"Mr. Clinton" - ex Presidential etiquette

[skygazer]

Does anyone know the proper etiquette for referring to ex-Presidents? I noticed the other night on the news that they kept referring to Bill Clinton as "Mr. Clinton". I don't know as I ever heard Ronnie referred to on the news as anything other than "President Reagan". What is correct? Is this a subtle slur or is it usual?

[CarolynEC]

1. Former presidents and former senators should be...

... addressed by those titles for life, as I understand it.

[hlthe2b]

3. correct

[hlthe2b]

2. they rarely referred to him as President Clinton while in office....

but nearly always "Clinton, " or "Bill Clinton." Thus, it is intentional, you can be sure. By contrast they are always on message with the Bushies* with "This President," "President Bush," and virtually never "Mr. Bush."

[Sparkle]

4. President Clinton or former President Clinton.

Never Mr. Clinton.

[Akbar]

5. He Should Be "Governor Clinton"

If I recall correctly, government officials are called by their highest-attained office.

However, there is only one President, so it's a special case. After you stop being President, then you revert to your previous title.

Of course, everyone seems to have forgotten this and the tendency seems to be to call ex-Presidents "President" unless it's a member of the liberal elite media referring to a Democrat--then all bets are off.

(And, in case Bryant Gumbel's reading this, the proper way to address George McGovern's second running mate is "Mr. Shriver.")

[hlthe2b]

8. ?????????????????????????????

:eyes:

[Media_Lies_Daily]

13. I don't think so. He should be referred to as "President Clinton",...

...or "former President Clinton", just like the media refers to both former GOP presidents as "former President Ford" or "President Ford", and "former President Bush", or "President Bush".

The use of the last-held title is not only proper, but also a sign of respect to a former president of the U. S.

The first time I ever heard a sitting president referred to as "Mr." by the media was during the final year of Watergate scandal prior to the resignation of Nixon. During that final year, the media always referred to Nixon as "Mr. Nixon", as if preparing the public for the fact that Nixon was soon to become a private citizen.

The media brought that back into play during Clinton's presidency when the Whitewater hearings kicked into gear. They really used it with a vengeance when the Lewinsky scandal went public and later when the impeachment hearings were engineered by the rightwing of the GOP.

[John_H]

17. So I should say, "Governor Reagan was a clown and a chump?"

[Akbar]

22. Can We All, At Least, Agree...

that it's "President Gore?"

[skygazer]

24. Excellent point

[hlthe2b]

Also note how careful they are to refer to Rice as "Dr. Rice."

Now think of all the previous administration officials with doctorate degrees of one kind or another, including PhDs and how often do you recall their being so respectful with them? (e.g., Dr. Madeline Albright)...The hypocrisy just reeks.

[Bluebear]

10. I've noticed that for quite a time

As if she is a Nobel Prize winner....oh wait, that's President Carter.

[WoodrowFan]

18. I heard

that she has a hissy fit if you don't refer to her as "Dr Rice" at work.

[hlthe2b]

20. Not surprising... Many probably recall Bush* hissy fit when a reporter

referred to him as "Mr. Bush."

[ms.smiler]

6. That bothered me too!

The correct way to refer to Bill Clinton is, "President Clinton." This is just another way for our corporate media to diminish his stature.

[Vickers]

7. This is why during the debates if Georgie says "Mr. Kerry," Kerry

should reply with "Mr. Bush."

I have a feeling Georgie will try that.

[Sparkle]

19. Bush probably won't call him Mr. Kerry, he'll say Mr. Opponent.

LOL!

[K-W]

21. Kerry should just call him LIAR and be done with it. EOM

[prodigal_green]

9. President Clinton

or Clenis if you're a Freeper.

[skygazer]

11. Thank you all

It seemed strange to me - it never registered so clearly in the past but since he's been in the news so much with the bypass, it was very evident. Even my husband, who is not very political at all, was bothered - he turned to me and said, "Isn't that disrespectful?"

And yes, I've noticed that about "Dr. Rice" too.

[No2W2004]

12. I'm not sure as far as "official etiquette" goes

but once a person has held high office, they retain that title for the rest of their life as a sign of respect.

Oh, the only other person I can remember being called Dr. was Kissinger. Figures....

[Dookus]

14. the proper form of address for a former President

when addressing an envelope, is "The Honorable William J. Clinton". The salutation is "Dear Mr. Clinton".

[rniel]

15. Governor Bush from now on...

Since you address them by their highest acquired office. He was never elected president.

[skygazer]

16. Well, here's what Miss Manners says

<MISS MANNERS
My son called me from the airport and told me that when he was boarding the plane, he noticed two men with wires coming out of their ears scrutinizing each passenger. While settling into his seat he heard the people behind him say, "Yes, it's him, all right, but he looks older."

Later, he was surprised to see Jimmy Carter coming down the aisle shaking hands with all the passengers. When he reached him, my son stood up and said, "It's an honor, Mr. President," as they shook hands.

He then wondered what one calls an ex-president. Surely not, "Mr. Ex-President."

Since it had never occurred to me to teach him the proper way to address an ex-president (I didn't know myself), I promptly went to my two (perhaps outdated) etiquette books, and both of them agreed that an ex-president is addressed as "Mr." as in "Mr. Carter." One said that very close friends or former staff sometimes use "Mr. President." Now, I am told that when he was recently interviewed on television, he was called "President Carter."

I have been told, also, that our ex-president likes to travel and pops up here and there, surprising people. Please let me know what Miss Manners thinks is the correct way to address a former president.

GENTLE READER
What do you mean, "what Miss Manners thinks"?

Who should be president is a matter on which the citizens are supposed to exercise their opinions. Etiquette is not.

What Miss Manners can give you is the correct information. But it comes with a warning that most people not only don't know or believe it, but turn indignant with the notion that it is disrespectful.

This is because we suffer from title inflation. Our Founding Fathers, including the ones to whom this question applied, established American protocol to be simple and unpretentious - and thus antithetical to the modern taste.

Nevertheless, the rule is that titles pertaining to an office that only one person occupies at a time are not used after retirement. A former president can use a previously held, non-unique title, as the first one did by reverting to Gen. Washington in retirement, or the plain citizen's title of "Mr." The third president preferred to be known as Mr. Jefferson rather than Gov. Jefferson. Thus, the gentleman your son met would be addressed as Gov. Carter or Mr. Carter.>



So I will stand corrected BUT I'm willing to bet that newscasters are no more cognizant of proper etiquette than the general public - I still think it's a deliberate slur on their part based on the fact that they tend to keep the title for Reagan especially.

[Akbar]

23. I Believe That Was My Source For What I Posted Earlier

However, I think there's a special exception for "Dick Cheney."

[johnnie]

25. I remember them calling him Mr Clinton throughout his term

I used to get pissed off at that. It seemed like the media did that just to be assholes. That's the way it seemed to me.