Professional Backgound
- Will was the valedictorian of his class at Eton [4.12].
- Will is a lawyer [4.10]
- Will signed up for the Air Force Reserves for a lot of reasons, one of which was the romance of flight, but he got over that [4.19].
- Will is a First Lieutenant who works with the JAG corps. While in D.C., he's assigned to Legal Services Agency at Bowling Air Force Base. He says he and his fellow JAG lawyers are scrappy [4.20].
- Will's road to the White House:
- As Horton Wilde's campaign manager, Will continued the campaign, even after his candidate's death [4.6]. Will says he took the race to show the DNC that no district should be ignored [4.9].
- During the Wilde campaign, Will had mattresses serving as makeshift cubicle walls [4.6]. After Will won the race and Sam Seaborn flew in for the run-off election, Will refused to stay on the campaign, as the DNC had sent their best guys to get Sam elected [4.10].
- Will likes to think that his writing has a certain dramatic flair [4.14] and he did some ghostwriting for the Governor of California [4.9].
- Sam plays a little "matchmaking" with Will and Toby, which initially doesn't take. Until Will gives Toby a completely honest criticism of Toby's writing. After producing a 500-word stanza on American leadership in a globally interdependent world that goes past triumphalism, Toby grudgingly accepted Will's help on the Inaugural speech [4.10].
- In the White House:
- The DNC gave Will a three-week contract to work on the Inaugural address [4.14].
- Will's first days working beyond what he calls the Holy Line of Demarcation -- in the West Wing, in other words -- included annoyed staffers filling his office with bicycles, covering the windows with Seaborn for Congress posters, and CJ Cregg storing a Heifer International goat in there [4.12]. CJ's keeping the hazing alive by slipping olives into Will's pockets [4.18].
- Will's first meeting with the President culminated in Will calling him "Mr. Justice." Charlie admitted it was probably the worst implosion he's ever seen [4.11].
- Will thinks that it takes some time for a speechwriter to learn a public figure's speech patterns; to that end, he ordered transcripts of the President's speeches from his time as New Hampshire Governor, and as a Representative [4.14].
- After Will's level of frustration reaches new peaks and his pointed comments gets the President to thinking about foreign policy changes, Toby decides he'd like the President to appoint Will the new Deputy Communications Director. The President obliges, giving a little speech -- of course -- to a speechless Will in the backroom of one of eight Inaugural Balls [4.15].
- The speechwriting staff whom Will tries to win over by making Rice Krispie Treats quit in protest when Will calls a meeting. He's left with four interns (three of whom are named Lauren) to add language related to the Democratic economic plan -- he ends up giving them numbered football jerseys [4.16].
- Toby claims he practically had to bungee Will to his desk to keep him from trying to run Sam's campaign from D.C. [4.16].
- Josh says that Will champions the voters (whom Josh admittedly despises) [4.15].
- After only a few weeks on the job, Will stepped up and made a public comment that the White House had a "reckless disregard for the issue of global warming" so that CJ could publicly reprimand him for politicizing a tragedy in Alaska, thereby sparking public debate [4.18].
- When Zoey Bartlet is kidnapped, Will finds himself in the unenviable position of being the voice of reason, suggesting early on that they couldn't possibly expect the President to act like the President when his daughter is in danger [4.23]. He also ends up with the task of writing the other speech, the one Bartlet will deliver if Zoey is killed [5.2]. Not only does a draft of the speech bring Bartlet near tears, but the President alters it and uses it when he reassumes his office [5.2].
- Will's increasing frustration with the Bartlet administration in general and Toby's message calendar obsession in particular leads him to accept a surprising job offer from newly minted Vice President "Bingo Bob" Russell [5.5]. Will is the new Communications Director and Senior Counselor to Russell, who wants help creating an active, relevant role for himself in the Bartlet administration [5.5].
- Will wrote several jokes based on the premise that Bingo Bob is boring -- he's so dull that his Secret Service code name is Bob Russell, etc [5.12].
- Toby took Will's defection hard, treating him very coldly for a while when they passed in the hallways or attended the same meetings [5.6].
