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"In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part I" is the 23rd episode of The West Wing and the first episode of the second season.

The Bartlet Administration is in chaos—an assassination attempt has left the White House (not to mention the country) reeling. Who was hit? Was anyone killed? Who did it? And why? As those questions are explored, the episode includes flashbacks detailing how the Administration came to be. To handle all the implications of the domestic and international crises, Vice President Hoynes takes the reins.

President Bartlet is rushed back towards the White House … but the limo has to turn around quickly when it's discovered he's been hit in the side. Back at the scene of the shooting, Toby discovers that Josh has been shot in the chest. He is rushed to GW along with the President. Mrs. Bartlet and most of the staff rush to the hospital. Abbey has to tell one of the doctors about the President's MS.

Meanwhile, Leo goes back to the West Wing and meets with the Vice President, the National Security Advisor Nancy McNally, and others in the Situation Room. Nancy warns Leo that she thinks the country may be under attack from foreign powers and that Iraq might be at the source. There is some confusion over who is in charge, since the President did not sign a letter transferring authority over to the Vice President before he went into surgery.

While Bartlet undergoes minor surgery (the bullet "seems to have gone out of its way not to hit anything"), Josh remains in critical condition and must undergo major surgery.

Through the course of flashbacks, we see how Josh first came to be a member of Bartlet's election campaign. He was working for John Hoynes when Leo came and convinced him to visit Bartlet in New Hampshire during an early speech (Josh believes it will be a waste of time). Along the way, he stops in New York to talk to Sam Seaborn, who is working at the law firm of Gage Whitney Pace helping an oil company purchase old tankers. Josh asks him to come work for Hoynes; Sam turns him down, but says that if Bartlet turns out to be "the real thing" he'll come with Josh.

Toby also remembers his early days with the campaign. On the night of the speech, Toby was drinking heavily, believing Leo was going to fire him that night. Instead, Leo fires the other senior members of the campaign staff but keeps Toby.

Governor Bartlet is unsure if running for president is a good idea, despite his track record of never losing an election (although Leo points out that being elected to the House and then governor of a state his family helped found is not all that impressive). Leo assures his old friend that he's the right man, and that "this is the time of Jed Bartlet."

Back in the hospital, Bartlet comes out of surgery all right and visits Josh, who is still undergoing his own operation.

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• In her series debut in this episode, National Security Advisor Nancy McNally worries about not knowing where Osama bin Laden is in the midst of a discussion concerning Iraq. This episode aired almost a year before the real-life 9/11 terrorist attacks.
• Mandy Hampton, a Season One regular who appeared in the episode directly preceding this one, here disappears from the series without any explanation whatsoever.
• Aaron Sorkin stated in the commentary for this episode that the manner in which Agent Ron Butterfield discovers President Bartlet to be wounded is inspired by the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan, where agents did not realize that the President had been hit.

• The West Wing Episode Guide
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