What Were Don Draper's Views on the Civil Rights Movement?
He may throw a punch for Dr. King but he won't march for him.
Don Draper is a man who stands for little besides himself.
He becomes the first SCDP employee to have an African American secretary, Dawn, whom he respects and treats far better than almost any other man at the agency would. Don also wouldn’t be caught dead at a Civil Rights march.
The excuses are the same:
“What differences does it make?”
“What difference do I make?”
Don lives by one rule. Pick a side, your own. That doesn’t mean that you hate or look down on others, just that life begins and ends with what concerns you.
That’s what makes this scene so interesting.
In Season 6’s finale, “In Care of,” Don attacks a preacher who calls Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. a false believer of Christ.
A man who cares only for himself would go about his drinking, but instead, Don ends up in jail for the one time he stands up for something.
He attacks a white man who degrades the recently deceased leader of the Civil Rights movement. King is no longer alive to defend himself, and while not exactly in line with Dr. King’s method of nonviolence, Don makes firm his stance on degrading men like MLK and JFK who stood for something.
Why is this his breaking point? What does it say about Don’s overall view of the Civil Rights movement for him to fight back against hate only after King’s death?
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