Object

Call-to-Action Instructions (Letter, Fax, Western Union)

A compact set of low‑technology paper artifacts: loose handwritten or typed letters, a single printed fax page with a stamped header, and a Western Union telegram stub. Pages sit thin, creased, occasionally smudged with toner; staff finger, fold, stamp, annotate, and slide copies across desks. Bartlet intones the trio as concrete channels; aides instantly catalog addresses, prepare bundles for volunteers, and ready distribution logistics as the backstage crisis ignites.

1 appearances

Purpose

To provide concrete, low-technology channels (letter, fax, Western Union telegram) enabling citizens and supporters to contact representatives or register organized written pressure.

Significance

These papers operate as a battle cry that converts public emotion into actionable pressure. Bartlet's invocation mobilizes staff tactics, compels Josh to hunt down votes, and converts celebratory rhetoric into an urgent, logistical campaign response—shifting the scene from triumph to political scramble.

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

1 moments

S1E4 · Five Votes Down

Triumph on Stage, Crisis Backstage

Bartlet's speech explicitly invokes paper artifacts — letters, faxes, Western Union — as civic tools; the mention functions narratively as a call to action and a reminder that the public must be mobilized following the staff's backstage scramble.

Before: Conceptually in the speech as specific calls to constituents; physical copies not singled out onstage.

After: Remain rhetorical and procedural tasks for staff to operationalize in response to the lost votes; implied as next‑step artifacts to be produced/distributed.

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