The Birnam Wood

"The Birnam Wood"
The West Wing episode
Episode no.	Season 6 Episode 112
Directed by	Alex Graves
Written by	John Wells
Production code	2T5002
Original air date	October 27, 2004
Guest stars
Armin Mueller-Stahl Makram J. Khoury Lily Tomlin Terry O'Quinn Steven Culp NiCole Robinson Natalija Nogulich Marcelo Tubert Eli Danker
Season 6 episodes
October 20, 2004 – April 6, 2005 NSF Thurmont The Birnam Wood Third-Day Story Liftoff The Hubbert Peak The Dover Test A Change Is Gonna Come In the Room Impact Winter Faith Based Initiative Opposition Research 365 Days King Corn The Wake Up Call Freedonia Drought Conditions A Good Day La Palabra Ninety Miles Away In God We Trust Things Fall Apart 2162 Votes
List of The West Wing episodes

"The Birnam Wood" is episode 112 of The West Wing.

Plot

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks at Camp David result in a momentous peace accord. President Bartlet accepts the resignation of White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry, who was strongly against the talks. Moments later, Leo suffers a massive heart attack.

"The Birnam Wood" is a reference to the warning given to Macbeth in the Shakespeare play of the same name, in which he is warned that "Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until / Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill / Shall come against him."

External links

The West Wing Episode Guide

The West Wing

Episodes Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 Season 6 Season 7

Main Characters	Josiah Bartlet Leo McGarry Josh Lyman Toby Ziegler Sam Seaborn C. J. Cregg Charlie Young Donna Moss Abbey Bartlet Will Bailey Matt Santos Arnold Vinick Mandy Hampton Kate Harper Annabeth Schott

Recurring Characters	Oliver Babish Elizabeth Bartlet Ellie Bartlet Zoey Bartlet Danny Concannon Ed and Larry Debbie Fiderer Percy Fitzwallace Amy Gardner Bruno Gianelli Jeff Haffley Ainsley Hayes John Hoynes Dolores Landingham Joey Lucas Nancy McNally Mallory O'Brien Bob Russell Helen Santos Andrea Wyatt

Related articles	Aaron Sorkin Thomas Schlamme John Wells W. G. Snuffy Walden

The West Wing episodes

Season 1	"Pilot" "Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc" "A Proportional Response" "Five Votes Down" "The Crackpots and These Women" "Mr. Willis of Ohio" "The State Dinner" "Enemies" "The Short List" "In Excelsis Deo" "Lord John Marbury" "He Shall, from Time to Time..." "Take out the Trash Day" "Take This Sabbath Day" "Celestial Navigation" "20 Hours in L.A." "The White House Pro-Am" "Six Meetings Before Lunch" "Let Bartlet Be Bartlet" "Mandatory Minimums" "Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics" "What Kind of Day Has It Been"

Season 2	"In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part I" "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part II" "The Midterms" "In this White House" "And It's Surely to Their Credit" "The Lame Duck Congress" "The Portland Trip" "Shibboleth" "Galileo" "Noël" "The Leadership Breakfast" "The Drop-In" "Bartlet's Third State of the Union" "The War at Home" "Ellie" "Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail" "The Stackhouse Filibuster" "17 People" "Bad Moon Rising" "The Fall's Gonna Kill You" "18th and Potomac" "Two Cathedrals"

Season 3	"Isaac and Ishmael" "Manchester Part I" "Manchester Part II" "Ways and Means" "On the Day Before" "War Crimes" "Gone Quiet" "The Indians in the Lobby" "The Women of Qumar" "Bartlet for America" "H. Con-172" "100,000 Airplanes" "The Two Bartlets" "Night Five" "Hartsfield's Landing" "Dead Irish Writers" "The U.S. Poet Laureate" "Stirred" "Enemies Foreign and Domestic" "The Black Vera Wang" "We Killed Yamamoto" "Posse Comitatus"

Season 4	"20 Hours in America, Part I" "20 Hours in America, Part II" "College Kids" "The Red Mass" "Debate Camp" "Game On" "Election Night" "Process Stories" "Swiss Diplomacy" "Arctic Radar" "Holy Night" "Guns Not Butter" "The Long Goodbye" "Inauguration, Part I" "Inauguration: Over There" "The California 47th" "Red Haven's on Fire" "Privateers" "Angel Maintenance" "Evidence of Things Not Seen" "Life on Mars" "Commencement" "Twenty Five"

Season 5	"7A WF 83429" "The Dogs of War" "Jefferson Lives" "Han" "Constituency of One" "Disaster Relief" "Separation of Powers" "Shutdown" "Abu el Banat" "The Stormy Present" "The Benign Prerogative" "Slow News Day" "The Warfare of Genghis Khan" "An Khe" "Full Disclosure" "Eppur Si Muove" "The Supremes" "Access" "Talking Points" "No Exit" "Gaza" "Memorial Day"

Season 6	"NSF Thurmont" "The Birnam Wood" "Third-Day Story" "Liftoff" "The Hubbert Peak" "The Dover Test" "A Change Is Gonna Come" "In the Room" "Impact Winter" "Faith Based Initiative" "Opposition Research" "365 Days" "King Corn" "The Wake Up Call" "Freedonia" "Drought Conditions" "A Good Day" "La Palabra" "Ninety Miles Away" "In God We Trust" "Things Fall Apart" "2162 Votes"

Season 7	"The Ticket" "The Mommy Problem" "Message of the Week" "Mr. Frost" "Here Today" "The Al Smith Dinner" "The Debate" "Undecideds" "The Wedding" "Running Mates" "Internal Displacement" "Duck and Cover" "The Cold" "Two Weeks Out" "Welcome to Wherever You Are" "Election Day" "Election Day Part II" "Requiem" "Transition" "The Last Hurrah" "Institutional Memory" "Tomorrow"