Market Plunge and the Canceled Photo‑Op
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
The Dow plunges 685 points, marking the seventh largest percentage drop in history, triggered by the bankruptcy of the Gehrman-Driscol hedge fund.
Bartlet reacts to the market crash with dry humor, referencing Alfred Nobel, while Sam and Charlie discuss the implications.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Concerned but controlled—focused on practical levers rather than panic.
Sam stands beside Bartlet, watching the bulletin; he offers a tactical, short comment about Tokyo's role and implicitly supports the President's need to wait for international market signals.
- • To frame the market drop in manageable, actionable terms
- • To advise patience until Tokyo's market opens
- • To keep the President focused on policy levers rather than superstition
- • Global markets have interlocking mechanics and Tokyo is a crucial stabilizer
- • The administration should avoid dramatics until facts and international reactions firm up
Mildly inconvenienced and professional—ready to proceed until asked to defer.
The Photographer is prepared and professional, calling the group to position for the shot and starting a count, then yielding quickly and apologizing when Bartlet asks for a pause and Charlie cancels the session.
- • To capture the scheduled presidential photo as planned
- • To maintain schedule and technical readiness for the shot
- • Timing and coordination are central to a successful photo‑op
- • Respect for the President's request is paramount
Urgent, focused—acts quickly to shield the President from a small detail that could become a public liability.
Charlie identifies the political optics risk: Mr. Keith's Hoover story makes the President appear superstitious on the day of a market crash. He interrupts the photographer, pulls Bartlet aside, and decisively cancels/reschedules the photo‑op while apologizing to Mr. Keith.
- • To prevent an image of the President as superstitious or rattled from reaching cameras
- • To preserve campaign/administration optics by postponing the feel‑good event
- • To comfort and redirect the President away from distraction
- • Optics can amplify or derail public confidence regardless of policy competence
- • Small things (a photo, an anecdote) can become symbolic in a crisis and must be managed
Bemused and slightly hurt—proud to share history but puzzled when told the visit will be postponed.
Mr. Keith, the elderly guest, recounts shaking Hoover's hand on October 23, 1929; he answers Bartlet's questions politely and is confused/disappointed when Charlie apologetically explains the rescheduling.
- • To be honored by the presidential audience and share his memories
- • To engage pleasantly in the scheduled photo‑op
- • Personal history with presidents is a point of pride and civic continuity
- • His anecdote is harmless and meaningful, not politically consequential
Feigns wry detachment while privately unsettled—momentary superstition and anxiety under a veneer of irony.
President Bartlet watches the market close on TV, makes a deflective Nobel joke, listens as Mr. Keith recounts meeting Hoover, briefly reveals superstition and doubt, and moves to the window with Charlie to privately admit the momentary urge to cancel the photo‑op.
- • To downplay panic and preserve presidential composure in front of guests and staff
- • To assess whether the economic shock demands immediate executive visibility or restraint
- • To avoid making rash public optics decisions while personally unsettled
- • Public calm matters — the President must project steadiness
- • Markets are manipulable by external anchors (Tokyo/Nikkei) and can be stabilized with time
- • Superstition is irrational but emotionally contagious and can undermine confidence
Objective urgency—relays facts without emotional context, amplifying tension in the room.
The Reporter appears via television audio, announcing the Dow's 685‑point drop and attributing it to the Gehrman‑Driscol fund's bankruptcy—this information is the catalytic external input that reframes the room's mood.
- • To inform the public of market events accurately and quickly
- • To frame the day's financial narrative for viewers
- • Audience needs immediate, clear updates about market movements
- • Finance news can be concise and consequential
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The Dow functions as the abstract catalyst and is verbally invoked by the reporter and participants. Its 685‑point fall provides the quantitative drama that converts a local moment into a national crisis and justifies immediate administrative triage.
The Photographer's camera is physically poised to capture the President and Mr. Keith; its readiness creates pressure to proceed. When the President hesitates and Charlie intervenes, the camera's purpose shifts from recording a feel‑good image to being an instrument whose presence must be managed for optics.
The planned Bartlet–Shantytown Mayor photo‑op functions as the political object of the scene: an instrument of outreach whose optics are suddenly risky. Its imagined staging (President draping his arm around the mayor) is discussed and then deferred to avoid creating a symbol of panic or superstition amid market collapse.
The White House television delivers the market bulletin that triggers the room's emotional shift. It functions as the primary information vector: through its audio/visual feed the Dow drop and the Gehrman‑Driscol bankruptcy enter the Oval conversation and reshape immediate behavior.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Tokyo is invoked rhetorically as the distant stabilizer — the Nikkei's opening is reframed as the administration's hoped‑for 'mother's milk' to stop the slide. Though not physically present, Tokyo's market timetable actively shapes the President's short‑term calculus.
Shantytown is the intended backdrop for the photo‑op and is rhetorically present as the community whose mayor would be embraced; its implied people and narratives give the canceled photo its political weight.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
The Gehrman‑Driscol fund is the proximate cause of the market collapse: its announced bankruptcy is the factual hook that transforms a routine photo‑op into a crisis moment. The fund's failure creates downstream political pressure on the administration and reframes ordinary optics as potentially damaging symbolism.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"The market crash triggers widespread economic anxiety, which is later compounded by the human tragedy of the campus bombing, showing how national crises escalate and intersect."
"The market crash triggers widespread economic anxiety, which is later compounded by the human tragedy of the campus bombing, showing how national crises escalate and intersect."
"Bartlet's dry humor and superstition in reacting to the market crash foreshadow his later interactions with Debbie Fiderer, where his humor and deductive reasoning play key roles."
"Bartlet's dry humor and superstition in reacting to the market crash foreshadow his later interactions with Debbie Fiderer, where his humor and deductive reasoning play key roles."
Key Dialogue
"REPORTER: And that ends this day of trading, the Dow dropping 685 points, the seventh largest percentage drop in history, and the largest point total ever. The bad news hit before the opening bell when the Gehrman-Driscol fund, the largest hedge fund in the U.S., annouced it was filing for bankruptcy."
"BARTLET: Yeah, it's a proud day for Alfred Nobel."
"CHARLIE: Mr. Keith, I'm sorry. We're going to have to reschedule this for tomorrow."