John Hoynes

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John Hoynes
Tim Matheson as John Hoynes
First appearance	Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc
Last appearance	Requiem spoilers below
Information
Occupation	Vice President of the United States (Seasons 1-4), Democratic Presidential Candidate (Season 6)
Relationships	Suzanne Hoynes
Children	several, names unknown
Portrayed by	Tim Matheson
Created by	Aaron Sorkin

John Hoynes is a fictional character played by Tim Matheson on the television serial drama The West Wing. He is Vice President of the United States during the first four seasons of the show.

As a senator from Texas, John Hoynes was the prohibitive favorite for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 1998 presidential election. After a primary battle, Hoynes lost the nomination to New Hampshire Governor Josiah Bartlet, with his campaign beginning to lose momentum when Josh Lyman, his chief strategist, defected to the Bartlet operation. At the Democratic National Convention during the summer of 1998, Bartlet, acting on the advice of Leo McGarry, invited Hoynes to join the ticket as his running mate. In an attempt to display his trust for Hoynes, Bartlet revealed that he had multiple sclerosis at this time. Hoynes did not give Bartlet an answer immediately, but eventually accepted. Bartlet counted on Hoynes to deliver the South,and although the Bartlet & Hoynes ticket carried both Florida and Georgia they lost Texas in the general election, possibly due in part to Texans taking offense at Bartlet's then-frequent jokes about the Lone Star State.

Hoynes had a rocky relationship with President Bartlet, mainly because of Hoynes' resentment over losing the nomination and his disapproval of Bartlet's failure to disclose his medical history during the primaries. In the first season, they quarreled in a cabinet meeting over Hoynes' opening statements to the cabinet when the President was running late. When the story was leaked to Danny Concannon, Bartlet assumed (erroneously) that Hoynes had leaked it. However, despite their constant disagreements, Bartlet and Hoynes often displayed great respect for one another. With much of his staff advising him to drop Hoynes from the ticket during the 2002 campaign in favor of Admiral Percy Fitzwallace, Bartlet insisted on keeping Hoynes on, explaining his reasoning in a simple note that read "Because I could die".

Hoynes also had several run-ins with Leo McGarry, though as with Bartlet, their mutual respect was clear. Both men were recovering alcoholics, and Hoynes invited McGarry to his secret AA meetings. Hoynes was seen to be quite saddened at Leo's funeral in the episode Requiem.

In May 2003, it was discovered that Hoynes had leaked classified information to a Washington, D.C. socialite, Helen Baldwin, with whom he was having an extramarital affair, namely that he had seen evidence of life on Mars. Hoynes later confessed, "I like to show off". When President Bartlet asked Hoynes if he was in a position to deny the affair, Hoynes informed him that he was resigning the Vice Presidency. Bartlet and McGarry discouraged him from doing this, but Hoynes insisted, partly because he never really liked the vice presidency and partly to spare his family further pain.

Hoynes, after resigning the Vice Presidency unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination for President.

In the fifth season, it was discovered that Hoynes received a $5 million advance to write a tell-all book entitled "Full Disclosure". Its aim was to repair his image so that he could successfully run for the presidency to succeed President Bartlet in the 2006 election. He did an interview with Diane Mathers (a Barbara Walters-Diane Sawyer composite), wife by his side, as part of this effort. His candidacy was announced in the sixth season episode "A Change is Gonna Come". However, he was unable to get then-Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman to agree to run his campaign again.

Recently, his campaign in the primary election of 2006, in which he has been a serious contender, was "temporarily suspended" as he retreated to Washington to be with his family, after a tabloid paid a former Senate staffer to share her old tale of sexual involvement (excluding any actual sex) with the then-senator. By the time of the Democratic National Convention in season 6, Hoynes believed that he could still become the nominee after two split ballots. Josh Lyman approached him with an offer of being a "party elder" under a Santos administration in return for Hoynes endorsing Santos and releasing his primary delegates. Hoynes did not accept the offer immediately and lost his chance to make a decision when Governor Baker entered the convention and announced his candidacy. By the time the second ballot was complete, Hoynes was left with only a hundred primary delegates, effectively ending his chances at the nomination and any deal he might have had with Josh. At this moment Hoynes' political career is effectively over.

[edit] Background and views

John Hoynes speaks fluent French and is a recovering alcoholic (he hasn't had a drink since college). He came on to White House Press Secretary C.J. Cregg in an elevator sometime around 1994, and it is believed that C. J. Cregg slept with him after telling Toby that she knew he was married and that it was "the worst decision of her life". He attended Southern Methodist University and was once a lawyer, but he made his money in the oil industry. Hoynes has several children and is in his second marriage, married to Suzanne.

Hoynes is a proponent of more opportunities for technology use in rural areas, and consequently of federal government legislation funding the same. He believes that the Second Amendment is archaic, but he is disinclined to support harsh gun restrictions. He refuses to endorse either legalizing or prohibiting same-sex marriage, believing the issue deserves "thoughtful study."

[edit] Similarities to Lyndon Johnson

Hoynes has some parallels to former President Lyndon Johnson. Both are from Texas, and both ran for the Democratic nomination for President, only to be defeated by a New England Democrat and subsequently become his running mate (in Johnson's case, Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy). Hoynes is also sometimes treated with disdain by members of the Bartlet administration, including President Bartlet himself; members of President Kennedy's administration--his brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, in particular--treated Vice President Johnson with similar contempt (although never President Kennedy himself). Unlike Johnson and Kennedy, however, Hoynes served in a time when a politician's marital infidelity was aggressively reported by mainstream media outlets.

[edit] See also

• The West Wing
• List of characters on The West Wing
• List of politicians on The West Wing
• List of The West Wing episodes