After a “Mad
Men” episode with enough twists to fill a season of a daytime soap opera, major
changes are afoot. By the end of “For
Immediate Release,” Sterling Cooper goes through yet another major renovation as
the agency merges with a rival. Some interesting
historical themes lie beneath the major plots of the episode.
As the company
readies to go public, Pete celebrates by going to a house of ill repute in Manhattan. In an unbelievably awkward moment, he sees
his father-in-law with a prostitute as well.
Concerned about the personal and professional implications, Pete asks
Ken for advice and he tells him that his father-in-law, who is also an
important client, will have to keep quiet because to do otherwise would expose
his own culpability. Talking about the
bizarre encounter, Ken says, would be the equivalent of “mutually assured
destruction” (MAD).
Of course, MAD
represented the military doctrine governing the use of nuclear weapons during
the Cold War. As long as both the US and
USSR maintained huge stockpiles of missiles aimed at each other, neither side
could use them because it would precipitate the end of the world. “It’s why I don’t worry about the bomb,” concludes
Ken (though as the season 2 finale of “Mad Men” showed, the world came
perilously close during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962)
With less
apocalyptic issues at stake, Pete’s father-in-law pulls his business from the
agency. Furiously, Pete storms over to
his office and tells him “you just pressed the button, Tom” a reference to the
nuclear analogy. Though his
father-in-law believes Pete won’t respond to his first strike and tell Trudy,
he proves to be wrong. Only time will
tell what the fallout will be from this radioactive exchange.
Meanwhile,
Peggy is frustrated by the decline of her neighborhood, a concern shared by
many New Yorkers during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Abe reassures her, “Look the neighborhood’s
changing….Everything’s getting better.
Johnson’s gone. The war is going
to end. We’re going to have a new president no matter what. Maybe McCarthy. At worst case Kennedy.” Peggy, who was raised Catholic and has a
picture of JFK on her wall, responds, “I love Bobby Kennedy.”
Abe and Peggy
will both experience disappointment.
Though Johnson pulled out of the race, the war in Vietnam would drag on
until 1973. As the episode occurs in May
1968, Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy will duel for the Democratic nomination
for the next few weeks, until Sirhan Sirhan assassinates RFK following his
victory in the California primary in June.
Relying on the strength of the party bosses who still determined
presidential nominee at this time, Vice President Hubert Humphrey garners the
Democratic nomination at the party’s convention in the summer and would likely have
done so even if RFK had lived. One
guesses we will hear Abe yell “Dump the Hump” at some point this season, due to
Humphrey’s rhetorical support for the war from 1965-68 (despite his private
misgivings)
Historical
references notwithstanding, the firm’s major concern is how to recover from
Don’s sabotage of the all-important Jaguar account. He gets an opportunity to redeem himself when
a revitalized Roger gives him a chance to compete for a new Chevrolet
product. Remember when Don declared, “I
want Chevy” last season? The importance of the account reminds us that Detroit
and the American auto industry remained dominant in the 1960s, before the high oil
prices of the 1970s opened the door for more fuel-efficient Hondas and
Toyotas. General Motors reigned supreme
and Chevrolet was the car designed for the burgeoning middle-class in 1968.
In the end,
Don concocts a scheme to merge with longtime rival Ted Chaough’s agency in order
to win the Chevy account. With this
accomplished, Peggy and Don can be together professionally again while she
flirts with Ted while living with Abe.
How will this all turn out? We’ll
find out next week on “As the World Turns”… I mean “Mad Men.”
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