'West Wing' Actors Discuss Show, Book at Little Rock's Clinton Presidential Library

by Julian Spivey

Aprille Hanson-Spivey Photo

The Clinton Presidential Center Presents program featured the “What’s Next? The Legacy of “The West Wing,” a conversation with actors and authors Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack on Monday, August 26, at the William J. Clinton Library and Museum in Little Rock, Ark.

The program was held in conjunction with the center’s newest exhibition, Commanding the Screen: The American Presidency in Film and Television, which began on August 17 and will run through March 23, 2025. That exhibition explores cinematic performances of fictional and real-life presidents and features original costumes, props, and other memorabilia from TV and film featuring the American presidency. I hope to check it out soon.

Dr. Jay Barth, the director of the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum, moderated Monday night’s event asking Fitzgerald and McCormack questions over the hour-long program about the impact of “The West Wing,” some behind the scenes of the show and how it has impacted society, both in American and abroad.

Barth also took questions from audience members who appeared live at the center and via a live stream and had previously submitted questions when registering for the event.

Fitzgerald portrayed Carol Fitzpatrick, assistant to press secretary C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney) for the entire seven-season run of “The West Wing.” Since the series ended, Fitzgerald has left acting behind to focus on civic duty as the Senior Director for the nonprofit organization Justice For Vets.

McCormack, who claimed at the Q&A that she’s “always late to the party,” joined the cast of “The West Wing” in the show’s fifth season as Deputy National Security Advisor Kate Harper and stayed with the show until it ended with its seventh season in 2006. Since the end of “The West Wing,” McCormack has starred in the USA Network drama “In Plain Sight” and the excellent but unfortunately short-lived ABC sitcom “The Kids Are Alright.”

Fitzgerald and McCormack’s book What’s Next: A Backstage Pass to The West Wing, which was available for purchase at the event and the authors signed for fans following the Q&A, was published by Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Random House, on August 13. The two have been on a book tour since.

Fitzgerald mentioned that she had been approached to write a book about “The West Wing” around 2019 and had asked McCormack to collaborate with her at a birthday party for fellow cast member and friend Janney. They joked that they decided upon it after being a bit overserved at that party.

There were a lot of interesting anecdotes during the Q&A event, like talk of who some ideal casting may have been for some of the roles – some of which I’d known (like Sidney Poitier as President) but others who weren’t known for acting like former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. The original idea for the series was to focus solely on the President’s staff, with the President rarely seen. That all changed, of course, when the fantastic Martin Sheen was cast as President Josiah Bartlet.

Fitzgerald shared a story about how generous Sheen was with the entire cast and crew from day one on the set, how he shook hands and held conversations with every background artist, Sheen’s preferred term for “extras,” and how everybody was part of a family.

The show ended 18 years ago, but Fitzgerald and McCormack's words about their cast mates and friends show that the feeling of being a family is still felt by all today. Much of the cast is evidently in the same text chain, with the exception of Sheen, who’s more of a Luddite.  

Fitzgerald and McCormack's discussion was a terrific way to begin the celebration of the 25th anniversary of “The West Wing,” which premiered on NBC on September 22, 1999. I can’t wait to dig into their book, as I have been waiting for such a thing to exist for many years.