Death, Draft Threat, and a Drink
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Richardson requests information about when the President will call the parents of the deceased, emphasizing his personal connection to the issue.
The tension eases as Richardson offers Toby a drink, signaling a temporary truce.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Businesslike and alert — focused on executing a discrete request amid charged emotions.
Bill enters on Richardson's summons, receives the instruction to learn when the President will call Dokes' parents, and exits to carry out the administrative task.
- • To determine and report the timing of the President's call
- • To support his boss's immediate political maneuvering with facts
- • That punctual information about the presidential call has political and symbolic weight
- • That following Richardson's directives is his appropriate role in the moment
Not present; represented as the cause of Richardson's resentment — perceived privilege and distance from sacrifice.
Josh is invoked rhetorically by Richardson as the comparative constituency whose children's prospects are being used as leverage; he is not present in the room but his district functions as a political counterpoint.
- • To be a reference point tying middle-class kids to policy consequences (as used by Richardson)
- • To serve as the imagined target of Richardson's attempt to equalize burdens
- • That tying constituencies together will change sacrifice distribution (as argued by Richardson)
- • That political pressure can be applied by threatening to equalize burdens
not applicable
Although sharing the first name, this canonical 'Mark' (a reporter) does not participate in the scene and is only present in the canonical set; therefore he is not active in this event.
- • not applicable
- • not applicable
Righteous and strained — Toby projects calm professionalism while his grief and moral indignation surface beneath the procedural language.
Toby arrives, delivers the factual, clinical report of Dokes' death, attempts to redirect the conversation to moral imperatives and caucus votes, and is physically present long enough to begin putting on his coat before being offered a drink.
- • To secure Black Caucus support for the peacekeeping bill
- • To frame Kuhndu intervention as a moral imperative that transcends domestic politics
- • That the humanitarian crisis in Kuhndu demands bipartisan action
- • That naming the human cost (Dokes' death) will pressure Richardson to support intervention
Off-screen responsibility — Bartlet is implicated as the person whose outreach will both console a family and defuse political pressure.
Referenced but not present: Richardson demands to know when the President will call the grieving parents, making Bartlet the locus of a moral-political obligation.
- • To be seen responding personally to casualties (implied expectation)
- • To balance human attention with broader political and security priorities (implied)
- • That a presidential call functions as both personal consolation and political signal
- • That timing and manner of outreach will affect legislative dynamics
Absent yet central — they embody private loss that becomes public leverage.
The parents of Gunnery Sergeant Harold Dokes are invoked as the human locus of grief — recipients of the presidential call Richardson demands and the reason the bodies are being flown to the U.S.
- • To receive recognition and consolation from the President (implied)
- • To have their son's death acknowledged publicly (implied)
- • That a presidential call is an appropriate and necessary recognition
- • That such recognition carries moral and political weight
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Toby's coat is an on/off prop: he puts it on to leave after delivering the news, then removes it when Richardson offers a drink — the coat physically marks his initial intent to depart and then his reluctant continued presence.
A drink is prepared and handed to Toby near the end of the exchange; the glass functions as a gesture that transitions the interaction from confrontation to a brittle civility and marks the cooling of immediate hostilities.
The bodies of the friendly-fire victims (including Dokes) are referenced as arriving in the U.S.; their physical movement is the grim factual backdrop that anchors Toby's announcement and gives the tragedy tangible, logistical reality.
Computer-generated coordinates are cited as the technical evidence that located the troops struck by friendly fire; Toby references this data to make the death appear as a verifiable, not anecdotal, loss.
The peacekeeping bill is the policy object around which the dispute orbits; Richardson says the Black Caucus will support it only with an amendment, turning the bill into bargaining currency tied to Dokes' death.
The proposed amendment to reinstate the draft is articulated by Richardson as the concrete political lever he intends to use to force redistribution of sacrifice; it converts grief into a policy threat.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Brookings Institution is the public forum where Richardson will speak — the promised stage that amplifies his threat to attach the draft amendment and thus converts the private meeting into public consequence.
Mark Richardson's reception area/office is the private, late-night setting for the exchange; the room functions as controlled political territory where constituency grievances are transmuted into legislative threats.
Bedford-Stuyvesant is named as Dokes' neighborhood, invoked to ground the death in a specific community and to sharpen Richardson's argument about class and racial inequity in military sacrifice.
Brooklyn (the broader location) is invoked as the political and moral contrast to Josh Lyman's district; it supplies the constituency whose deaths fuel Richardson's demands.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
The Congressional Black Caucus is invoked as the critical voting bloc whose support is sought; Richardson claims the caucus will back the peacekeeping bill but conditionally, using it to press for an amendment that addresses perceived inequities.
The U.S. Armed Forces are the producer of the operational facts (friendly-fire, coordinates, and bodies in transit); their technological failure and recovery operations are the structural cause of the grief and political crisis discussed.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Richardson's tense discussion with Toby about racial and class disparities leads to his proposal to reinstate the draft."
"Richardson's tense discussion with Toby about racial and class disparities leads to his proposal to reinstate the draft."
Key Dialogue
"TOBY: "Congressman, I'm afraid I have some bad news. One of your constituents died today. Gunnery Sergeant Harold Dokes from Bedford Stuyvesant. It was a friendly fire accident. Five guys reported fire, and a computer popped their coordinates. And their bodies are being flown here now.""
"RICHARDSON: "Reinstating the draft. I think the kids in my district are going to live longer if their fortunes are tied a little more closely to the fortunes of the kids in Josh Lyman's district.""
"RICHARDSON: "Can you find out for me when the President expects to call the parents of Gunnery Sergeant Harold Dokes? I'll be next in line.""