Rapid Vetting in the Roosevelt Room
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Joe admires Teddy Roosevelt's Nobel Prize while Josh enters the room, re-establishing contact.
Josh points to an unsigned form, reminding Joe to complete it, shifting to administrative matters.
Josh probes Joe's professional history, asking why he left the solicitor's office.
Josh verifies Joe's completion of psychological evaluation components as part of standard vetting.
Josh questions Joe's contradictory psychological responses about sadness, testing his honesty.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Controlled, briskly suspicious — outwardly professional while probing for inconsistency that could signal risk.
Josh enters the Roosevelt Room, breaking a quiet moment and immediately launches a tight, procedural interrogation: he asks about Joe's departure, confirms who interviewed him, and reads Question 1 aloud to expose a discrepancy.
- • Verify Joe's backstory and reasons for leaving the solicitor's office.
- • Confirm psychological screening results and candidate candor.
- • Expose any inconsistencies that could disqualify or risk-manage Joe's hire.
- • Reassert administrative control and keep the vetting process on schedule.
- • Thorough vetting prevents personnel risks to the administration.
- • Psychological honesty is essential for trustworthiness in high-pressure jobs.
- • Prior interviews (Wells, Babish) are credible and worth cross-checking.
- • Interrupting reverence is permissible when institutional security or hiring is at stake.
Not present; represented as authoritative and procedural through Josh's reference.
Judy Wells is invoked by Josh as a prior interviewer; she is not present but her earlier interview functions as evidence Josh uses to triangulate Joe's claims.
- • Ensure candidates are properly vetted (inferred).
- • Provide reliable interview input for hiring decisions (inferred).
- • Thorough interviews are necessary for personnel security (inferred).
- • Documentation and corroboration matter in vetting (inferred).
Not applicable; invoked as a symbol of leadership and international mediation.
Theodore Roosevelt is referenced indirectly when Joe identifies the Nobel on the mantle; Roosevelt's presence is symbolic rather than active—his prize anchors the moment.
- • (As symbol) Remind the room of presidential legacy and diplomatic gravitas.
- • (Implied) Lend weight to the setting and gravity of White House choices.
- • Historical leadership provides a standard for present action (narrative inference).
- • Institutional artifacts shape present perception (inferred).
Absent physically; implied as exacting and authoritative through Josh's citation of interview lengths.
Oliver Babish is referenced by Josh as having spent significant time interviewing Joe; his prior, intensive interviews are used to press Joe on consistency.
- • Ascertain candidate suitability through extended questioning (inferred).
- • Produce detailed assessments that the White House will rely on (inferred).
- • Extended interviews reveal relevant character and competence (inferred).
- • Consistency across interviews is a marker of candor (inferred).
Calm and slightly defensive — attempting to be forthright while protecting his candidacy and composure.
Joe stands at the mantle looking at the Nobel, answers Josh's rapid questions politely and economically, explains why he left the solicitor's office, and defends his choice on Question 1 as accurate at the time he checked it.
- • Demonstrate honesty and reliability to secure the job.
- • Explain the circumstances of his departure from the solicitor's office succinctly.
- • Avoid creating doubt or prolonging interrogation that could harm his application.
- • Maintain professional composure under brusque questioning.
- • Honesty about past decisions is the best way to be evaluated fairly.
- • The questionnaire reflects a moment in time and should be read in context.
- • Prior interviewers' impressions will shape his candidacy.
- • Composure and clarity will serve him in high-pressure White House environments.
Not present; represented as a structural force whose staffing decisions ripple into White House hiring.
Lawrence Harmon is named as the reason Joe left the solicitor's office—Josh cites Harmon bringing in new staff as context; Harmon is off-stage but his hiring choices are causal to Joe's résumé.
- • (Inferred) Restructure or staff the solicitor's office as Harmon's prerogative.
- • (Inferred) Fill positions with preferred hires, triggering turnover.
- • Leadership can remake teams by bringing in new staff (inferred).
- • Staffing decisions have consequences for careers (inferred).
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Joe's Depression Questionnaire Question 1 is read aloud by Josh and used as a forensic instrument: Josh quotes the exact options to highlight a discrepancy between Joe's checked answer and his later admission that he does feel sad at times, using the form to probe candor.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
No narrative connections mapped yet
This event is currently isolated in the narrative graph
Key Dialogue
"Josh: "Don't forget to sign this thing. They just have a whole...""
"Josh: "Question 1: A] I do not feel sad, B] I feel sad, C] I am sad all the time and I can't snap out of it, D] I am so sad or unhappy that I want to kill myself. You chose A] I do not feel sad.""
"Josh: "Yet you checked the first box, why is that?" / Joe: "It said 'I do not feel sad' and I didn't at the time I checked it.""