…how should I address her?
Ms. Clinton?
Mrs. Clinton?
Mrs. Secretary of State?
Hillary?
Something else?
I was going to make this a poll, but I suspect that there’s an appropriate or accepted way.
“Madam Secretary,” I believe, although you could probably get away with “Mrs. Clinton.”
This seems correct. From the State Department Protocol Office’s FAQ:
“Madam Secretary” or “Secretary Clinton” would be the two most accepted ways. Mrs. Clinton can also be used, but it is not nearly as common outside of the pages of the New York Times.
When did she drop the Rodham?
“Bitch, get out of my office.” ?
Not a fan.
She didn’t. Since at least the time she has been in the Senate, she has been Senator Clinton, not Senator Rodham Clinton.
Her name is still Hillary Rodham Clinton.
She has never used it as part of her last name. When she was a Senator, she was “Senator Clinton.” She’s only ever used Rodham as part of her full name on letterheads (“Hillary Rodham Clinton”), but as far as formal/professional titles, she’s only ever used “Clinton.”
Wrong. When she was an attorney with the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock, she was Hillary Rodham. It wasn’t until after Bill’s failed gubenatorial campaign and then during his '92 campaign that she started going publicly by “Clinton”. I’m not aware that she ever legally changed her name to Clinton.
Since that is the name she went by as Senator and as Secretary of State, I’m assuming it’s her legal name unless you have evidence to the contrary.
How does one randomly walk? Do you mean ‘unexpectedly’?
Down Wall Street?
Pretty good. I thought of that book as soon as I posted the OP. I guess I meant “accidentally”, since she would have no reason to enter my office.
This. I remember reading somewhere about this and that Bill left it up to her entirely, but she decided to adopt his name so as not to further hurt the cause (in the eyes of the American people, I mean).
It was at the suggestion of Vernon Jordan, Bill’s political advisor. Frank White, who had defeated Clinton for governor in 1980, campaigned introducing his wife, as Mrs. Frank White, it was believed that it was one of the reasons Clinton lost his re-election bid.
There you go. That’s definitely what I was thinking of, but just had a half memory :).
It would take her some doing to get into my office. Not only would she have to pick the right oddly configured house-like structure in a rural town, but she’d have to survive the attempt to bypass my secretary. Assuming that somehow happened, she’d then have to come down the hall, turn left, ignore a sometimes occupied room, then climb the stairs. Odds are good that my loyal secretary would have buzzed me to warn me about the crazy lady running loose in the building. Or she might call me on her cell from the safety of the office of the gay couple who run the antique store next to us. But she’d probably call.
Anyway, if all that happened, and Hillary herself is standing in my office, she’ll get the same response any other woman would get…
“Can I help you with something, Ma’am?”
And using her maiden name as a middle name wouldn’t raise any eyebrows; it was something expected. Often women in the South weren’t even given middle names at birth on the assumption that they’ll use their maiden name as a middle name after marriage.
Pedantically speaking, one does not get one’s name legally changed after a marriage or divorce. One simply fills out a change of name card at the DMV and then uses the new license as ID to change everything else. It’s a common law process that goes smoothly unless you meet a clerk who thinks that changing a name on marriage is normal but changing it after a divorce requires a judge. The clerk is wrong.
It is also perfectly legal to have one name for social or professional purposes and another for legal or other purposes, as long as there is no intent to defraud. So legality doesn’t come into it. If she started using the name Clinton, then she started using the name Clinton. If she only used/uses it in some circumstances, that’s interesting, but it’s all legal and none of it requires a judge.
I think “often” may be overstating it. I am from the south and all of my ancestors are from the south. I have yet to ever meet any woman from the south that did not have a middle name given at birth. Too many Sue’s, Mae’s, and Lee’s too count.