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❝ In a triumph of the middling, a nod to mediocrity, and with gorge rising... ❞
TOBY ZIEGLER

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Toby Ziegler


Tobias Zachary Ziegler, Ph.D. was the White House Communications Director for seven years under President Josiah Bartlet. (Here Today)

Toby Ziegler was portrayed by Richard Schiff.

Professional Life

Toby has been a professional political operative all of his life. His political experience includes work on: one city council campaign, two Congressional races, a Senatorial and a gubernatorial race and a national campaign. Toby had never won an election until the Bartlet campaign. [1]

In addition to being in charge of the message for the Bartlet administration as the Communcations Director, he is a Senior Domestic Policy Advisor to the President.[2]

By the time of the dedication of the Bartlet Presidential Library, Toby teaches at Columbia University and considers it "not a bad place to spend time."

Personal Life

Toby was born December 23, 1954. His childhood and family are not fully known; he is from a lower-class background, and grew up in Brooklyn, New York; his father, Julie Ziegler, who, according to one episode, "needed the G.I. Bill," probably fought in the Korean War, and also worked for Murder Incorporated and later served time in prison, complicating their relationship somewhat (Note: Holy Night suggests that Julie Ziegler was still involved with Murder, Inc. at the time of Toby's birth - however, in reality, Murder, Inc. had largely disappeared by the end of the 1940's). Toby's other relatives are less visible on the show; he mentions at one point that his sisters took him to protest rallies in the mid-sixties. Toby also had a younger brother, David, who was a mission specialist at NASA and who later committed suicide after learning he had a terminal illness.

Education

Toby's education is less well-established than that of his colleagues. He attended the City College of New York, but his undergraduate major or any postgraduate degrees are unknown.

Hobbies

Toby is a fan of the New York Yankees baseball team. In Posse Comitatus, the show's third-season finale, first airing on May 22, 2002, he claimed to have attended 441 games at Yankee Stadium. If he saw his first game there at the age of seven, in the 1962 season, and the show progresses in real time, this works out to about eleven games per season, though it is not clear if he could keep up this pace once he began working at the White House.

Relationships and Family

Toby's ex-wife, Andrea 'Andie' Wyatt, is a U.S. Congresswoman and liberal Democrat from Maryland. During the fourth season, it was revealed that Toby and his ex-wife had conceived twins together. His ex-wife is later sued by a right wing group on grounds that her nondisclosure of her pregnancy during her campaign for re-election constituted election fraud. She has repeatedly turned down Toby's proposals for re-marriage. Toby and Andrea's children were born the same day Zoey Bartlet, President Bartlet's daughter, was kidnapped. They are named Huckleberry and Molly. Huck is named after his maternal great-grandfather, and Molly is named after the Secret Service agent who was killed attempting to prevent Zoey's kidnapping.

Religion

Toby is a committed Jew, who regularly attends synagogue on Saturdays. Some details, including the presence of a female cantor and an organ, suggest he attends a Reform temple.

Quotes

Toby Ziegler: (Talking about his newborn children) Yeah, they're great. And if somebody was hurting them, I'd drop napalm on Yellowstone to get them to stop. Letting some prisoners out of jail wouldn't be nothing, and I've known my kids for forty-five minutes.

Trivia

When he writes, especially when he writes important speeches, Toby apparently likes to have pie on hand at all times. [3]

Resume

Education

Political History

Work History

  • Lawyer
  • 2009 : Professor at Columbia University

References

Bartlet4America.org

See Also

  • Bartlet White House
  • Conflict between Toby and President Bartlet
  • Conflict between Josh and Toby

Template:Connections

PREDECESSOR
(unknown)
White House Communications Director
1999-2006
SUCCESSOR
Will Bailey
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