The Crackpots and These Women

Infobox Television episode
Title = The Crackpots and These Women
Series = The West Wing


Caption =
Season = 1
Episode = 5
Airdate = October 201999
Production = 225903
Writer = Aaron Sorkin
Director = Anthony Drazan
Guests = Guy Boyd
Janel Moloney
Elisabeth Moss
Suzy Nakamura
Renee Estevez
Sam Lloyd
Nick Offerman
Nicholas Cascone
Rachel Singer
David Fabrizio
Episode list = List of "The West Wing" episodes
Season list = Infobox The West Wing season 1 episode list
Prev =
Next ="The Crackpots and These Women" is the 5th episode of "The West Wing".

Plot

The staff participates in "Big Block of Cheese Day," a fictional workday on which White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry encourages his staff to meet with fringe special interest groups that normally would not get attention from the White House. Big Block of Cheese Day also is mentioned in "Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail."

The rationale for the day, as recounted by McGarry, is that America's seventh president, Andrew Jackson, had a two-ton block of cheese in the White House foyer from which everyone was welcome to eat. This symbolized the openness of the White House to the American people. White House Communications Director Toby Ziegler derisively refers to the day as "Throw Open Our Office Doors To People Who Want To Discuss Things That We Could [sic] Care Less About Day", and Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman refers to it as "Total Crackpot Day".

White House Press Secretary C.J. Cregg meets with a group that would like to build a highway for wolves, while Sam Seaborn meets with a citizen concerned about UFOs, played by Sam Lloyd.

Later, at a reception in the Mural Room, the President and the men on his staff marvel at the extraordinary strength and integrity of the women in their lives.

Real-life inspiration

The book "Real Life at the White House" ["Real Life at the White House" (ISBN 0-415-92320-4), by John Whitcomb and Claire Whitcomb] confirms that this story does draw on actual events. Andrew Jackson did once receive a 1,400 pound, four foot in diameter, two foot thick (635 kg, 1.2 m diameter, 60 cm thick) block of cheese as a gift. [http://web.archive.org/web/20050307091938/http://b4a.healthyinterest.net/char/leo.html Leo McGarry profile] , Bartlet4America.org] After two years of aging, he held a public "cheese tasting". The event was heavily attended and the cheese was consumed in two hours.

Eccentric Baptist preacher John Leland decided to celebrate the presidency of Thomas Jefferson by convincing the predominantly Baptist farmers of Cheshire, Massachusetts to create a giant 1,235-pound block of cheese as a monument to small-"r" republicanism and religious freedom. The cheese eventually reached Thomas Jefferson on New Years Day in 1802.

Animals on highways

According to the West Wing Continuity Guide fansite, there have been efforts to construct wildlife crossings and wildlife corridors to allow animals to cross highways without being struck by passing vehicles ["Was there really a Big Block of Cheese in the Jackson White House" Accessed on March 24, 2008. [http://westwing.bewarne.com/queries/cheese.html] ] .

NSC Card

Josh's dilemma with the card given to him was inspired by George Stephanopoulos showing Aaron Sorkin his card issued by the NSC showing him where he was to go in the event of an attack. In the script book Sorkin reveals that former White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers pulled him to one side and said that they didn't exist. However, unknown to Myers, they did exist, but she wasn't issued one. Fact|date=July 2008

References

http://wiki.monticello.org/mediawiki/index.php/Mammoth_Cheese

External links

* [http://epguides.com/WestWing/ The West Wing Episode Guide]