Awards and Nominations:
Episode received nomination in 2003 at the Emmys for Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series along with the Part 2 (Kenneth Hardy, Ellen Totleben)

Bradley Whitford received a nomination at the 2003 Emmys for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his performance in this episode and in the Part 2 and in "Evidence of Things Not Seen"

The episode along with the Part 2 and many other episodes from the season won the 2003 for Outstanding Drama Series (Aaron Sorkin, Thomas Schlamme, John Wells, Kevin Falls, Alex Graves, Christopher Misiano, Paul Redford, Kristin Harms, Llewellyn Wells, Neal Ahern, Jr.) (edit) Music:
1. "National Emblem March" by the Boston Pops plays before Bartlet takes the podium to address members of the Navy at the Naval Warfare Center Crane. The song was written by E.E. Bagley.
2. The Navy men sing the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." (edit) The outdoor Indiana scenes in this episode were actually filmed in Western Pennsylvania. (edit)

C.J.: We've got a new addition to our running list of things Robert Richie's not. Speaking this morning at the Philadelphia Financial Council,the Govener said, "I'm no scientist but I know a thing or two about physics." So for the week you can add scientist to doctor, mind reader, and Chinese. (edit) (Toby is obsessing about the President's speech)
Josh: Take you mind off it. Think about the lovely Cathy; farmer's daughter with a master's degree. Wholesome but... maybe not too wholesome. I think she liked you too. (to Cap) How do you know Cathy?
Cap: She's my girlfriend.
Josh:[awkward pause] That's great. She's really nice! Is that corn out there?
Cap: Nope.
Josh: What is it?
Cap: Trees.
Josh: Okay. (edit) Sam: Do we have some sort of condensed, Reader's Digest Index of, well, all human knowledge?
Ginger: We usually just use Margaret. (edit) Toby: Toby Ziegler. I work at the White House.
Friend: Wow. Humongous whoop.
Josh: Come on! He's Communications Director. It's a decent sized whoop.
Friend: How many unborn babies did you guys kill today?
Josh: Whoa, hey. Danger, Will Robinson. (edit)

Leo: Qumar's reopened the investigation.

Qumar is not a real country. (edit)

Unionville, Indiana, where Jed is giving his speech, is close to Bloomington, Indiana, an urban area where Josh, Toby, and Donna wouldn't have been stranded for long. There is also no passenger train station in Bedford, Indiana, which is north, not south of Unionville, Indiana. (edit) When one of the reporters tells C.J. about the Abbey incident, he claims the story came from The Milwaukee Sentinel. Milwaukee's newspaper has been named The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel since the two papers merged in the early 1990s. (edit)

Throughout the series, there have been several parallels between the Clinton and Bartlet administrations; the controversy surrounding Abbey's statments about being "just a wife and mother" seems, in gist and response if not in origin, to a similar incident with Hillary Clinton. She was questioned about her legal activities while her husband was governor, and responded that she could just have stayed home and baked cookies, inciting a national furor and confirming, for some, their suspicions about her contempt for traditional motherhood. (edit)