[Robert B. Mercer]

Two minor corrections.. it's Sam Seaborn, played by Rob Lowe, right?

And the Alger Hiss affair actually is a historical case, spanning many decades... probably a large factor in eventually getting Nixon elected president, long after the trial ended.

If I remember this episode correctly, Sam is just joking with the reporter, making a very obscure political reference... not one in ten thousand Americans would remember Hiss's pumpkin.

Alger Hiss was an American communist, and was possibly a spy for Russia. A fellow communist had some evidence about Hiss, and, for one night, hid it in a pumpkin. All pretty stupid, actually.

So, Alger Hiss actually never had a pumpkin, but the Hiss case DID involve a pumpkin, hence, Alger Hiss walking in with a pumpkin.

What that line really was, I believe, was the show's attempt to inform everyone watching that they intended The West Wing to be a very, very, very intellectually challenging and stimulating show. The TV equivalent of the NYT Crossword Puzzle. And, IMHO, it was.

I realize that all this English is a bit advanced, and I should tone it down a bit, English Learner, but I want to applaud you for working your way through West Wing scripts. If you can master, or even half-master, either the written or spoken English in those episodes then you will have truly mastered English--it doesn't get any harder than those scripts.