List of nicknames of United States presidents

This is a list of non-derisory nicknames of United States presidents which were in common usage at the time they were in office or shortly thereafter.

Contents 1 Presidential nicknames 1.1 George Washington 1.2 John Adams 1.3 Thomas Jefferson 1.4 James Madison 1.5 James Monroe 1.6 John Quincy Adams 1.7 Andrew Jackson 1.8 Martin Van Buren 1.9 William Henry Harrison 1.10 John Tyler 1.11 James K. Polk 1.12 Zachary Taylor 1.13 Millard Fillmore 1.14 Franklin Pierce 1.15 James Buchanan 1.16 Abraham Lincoln 1.17 Andrew Johnson 1.18 Ulysses S. Grant 1.19 Rutherford B. Hayes 1.20 James A. Garfield 1.21 Chester A. Arthur 1.22 Grover Cleveland 1.23 Benjamin Harrison 1.24 William McKinley 1.25 Theodore Roosevelt 1.26 William Howard Taft 1.27 Woodrow Wilson 1.28 Warren G. Harding 1.29 Calvin Coolidge 1.30 Herbert Hoover 1.31 Franklin D. Roosevelt 1.32 Harry S. Truman 1.33 Dwight D. Eisenhower 1.34 John F. Kennedy 1.35 Lyndon B. Johnson 1.36 Richard Nixon 1.37 Gerald Ford 1.38 Jimmy Carter 1.39 Ronald Reagan 1.40 George H. W. Bush 1.41 Bill Clinton 1.42 George W. Bush 1.43 Barack Obama 2 See also 3 References 4 Presidential lists

Presidential nicknames

George Washington

Full name: George Washington

• The American Cincinnatus^[1] Like the famous Roman, he won a war, then became a private citizen instead of seeking power or riches as a reward. He became the first President General of the Society of the Cincinnati, formed by Revolutionary War officers who also "declined offers of power and position to return to his home and plough."^[2]
• The American Fabius^[3] For his Fabian military strategy during the Revolutionary War
• The Father of His Country^[4][5]

John Adams

Full name: John Adams, Jr.

• The Colossus of Independence^[6] Given to him by Thomas Jefferson for his leadership in Congress in 1776
• Old Sink or Swim For the speech in which he vowed "To sink or swim; to live or die; survive or perish with my country"

Thomas Jefferson

Full name: Thomas Jefferson

• The Apostle of Democracy^[7]
• The Man of the People^[8]
• The Sage of Monticello^[9]

James Madison

Full name: James Madison

• Little Jemmy^[10] or His Little Majesty^[10] At only 5' 4", he is the shortest person to serve as president. The average adult male American at the beginning of the 19th century was about 5' 8" – an inch and a half shorter than today.

James Monroe

Full name: James Monroe

• The Era of Good Feelings President^[11] "The Era of Good Feelings" was the period following the War of 1812, during which America became less divided politically, to the extent that the only opponents of the ruling Democratic Republicans, the Federalist Party, went out of existence. It was not until resistance to Andrew Jackson's policies produced the Whig Party that oppositional politics resumed in the United States

John Quincy Adams

Full name: John Quincy Adams

• Old Man Eloquent or The Abolitionist famed for routinely bringing up the slavery issue against Congressional rules, and for his role later on in the Amistad case. He is the only American President to be elected to the House of Representatives after his Presidency. The nickname gained currency as a result of his campaign against slavery waged as a Congressman, and as the attorney in the Amistad case.^[12]

Andrew Jackson

Full name: Andrew Jackson

• The Hero of New Orleans^[13]
• Old Hickory^[14] Allegedly given to him by his soldiers for being as "tough as old hickory."

Martin Van Buren

Full name: Martin Van Buren

• The American Talleyrand^[15]
• The Careful Dutchman^[16] Van Buren's first language was Dutch.
• The Enchanter^[16]
• The Great Manager^[16]
• The Little Magician^[16] He stood 5'6".
• The Master Spirit^[16]
• Matty Van From "Tippecanoe Songs of 1840"^[17]
• The Mistletoe Politician"^[18] "Nourished by the sap of the hickory tree."
• Old Kinderhook^[16] A reference to his birthplace, Kinderhook, New York. Often used in combination with other epithets e.g. "Sage of Kinderhook".
• The Red Fox (of Kinderhook)^[16] A reference to his hair color and political astuteness.

William Henry Harrison

Full name: William Henry Harrison

• General Mum^[19] As in the expression, "keep it mum". Because of his avoidance of speaking out on controversial issues during his election campaign
• Tippecanoe or also Old Tippecanoe^[14] A reference to Harrison's victory at the 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe. This nickname was used in the campaign song Tippecanoe and Tyler Too during the 1840 Presidential election.
• Washington of the West^[14] A reference to Harrison's victories at the 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe and 1813 Battle of the Thames.

John Tyler

Full name: John Tyler, Jr.

James K. Polk

Full name: James Knox Polk

• Napoleon of the Stump Because of his potent oratory during his campaign for the Tennessee state legislature.
• Young Hickory^[20] Because he was a particular protégé of "Old Hickory" – Andrew Jackson

Zachary Taylor

Full name: Zachary Taylor

• Old Rough and Ready^[21]

Millard Fillmore

Full name: Millard Fillmore

• The American Louis Philippe
• Friendly^[22]

Franklin Pierce

Full name: Franklin Pierce

• Young Hickory of the Granite Hills^[23] "Young Hickory" compared his military deeds (in the Mexican-American War) with those of Andrew Jackson. "The Granite Hills" were his home state of New Hampshire
• Handsome Frank^[24]

James Buchanan

Full name: James Buchanan, Jr.

• Ten-Cent Jimmy^[25]A reference to his claim during the 1856 election campaign that ten cents a day was enough for a working man to live on

Abraham Lincoln

Full name: Abraham Lincoln

• The Ancient One^[26] A nickname favored by White House insiders because of his "ancient wisdom"
• The Great Emancipator ^[27] and The Liberator^[28] For the emancipation of the slaves.
• Honest Abe^[29]
• The Rail-Splitter^[29]
• The Tycoon^[30] For the energetic and ambitious conduct of his Civil War administration
• Uncle Abe^[31] Lincoln was a kind and friendly man who in his later years came across as avuncular

Andrew Johnson

Full name: Andrew Johnson

• The Tennessee Tailor He worked as a tailor before going into politics.^[32]

Ulysses S. Grant

Full name: Ulysses S. Grant — born Hiram Ulysses Grant but enrolled at West Point as Ulysses Simpson Grant ^[33]

• Unconditional Surrender Grant His uncompromising demand for unconditional surrender during the Battle of Fort Donelson in 1862 made him a hero.^[34]

Rutherford B. Hayes

Full name: Rutherford Birchard Hayes

James A. Garfield

Full name: James Abram Garfield

• Boatman Jim, referencing his work on the Ohio canals in his youth.^[35]

Chester A. Arthur

Full name: Chester Alan Arthur

• Chet, shortened version of his name used by publications of that era.^[36]
• Gentleman Boss, as the dapper leader of New York State's Republican party.^[36]
• Prince Arthur,^[37] and The Dude President^[37] He was renowned for his fancy attire and indulgence in extravagant luxury
• Walrus^[37] for having strange looking facial hair (mostly touted by children)

Grover Cleveland

Full name: Stephen Grover Cleveland

• His Obstinacy^[38] He vetoed more bills than the first 21 presidents combined
• The Stuffed Prophet^[39] and The Elephantine Economist^[40] Given to him by hostile newspapers during the 1892 presidential election, by which time his weight had gone up to 250 pounds
• Uncle Jumbo^[41]

Benjamin Harrison

Full name: Benjamin Harrison

• The Front Porch Campaigner^[42] During the 1888 election, he gave nearly ninety speeches from his front porch to crowds gathered in the yard of his Indianapolis home. This nickname has been widely but erroneously attributed to William McKinley
• The Human Iceberg^[43] Although he could warmly engage a crowd with his speeches, he was a very cold fish when you met him one-on-one

William McKinley

Full name: William McKinley, Jr.

• The Napoleon of Protection^[44] "Protection" meant high tariffs, like the one McKinley wrote in 1890.

Theodore Roosevelt

Full name: Theodore Roosevelt

• The Hero of San Juan Hill^[45] He led his Rough Riders up San Juan Hill during the Battle of Santiago de Cuba in 1898
• The Lion^[46]
• Teddy In the New York Times at least as early as 1900.^[47]
• TR^[48] He liked to sign communications this way. The first president to be known by his initials.
• The trust Buster So called as a pioneer of busting business trusts.^[49]

William Howard Taft

Full name: William Howard Taft

• Big Chief^[50]
• Big Lub^[51] Boyhood nickname

Woodrow Wilson

Full name: Thomas Woodrow Wilson

• The Phrasemaker^[52] As an acclaimed historian, Wilson had no need of speech-writers to supply his oratorical eloquence
• The Schoolmaster^[52] He was a bespectacled academic who lectured his visitors; compare to Italian Prime Minister (and former President of the European Commission) Romano Prodi's nickname Il Professore (the professor/schoolteacher).

Warren G. Harding

Full name: Warren Gamaliel Harding

Calvin Coolidge

Full name: John Calvin Coolidge, Jr.

• Cautious Cal^[53]
• Cool Cal^[54] His reelection campaign used the slogan, "Keep It Cool With Coolidge"
• Silent Cal^[55][56]
• The Sphinx of the Potomac^[53] Suggesting that he was as enigmatic as the mythological creature

Herbert Hoover

Full name: Herbert Clark Hoover

• The Great Engineer and The Great Humanitarian^[57] He was a civil engineer of some distinction and when the Mississippi burst its banks in 1927, engulfing thousands of acres of agricultural land, he volunteered his services and did extensive flood control work. The latter nickname would later be used facetiously in reference to his perceived indifference to the hardships faced by his constituents during the Great Depression. However, the nickname dates back to 1921, when the ARA under Hoover saved millions of Russians suffering from famine. "It was such considerations that Walter Lippmann took into account when he wrote of Hoover’s Russian undertaking in the New York World in May 1922: 'probably no other living man could have done nearly so much.'”^[58]
• The Chief^[59] This was a nickname picked up at 23 as a geologist surveying in the Australian Outback, but it stuck for the rest of his life.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Full name: Franklin Delano Roosevelt

• FDR^[60]

Harry S. Truman

Full name: Harry S. Truman (middle name was just "S")

• Give 'Em Hell Harry (also a campaign slogan)^{[61][62][63][64]}

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Full name: Dwight David Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower)

• Ike^[65] Known for being in his campaign slogan "I like Ike"

John F. Kennedy

Full name: John Fitzgerald Kennedy

• Jack^[66] Kennedy was usually referred to as either "John F. Kennedy" or "Jack Kennedy", only very rarely as "John Kennedy"
• JFK^[67] Most prominent nickname and abbreviation of his full name.

Lyndon B. Johnson

Full name: Lyndon Baines Johnson

• LBJ^[68] He liked to be known by this abbreviation, which was used in the slogan, "All the way with LBJ"

Richard Nixon

Full name: Richard Milhous Nixon

Gerald Ford

Full name: Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King, Jr.)

• Jerry^[69]
• Mr. Nice Guy^[70][71] Because of his clean-cut and non-partisan image

Jimmy Carter

Full name: James Earl Carter, Jr.

• Jimmy First President to use his nickname in an official capacity.^[72] He was known as "Jimmy Carter," "James Earl Carter," or "James Earl Carter, Jr." He was not called "James Carter" or "James E. Carter."

Ronald Reagan

Full name: Ronald Wilson Reagan

• Dutch Because, shortly after his birth, his father said he looked like a "fat little Dutchman". The nickname was reinforced when he got a Dutch boy haircut as a youth.^[73][74]
• The Great Communicator^[75] In reference to Reagan's ability to communicate.^[76]
• The Gipper After his role as George "The Gipper" Gipp in the film Knute Rockne, All American. Gipp's exhorted his teammates to "Win one for the Gipper".^[77]

George H. W. Bush

Full name: George Herbert Walker Bush

• 41,^[78] Bush the Elder,^[79] Papa Bush,^[80] and similar names. All nicknames that were used after his son George Walker Bush became the 43rd president, to differentiate between the two.
• Poppy Nickname used by from childhood on.^[81][82]

Bill Clinton

Full name: William Jefferson Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III)

• Bubba^[83] Common nickname in the Southern US.
• The Comeback Kid Coined by press after strong second place showing in 1992 New Hampshire primary, following polling slump.^[84]
• The First Black President Used by Toni Morrison in reference to the African Americans tropes surrounding Clinton's candidacy.^[85] Now less common usage after Obama's election.

George W. Bush

Full name: George Walker Bush

• 43, Bush II, Bush Jr. or Bush 2.0, to differentiate him from his father George H.W. Bush.
• Dubya,^[86] based on a Texas pronunciation of "W".

Barack Obama

Full name: Barack Hussein Obama II

• No Drama Obama, for his meticulous care in making appointments, writing speeches, and other strategic decisions.^[87]

See also

• List of Presidential name origins
• List of British Prime Ministers by nicknames

References

• Paleta, Lu Ann, and Fred Worth. The World Almanac of Presidential Facts. Pharos Books, 1993.
• DeGregario, William A. The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents. Barricade Books, 1991.
• The White House website

Presidential lists

Lists relating to Presidents of the United States and Vice Presidents of the United States Presidential lists by order Service Age Birth Death Historical rankings Military rank Number living Oldest Time in office Timeline Professional careers Political affiliation Other offices held Elected office Executive experience Inaugurations Doctrines International trips Judicial appointments Pardons Vetoes Control of Congress Assassination attempts and plots Libraries Campaign slogans Currency appearances U.S. postage stamp appearances Personal life Nicknames Names Genealogical relationship Education Military service Pets Place of birth Place of primary affiliation Previous occupation Religious affiliation Residences Summer White Houses Languages Handedness Deaths in office Vice presidential lists Order of service Time in office Age of ascension Other offices held Birth Tie-breaking votes Death and longevity Vacancies Place of primary affiliation Religious affiliation Education Succession Line of succession Designated survivor Elections Elections Electoral College margin Popular vote margin Candidates 1789–1852 1856–present Democratic tickets Republican tickets Height African American Female Lost their home state Former presidents who ran again All candidates with at least one electoral vote In fiction Presidents Vice Presidents Candidates Succession Families First Family First ladies (List Number living) Second ladies Children