"presidential"

[Geoffrey Nunberg]

Whoops -- I meant the 1976 campaign, so the Jackson quote does take
it back to another cycle.

Geoff


>Date: Sun, 3 Oct 2004 19:48:56 -0700
>To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>From: Geoffrey Nunberg <nunberg at csli.stanford.edu>
>Subject: re: "presidential"
>Cc:
>Bcc:
>X-Attachments:
>
>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