D. Wire Newman
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D. Wire Newman (often referred to colloquially as D.W.) is a fictional character played by James Cromwell on the television serial drama The West Wing. Newman is a former President of the United States, the last Democrat to have occupied the White House before President Josiah Bartlet.
Presumably intentionally, he shares some characteristics with real-world President Jimmy Carter, being a one-term liberal Democrat greatly troubled by events in the Middle East, but exactly where he fits into the show's timeline is uncertain. The West Wing never clearly identified the years Newman served as president. Evidence says he must have served his four years sometime after 1972 as Richard Nixon is President in the West Wing timeline and prior to 1990 as the President before Bartlet was a two-term Republican.
As is the prerogative of former Presidents, Newman — somewhat to Bartlet's chagrin — opts to receive daily national intelligence briefings, similar to the President's Daily Briefing.
[edit] Trivia
- The character makes just one appearance on the series, in the fifth season episode "The Stormy Present", which first aired January 7, 2004.
- Actor Cromwell is six feet, seven inches tall. Barring a taller presidential character in the West Wing universe, this would make Newman the tallest President in American history, surpassing the six-foot-four Abraham Lincoln.
- James Cromwell also plays President Robert Fowler in the film The Sum of All Fears.
