Emerson Foote: The Real Don Draper?

The ad man who "Quit Tobacco" before Don

Seeing real history appear in Mad Men is always a treat because there’s usually only a hint of it. Muhammad Ali does not walk through the doors of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce to knock out Harry Crane (though we all would have enjoyed that), his fight is heard in the background on a radio. History is present but serves the story rather than overwhelms it.

It’s also a delight when Mad Men makes its own history. When Don gives a pitch that you know people still talk about 50 years later.

Now what about when the two histories, real and fictional, meet?

Megan informs Don of the calls he has received after “Why I’m Quitting Tobacco” is published in The New York Times. S4 Ep12 “Blowing Smoke” (© AMC/Lionsgate)

In September 1965, Don received a call from Emerson Foote. You’re not meant to know that name but Don certainly does.

Foote was an advertising executive who served as the former Chairman of McCann-Erickson and quit over a moral objection to the advertising of cigarettes. He was even a former Lucky Strike man who canceled their account in 1948!

Was Emerson Foote the real Don Draper?