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Josiah Edward 'Jed' Bartlet, President of the United States is a fictional character played by Martin Sheen on the television serial drama The West Wing.
Although the show has an ensemble cast, the main character in the series has become the fictional U.S. President Bartlet. Bartlet represents, in many ways, an "ideal liberal president," endowed with a fierce intellect, great (though not infallible) personal integrity and toughness, but tempered with essential compassion for the less fortunate and a sense of humor.
President Bartlet is an accomplished economist, with a Ph.D. in economics from the London School of Economics and a Nobel Prize in Economics. He is a fictitious descendant of the real-life Josiah Bartlett, a signatory of the Declaration of Independence. Like his ancestor, Bartlet was a governor of New Hampshire. He was elected President on the Democratic ticket, and as the series continued, was elected to a second term. He is a devout Catholic, a graduate of the University of Notre Dame who once considered becoming a priest. He is married to Abigail Bartlet, a physician who is also quite intelligent. The President suffers from multiple sclerosis, which at one time put the future of his presidency in doubt.
Bartlet was shot in the first season cliffhanger finale. The President's wounds were not serious and the assassination attempt was actually intended at his personal assistant, Charlie Young, not Bartlet.
In the Season Two finale Two Cathedrals, Bartlet announced to the country that he suffers from multiple sclerosis, and had been keeping it a secret, although this had been previously revealed to the viewers in the Season One episode He Shall, From Time to Time...
President Bartlet's daughter, Zoey, was kidnapped the day of her graduation from Georgetown University, possibly due to the Bartlet-ordered assassination of the Qumari defense minister. While Zoey was missing, President Bartlet invoked Section 3 of the 25th Amendment, giving up the power of the presidency. Due to the resignation a few days earlier of Vice President John Hoynes, the Speaker of the House Glen Allen Walken, a Republican, became Acting President. Zoey was recovered with only minor injuries several days later and President Bartlet reassumed his office a few hours later. On a trip to China, Bartlet was left temporarliy paralyzed by a ms attack.
As a matter of trivia, the President was not originally intended to be a key member of the cast. He was only intended to make occasional appearances.
See also
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