The question of how Mad Men would depict the Kennedy assassination (if at all) was finally answered in the The Grown-ups. While I was only two in 1963, from what my parents have related to me over the years, the episode really captured the feel of those few dramatic days in November.
The scene where Don and Betty watch Jack Ruby shoot Lee Harvey Oswald on live television struck a particular cord with me. When my father saw it happen, he called out “They shot him!” to my mother who was in the kitchen (the revese of Don and Betty). According to my mother, the exact quote was ”They shot the son-of-a-bitch” (but that’s a minor point).
Pete Campbell’s reaction to the event is quite interesting. By remarking to Trudy such things as “Why even have a trial?” or “Just throw him over to the mob,” Pete seems to empathize with Oswald. In fact, I detected a deliberate effort in The Grown-ups to link Pete Campbell’s story with that of Lee Harvey Oswald.
When Pete is first shown, he’s sleeping on his office couch. Because the heat isn’t working, Pete (whose eyes are closed) is cold and clutches at the front of his overcoat in a posture that mimics Oswald’s from the famous still photo of the shooting. More significantly, his rifle (Meditations in an Emergency) is prominently placed in the background during the exchange with his secretary. Pete angrily points out to her that the hot cocoa she’s brought him is made with water rather than milk. This sort of distinction is echoed later when an anchorman from a real period news clip repeats Oswald’s vehement claims that a Marxist is totally different than a Communist.
Just before Pete has his fateful meeting with Pryce, there’s a shot of a man entering the office wearing a red plaid hunting cap. This man carries packages into the office. On the day of the assassination, Oswald entered the Texas School Book Depository carrying a package that he told co-workers contained “curtain rods.” The man with the red hat can clearly be seen behind Pete as he makes his way to Pryce’s office.
Although Pete and Trudy decide to skip the wedding, many of the other Sterling Cooper staff members attend. From the reception hall’s kitchen, they watch a news report of Oswald being led into the Dallas police station. If one accepts that Pete is a stand-in for Oswald, he certainly couldn’t be in both places at once. Oswald has clearly been smacked around by the police. This is not unlike Pete’s perception of his treatment at the hands of Sterling Cooper management. Among the chatter of wedding guests at their tables can distinctly be heard the comment “He wanted attention, he didn’t fit in.” This ostensibly refers to Oswald but could just as easily apply to Pete.
We last see Pete and Trudy in their apartment. Pete is wearing a turtle neck very similar to the one Duck wore during their brief lunch meeting from The Fog. This suggests that a bitter Pete has decided to join Duck. Also, after a news commentator has declared “Oswald dead,” Trudy suggests that Pete should gather his clients and take them to the new agency. Pete’s potential salvo against Sterling Cooper portends further disruptions in the Mad Men universe.
115 Responses to “The Patsy”
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I agree it was a traumatic series of events, and also very eye-opening.
I originally thought Weiner would time-jump again but '64 is a big year with the Beatles, Muhammad Ali, the World's Fair and the pope cursing birth control; major Peggy moments there.
There would have to be a five year jump to covering the King assassination in season 4. I think they will cover it, but I don't think they're going to do a five year jump. It's just too big. My money is on season 4 starting in 65 or 66.
# 102 – "I have my own opinion, and I don’t care about anyone else’s, but prior to the assassination AND the double whammy of a live death (?) on TV, not many would have suspected a conspiracy of any kind. The way that many more people since are prepared to believe the most evil deeds of their own government shows just what a mass trauma that event was."
You've stated that you don't care about anyone else's opinion, but perhaps a fact might interest you.
The original complaint that the police department filed on Oswald, around midnight on the 22nd of November, states that Lee Oswald did, "in furtherance of an international communist conspiracy, assassinate President John F. Kennedy."
Now there's no way that LBJ was going to let that take on things gain any traction!
Even with Oswald dead, the authorities in Texas wanted to investigate the whole mess and the U.S. Congress was looking at doing investigations of their own. Any of these held the prospect of riding off in all directions – which LBJ surely didn't want.
So, he cajoled Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren to head a Commission to conduct a Federal investigation. They began with the premise that Oswald did it and then set about to prove the conclusion they had already reached. Assisting in the process, was J. Edgar Hoover's FBI.
Well, we all know how well THAT worked out for everybody!
Hi–I'm watching "The Grown Ups" with my sister (who's visiting from Arizona!!) We have a question — what is the significance of the delivery guy wearing a red plaid hat? He's carrying boxes, not a package that resembles curtain rods or a rifle. Why point him out at all? Did Oswald wear a hunting hat into the book depository the day of the shooting? We just can't make a connection. Probably because we are shopping too much! 4 hours at IKEA will fry your brain.
re: Oswald and international conspiracy – some people who worked in intel at the time thought that there was a benign cover-up – i.e. those in positions of power did not want the assassination to become the catalyst for an invasion of, say, Cuba.
This is where the question of Operation Northwoods comes into play.
…because some people would have loved an excuse to invade Cuba to get rid of Castro and make Cuba safe for the mafia. of course, we'd never have powerful people who would lie about the threat of the enemy du jour in order to overthrow a govt… or let those who lied get away with it. both the far right and far left had reasons to want Kennedy dead.
When people were interviewed on site, the guy with his son, Jean Hill, Mary Moreman, many, many others all stated a shot came from the front of Kennedy.
Jim Lehrer, from McNeil-Lehrer on PBS, was on site at the time and ran over to the grassy knoll to see if they caught the person firing from that angle (he's also on film doing that very thing at the scene.)
Kennedy's acting press secretary is on camera (a shot that was excluded from the "beyond conspiracy" documentary, btw – cut before that moment) pointing to his right temple to indicate that Kennedy was killed by a shot to the head. He didn't point to the back of his head. He pointed to the front of his head.
Doctors on the scene performed a trach that obscured the ENTRY wound the DOCTORS claimed was in the front of Kennedy's throat (the shot where Kennedy's arms fly up to his neck, before the fatal headshot.)
No one has been able to examine Kennedy's brain because it is missing.
Hoover knew about Oswald before that day, as was shown by his handwritten notes about the same BEFORE the assassination. Why would the FBI let a known nutcase who they had been tracking work in a building along the presidential motorcade.
a guy in Miami talked to an undercover cop about the plans to kill Kennedy there (in Miami) before Dallas. because of Kennedy's refusal to go the bay of pigs route any further. Rich and connected right wingers then, (H.L. Hunt) like now, called for the death of the sitting president.
too many things unknown for any conclusions without speculation becoming part of the conclusion.
personally, in the dollhouse of my ibsen-waits skull, I think Tippet was supposed to kill Oswald but got shot himself, instead. maybe that's when Oswald figured out he was a patsy.
or maybe he acted alone.
LOM's conspiracy haiku
Sniper or patsy?
Neither tempers the weather.
To each her passions.
And for me (and Suzanne) the only Patsy that still matters.
@106 Mama Louise
He’s carrying boxes, not a package that resembles curtain rods or a rifle. Why point him out at all? Did Oswald wear a hunting hat into the book depository the day of the shooting?
Well no. But it does have to be a literal recreation to work. IF you accept that Pete and Oswald are being linked at that moment, placing a character wearing a hunting cap behind Pete as he glances over at Ken ("with his haircut") is notable. The packages just struck me as consistent with the famous accounts of Oswald being observed entering work carrying a package HE claimed were curtain rods.
…oops, I meant it But it DOESN'T have to be a literal recreation to work.
soooo,
my take…
Don is Oswald. He is dressed like Oswald at the same time Oswald gets shot, right? And, to Betty, he did assassinate Betty’s perfect world.
Don is a patsy. Betty’s world is rocked, and while Don is responsible for a whole lot of it, Betty’s responsible too. And Betty blames Don for everything. He alone is convicted by Betty’s Dallas police for the furtherance of a duplicative and philandering conspiracy to assassinate Betty’s Perfect World. Did Don act alone? Is it really ALL his fault? Don is the patsy, taking the fall for an immature, doomed marriage.
Betty is Ruby. And, as #24 pointed out, she takes matters into her own hands and kills Don with her .38 caliber Colt “I don’t love you†to the gut.
All the Basketcases, of course, are familiar with Saint John Powell.
May I now introduce you to another Saint John — Saint John Hunt.
He is the son of the late E. Howard Hunt, who was one of the Watergate burglars and before that, he had worked for the CIA, from 1949 until 1970.
Prior to the his death in 2007, Hunt provided his son with an audio tape, describing some of the circumstances of "The Big Event" (a code name for the JFK assassination).
You can listen to a portion of Hunt's tape and an interview with Saint John Hunt.
If you have Real Player, open the application and under "File," use the pull down menu for the "Open Location" feature and paste-in this web address: http://www.blackopradio.com/black331a.ram
There's also an in-depth article from "Rolling Stone" in April, 2007, which you can read, here … http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/138931…
Given his lifelong profession as a spy, who knows if the so-called "deathbed confession" is the truth, or if it's just a last bit of CIA disinformation or misdirection about the JFK case.
Whatever it is, it's quite fascinating!
The Warren Commission report settled all open questions regarding the assassination of President Kennedy. An exhaustive investigation and report was prepared and may be viewed at the following link: http://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commi…
Key excerpts follow:
"This Commission was created on November 29, 1963, in recognition of the right of people everywhere to full and truthful knowledge concerning these events."
"The shots which killed President Kennedy and wounded Governor Connally were fired from the sixth floor window at the southeast corner of the Texas School Book Depository."
" There is no credible evidence that the shots were fired from the Triple Underpass, ahead of the motorcade, or from any other location."
"The weight of the evidence indicates that there were three shots fired."
"The Commission has found no evidence that either Lee Harvey Oswald or Jack Ruby was part of any conspiracy, domestic or foreign, to assassinate President Kennedy. "
Assassination conspiracy theories continue for the best of all possible reasons, it is impossible to prove a negative. As a once formidable character said “I hate to break it to you but there is no big lie. There is no system. The universe is indifferent.â€
Anyone who relies upon the Warren Report as the definitive authority on the JFK assassination, is (at best) under-informed, or (at worst) a complete fool.
Last year, a book was published called “JFK & The Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Mattersâ€.
The author of the book, Jim Douglass, was interviewed by Len Osanic on the Black-Op Radio webcast, over the course of several weeks.
These interviews are well worth the time of anyone who is interested in looking more closely at the “whys†behind the JFK assassination.
Douglass lays out the journey that led JFK in the course of three years from his position as a traditional Cold Warrior to his determination to break with the logic of the Cold War and lead the world in an entirely different direction. This sequence of steps led his adversaries in the military and intelligence establishment to view him as a virtual traitor who had to be eliminated.
I can’t recommend these interview segments (or his book) highly enough. You can get it from Amazon for less than $20.00 and after listening to these conversations with Jim Douglass, you’ll definitely want to add this volume to your library!
- this link provides the entire six-part series of interviews … http://funnygurusdca.livejournal.com/1528068.html
okay–
remember back at #4, re. john hamm dressed as oswald? well i was re-viewing his first appearance on 30rock, "generalissimo." when liz knocks on his door, a man named OSWALD answers it before 'dr. drew' can.
this layer of the mad men onion smells like deeeep conspiracy…