HARTSFIELD'S LANDING

Descriptions

From TVGuide.com:

On the day before the New Hampshire primary the President plays a game of diplomatic and military chess with the Chinese government over Taiwan while playing games of actual chess with Toby and Sam (on chessboards given him by the Prime Minister of India). Up in New Hampshire, the small town of Hartsfield's Landing will vote at midnight and Josh is determined that Bartlet not lose there. So Donna draws an assignment that gives new meaning to the phrase "retail politics."

From NBC:

The President (Martin Sheen) engages both Sam (Rob Lowe) and Toby (Richard Schiff) in intricate chess matches that underscore the wily game of brinkmanship Bartlet is playing with the Chinese who threaten to turn their war games in the Taiwan Strait into the real thing if Taiwan begins test-firing their new U.S. Patriot defense missiles. Meanwhile, Josh (Bradley Whitford) is edgy about every vote out of the 42 cast in a remote New Hampshire burg that are counted immediately and always predict the winner of the day's crucial state primary. Elsewhere, a mischievous C.J. (Allison Janney) tries to upset Charlie (Dulé Hill) by not accounting for her copy of the President's top-secret daily schedule -- prompting a war of mischievous games and tricks.

From Warner Bros.:

Bartlet engages both Sam and Toby in intricate chess matches that mirror the wily game of brinksmanship that Bartlet is playing with the Chinese, who are conducting war games in the Taiwan Strait. The Chinese threaten real war if Taiwan begins test firing its new U.S.-made Patriot defense missiles. Meanwhile, Josh is nervous about the 42 votes in a remote New Hampshire town's election, which are counted immediately and always predict the winner of that state's primary. Mischievous C.J. tries to upset Charlie by hiding his copy of the President's top-secret daily schedule--prompting a spate of playful tricks.

Credits

Information Links

• Chess invented in India around 600 A.D.
• History of Chess
• Joint Chiefs
• Prime Minister of India
• 7th Fleet CURRENTLY NOT AVAILABLE
• Hartsfield's Landing - Dixville Notch
• Ching Chuang Kang [Air Base]
• the Nimitz
• the Independence
• the Carl Vinson
• Xinhua
• "79 Act" - Taiwan Relations Act
• William Howard Taft
• Seventh Inning Stretch
• Take Me Out to the Ballgame by Jack Norworth and Albert von Tilzer
• "Shine on Harvest Moon" - lyrics by Jack Norworth but music not by Albert von Tilzer
• Retail Politics - addressing individual concerns
• State of the Union
• Tansen
• Mogul Court of Emperor Akbar
• Grandmaster
• Fibonacci Chess opening
• Stock Exchange of India
• "Import-Export Bank" - Export-Import Bank
• Free elections in Taiwan in 1991
• Chinese Ambassador [to the United States]
• Shanghai Communiqué
• Sigmund
• Lord Mountbatten
• Jawaharial Nehru
• Evans Gambit
• Giuoco Piano opening
• Charlemagne
• Krazy Glue
• Fed Chair
• Princeton
• Dickens
• Censure - Alternatives to Impeachment
• King Gustaf
• Nobel Prize in Economics
• Marion the Librarian from The Music Man
• Eisenhower
• Quemoy and Matsu
• Mao

Media Quotes

In [this] episode ... Toby Ziegler--Bartlet's communications director, and the conscience of Sorkin's White House--"is going to continue his conversation with the President, 'Your father hated your guts because you were smarter than he was. In fact, he hit you because of it, and as a result you are scared to get people mad at you with your brains. You don't want to lose as the smartest kid in class who's running against an everyman. But I'm telling you, be the smartest kid in your class. Be the reason why your father hated you. Make this an election about smart and stupid, about engaged and not, qualified and not.'" - Aaron Sorkin

"WEST WING WATCH: SNOOKERED BY BUSH"
By Tad Friend
March 4, 2002
The New Yorker

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