Link to Q&A just on How to Address a Former President

FYI, here is what's come in to the Blog that relates to this office/rank.
   For recent questions sent in, check out Robert Hickey's Blog.
   For specific offices/ranks, check out Robert Hickey's On-Line Guide.

How Should the Media Refer to The Current President?
    How should President Obama be referred to by the media? I hear them refer to him as Mr. Obama and this just doesn't sound very respectful of him or the office (in my opinion). Mahalo for your time.
         -- Ms. Brazile in Honolulu

Dear MBIH:
    Great question!
    In the media the journalists are referring to The President in the third person in a story ... so they will refer to him in various ways so who they are talking about is clear to the listener. You'll hear:
        Barack Obama
        President Obama
        Obama
        Mr. Obama
    These are not forms of address ... for which there are rules.  In direct address a president is addressed as
        Mr. President
    His given name or surname is not used in his presence.  
    Listen to a White House news conference, and all the reporters address him as Mr. President.
    White House staff refer to him as The President  ... which makes sense since he is the only President to them!   But on the evening news they may refer to several presidents ... the president of the United States ... the president of British Petroleum ... the president of a national association.
    Sometimes you hear someone directly address the President of the United States as President Obama ... but that person is incorrect .... doesn't know the tradition ... and has probably just been listening to the evening news and thinks that is correct.
    Whenever I hear that I write a note to the reporter. Not sure it does any good, but I feel better.
                   -- Robert Hickey

How to Address The President and First Lady?
Dear Mr. Hickey:
    I am looking in your book and I find a salutation for The President, and a salutation for The First Lady, but I can’t find a form for the correct salutation to use when writing President Obama and Mrs. Obama (in the same letter), If you tell me, I would be most appreciative!
         --- Desiree Whitley

Dear Ms. Whitley:
     You don't see a form for that because an official letter would not be jointly addressed to The President and The First Lady. Each has their own office ... his in the West Wing ... and hers in the East Wing ... both at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. So separate letters would be sent to each.
    But that said ... if you are set on writing them as a couple write it line-for-line like this:
        The President
            and Mrs. Obama
                The White House
                    1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
                        Washington, DC 20500
        Open the letter with the salutation:
            Dear Mr. President and Mrs. Obama:
        Close the letter with:
            Most Respectfully,
            Desiree Whitley
                           -- Robert Hickey

The Honorable George Washington?
In a picture caption, should George Washington be "The Honorable George Washington", "President George Washington" or "George Washington, our First President"?
             --- CH in Watkinsville, GA


Dear CH:
A picture caption is not a direct form of address, so you can refer to the person however it will be the most clear to the reader. In the United States, George Washington is certainly one person who requires no elaborate "who he is and what he did" clarifications!
     The Honorable would be appropriate, but would be unusual. I've seen a list of "Honorables" being honored at an event and listed on program, and one of the honorees was recently deceased.  That person was listed among the honorees as "The Honorable (full name), 1935-2004, which worked in the context of that list on that program.
      NOW IF ... I  was directly addressing the first president of the United States, in a seance perhaps, the I think I would call him General Washington.  Only a current president is Mr. President, and once out office they are most correctly Mr. (surname), unless they have another honorific, which General Washington did.
           -- Robert Hickey

Dear BL:
      It's not correct for one chief of state to bow to another chief of state: they are peers. This sort of meeting is a symbolic ceremony ... a metaphor for the two nations' relationship ... hence the photographers, protocol officers, and press. Personal actions by the participants are omitted in this arena ... so the person named "Barack" actually getting to know the person named "Akihito" happens when the principals have private time.
    The bow was not the right thing to do ... it's an action more appropriate by a courtly "Southern gentleman" to an older person ... an gracious form of respect for years of service and personal accomplishment .. but more appropriate in the realm of social situations in the USA.
    But ill advised or not -- except perhaps in the blog-o-sphere and talk radio -- I find that few Americans really think The President was bowing as a subject, or supplicant, to the Emperor of Japan -- and I find only a minority think it's important.  I think it's important and that many are unfamiliar with diplomatic rules and have little cross-cultural knowledge. I don't admire this ignorance  .... but I do observe it. 
             -- Robert Hickey

How Should a Foreign Official Address the POTUS?
     I am drafting a letter from a foreign head of state to President Barack Obama.  Would I simply use the address block, salutation, and complimentary close that you already have listed for addressing the U.S. President, or is there a separate protocol if the letter is coming from a foreign Head of State (in this particular case, Kazakhstan)?
       -- Zoe L. J.

Dear Zoe L. J.,
    Use what I show on my page How To Address The President Of The United States. It will be absolutely correct.
    Since it's an official letter ... is should be formal and what I have there is most formal.
    If there were to be several head-of-state presidents in the room ... an introducer might introduce President Obama and President Nazarbayev so the rest of us would know which president he or she was referring to ...  but should be in conversation with either president, we should directly address the President of the United States in the most formal way (not using his name) as Mr. President .... and the President of Kazakhstan as Mr. President also.
       -- Robert Hickey

Link to Q&A just on How to Address a Former President

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For forms of address for invitations, place cards, name badges, introductions, conversation, and all other formal uses, see Honor & Respect: the Official Guide to Names, Titles, and Forms of Address.

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