Balls, a Bible, and a Leaked Doctrine
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Bartlet dismisses staff concerns about the order of inaugural balls, prioritizing enjoyment over political messaging.
C.J. privately affirms Bartlet's speech with a cheek kiss, showing personal support amid ceremonial chaos.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Anxious and mobilized—he is worried about political fallout and intent on damage control while remaining supportive.
Josh appears in the Green Room, bluntly informs Bartlet the restatement of foreign objectives has leaked, frames the political risk, volunteers to find Charlie, and stresses the gravity of public reaction.
- • Assess the leak's scope and mitigate immediate political damage.
- • Locate Charlie and the ceremonial bible so the inauguration can proceed without additional embarrassment.
- • Leaks can derail carefully timed policy rollouts and must be contained quickly.
- • Proactive staff action can blunt the Hill's anger and the press's narrative.
Warm and supportive on the surface; professionally alert to the political stakes beneath the intimacy.
C.J. engages in messaging debate, offers a playful, private kiss that re-centers the President, and delivers a brisk encouragement before stepping aside to let protocol resume.
- • Soften and steady the President in a moment of performative pressure.
- • Signal confidence publicly to help deflect staff anxieties about message control.
- • Personal grounding helps leadership perform under stress.
- • Public performance matters, but private reassurance can shape it.
Frustrated and defensive for his members; suspicious of executive overreach and worried about broken promises.
O'Donnell intercepts Leo to warn that members were assured of consultation and that 'the Hill' will react strongly, articulating institutional anger before departing.
- • Insist on prior consultation and protect the House's role in foreign policy oversight.
- • Signal potential political consequences to the White House leadership.
- • House leaders deserve frank consultation on consequential policy.
- • Broken assurances will generate punitive reactions from members.
Businesslike and focused; quietly proud to have resolved a last-minute logistical problem under pressure.
Charlie returns at the climax of the exchange carrying the House Library Bible, presents it directly to Bartlet, and exits after the ritual object is accepted.
- • Deliver the bible in time for the swearing-in.
- • Keep the ceremony moving despite surrounding political turbulence.
- • Practical solutions matter more than symbolic perfection in a crisis.
- • Aide work is to smooth over protocol glitches so principals can lead.
Not present; portrayed as culpable and politically aggressive through Leo's attribution of blame.
Hutchinson is invoked by Leo as the person who discovered/exposed the Forced Depletion Report; he is not on-stage but is verbally accused of timing the leak poorly.
- • (Implied) Protect Department of Defense prerogatives and push back against White House unilateralism.
- • (Implied) Leverage information for institutional advantage.
- • Pentagon oversight and transparency are necessary to constrain White House secrecy.
- • Leaking or exposing sensitive reports can be justified to assert institutional boundaries.
Professional and slightly anxious to ensure the inauguration projects the right image; content to defer to the President's mood.
Ed and Larry (represented by White House Staff) push political framing for the order of balls—arguing for message discipline—then bow out when Bartlet chooses spontaneity and the group disperses toward ceremonial duties.
- • Arrange inaugural events to communicate a coherent political message.
- • Protect the President from avoidable optics mistakes.
- • Sequencing and symbolism of events convey policy priorities.
- • Staff must micromanage optics to convert ceremony into political advantage.
Neutral and official, embodying institutional continuity in contrast to the surrounding political anxiety.
The Chief Justice arrives at the scene's conclusion, signaling the immediate shift to ceremonial procedure and underscoring the formal stakes after the political fray.
- • Administer the presidential oath correctly and on time.
- • Preserve judicial propriety amid political distraction.
- • Ceremonial procedure is paramount and must proceed despite partisan or operational chaos.
- • The judiciary should remain above political turbulence.
Affectionately steadied by C.J.'s intimacy but quickly shifting to pragmatic concern and sardonic composure when faced with the leak.
Josiah Bartlet moves through the Capitol lobby asserting a wish for unscripted celebration, accepts C.J.'s kiss, receives Josh's leak report, worries openly about the bible and the doctrine, and reads the donated House Library Bible handed by Charlie.
- • Preserve a sense of human joy and spontaneity for the inauguration events.
- • Maintain control and composure while learning the scope of the leak and preparing to be sworn in.
- • Ritual should feel authentic rather than manufactured for political advantage.
- • A leak threatens both political capital and the timing of a major policy statement, but the oath must proceed regardless.
Worried and defensive; carrying the burden of blame while trying to manage senior-level anger and procedural fallout.
Leo arrives, confesses the Forced Depletion Report was requested under the radar, takes blame for exposure, endures confrontations from Beckwith and O'Donnell, and then briefs Bartlet on the leak and Abbey's dress—mixing anxiety with dark levity.
- • Contain political damage and reassure congressional leaders while protecting the President.
- • Locate the leak's source and assign responsibility without further disrupting the inauguration.
- • Operational discretion is sometimes necessary but politically risky.
- • He must absorb blame to shield the President and the administration's agenda.
Not present; implicitly burdened by having produced a sensitive classified report whose exposure now threatens careers and policy timing.
Jack Reese is referenced as the officer who prepared the Forced Depletion Report; he is not present in the room but is implicated in the leak that fuels the political confrontation.
- • (Implied) Complete the requested covert analysis accurately and discreetly.
- • (Implied) Provide the President with operational options without political fanfare.
- • Operational intelligence must inform policy decisions even when politically inconvenient.
- • Discretion is vital when handling casualty-projection reports.
Apprehensive and probing; concerned about unilateral executive action and consequences for Congress.
Senator Beckwith corners Leo in the Green Room to press about rumors the President will announce a new doctrine, signaling Hill alarm and demanding answers at the doorstep of the ceremony.
- • Extract reassurance and information from the White House leadership about the rumored doctrine.
- • Protect institutional prerogatives and prepare colleagues for potential fallout.
- • The Hill must be consulted on major shifts in use-of-force policy.
- • Leaks indicate an administration out of step with congressional expectations.
Neutral, professional—present to uphold ceremony and retreat when senior staff take primacy.
Men in Uniform stand near Bartlet in the Green Room, providing a visual of ceremony and security, then step aside when Leo approaches, clearing space for staff intervention.
- • Maintain decorum and protocol in the Green Room.
- • Facilitate a smooth transition from reception to official ceremony.
- • Ceremonial presence should not interfere with staff business.
- • Order and visibility matter more than commentary.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The George Washington Bible is referenced by Bartlet as his preferred choice but unavailable due to the New York Freemasons' custody, creating the urgent scramble that propels Charlie's retrieval and the comic aside about authenticity vs. ritual.
Josh jokingly suggests a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue as an irreverent substitute for a bible—a bit of staff levity that underscores the ceremonial farce beneath the stress of leaks and messaging.
The Forced Depletion Report is the leaked classified analysis Leo admits was produced under Bartlet's direction; its exposure is the political fulcrum that turns a lighthearted pre-ceremony into urgent damage control and congressional confrontation.
Bartlet's decoder-rings quip is invoked verbally to lampoon the idea that inaugural ball sequencing contains coded political messages; the metaphor provides comic relief and highlights his resistance to over-managed spectacle.
Charlie produces the battered House Library Bible stamped 'Donnie's Motel' and hands it to Bartlet, relieving the last-minute logistical problem about which bible to use. The object functions as a practical ritual prop that injects levity and humility into an otherwise high-stakes moment.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The United States Capitol provides the larger institutional frame for the scene: its halls host ceremonial continuity even as political institutions like the Hill assert oversight and impatience about executive decisions.
The Capitol Building lobby is the initial staging area where Bartlet, surrounded by aides, discusses inaugural ball sequencing; it functions as a public-but-controlled threshold between celebration and the official ceremony, allowing private jokes and intimate gestures before the world intrudes.
The Larger Green Room becomes the immediate forum for political fallout: staff, senators, and ceremonial officers collide here; Leo is confronted by Hill leaders and informs Bartlet of the leak; Charlie delivers the bible in this transitional space.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
The White House is the institutional origin of the restated foreign objectives and the Forced Depletion Report; through its staff and principals it navigates ritual, messaging, and crisis containment during the inauguration's fraught prelude.
The New York Freemasons are invoked as the custodians of the George Washington Bible, their refusal or inability to produce it creating the domino that forces staff improvisation and a comic, human counterpoint to the day's strain.
The House Library figures as the institutional source for the ceremonial bible; its provision of a battered, stamped volume underlines ritual continuity and supplies the tangible object that allows the oath to proceed despite the George Washington Bible's absence.
Committee Chairmen are referenced as having been excluded from consultation on the restated foreign objectives; their anticipated anger is a source of immediate Hill pressure and primes the congressional confrontations that follow the leak.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"The leak of Bartlet's foreign policy shift directly leads to Senator Beckwith confronting Leo about the rumored doctrine."
"The leak of Bartlet's foreign policy shift directly leads to Senator Beckwith confronting Leo about the rumored doctrine."
"The leak of Bartlet's foreign policy shift directly leads to Senator Beckwith confronting Leo about the rumored doctrine."
"The leak of Bartlet's foreign policy shift directly leads to Senator Beckwith confronting Leo about the rumored doctrine."
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"C.J.: I just did. Anything else, sir?"
"JOSH: It's leaked."
"BARTLET: I don't have a bible."