"presidential"

[Geoffrey Nunberg]

These are very interesting, but also curious. When I search in the NY
Times and WSJ on 'presidential' as the complement of verbs like
'look', 'seem', and 'sound', I keep coming up with a flurry of hits
beginning in the 1974 campaign (which would loosely include the 1973
description of Sen. Jackson that Sam and Fred came up with), with a
pretty consistent pattern of use after that. As best I can tell the
word wasn't used this way of Nixon or Kennedy with regard to their
debates. So it certainly seems as if this sense of the word became
common in political discourse in the 1974 campaign (which was when
the presidential debate was revived after a 16-year lull, as it
happens.) But Paul's citations from Webster clearly indicate that
this sense of the word originated well before then. Was it
reinvented, or just lying low?

WRT Paul's post, the cites I've found for "presidential demeanor" all
refer to the demeanor of a particular person; Tom Wicker wrote
evocatively of a Nixon appearance in 1969 that "he kept his hands
clutched together at the waist like a choir singer in order that the
presidential demeanor should not lapse into the candidate's
assortment of campaign gestures -- breast strokes, veronicas, karate
chops, jabs, uppercuts and one-hand punch shots, to recall only a few
of the most familiar." It would be interesting to know if
"presidential demeanor" had a generic sense in earlier quotes.

Geoff


>  > I'm trying to find out when "presidential" was first used in the
>  > sense "having a manner or demeanor befitting a president." The
>  > earliest cite I've found is from an article in the WSJ, June 2, 2976,
>  > which says "It would give Mr. Ford a chance to look "presidential,"
>  > which could help him win over uncommitted delegates..."
>
>
>  > Geoff Nunberg
>
>
>Here's one possibility:
>
>
>MR. THOMAS W. THOMPSON TO MR. WEBSTER.
>Salisbury, October 17, 1804.
>
>
>"If Judge Davis had more dignity of person, his appearance would I
>think, be  more presidential."
>Fletcher S. Webster, The Private Correspondence of Daniel Webster Vol.
>1, Little, Brown & Company, 1857, p. 189.
>
>
>And another:
>
>
>DANIEL WEBSTER TO EZEKIEL WEBSTER.
>Washington, February 22 [1824].
>
>
>"General Jackson's manners are  morepresidential than those of any of
>the candidates. He is grave, mild, and reserved. My wife is for him
>decidedly."
>
>
>Ibid, p. 346.
>
>
>Paul
>___________________________
>Paul Frank
>English translation from Chinese,
>German, French, and Spanish
>paulfrank at post.harvard.edu
>http://tinyurl.com/5av5h