The President’s Personal Aide & Cast Diversity
Dulé Hill played the President’s personal aide on The West Wing. While the character was initially supposed to appear in the pilot episode, he was eventually written out. The NAACP criticized the show for its lack of racial diversity and all-Caucasian cast, so Young was finally introduced in the third episode. The character’s name is derived from the first African-American who become a Colonel in the United States Army and the third to graduate from West Point. In preparation for the role, Hill met with his character’s real-life counterpart, Kris Engskov, who was President Bill Clinton’s personal aide.
