President Bartlet's Pack of Cigarettes (Situation Room — S01E03)

Used by President Bartlet during urgent discussions in the Situation Room in Episode 3.

1 appearances

Purpose

To hold and dispense cigarettes for smoking.

Significance

Acts as a tactile coping device and humanizing prop: the pack punctuates Bartlet's grief and fury, providing a private ritual during the fraught decision to authorize Pericles One and underscoring the emotional weight behind the President's command.

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

1 moments

S1E3 · A Proportional Response

Reluctant Launch — Pericles One Authorized

The President's pack of cigarettes is produced by an officer and slid to Bartlet; it enables a brief humanizing, private gesture (he smokes to steady himself) that punctuates the gravitational weight of the decision and dramatizes his conflicted state.

Before: In an officer's possession, unopened or recently handled, presented to the President.

After: A cigarette removed and smoked by the President; the pack is left handled and opened on the table (physically marked by recent use).

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