The War at Home (The West Wing)

"The War at Home"
The West Wing episode
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 36
Directed by	Christopher Misiano
Written by	Aaron Sorkin
Production code	226214
Original air date	February 14, 2001
Guest stars
Stockard Channing Emily Procter Marlee Matlin Tony Plana Richard Riehle Ted McGinley Bill O'Brien Kathryn Joosten Glenn Morshower Ed Begley, Jr.
Season 2 episodes
October 4, 2000 – May 16, 2001 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
List of The West Wing episodes

"The War at Home" is the 36th episode of The West Wing.

Plot

An attempt to rescue the DEA agents held hostage in Colombia backfires and nine soldiers are killed. The President and his staff weigh more military action and the effects of appeasing terrorists. The hostages are later released after the Colombian President covertly releases a recently imprisoned drug lord. The President asks Josh and Sam to attempt to come up with a solution to the drug problem in America, which Leo later calls the war that's fought at home. Toby is forced by Sam to meet with a very liberal Senator who threatens a run for the Presidency because of non-support for his Social Security reform plans. Ainsley gets another chance to meet the President. Joey Lucas has an insight into Josh and Donna after they finish the poll about gun control laws. The First Lady continues to be aggravated with her husband over his intentions to run for re-election in opposition to a prior agreement between them three years ago.

In this episode Leo opposes an armed conflict with Colombian rebels saying that it would put the United States military in a position "with no clear mission and no end in sight." This comment is made in reference to the Vietnam War and mirrors future oppositional arguments to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The events of this episode occur immediately after the events of the previous episode, Bartlet's Third State of the Union.

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"