitzwallace enters, hears the concern, and disarms it with lived authority: he reframes the issue as dignity and pay, not optics, invoking his own example to puncture Josh's worry and return the decision to basic decency.
- • Neutralize an unnecessary racial/optics-based objection to a hiring decision.
- • Re-center the staff on substantive values: respect and fair compensation for employees.
- • Workplace dignity and fair pay are the meaningful criteria for such a hire.
- • Cosmetic political concerns are unworthy when compared to real institutional fights.
Curt and focused; mildly exasperated by sidetracks but committed to protecting the President's agenda and operational integrity.
Leo listens, cuts through Josh's hesitation with blunt institutional logic: hires the best person for the job, minimizes performance theater, and rebuts cosmetic thinking while keeping the focus on operational seriousness during crisis.
- • Keep personnel decisions grounded in competence rather than image.
- • Resolve the hiring question quickly so staff can return to crisis work.
- • The West Wing must prioritize function and respect over performative casting.
- • Small, cosmetic battles distract from real, material problems that demand attention.
Professional and unobtrusive; focused on timing and protocol rather than on the content of the argument.
Margaret quietly enters to announce Fitzwallace's arrival, then withdraws; she functions as procedural connective tissue, enabling the Admiral's entry and keeping the meeting moving without comment.
- • Ensure senior visitors are announced and received appropriately.
- • Maintain the flow of Leo's office operations during an evolving crisis.
- • Proper procedure and timing matter to the functioning of the Chief of Staff's office.
- • Small gestures of order (announcing, admitting) help preserve institutional composure.
Uneasy and defensive on the surface; anxious about political perception, masking a protective, aspirational impulse to help the boy.
Josh Lyman presses Leo privately about hiring the kid for the President's aide job, names the candidate's family trauma, then awkwardly voices a racially charged concern about the 'visual' of a young black aide carrying the President's bag.
- • Get Leo's approval to hire the promising candidate for Ted Miller's job.
- • Avoid creating a public or political image problem that could reflect poorly on the administration.
- • Visual optics can have outsized political consequences and must be managed.
- • Hiring the right person matters, but political fallout can outweigh merit if the image is risky.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The IHQ is named by Leo as one of Pericles One's four military targets; in this event it functions as part of the crisis grammar that raises stakes and explains the urgency of the hiring aside and media lockdown.
The Southian Bridge is cited by Leo among the operational targets — its presence in the briefing provides concrete imagery of damage and diplomatic consequence, which frames why staffers are anxious about optics and timing.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Roosevelt Room functions as the next operational node where communications and weapons briefings will occur; it receives Toby and other staffers immediately after the Leo office exchange, showing the event's direct operational consequences.
The West Wing Hallway is used as a transitional space where Fitzwallace and his officer exit and where Toby passes with papers; it frames the movement of authority and the rapid reallocation of personnel as the crisis unfolds.
Leo's Office is the intimate tactical chamber where the order is given, a media blackout enforced, and the hiring exchange unfolds; it serves as the scene's ethical and operational crucible where private concerns collide with national duty.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
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Key Dialogue
"LEO: "The order was given at 16:27, codename Pericles One. Four targets, all military. Two munitions dumps in Northern Rishan, Southian bridge and an IHQ.""
"JOSH: "He's black." / JOSH: "I'm not wild about the visual. A young black man holding his overnight bag?""
"FITZWALLACE: "I'm an old black man and I wait on the President." / FITZWALLACE: "You gonna pay him a decent wage?" / FITZWALLACE: "You gonna treat him with respect in the workplace?" / FITZWALLACE: "Then why the hell should I care?""