Is Don Draper a Coward?

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT! 

“You know that guy who can pick up any girl, I’m him, on crack.”  

This charming quote comes from Thank You for Smoking’s Nick Naylor, which he uses to describe his borderline arrogant, yet very attractive personality; however, I believe that there is a certain other endearing fictional character whose suave, persuasive power, and dash can be even greater summed up by this line: Mad Men’s chief character, Don Draper.  

Don Draper is a stylish, highly complex alpha male that works as an ad man on Madison Avenue, in 1960s Manhattan.  He’s no ordinary “Mad Man,” however.  He is the head of creative at the Sterling-Cooper agency.  The show, Mad Men, is an incredibly excellent program, and I highly recommend it.  Its portrayal of the 60s office is wonderful, drenched with booze soaked offices, hard liquor business lunches and dinners, men and women lighting up all over the workplace and home, and just a general boys-will-be-boys mantra.  Its characters are complex and deep, and their struggles not only reveal something philosophical and emotional about the 60s, but about America in general.  If you have not had the pleasure of viewing this show (and plan on doing so), I implore you to stop reading this.  As the warning above alerts, I will divulge details of the plot and characters within the show in my attempt to answer a certain question about Mr. Draper that I’m sure has been debated about amongst the show’s audience: Is Donald Draper a coward?

As much as I’d love to rattle off an ode to Don, something I may just do, praising the way he handles his business and his other various conquests (women, booze, etc.) I want to deal with this certain issue within his character, because despite his charm and skill, this issue of cowardice is something that cuts deeper into his true identity.  I will be examining his character but only within the parameters of whether or not he is a coward.  This is not going to be a post dedicated to extrapolating whether or not Don Draper is truly a good person, if he is as full of shit as people like to imagine advertisers as being, or even what makes him tick.  The one, true purpose of this post is to reach a more solid understanding of his seemingly cowardly acts and to decide if he is indeed a coward.  

To have a concrete reference point in this undertaking, I have turned to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary for a definition of the word “coward.”  They define a coward as, “One who shows disgraceful fear or timidity.”  I think this is a fair enough definition, and the place to start my inquiry.  There are several instances in the show, as well as underlining elements to Draper’s character that display what could be contrived as cowardice.  I will highlight these examples, as well as examples of Don’s behavior that are equally as powerful but show bravery and strength.  After this juxtaposition, I will try and arrive at my own conclusion, but of course, everyone has their own opinion.  

Perhaps the most profound example of Don’s potential cowardice was his desertion from the Korean War, switching his identity from his birth name of Dick Wittman with that of his deceased commanding officer, Donald Draper.  There are a couple of reasons as to why he did this, to escape the Korean War or to escape the poverty and depressing life that he had lived up to that point.  He was a bastard son, his mother being a whore died in childbirth.  His father, whom he lived with for the first years of his life, died when  he was very young; his father’s wife then raised him along with her new husband in a depression ridden land.  The other reason is that he was trying to escape the dangers of war in Korea, with his commanding officer being killed right before his eyes.  I believe that it is more the former because all of the flashbacks that we see from his childhood show a very gloomy, empty existence.  

Another of his cowardly acts was his attempt to try and run away from his problems.  First it was with Rachel Menken, one of his several affairs throughout the show, after another employee, Peter Campbell, who has a peculiar almost jealous fondness for Draper, finds out the truth about Don’s past.  He’s trying to flee from his problems, a classic example of cowardly behavior.  For this, I have no defense because that truly is an example of bowing into fear and timidity.  This motif of trying to run away from problems also manifests itself when Don travels to California with Pete to try and get in on the aerospace boom.  He takes off with a woman he meets and leaves Pete and everyone else completely clueless as to his whereabouts.  This running away is cowardly, true, but perhaps it is more selfish than cowardly.  However, there is a great deal of selfishness within cowardice.  

The most searing form of his cowardice was how he dealt with his half-brother Adam, when Adam, long convinced that he saw Don in the train all those years ago when they dropped off the real Don Draper’s body to Dick Wittman’s surviving family, discovers him in New York.  Adam is thrilled and feels complete at finding his long-lost brother, whom he viewed as a hero and loved unconditionally.  Don, however, is terrified and cold, wanting nothing to do with his brother.  He offers him money, but rebukes his attempts to become a part of Don’s life again.  His fear has crippled him, and a distraught Adam hangs himself in his hotel room, a victim of Don Draper’s fear. 

Don does have many redeeming brave qualities.  The way that he handles his business, his confidence and strength in pitching his advertising ideas has lead him to where he is in the show, and he continues to make bold presentations.  Even the way in which he gains employment at Sterling-Cooper, as brought to life through Roger Sterling’s flashback, shows an eager, unapologetic, and unafraid young man trying to make his way up.  He also shows a great courage in his constant aid of the real Don Draper’s widow, who discovered his lies when he was younger.  He sends her money and visits her, letting her call him Dick, a name filled with so many painful memories.  

To put it simply, Don Draper is a wonderfully crafted and complex character.  The creators and writers of Mad Men have created a seminal character, a television role so human.  He makes mistakes and does brilliant things, loves his children, cheats on his wife, etc.  I can’t let myself keep going on because I wanted to limit my scope to his fear, to his potential cowardice.  So after this contemplation, I ask myself and you all who have trudged through my rambling prose: Is Don Draper a coward?  I must say that I do not think he is a coward.  The character flaws within Mr. Draper, or Wittman, or whatever, are not due to cowardice.  I believe that his personality defects must be labeled something else, perhaps selfishness, but that is a matter for another day.  I think I would like to revisit that, but the answer to that question may seem a deal more obvious because his actions do speak louder than his words.  

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