What is the correct way to address a former president
of the united states? Do you call him Mr. President
still, or President Clinton, or Former President
Clinton, or just for example, Mr. Clinton.
reidbader
As I recall from my junior high English class, a former President is always addressed as Mr. President, unless he requests otherwise, and that the word is always capitalized when it refers to the US chief executive.
he’s “mr. president” forever. no exceptions, even if there’s a possible crossing of wavelengths with the current executive.
In her book “Miss Manners Rescues Civilization,” Miss Manners states: “Another rule is that there is only one President of the United States at a time. Former presidents do not hold the title. They are–correctly and respectfully–called ‘Mr.,’ or they may revert to an earlier title, such as ‘General’ or ‘Governor.’ Thus, we now have Governor or Mr. Reagan, Governor or Mr. Carter, Mr. Ford (the title ‘Representative’ is not retained) and the late Senator or Mr. Nixon. Mr. Jefferson had a whole slew of titles to choose from after he left office, but remained, as he still does to his many admirers, Mr. Jefferson.”
I count Miss Manners as a highly reliable and authoritative source.
Thank you, Otto, for showing me I wasn’t going crazy in remembering exactly that quote (except I must have read it in her newspaper column). I just spent the last 30 minutes searching for it, or any similar source, on the Web, without luck.
Actually, my first guess was that I read that right here on The Straight Dope.
Miss Manners is correct. The only person who should officially be addressed as “Mr. President” is George W. Bush (leaving aside the numerous other people who hold the office of President of something other than the United States of America). In the third person he is referred to as “The President.”
Officially, Bill Clinton should be addressed directly as Mr. Clinton. In the third person (and this is where Conservatives may choke) he should be referred to as “the Honorable William Clinton”.
I thought so. I was appalled to hear Mr. Clinton introduced as “President Clinton” at Cal Ripken’s final game on Saturday night. The people responsible for that little gaffe should have known better. Shame, shame.
Little Nemo wrote:
Well, according to Miss Manners, if he desired it, his official title would be “Governor Clinton,” since he once held that position.
When I was in officer training in the military, one of our training officers said that all people holding military titles from Private First Class to President (as Commander-and-Chief, he said “President” was a military title) are entitled to be called by the final rank he or she might achieve while serving. He said the only time this is negated is when the individual is dishonerably discharged.
In other words, General Powell will always be “General”, Sargent York was always “Sargent” and President Clinton will always be “President”.
Using his logic, I do not know where this would put Nixon or Custer (who pretty much promoted himself to general then was demoted to colonel and then posthumously promoted to general again).
Dunno where Miss Manners got her rule from - possibly the same quaint 19th-century etiquette primers nobody read then, either. She can get awfully precious with some of this stuff, despite her normal good sense and generosity.
In general, and generous, popular usage, though, former high office-holders are entitled to be addressed by their former title. That includes ex-Presidents. If you still hate saying the words “President” and “Clinton”, or “Reagan”, together, that’s your problem, Chester.
Everytime I’ve seen a former president on the news, they have never been called Mr. President. It has always been governor or mister or former president.
After all, you can only have one president at a time. I’ve always been surprised they even let guys keep calling themselves Governor.
muttrox, that’s when they’re referred to in the third person. When addressed directly, they’re called “Mr. President”.
Yeah, why would you get to keep “Governor”, when you’re just as much an ex-Gov as ex-Prez? Especially since you were President more recently and it’s a higher position.
A contrary anecdote. I was in the US on the evening in 1994 when Nixon was admitted to hospital following his stroke. Not having previously heard, I switched on CNN that night to find round the clock reporting on “the President’s” condition. It took me a couple of (interesting) minutes to realise that it might not be Clinton they were talking about. Since the reporters and interviewees kept on refering to him by this title rather than by name, it took about another ten minutes before I could establish who out of Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush or Clinton was in the life-threatening coma.
No idea whether this is either correct or common practice.
Correct or not, Eisenhower was widely noted at the time for requesting that he be addressed as “General” after he left office. That may be evidence of a convention being more widely observed in the breach than the practice.
choke
Then this is an etiquette question that newscasters always get wrong, cos I know I heard Mike Wallace recently call Clinton “Mr. President.”
Nope, Guy he got it right on the mark. Miss Manners got it wrong. Any former President is always referred to as “Mister President.” IIRC, it’s because they always deserve the recognition of ascending to the highest level of office.
Every book I’ve read about Presidents have them addressing their predecessors as “Mr. President”.
Anyone remember how it was handled when Clinton had the former Presidents at the White House for NAFTA?
Miss Manners wrong??? Has the whole world gone mad???