03/03: What's in a Name? A Brief History of Presidential Middle Names
Category: Politics
Posted by: A Waco Farmer
What was George Washington's middle name?
Trick question. The first president of the United States to have a middle name was John Quincy Adams. He was the sixth decider-in-chief. He was elected in the disputed election of 1824 (over two-namer, Andrew Jackson), and he served from 1825-1829.
During the nineteenth century, presidents with middle names were the exceptions rather than the rule:
William Henry Harrison
James Knox Polk
Hiram Ulysses Grant, who, according to legend, changed his name to Ulysses Simpson Grant upon entering West Point because he preferred the sound of U.S. Grant to the initials H.U.G.
Rutherford Birchard Hayes
James Abram Garfield
Chester Alan Arthur
Stephen Grover Cleveland dropped his first name and subsequently went on to fame and political fortune with the trimmer handle.
For the most part, twentieth century presidents were rich with middle names.
Technically, Teddy Roosevelt was the sole exception, although, like Cleveland, Thomas Woodrow Wilson and John Calvin Coolidge dropped their assigned first names when they hit adulthood.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was the president who made it all matter. Then JFK and LBJ.
Jimmy Carter tried to forget his middle name was Earl. Bill Clinton seemed to revel in his middle name: Jefferson. Opponents of George Bush-41 attempted to make hay out of his four-banger, upper-crust-sounding family name: George Herbert Walker Bush. His son, Bush-43, has been called simply "W." by many, as a shorthand distinction between him and his father, as well as a low-grade measure of disrespect.
Is it "the ultimate fear bomb" to call Barack Hussein Obama by his full name?
Presumably, the unfortunate moniker was given to him with the best of intentions by his parents who loved him and wanted the best for him.
Sometimes names turn out to be unforeseen obstacles or annoyances.
A Personal Aside: my parents affixed me with a perfectly sophisticated, cultured, and fairly uncommon given-name back in 1964 (Ashley). During the 1980s, my first name became popular as a feminine given-name. I wish I had a dollar for every early-twenty-something who has asked me over the last fifteen years: "how come you got a girl's name?"
But it's my name. I am who I am.
My advice to BHO: Deal with it.
Trick question. The first president of the United States to have a middle name was John Quincy Adams. He was the sixth decider-in-chief. He was elected in the disputed election of 1824 (over two-namer, Andrew Jackson), and he served from 1825-1829.
During the nineteenth century, presidents with middle names were the exceptions rather than the rule:
William Henry Harrison
James Knox Polk
Hiram Ulysses Grant, who, according to legend, changed his name to Ulysses Simpson Grant upon entering West Point because he preferred the sound of U.S. Grant to the initials H.U.G.
Rutherford Birchard Hayes
James Abram Garfield
Chester Alan Arthur
Stephen Grover Cleveland dropped his first name and subsequently went on to fame and political fortune with the trimmer handle.
For the most part, twentieth century presidents were rich with middle names.
Technically, Teddy Roosevelt was the sole exception, although, like Cleveland, Thomas Woodrow Wilson and John Calvin Coolidge dropped their assigned first names when they hit adulthood.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was the president who made it all matter. Then JFK and LBJ.
Jimmy Carter tried to forget his middle name was Earl. Bill Clinton seemed to revel in his middle name: Jefferson. Opponents of George Bush-41 attempted to make hay out of his four-banger, upper-crust-sounding family name: George Herbert Walker Bush. His son, Bush-43, has been called simply "W." by many, as a shorthand distinction between him and his father, as well as a low-grade measure of disrespect.
Is it "the ultimate fear bomb" to call Barack Hussein Obama by his full name?
Presumably, the unfortunate moniker was given to him with the best of intentions by his parents who loved him and wanted the best for him.
Sometimes names turn out to be unforeseen obstacles or annoyances.
A Personal Aside: my parents affixed me with a perfectly sophisticated, cultured, and fairly uncommon given-name back in 1964 (Ashley). During the 1980s, my first name became popular as a feminine given-name. I wish I had a dollar for every early-twenty-something who has asked me over the last fifteen years: "how come you got a girl's name?"
But it's my name. I am who I am.
My advice to BHO: Deal with it.
Slogician wrote:
1) His middle name is Hussein!
2) He is eloquent.
Seriously, is that the best you've got? His experience is a legitimate (and debatable) issue, as it is with any candidate. Why not talk about that some more, and leave the gratuitous stuff at home?
This campaign will be decided by moderates, and especially well-educated moderates (the hard-core on either side, who tend to be less educated, already know where they are going, and variations in their turnout won't be enough in Ohio or Florida to be the decider for either side). The route to a well-educated moderate's heart is to talk about principles and action (that worked for Reagan and for Clinton), not an attack on eloquence or obsession with a middle name. My advice to (non-Waco Farmer) Republican bloggers and radio talkers: Substance matters. Deal with it.
[Note to the Waco Farming Community-- I know you dealt with the experience issue at length a few posts ago. That's the kind of discussion others should have, and more often]