Mad Men “Nixon vs. Kennedy”

Donald Draper has always been a mystery.  He keeps to himself and while he gets physically close with a few women he always distances himself emotionally, even from his wife.  This week the veil hiding Don Draper’s past gets pulled back revealing how he became Donald Draper.

The election of Kennedy is very important in this episode and is paralleled in a smaller scale by Don’s decision to hire Duck Phillips to be head of accounts.  Don is parading around an advertiser just back from London who has experience in the business.  Pete contacts Don to try and get the head of accounts position, but Don turns him down.  Desperate for the job, Pete blackmails Don with the knowledge of his old identity.  Don struggles with whether to give into Pete, when he finds Peggy in his office crying.  She is tired of everyone in the office breaking the rules.  The men in the office stole money from her locker then the janitor and elevator operator get fired for the crime.  This spurs Don to hire Duck in spite of Pete, to keep a cheater from winning.  He enters Cooper’s office to inform him of the hire and Pete follows telling Cooper about Don’s past.  Cooper is disinterested and quotes an old Japanese proverb which I found really cool about how a man is only who is standing in the room, not his past.  Obviously, I paraphrased, but you will forgive me.  The point is, Cooper’s nonchalant attitude toward Don’s past is a great character moment, and I think speaks volumes to Cooper’s faith in Don and Don’s position in the company.

The big point of this episode is the flashback to Don’s past and how Dick Whitman took the identity of Donald Draper.  Dick Whitman was stationed in a medical camp during the Korean War.  The only other person in the camp, and his commanding officer, was the one and no longer only Donald Draper.  After a small skirmish with a passing Korean host, Dick accidentally drops his lighter lighting a trail of gas along the ground.  The camp explodes in a giant fireball killing Donald Draper immediately, burning him beyond recognition.  Dick drags himself to the burned corps of Donald and steals his dog tags.  Afterward in a hospital bed, the new Donald Draper is awarded a purple heart and put on the reserves until he leaves the military. 

4/5