A former student has suggested I ask one of the questions about US Presidents that I ask each year in seminars. Conscious that this is a blog about the Lords – but equally conscious that readership increases when I ask questions about US Presidents! – I thought I would offer a link between a feature of some peers and a US President.
Some members of the House of Lords choose titles which are purely territorial. Thus, to take two or three examples, former Labour Cabinet minister Ted Short became Lord Glenamara. Essex county councillor Paul White is Lord Hanningfield. Former Labour MP Dennis Turner is Lord Bilston. Such peers thus spend part of their active political life with names that they were not given at birth.
What is possibly less well known is that some Presidents of the USA have entered office with names different to those that they were given at birth. Bill Clinton, for example, started life as William Jefferson Blythe. However, in his case only the surname changed. There has been one 20th Century President who entered the White House with a name that bore no relation to the one he was given at birth. Anyone know which President it was?
And keeping the link with the peerage, who was the President with a rank of peerage in his name?
James Earl Carter (1977-1981), one of a handful of former presidents and vice presidents to be awarded a Nobel prize.
Leslie Lynch King, Jr.
Sounds like an incitement to treasonous activity.
The answer to the second question is James Earl Carter, presumably addressed Lord Carter! This seems to be a surprisingly common middle name for Americans.
James Earl Carter is the one with a rank of peerage in his name. Kudos to Mr. Korris for his response on Gerald Ford.
Perhaps it is about time we did away with all such “titles” and everyone became just plain ‘Joe Blogs’. Sadly not all goods on display reflect what is on the contents of the wrapper.
Anne, if everyone was called Joe Bloggs, don’t you think it would be confusing? They’d need to be Joe Bloggs of Louth or whatever at least!
But seriously, peerage titles are part of our heritage. Calling someone a Lord is no different from calling someone “Senator”, except that one sounds British and the other belongs in foreign republics. In other countries, people look up to their senators. The fact that Lords don’t receive the same respect is a sad reflection on our society. (Removing titles from the few lords who disgrace themselves was discussed in an earlier post.)
As marianariasrabibliotecaria indicates, the answer is Gerald Ford. He was given the name Leslie Lynch King Jr at birth but when his mother remarried he was given his step-father’s name of Gerald Rudolf Ford Jr. Jimmy Carter’s middle name is indeed Earl.
I agree with Jonathan. It is notable that in the USA when those in public office, such as Presidents and Senators, leave office they nonetheless keep the title for life. A former President is still addressed as Mr President, a former Senator as Senator and so one. So if George Bush Snr and George W. Bush attend an event it is a case of Mr President and Mr President. And had Hillary Clinton become President…
How would a female president be addressed? We won’t know for at least a few years, possibly decades. However, we had a similar problem in 1992 when Betty Boothroyd became the first female speaker of the House of Commons. I think she herself decided the form of address should be Madam Speaker, which incidentally follows the way female chancellors of universities are addressed.
Of course, in the Lords you have a much simpler solution. The lady speaker is still the Lord Speaker. Who says the Lords is behind when it comes to equality?