History Characters / TheWestWing

* BetaCouple: In Season 7, to Josh and Donna's Alpha Couple. Hell, probably C.J. and Danny in the whole series to Josh and Donna's Alpha Couple.

* DatingCatwoman: Conflict of interest is almost inherent in their relationship.

* ForcefulKiss: While dressed up like Santa, Danny kisses CJ without her consent or knowledge of his identity.

* HeroesWantRedheads: His ex-wife has red hair.

!!Lord John Marbury

* TheAlcoholic: It's revealed that Hoynes has his own issues with the bottle, stemming [[ShoutOut from his]] [[Film/AnimalHouse rowdy college days]]. He hasn't taken a drink since then, but he runs an A.A. meeting because he was so disturbed by what it was like.

As the Speaker for much of Bartlet's first term, Walken often serves as an antagonist to the main cast (although usually a more amiable one than Speaker Haffley -- see below).

* ManipulativeBastard: They're all politicians, but Josh is the most underhanded when it comes to getting what he wants. Josh [[LampshadeHanging notes this]] early in the first season when telling a congressman, "President Bartlet's a good man. He's got a good heart. He doesn't hold a grudge. That's what he pays me for."

* PoliticiansKissBabies: His personal charm and genuine enthusiasm for the job is a large part of why the Democrats are so worried about him running. He injures his hand after shaking too many hands during his campaign and has made his own jokes about having to kiss people's babies.

* TheSmartGuy: (While he is a character in a Liberal setting, the show still shows Vinick as extremely intelligent and someone who would make a terrific President.

As the Speaker for much of Bartlet's first term, Walken often serves as an antagonist to the main cast (although usually a more amiable one than Speaker Haffley--see below). However, after [[spoiler:Bartlet steps down during the kidnapping crisis, with the office of Vice President vacant due to Hoynes' resignation]], he briefly [[spoiler:becomes President of the United States]].

[[folder:Jeff Haffley (R-WA), Speaker Of The House]]

Characters of ''Series/TheWestWing''.

* TranquilFury: When Bartlet's Presidential Challenger Bob Ritchie's reaction to a Secret Service Agent getting killed is a detached "Crime, Boy, I don't know", a calm Bartlet informs him that that was the point where he decided he was going to kick his ass in the election.

* SmugSnake: Very bright, and capable of using the Republican majority in Congress quite effectively, but unable to alter his plans, and extremely stuck-up and unlikable in person.

* HonestAdvisor: Part of why Leo hires him.

%% * CoolOldGuy

* DisproportionateRetribution: Invokes this when the Syrians kill a group of military medical personnel, reasoning so that the rest of the world will know never to harm another American. (This episode is literally called "A Proportional Response", in reference to his staggering military overreaction.)

* RageAgainstTheHeavens: He does this in "Two Cathedrals". In the National Cathedral. While switching in between English and Latin.

%% * HardDrinkingPartyGirl

[[folder:President Josiah "Jed" Bartlet]]

[[folder:Chief of Staff Leo [=McGarry=]]]

[[folder:Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman]]

* DeadpanSnarker: Quite possibly the snarkiest character in the series and that, my friends, is saying something.

** It's hinted that Josh has great instincts, but gets wrapped up in his need to win. He does come up with good solutions (such as realising that Bartlet can prevent an area from getting stripmined by declaring it a national park), he hires good people (most notably Donna) and he is a good judge of character when it matters. His crowning moment is when during the Santos campaign when he [[spoiler:controls his urges to jump on the nuclear reactor accident. Bruno expected Josh to overplay the incident, but Santos does nothing publicly per Josh's orders and even pushes back on Josh when Josh's impatience starts getting the better of him, and it ends up making Vinick look bad]]. It's also Josh who encourages Bartlet to ride and then ''walk'' to Congress during the shutdown stand-off, and then leave after waiting for [[SmugSnake the Speaker Haffley]] to let them in. Within minutes, Josh helped Bartlet look good and Congress bad, forcing Haffley to finally make a deal and end the shutdown. Finally, Josh realises that the best way to handle Santos is not to handle him too much, but let him be himself; since this gets Santos elected, Josh earns that Chief of Staff position.
** It's also implied by characters like Sam that Josh's job is ''incredibly'' chaotic, as he has to take an incalculable number of demands from an incalculable number of parties screaming and/or threatening for attention, somehow make them make sense, balance them out with the minuscule resources and time the White House has, make a coherent recommendation to the President, then execute the President's orders on a nation full of people who will never be happy with the deal they got. It would be fairer to judge Josh by the number of times he ''doesn't'' screw up.

[[folder:Communications Director Toby Ziegler]]

[[folder:Press Secretary C.J. Cregg]]

[[folder:Deputy Communications Director Sam Seaborn]]

[[folder:Media Consultant Mandy Hampton]]

[[folder:Assistant to the Deputy Chief of Staff Donna Moss]]

[[folder:Personal Aide to the President Charlie Young]]

[[folder:Deputy Communications Director; Chief of Staff to the Vice President Will Bailey]]

[[folder:Cmdr Kate Harper, Deputy National Security Adviser]]

[[folder:Deputy Press Secretary Annabeth Schott]]

[[folder:National Security Adviser Dr. Nancy [=McNally=]]]

[[folder:Admiral Percy Fitzwallace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs]]

[[folder:Associate White House Counsel Ainsley Hayes]]

[[folder:Executive Secretary to the President Dolores Landingham]]

[[folder:Executive Secretary to the President Deborah Fiderer]]

[[folder:Head of Presidential Detail of the Secret Service Ron Butterfield]]

[[folder:First Lady of the United States Abbey Bartlet]]

[[folder:First Daughter Liz Westin]]

[[folder:First Daughter Ellie Faison]]

[[folder:First Daughter Zoey Bartlet]]

[[folder:Speaker of the House Glen Allen Walken (R-MO)]]

[[folder:Speaker Of The House Jeff Haffley (R-WA)]]

[[folder:Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Ashland]]

* TheCasanova: Shown to have slept with many women. [[spoiler: This is what leads to his political end, not once but twice]].

* HomeGuard: He's a First Lieutenant in the Air Force Reserve.

* HeightAngst: From the opposite end as C.J. There are a lot of sight gags involving her lack of height--she's invisible behind the press podium, and one scene has her and C.J. walking ''side by side'' down a hallway.

* BrooklynRage: A native of Brighton Beach and known for not having the best control of his temper.

* InsufferableGenius: Toby is undeniably brilliant but he's definitely not the easiest person to get along with and has a bad habit of letting his ego get the better of him and pushing people away as a result. Even those who know of his kind nature like Josh and CJ have their limits with how abrasive and insulting Toby can be.

** It's hinted that Josh has great instincts, but gets wrapped up in his need to win. He does come up with good solutions (such as realising that Bartlet can prevent an area from getting stripmined by declaring it a national park), he hires good people (most notably Donna) and he is a good judge of character when it matters. His crowning moment is when during the Santos campaign when he [[spoiler:controls his urges to jump on the nuclear reactor accident. Bruno expected Josh to overplay the incident, but Santos does nothing publicly per Josh's orders and even pushes back on Josh when Josh's patience starts getting the better of him, and it ends up making Vinick look bad]]. It's also Josh who encourages Bartlet to ride and then ''walk'' to Congress during the shutdown stand-off, and then leave after waiting for [[SmugSnake the Speaker Haffley]] to let them in. Within minutes, Josh helped Bartlet look good and Congress bad, forcing Haffley to finally make a deal and end the shutdown. Finally, Josh realises that the best way to handle Santos is not to handle him too much, but let him be himself; since this gets Santos elected, Josh earns that Chief of Staff position.

* BrooklynRage: A native of Brighton Beach.

%%* PetTheDog

%% * MotorMouth

* DoingItForTheArt: In-universe. When accused of selling out to Vinick, he says that he wouldn't mind working Vinick's campaign for free.

* OverprotectiveDad: He takes unwarranted glee in doing things like clearing out a restaurant Zoe wanted to eat at just by showing up with his own protective detail, and when she starts dating Charlie, one of Bartlet's first comments is "the 82nd Airborne works for me."

* OverprotectiveDad: Downplayed example, but he is can get creative with his punishment when Sam tries to date his daughter.

* ArtisticLicence: He is consistently called "Lord John" by other characters, although as a British peer in his own right (the Marquess of Needham), the correct form of address would be "Lord Needham" or "My lord" ("Lord Firstname" being the traditional form of address when talking to younger sons of a peer). It is possible the authors were not aware of this discrepancy, since someone with Marbury's personality would probably not leave it without a biting comment in real life.

* {{UST}}/ WillTheyOrWontThey: With Donna. [[spoiler: [[TheyDo They do]]]].

* {{UST}}/ WillTheyOrWontThey: With Josh. [[spoiler: [[TheyDo They do]]]].