Hello and welcome to a history of the United States.

Episode 51, Theology cast three.

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In our last episode, we turned to theology.

It is an unavoidable feature of New England life, and Rhode Island in particular.

Consider for a moment, the West Wing Season 4 episodes one and two, a two-part episode called

20 Hours in America. Now, the West Wing is a television classic, and I'm currently re-watching

the whole series again, thanks to the rather brilliant West Wing weekly podcast. I recently watched 20 Hours in America,

which is one of my favourite episodes of television, period. The basis for the episode is that

while the president is campaigning in Indiana, three of the cast, Toby, the Director of Communications, Josh, the deputy chief of staff,

and Donna, his assistant, miss the presidential motorcade, and therefore the Air Force One ride

back to Washington. What follows is their attempt to get back there, but in the process, they are forced to spend

20 hours outside the political bubble, that is Washington, D.C. They have to spend 20 hours

in America. While Donna is able to cope with it, Toby and Josh are not.

They are consumed by the campaign.

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