Kneeling to the Storm: The Last Line to the Hickory
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Leo informs Bartlet about the dire state of the fleet's communication, revealing only a small maintenance ship remains operational.
Bartlet prepares to speak with the only available crew member, Signalman Harold Lewis, on the Hickory.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Frightened and disoriented; trying to perform duty while coping with pain and imminent danger.
From the U.S.S. Hickory's radio shack he reports in halting, injured speech: gives ship's condition, admits head injury, describes fire, lost running lights, towering seas, and the risk of collision — his voice crackling over the speaker.
- • Relay the ship's status as accurately as he can despite injury.
- • Get instructions or reassurance from higher authority and buy time for his shipmates to respond.
- • Reporting facts clearly can enable a rescue or intervention.
- • A calm voice from leadership might steady the crew and keep morale intact.
Alert and slightly impatient; focused on practical contingencies and who can be reached next.
Present in the briefing room as part of the staff chorus; asks procedural questions about intercom and radio presence, helping track who is on the line and what options exist.
- • Clarify communication channels quickly to inform political and operational choices.
- • Identify opportunities to shape messaging around the unfolding crisis.
- • Operational clarity mitigates political fallout.
- • Knowing who is available to talk aids crisis triage.
Measured but emotionally exposed — steady public composure overlays a quietly horrified and personally responsible sorrow.
Moves from ceremonial posture into private urgency: kneels at the table, speaks softly into the patch speakerphone, comforts Harold, promises to remain on the line, and absorbs bad news without grandstanding.
- • Provide immediate emotional reassurance to a frightened crewman.
- • Maintain a live line of contact to preserve any chance of rescue or control.
- • Convert abstract institutional failure into a human-to-human intervention.
- • The President is morally bound to make crises personal when institutions fail.
- • Human contact and calm words from leadership can steady desperate people even when resources are lacking.
Urgent, controlled anxiety — pushing facts forward to enable action while bearing the weight of responsibility.
Enters with the news that most fleet communications are down; identifies the Hickory as the only reachable ship and provides succinct operational context for the President and staff.
- • Convey the severity of the communications collapse clearly and quickly.
- • Ensure the President and staff have the operational picture needed to make decisions.
- • Clear, factual briefing is necessary for responsible executive action.
- • The White House must control the narrative and response even amid limited options.
Eager and alert — sees emotional moments as both human and communicative opportunities.
Stands among staff in the briefing room; offers the social prompt to move from formality to intimacy by telling Bartlet to 'talk to the boy', pressing for emotional engagement and media-optic control.
- • Nudge the President toward a human, empathetic response that will resonate publicly.
- • Ensure the administration looks compassionate and in control.
- • Emotional gestures by leaders can be strategically valuable.
- • Optics matter even during private crisis responses.
Calmly professional; slightly constrained by limited options and the gravity of the report.
Functions as the on-site naval presence: helps establish the patch connection, stands in as the military interlocutor in the room, and provides concise operational cues when asked.
- • Facilitate clear military-to-civilian communication with the Hickory.
- • Ensure the President receives accurate tactical information without speculation.
- • Chain-of-command clarity is essential even during degraded communications.
- • Military facts must be presented plainly to enable civilian leaders to act.
Reserved and watchful — maintaining protocol and presence while the room shifts tone.
Represented by 'several guards' in the room: physically present, formal, and silent witnesses to the transformation of ceremony into crisis briefing.
- • Maintain decorum and security during an impromptu briefing.
- • Be available for any immediate movements of the President or principals.
- • Presence of honor guards reassures institutional continuity.
- • Physical security matters even when conversation is focused on rescue.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The large oval conference table anchors the briefing room and functions as the physical stage for the exchange: the speakerphone is pushed on the table, staff gather around it, and Bartlet kneels to bring himself closer to the voice on the line. The table concentrates gaze, gestures, and the small intimacy that interrupts ceremonial distance.
The USS Hickory running lights are reported by Harold as extinguished or failing; narratively they act as a hazard (a carrier may run the cutter down in the dark) and a concrete measure of the cutter's peril — visual testimony to the ship's reduced signature and vulnerability.
The West Wing public‑address intercom is cited as having been knocked out — its failure is invoked to explain why the captain is being searched for on foot rather than paged. The broken intercom therefore operates as a tangible indicator of systemic communication collapse inside the building and across institutions.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The cramped radio shack aboard the USS Hickory is the literal source of the President's connection: salt‑streaked, heat‑affected, filled with static and a single lamp over patch panels. Harold transmits from this claustrophobic node, making the global crisis intimate and tying national command decisions to a single human voice in a confined space.
The cutter's engine room is described as being on fire and the source of the cutter's failing systems. Its condition drives the emergency: smoke, heat, and failing propulsion/lighting create the immediate danger that the signalman reports and that the White House must respond to if possible.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Early naval concerns in Act 3 escalate to Bartlet's intensely personal connection with Signalman Lewis in Act 5, showing crisis progression."
"Early naval concerns in Act 3 escalate to Bartlet's intensely personal connection with Signalman Lewis in Act 5, showing crisis progression."
"Bartlet's 'What do I do now?' helplessness transforms into his sustained human connection with Harold—showcasing leadership's limits and power."
"Bartlet's 'What do I do now?' helplessness transforms into his sustained human connection with Harold—showcasing leadership's limits and power."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Key Dialogue
"LEO: "Not yet. The JFK's radios have been knocked out along with communications on the Normandy and the South Carolina. All we've got is the Hickory. It's a little maintenance and supply boat that sails around with the fleet.""
"HAROLD LEWIS: "Well, we're looking at I guess 80 foot seas with winds up to 120 knots. We're shipping solid green water over the bow. And we've got a fire in the engine room. We lost our running lights and may get run over by an aircraft carrier that can't see in the dark.""
"BARTLET: "I'm going to stay right here, as long as the radio works, okay?""