Yeah sure it's not that big of a secret, but thats not the reason he doesn't tell his wife. He has lived as Don for a long time, but he can't seem to reconcile "Dick Whitman" with his alter ego "Don Draper". However, despite the inner turmoil he wouldn't give up "Dick Whitman" for the world, otherwise he would become the plain old bowler-hat, mad ave, clone "Don Draper." It's funny because the guy who personifies a 60's era Mad Men, really isn't one, he just plays one.

I agree. Really, people change their names all the time for a variety of reasons. You can legally call yourself almost anything as long as there is no intent to defraud (say, a bigamist, for example.)

One could argue Dick was shell-shocked when he switched dog tags with Don. It wasn't planned; it was big ol' opportunity screaming at Dick in the heat of battle. The Army dropped the ball by relying on dog tags when, in reality at that time, they ID'd the deceased by dental records (written, not Xray) AND fingerprints. It's remotely possible Dick and Don had very similar dental records but not fingerprints. Had they done the job right the Army would have KNOWN the dead man was Don Draper.

Further, when confronted by Anna he confessed all and she accepted the switch, even helped Dick along in his new identity. He dutifully "divorced" her when he wanted to marry Betty, and supported Anna financially over the years.

Roger said when he met "Don" he was working for the furrier and going to night school, presumably on the GI Bill that both Dick and Don would have been entitled to as veterans, so no defrauding the government there either.

The real Don Draper was an engineer. Dick didn't even try that field. He sold used cars, wrote copy for the furrier and began his ascent to Creative Director at SC under the name Don Draper but using the hard work, native intelligence and gifts of Dick Whitman. Basically he rebranded Dick Whitman as Don Draper.

Betty has no grounds for complaint - would she prefer to be married to the dirt-poor, hardscrabble whore's son or the "Don Draper" construct DW created? She's been with Don from the first, getting the benefit of his skills, money, prestige and place in society as the wife of an advertising executive. She's got the beautiful house, three healthy children, a housekeeper, and a handsome (if wandering) husband who provides for them all. If she's dissatisfied with her life she might try looking in the mirror first beyond the flawless face and perfect hair.

Well actually he would still be a mad man because that's his job. And only Betty would know the truth anyway about his name change.

According to Roger, Don also went to night school.

The Army is not known for its sense of humor. The problem is called desertion in a war zone and at the time could result in a long stay in Kansas at a town called Leavenworth.

@Montgomery - If it was just a matter of changing his name, Dick/Don would not be a criminal. But what he did was to steal Don's identity and at the same time making Dick a deserter of the Army. I do believe that identity theft and desertion are criminal acts.

Don has a lot to hide. As the other guys mentioned, he would for sure end up in an Army stockade for desertion. Secondly, if he did use the real Draper's GI benefits to attend night school, then he defrauded the US government, because, as a deserter, Dick Whitman wouldn't have been entitled to those benefits. Same is true if he got a Veterans Administration loan for his house (which almost all vets did). So, he'd likely end up in federal prison. If Betty chose to, she could destroy him. I don't think she will, though, because she needs him to maintain the life to which she is accustomed.

Dick Whitman is/was also entitled to GI benefits and VA loans - they were both vets. Who said he deserted? I thought they were both found by another troop passing through the area (Don dead, Dick unconscious) and Dick, IIRC, had some head injury? In any event he could claim confusion, temporary amnesia, PTSD, whatever compounded by the Army's own error in misidentifying the body of Don Draper as Dick Whitman (see above re dental records and fingerprints.) True, he did not correct them - remember the initial confusion on his face? I think he had actually forgotten briefly that he had switched tags. The doctors were calling him Don, everyone around him referred to him as Don. So who is he to argue with them?

So much time has passed. The widow Draper would not press charges. He's lived a publicly productive and exemplary life. Betty is not going to risk everything she has with turning him in - no more lovely income, the social disgrace, explaining it all to her children (and you can bet Sally would see right through her mother's saying it was the right thing to do if her beloved daddy got carted off to prison.)

@Auburn Annie - Even if he was confused or had temporary amnesia at first, when he made the decision to let everyone continue think that he was Don, that's when Dick became a deserter.
As far as the Army is concerned, Dick is dead, but we know otherwise.
Remember that Don's rank was higher that Dick's, therefore the benefits would be greater.
If the Army found out the truth, Dick would be labeled a deserter and would have to pay the price.

Yes, and I think she may well just keep quiet for a while. Remember if he's not Don Draper, then she's not Betty Draper, and she has three illegitamate kids by Dick Whitman!

I think that Dick would have been smart enough to know not to do things which would have got him in trouble like taking loans etc And Draper(Dick) was discharged after he was wounded so he's not really a deserter.He may or may not have been entitled to any benefits but it he was and took them it may be some minor fraud.Even so, it would only be Betty who knew about all this and I don't think she'd mention it to anyone. There's also a Statute of Limitations which means that even if he was discovered by the army to really be Dick, alive and well, they couldn't prosecute him.It's already been 12 years since the switch. I don't believe that they can prosecute on the GI loan or the education benefits but if they're still sending him disability pension cheques(and these things would probably be low, like 10-20% disability) they possibly can. However, even if he was receiving them but just threw them away and never cashed them, there would be no fraud because the treasury really didn't pay out any money.

IMHO, I think you're missing the bigger psychological picture here. Don, Dick, whatever. The point is that he's been lying to her from the beginning. She must feel that here entire marriage and her life with him has been a complete sham and a lie. She has no idea who this man is. How do you go forward? That remains to be seen.

@Monty: To paraphrase Don Draper, too much story; everytime you say "and then...," it provides an opportunity for people to get confused.

Pete Campbell got it right: Whitman is a deserter, plain and simple. Whitman was in country for only a week or two when he was assigned to assist Draper setting up a camp. Draper was just two weeks away from a full discharge. Whitman did not serve his entire enlistment term, only a couple of weeks. Without an honorable discharge, he would not be entitled to any benefits. Furthermore, a dishonorable discharge goes on his permanent record and he would have had extreme difficulty obtaining any employment once back stateside. He would have been limited to mopping floors like Adam and Farrell. In business, your reputation is everything. Whitman would be in big trouble, and he knows it.

And there is no "statute of limitations" where the crime has not even been discovered yet. Even so, ask Roman Polanski about limitations periods. Thanks for playing the French apologist...

@Auburn: Lying about "amnesia" or whatever is a little outlandish. No one would believe that. Whitman had full knowledge of what he was doing when he switched dog tags with the charred body of Draper. It was dishonest, cowardly and contemptible.

Plus, Betty would never have married him if she'd known that he was previously "divorced," even if it was fake. Even if Don had "explained" it all to her, she would have bailed immediately. Her father was a WWI vet and she obviously had high regard for military service. She would not have had sympathy for a deserter, which would have been a big tipoff on his character. She was induced to marriage on false pretenses, which may be grounds for an annulment (though I don't practice family law, and can't say for sure).

She'd marry him because she was pregnant. Now if you want to argue that she wouldn't have taken up with him in the first place because he was divorced, maybe - although he was still a charmer, especially back when the dew was on the rose, so to speak.

To paraphrase, I STILL say it's spinach and I say to hell with it.

I suspect we won't end up going down this road at all, after all the "will he be discovered and what happens if?" buildup. My guess is Matt will make a sharp left or right turn in the story and we'll go somewhere else entirely. There's way too much other drama going on, or about to begin, in the larger world that soon will put the Don/Dick issue in the shade.

Who knows? Perhaps by series end he will "see the light" and turn himself in.

If Don was smart he would have long ago destroyed anything that tied him to Dick Whitman. The dog tags, the photos, all of it. Then all Betty would have found was his (Don's) dog tags and a divorce decree....(oh, and the money).

I think on some level he clings to his old identity, hence his occasional interest in runaways, hobos, and Miss Suzy Cream Cheese...

Hi Auburn.. I concur with Ritt, ChattyP, BabyGene,DDesq and all, that Don/Dick is technically a deserter... and I'm pretty sure that impersonating an officer is also criminal under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Ddesq makes the excellent point that a "bad paper" discharge follows one forever.

Dog tags... while the army definitely did use dental and f/print records...I'm pretty sure that in certain circs (just one being an possibly overloaded Graves Registration Unit, another being a possibly severely charred body, nod to DDesq) -- dog tags would suffice. And keep in mind this is in Korea.. nearly 60 years ago.

At first I was jarred to see 2 sets of tags come out of the box, and then remembered that "Don Draper" accompanied "Dick Whitmans" body home... but left the end of the task (returning personal effects) to the other soldier. Still, I think it was daft to keep the Whitman tags.

Hi Stefanchikm...Right on...I concur and (sheepish) I should have refreshed before I hit submit!

Hi stefanchikm!

Suzy Cream Cheese? Wasn' that a song in the late 60's?

Anyway, thanks for the laughs!!

We could substitute Suzy Q by CCR also...

60'schild~ SuzyCreemcheese was a fictional character and vocalist on a number of Frank Zappa albums.

Korea is where they regularly started using fingerprints, paper dental records may have started late in WWII. Now of course it's DNA. Military have never been able to rely on dog tags or even other personal effects because switching off tags, though a no-no, was done fairly often, and it was not uncommon for a GI to be holding (or even wearing) another's other identifiable items like clothes, letters from home, wallet, etc. when they came under fire. Also enemy troops were known to either remove or switch tags on the deceased as well.

...missed this completely

when we find out that Betty married Don because she
was pregnant with Sally? Season / Episode? and
how do we, the viewer, find this out?

Ridiculous conclusion. His whole life is a lie and you don't think he has anything to hide??? The lie is only the beginning of it---
There is
the family of the real Don Draper factor
the military factor
the purple heart factor
the military benefits factor
the identity theft factor,
the marriage certificate factor,
the three children's birth certificates factor,
the deed on the house factor,
the title on the car factor......etc, etc.

If this is making a mountain out of a mole hill then I guess Don's fidelity problem and serial affairs is just the tip of the iceberg!

Bree - Season 1

Don:I can see that you really have no idea what you're writing about or the law. Polanski was indicted and did plead guilty to the charges so the Statute of Limitations doesn't even apply here. He expected to receive probation or time served in the psych evaluation facility. Polanski is basically a convicted felon who absconded before he could be sentenced. If he is ever returned to the US he will have to serve the sentence( I believe it was 1 year) and probably an additional sentence for running away, or try to get a new trial based on judicial misconduct.Polanski has a lot of money and a lot of supporters so perhaps he will get a new trial if ever returned but the average man would go straight to prison for this. Additionally, the Statute of Limitations has nothing to do with when the crime is discovered except in cases of murder or certain civil cases eg. malpractise, where the plaintiff can sometimes get it tolled; or in cases involing minors.In Dick's case, he did take Don's identity but he was wounded an in hospital and I assumed that he was just discharged and would have been even if they knew he was Dick Whitman. And yes, Dick was taking pension benefits that were meant for the real Don but as long as he wasn't cashing the cheques he can't be charged with fraud.Betty may be able to divorce him depending on the divorce law in NY at the time and the grounds for divorce but she'll never do that and I doubt if Anna will talk.
I'm not saying that if the government really wanted to go after Dick they couldn't charge him with something, but Dick now has a lot of money and can hire a good lawyer and expert witnesses like psychiatrists to defend himself and a jury will never convict. Remember that regardless of his name he really was wounded in combat.

katie: in true female fashion you're focusing on the minor issue of his current wife and what she will feel and do.Whether she knew him as Dick, Don,or John Doe, he is still the same person and the father of her children.

A number of people have mentioned a pension that he would receive from the army. I'm not absolutely certain but I believe that you have to actually apply for it and then the army determines your degree of disability(100% or 10% etc) and that it's not just done automatically, at least in 1951 it wasn't. And I don't see how Dick(now Don) could have used the GI Bill for college because he "died" in '51 and was already married to Betty in '52-53 and was working for the furrier whenhe was hired by SC.The gov't backed mortgage loans that a GI could get were also limited and I doubt that Don who purchased an expensive house would qualify.

Discovery of the crime is relevant here where the government thinks Whitman is dead and is not yet aware that he deserted his post. The government is not even aware that any crime has been committed. Once the government discovers the facts, that Whitman is alive and had deserted, it would be able to bring charges as soon as it could locate him. Whitman was not so severely wounded that he would have been discharged, especially just two weeks into his tour of duty. He would have been rehabbed and reassigned to another unit.

Also, Whitman did not earn that Purple Heart because he was not wounded in combat. He was injured when, by his own negligence, he blew up a fuel tank along with his CO. Assuming those facts could be known, I would imagine he could be charged with a criminally negligent homicide.

dondraperesq, great points and you added the details, but best not to feed the trolls. This guy is now looking for you and will yank you around every thread you post on. Just ignore him.

@montgomery: "in true female fashion....". You know, I get soooo tired of debates withering down to this tactic. Why say something that way and drag gender into it? Didn't we just get a short reprieve from another "Monte" making these kind of condescending remarks?? "Katie" could be a man for all you know....so could I.

We have seen by Don's paranoid reactions to near-exposure (Adam...the guy on the train...Pete Campbell...Bert Cooper) how much trouble he knows he'd be in if caught. He's defrauded the military, his wife, his kids, his employer, and the list goes on. Every time he signs the name "Donald Draper" he commits an act of fraud.

I don't think Betty is looking at Don as a criminal at this point. She'd just like to know who the hell she married. Don, of course, has only magnified her curiosity by locking drawers, appearing to be all alone in the world with no relatives and just being secretive in general about his past.

@fanof mad: Yes, here we go again! Slightly different name but the attitude can't be mistaken.

Well, he had lots of company:

According to the Pentagon, 46,000 men had deserted from the United States Armed Forces since the outbreak of the Korean War. Of those, only 35,000 returned to duty by their own will or that of the Military Police. In addition, approximately 20,000 men were reported AWOL for one reason or another each month, mostly because they were about to be sent overseas. The men out at any one given time would add up to almost two divisions. Nevertheless, the desertion rate during the Korean War was less than half of what it was during World War II.

Reference: LIFE magazine, pp. 33, Volume 34, No. 3, January 19, 1953, "Life on the Newsfronts of the World"

btw, the desertion rate during the Korean conflict was 22.5 per 1000

Depending on who was investigating and reviewing the Dick Whitman/Don Draper case, the writeup could easily be:

Possible Charges:
Desertion in a combat zone.
Impersonation of an officer

Results of Inquiry:

Inquiry was initiated following documents provided by Mrs. Elizabeth (Hofstadt) Draper, Whitman's current wife. (See attached copy of photograph (front and back) and Draper and Whitman dog tags.) In later interviews, Mrs. Draper contributed additional information which has been confirmed by other witnesses and documents.

Whitman apparently assumed identity of Lt. Draper following combat-related injuries (Purple Heart received). Lt. Draper died during the same incident and switched dog tags identified his burnt body as Pvt. Whitman. Desertion occurred after weeks of treatment in Korea for said injuries. The deceased Lt. Draper was discharged a week after Whitman's return to U.S.

In twelve years since his discharge, Whitman has only used the GI benefits for night school and for a home loan. (Loan is current.) Since his discharge Whitman has never traded upon his Army service as an officer or the Army Corps of Engineers. (Known to be a decorated Army Korean veteran but rarely refers to his military service.) Not a member of the VFW or Amvets.

As Don Draper, Whitman has contributed to society (see attached copy of 1963 advertising society award for Humanity.) Married, three children. Traffic citations but no misdemeanor or felony charges.

The deceased Lt. Draper's widow was legally divorced from Draper/Whitman prior to Whitman's marriage to Elizabeth (Hofstadt) Draper in 1953. Whitman purchased home for said widow and has provided for her support.

Given Whitman's exemplary life since his combat-related injuries and years since desertion, there is no advantage to the Army in prosecuting a useful member of society. Recommend possible charges be dismissed without action and Whitman be advised of such by a Staff Judge Advocate officer. Mrs. Draper to be informed in a separate interview. Inquiry closed.

Don, can you give us yet another legal opinion? Another poster on the main thread states that Betty is an unwed mother and her children are illegitimate? Your thoughts?

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