The West Wing

Texaco

Oil Industry Gasoline Retail and Pricing

Description

Texaco operates as a major oil company that President Bartlet targets in his campaign speech for driving up gasoline prices at the pump. He names it alongside Shell to hammer big oil's grip on consumers, accusing Republicans of shielding these firms from accountability amid energy shortages. Bartlet spotlights everyday pain at Texaco stations to rally support for renewables over fossil fuel dependence.

Event Involvements

Events with structured involvement data

2 events

S4E1 · 20 Hours in America Part I

Bartlet Stakes the Energy Claim — 'Reach for the Stars'

Texaco is named by President Bartlet as an exemplar of 'big oil' during his critique, used rhetorically to connect everyday frustrations at the pump to political culpability and to mobilize voters around renewable alternatives.

Active Representation

Through direct naming by the President in public rhetoric, functioning as a synecdoche for fossil-fuel interests.

Power Dynamics

Framed as an entrenched, influential industry being publicly challenged by the administration and its candidate.

Institutional Impact

Bartlet's invocation places corporate power in the campaign's moral frame, signaling a potential policy confrontation and mobilizing public scrutiny of industry influence.

Internal Dynamics

Not depicted directly in the scene; inferred tension between public relations management and political vulnerability.

Organizational Goals

Implicitly, preserve corporate reputation and resist regulatory/political threats. Maintain public perception that they are necessary or beneficial to consumers.

Influence Mechanisms

Reputation and brand recognition among voters. Lobbying and historical ties to political actors (implied).

S4E1 · 20 Hours in America Part I

C.J. Scrambles — Aides Missing in the Soybeans

Texaco is invoked by Bartlet as an exemplar of big oil whose pricing and influence the administration is attacking; in this event the company functions as rhetorical antagonist and shorthand for entrenched fossil-fuel interests.

Active Representation

Through the President's public naming during his speech as an example of corporate behavior the campaign opposes.

Power Dynamics

Portrayed as a powerful corporate adversary being publicly challenged by the administration's rhetoric.

Institutional Impact

Bartlet's naming of Texaco signals a public confrontation that frames institutional policy debates about energy and sets the campaign's adversarial stance toward corporate influence.

Organizational Goals

Maintain reputation and market position (implicit in being named). Leverage public perceptions to protect industry interests (implicit).

Influence Mechanisms

Reputation and market power invoked to shape public policy debate. Lobbying and historical political ties (implied by Bartlet's accusation).