University of Virginia Library

What's In A Name?

A small controversy has arisen over the
past few weeks concerning this newspaper's
appellation for the President of the United
States. It seems that many people feel that
"Tricky Dick" is not in keeping with the
reverence that citizens and newspapers ought
to hold for the office and the man who
occupies it.

One correspondent suggested that we
replace the objectionable nomenclature with
the more formal "Crafty Richard," an idea we
are taking under consideration. Another
possibility is to use the President's initials,
"RMN," but that doesn't seem to likely to
catch on; in the first place "Nixon" fits nicely
into most headlines and in the second place
what does "N" rhyme with? What would the
equivalent of "All the way with LBJ" be?
"Mitchell Zen, and RMN" is not they type of
rallying cry that's likely to appeal to the
Republicans we know.

Another approach might be to refer to him
always as "the Honorable Richard Milhous
Nixon, President of the United States," or
perhaps simply as "the President," but those
just don't seem friendly enough to express the
high regard in which we hold our leader. The
most popular Presidents have always been
known to their constituents by some sort of
fond nickname.

Then we might take the approach of Big
Business and refer to him as, "that man in the
White House," but that's a sobriquet
traditionally reserved for Democratic occupants
and also one that's hardly likely to
please the Young Republicans.

Of course, there's always the example of
Babe Ruth, who on a hot day in Yankee
Stadium greeted Calvin Coolidge with a
cheerful, "hot as hell, ain't it Prez?" but
"Prez" is a bit on the informal side and
besides, "ain't" is hardly grammatical.
President Nixon" and "Mr. Nixon" have been
used so often by political writers that they are
nothing more than trite cliches by now,
something that any self-respecting stylist
would scramble to avoid.

It's a difficult problem. We envy the ease
with which Julie and Tricia (and perhaps even
David) can fall back on "Dad" or Mrs. Nixon
on "Dear," or the President's mother on
"Son." Those prerogatives, alas, avail us nil.
So we appeal for help. How would you, dear
reader, like to see us refer to the President?
The best suggestion received from a student
before midnight, October 14 wins a free
subscription to The Cavalier Daily, to be
awarded every morning in Cabell Hall.