A nationwide fireside chat, broadcast live on radio and television from the Matthews's home, is intended to officially launch Grant’s candidacy. Mary is supposed to give a speech introducing her husband. At the last minute, she learns that Thorndyke intervened in Detroit to sway her husband and witnesses Thorndyke telling a group of influence peddlers that she is the power behind Matthews and will continue in that role. If they have questions or further deals, they are not to bother Matthews; they are to come to her—or she will destroy them in her newspapers. Mary knew about the moral compromises Grant had made, but not the extent of Kay’s role. Confronted with this evidence that she has lost him forever, she refuses to give the speech and runs from the room in tears. McManus, who has grown genuinely fond of her, follows and tries to persuade her to come back and help Grant become President because the White House is the one place Kay Thorndyke cannot follow him.