Now Private Secretary to President McKinley, Cortelyou proves indispensable during the Spanish-American War. But his resolve is truly tested when McKinley is shot by an assassin at the World’s Fair in Buffalo, New York. New inventions are considered to aid the president, such as Thomas Edison’s “X-Ray”. As the country reels from McKinley’s death, Cortelyou holds the government and the grieving First Lady - together.

With Theodore Roosevelt’s sudden rise to the presidency, Cortelyou becomes the stabilizing force behind the most energetic administration in history. From modernizing the White House to managing the southern backlash after the president dines with Black leader Booker T. Washington. And when her father unexpectedly became president, the spirited teenage Alice Roosevelt moved into the White House with her new celebrity status, attracts public attention for her rebellious behavior. 

Roosevelt takes on JP Morgan and America’s most powerful monopoly in the Supreme Court. Cortelyou is tapped to build a new arm of government from scratch. The First Lady oversees the modernization and expansion of the White House, including the creation of the West and East Wings. The episode concludes among the Ponderosa Pines of Yosemite Valley, where President Roosevelt spends several days camping with famed conservationist John Muir - setting the stage for America’s expansion of the National Park System.