OMG, outstanding!

I guess I'm the only one who doesn't think everything is a JFK reference.

Ironic that the person who posted that asks if it's deliberate. Yes, I think it is. I hadn't seen that footage and neither had my husband, but we both got that vibe of a politician at a banquet in his honor from that scene, and both thought JFK--how not?

MW has said over and over again that he tried to find a different way to present the assassination in MM. I think this is part of that way. He's been haunting the viewers with it. It's pretty amazing but every episode has hints of it--Margret's wedding date, Joan's bloody dress, references to Dallas; as we aren't going to forget what happened in November of 1963, MW goes in the opposite direction and keeps reminding us of it. And the closer we get, the more haunting the reminders.

Here's a picture.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.orwelltoday.com/jfkfwtable.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.orwelltoday.com/jfkstatuefortworth.shtml&usg=__yTx2FQUQwLtGDxYBmuVV4iBgsr4=&h=559&w=357&sz=42&hl=en&start=27&um=1&tbnid=4qBPPZdpDpY1YM:&tbnh=133&tbnw=85&prev=/images%3Fq%3Djfk%2Btexas%2Bspeech%2B1963%2Bhotel%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26start%3D20%26um%3D1

Roger and Jane are next to the podium. JFK and Jackie are next to the podium. So they are not in the same positions.

While I agree that there are many references (Joan's dress), I don't believe everything is a reference. And if this was supposed to be one, it's wrong anyway.

Ahhh... nah.

Roger and Jane are sitting next to the podium. Don and Betty are the next couple down. While Don may be an honoree at the banquet, Roger and Bert are the official honorees for the 40th anniversary of Sterling & Cooper which is why they are seated on either side of the podium.

Additionally there is a table extending perpendicular to the dias (where Harry, Pete and Ken are seated). There was none in the JFK photo.

The JFK photo looks more like an ordinary Rotary Club meeting than SC's 40th anniversary dinner.

Zab, I think it's supposed to be a reference, but I don't think it's meant to be exact, any more than I expect Joan's bloody dress to match up spot for spot with Jackie's ;-)

And, of course, not everything is reference, but only MW can tell us if every reference we think we see was or was not meant as a reference. We can argue over it a lot, but in this case there is a banquet, and Don is at a podium, and he does resemble a handsome politician. And Kennedy DID go to Texas for the purpose of attending a banquet. That was pretty much the main reason he was there.

A banquet in honor of SC 40th year might have been randomly decided on, but I know a lot of writers and how the creative process often works with them. They may not go in saying, "We'll have a banquet and match up JFK with Don!" but they may stumble across that banquet picture of JFK and say, "Let's have a banquet!" And that banquet serves a lot of purposes and works on a lot of levels--including one which allows them to match up JFK with Don. Why not, after all, take advantage of that if you're going to have Don at a banquet in 1963?

I wonder, by the way, if the original poster got his banquets mixed up? There was a dinner banquet the night before for Rep. Albert Thomas; going to that reception held on Nov. 21 was the reason Kennedy came to TX. I cannot, however, find any photos of that banquet.

@Thirteen: The poster said they were sitting in the exact same spots. I was disputing that.

Pictures of the banquet with Rep. Thomas are here:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://blogs.chron.com/bayoucityhistory/CHRONKennedy.jpg&imgrefurl=http://blogs.chron.com/bayoucityhistory/2007/11/nov_21_1963_part_3_of_3.html&usg=__SnCXKTzDDDLaOjIDf7f3qNPzscQ=&h=373&w=500&sz=136&hl=en&start=14&um=1&tbnid=nMXsoDOkIYZjRM:&tbnh=97&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Djrk%2BRep.%2BAlbert%2BThomas%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

I think the way Don & Roger act like rival male siblings vying for (father) Bert's approval, and Bert reminding Roger of the importance of Don, the younger, to SC becomes an obvious parallel to the kennedy family this week. Bert even assumes it is Roger that spilled the beans on his decision to pass on the party, when it could have come from anyone, including the secretary. Bert, like a parent, must muse himself pitting the boys against each other then listening to them each squawk about the other. At the event, like any bickering family, they appear to have "oodles & oodles" of fond brotherly love! Even
Don's young new girlfriend may just be "keeping up w/ the Roger!"

I don't think everything is a JFK reference, but I feel that there are a lot of subliminal reference to the fact that the society of America is going to change. Most historians I think would agree that 1963 would be a defining year for change. Therefore since Nov. 22, 1963 was the apex of news that year, it can not be ignored. Every episode is a rorschach. Everyone will see things a little different. Like the color blue.

I would say that the entire program is deliberate ---
but about that scene I never would have picked up on the exact setting of the event.
We do know that a few know that Sterling Cooper is up for sale, but the entire company doesn't know---in other words, sometimes big things happen and it seems sudden, but really a few already know that change is in the air.......

As someone wise once said:
The true beginning of the sixties was the Kennedy assassination.

And to add one more "haunting" to this episode's JFK ghost, did we all note that Paul took out the Marilyn/Jackie add from last season to, er, relax to? I defy anyone to tell me THAT wasn't a JFK reference ;-D