Mr. President (title)

The title "Mr. President" (m.) and "Madam President" (f.)[1][2] may apply to persons holding the title of President or presiding over certain other governmental bodies.[3]

Adopted by President of the United States George Washington as his official manner of address as head of state, "Mister President" was subsequently used by other governments to refer to their heads of state. It has a longer history of usage as the title of the presiding officers of legislative and judicial bodies. It is the conventional translation of non-English titles such as Monsieur le Président for the President of the French Republic. The Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons is addressed as Monsieur le Président in French, and Mr. Speaker in English.

History

In the United States

The 1787 Constitution of the United States did not specify the manner of address for the chief executive. When George Washington was sworn in as the first President of the United States in 1789, he initially used the style, "His High Mightiness, the President of the United States and Protector of their Liberties," a title elaborated by the Joint Congressional Committee on Titles, which had been convened at the behest of Vice President John Adams organised of a Congressional committee. There Adams agitated for the adoption of the style of Highness (as well as the title of Protector of Their [the United States'] Liberties) for the President.[4]

Others favored the variant of Electoral Highness or the lesser Excellency, the latter of which was vociferously opposed by Adams, who contended that it was far beneath the presidential dignity, as the executives of the states, some of which were also titled "President" (e.g. the President of Pennsylvania), at that time often enjoyed the style of Excellency; Adams said that the President "would be levelled with colonial governors or with functionaries from German princedoms" if he were to use the style of Excellency. On further consideration, Adams deemed even Highness insufficient and instead proposed that the Executive, both the President and the Vice President (i.e., himself), be styled Majesty, with only which the "great danger" of insufficient dignity being attached to the executive could be solved.[4] Adams' efforts were met with widespread derision and perplexion; Thomas Jefferson called them "the most superlatively ridiculous thing I ever heard of", while Benjamin Franklin considered it "absolutely mad".[4]

Washington consented to the demands of James Madison and the United States House of Representatives that the title be altered to "Mr. President."[5][6][7][8]

In the U.S., the title is reserved for the current President and should not be used for former Presidents. Although when addressing a former president, it is proper to use the title as a courtesy title.[9][10][11]

In other countries

Thomas Hungerford, who became the first Speaker of the English House of Commons in 1376, used the title, "Mr. Speaker," a precedent followed by subsequent Speakers of the House of Commons. This influenced parliamentary usage in France.

By the 18th century, the president of a French parlement was addressed as "Monsieur le Président." In Pierre Choderlos de Laclos's 1782 novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses ("Dangerous Liaisons"), the wife of a magistrate in a parlement is referred to as Madame la Présidente de Tourvel ("Madam President of Tourvel"). When the Second French Republic was established in 1848, "Monsieur le Président" became the title of the President of the Republic of France.

The Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons, established in 1867, is also addressed as "Monsieur le Président" or "Madame la Présidente" when French is being spoken.

Spousal title

Titles for a president's wife have ranged from "Marquise," "Lady" to simply "Mrs." or "Ms."[7] "Mrs. President" may denote the wife of a president, although it is not commonly used.[12]

United States

President George Washington's wife, Martha Washington, was often called "Lady Washington." By the 1850s in the United States, the term "lady" had changed from a title of nobility to a term of address for a respected and well-mannered woman. The use of "First Lady" to refer to the wife of the President of the United States was popularized about the time of the US Civil War. Dolley Madison, the wife of President James Madison, was remembered after her death in 1849 by President Zachary Taylor as "truly our First Lady for a half a century."[13]

First Ladies are usually referred to simply as "Mrs. [last name]." Second Lady Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, earned a Doctor of Education degree in 2007 and is often referred to as "Dr. Biden."

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Williams, Stephen P. (2004). How to Be President. Chronicle Books. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-8118-4316-4.
  2. ↑ Safire, William (November 24, 1991). "On Language; Manhandling the Handlers". The New York Times.
  3. ↑ Mr. President Is Correct. New York Times. May 13, 1945.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Hutson, James H. (March 1968). "John Adams' Title Campaign". The New England Quarterly, 41 (1): 30–39.
  5. ↑ Hart, Albert Bushnell (1897). Formation of the Union, 1750-1829. Longmans. p. 143. ISBN 1-4069-2845-3.
  6. ↑ Martin, Judith (2003). Star-spangled Manners. W.W. Norton & Co. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-393-04861-2.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Wood, Gordon S. (2006). Revolutionary Characters. Penguin Press. p. 54. ISBN 978-1-59420-093-9.
  8. ↑ Caroli, Betty Boyd (2003). First Ladies. Oxford University Press US. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-19-516676-7.
  9. ↑ Judith Martin (21 October 1992). "Addressing a Former President". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  10. ↑ Robert Hickey. "Is a Former President Addressed as President (name)?". Honor & Respect - The Official Guide to Names, Titles, and Forms of Address. Protocol School of Washington. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  11. ↑ Kerrie Keller (2013-01-05). "Addressing a Former President of the United States". The Emily Post Institute. Retrieved 2013-01-05. When addressing a former President of the United States in a formal setting, the correct form is "Mr. LastName." ("President LastName" or "Mr. President" are terms reserved for the current head of state.)
  12. ↑ Martin, Judith (Miss Manners) (January 9, 2008). "Naming Protocol for Madam President's Spouse". Washington Post.
  13. ↑ Mayo, Edith (1996). The Smithsonian Book of the First Ladies. H. Holt. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-8050-1751-9.