Hillary Clinton could make an unscheduled campaign stop at my house. You never know, and I want to make sure that I address her correctly when she arrives at my front door.
She’s a former Secretary of State, a former Senator from New York, and a former First Lady of the United States. Do I address her by her last job, such as Madam Secretary, or by her next to last job, which you could argue was more prestigious and was an elected position, Madam Senator? Or can I choose either one? Or is there some other title I should use, like former First Lady. What is the rule here? I’m sure someone from her advance team would tell me, but just in case I’m caught flat footed…
Sure, and you could address her husband as Mr. Clinton, but we don’t do that, we acknowledge that they held an important position in our Government, at least until they let us know that we are on a less formal basis with them.
The combination of the OP’s question and his sig line might raise some eyebrows.
My understanding, no cite, is that President is one of those rare titles in the US that is conferred for life. Former whatever-elses generally revert to Mr., Mrs., or Ms.
Secretary Clinton. In American etiquette, a former high official continues to be addressed by that former title (President used to be an exception, since it was seen as a role one stepped down to, but no longer - sorry, Miss Manners, I love you but you’re just out of date here) *. The question is which title is highest. First Lady is not a formal title, and persons in that role are addressed as Mrs. (Bubba would probably be First Gentleman, but still addressed as Mr. President). Senators represent their states, but Secretaries represent the nation, so that means Secretary is highest, as well as most recent.
For example, after Teddy Roosevelt left office, his title of address reverted to Colonel.
davida03801 and ralph124c, both of you have been here long enough to know that political jabs are not permitted in GQ (particularly as an initial response). I’m issuing you both official warnings. Don’t do this again.
Of course we do. There’s no law requiring people to address or refer to former office holders by some fancy title, and in fact many people, quite politely and uncontroversially, stick to the standard “Mr./Miss/Mrs./Ms.” honorifics. For example, here’s The New York Times referring to Hillary Clinton as “Mrs. Clinton”. Web searches show no shortage of people directly addressing her this way, whether they’re foreign heads of government, journalists posting questions at press conferences, or fans reaching out to her on Twitter.
Miss Manners is simply charmingly anachronistic on that point. The NYT works to its own style guide, not conventional usage, too.
True, it’s never wrong to refer to a President, former or current, as Mr., just as it isn’t wrong to address the Queen as Ma’m. But if a title is called for, it’s President.
The NYTimes practice, as I understand it, is to refer to a person by their rank in the first mention and then use Mr., Mrs., or Ms. for all further references. That includes the President. After Obama went into office, we had to patiently explain to people that calling him Mr. Obama was not an insult because he was black.
The U.S., like all nations, has a formal protocol office that determines matters of rank and title and address and seating at formal dinners and the line for the bathroom.
But the rest of the world is not an employee of the New York Times or the federal government. It has been standard for many decades to use courtesy titles for former titleholders. (Yes, Miss Manners is wrong. All ex-Presidents are Mr. President. When Clinton becomes an ex-President she will be Mrs. President, though by then hopefully we’ll smarten up and call her Ms. President.) When a person has multiple titles, they can be addressed by any. Someone from New York state might preferentially reference Clinton’s status as former New York Senator over the more recent job of Secretary of State. Usually, though, you would go by the more recent or the higher, which normally are synonymous anyway.
But Mrs. Clinton is just fine and what I would use. That is always acceptable outside formal protocol.
