Politicians Now Want to Be Called Names--Down-Home Names

The invitation to the media came from Les, Newt, Larry and Ike--not for a movie screening but for a discussion about reorganizing U.S. defense posture. The first names confirmed a suspicion that our representational form of government is becoming ever more familiar.

Gone, almost forgotten, are such 20th-Century senatorial sonorities as Leverett Saltonstall (R-Mass.) and Everett M. Dirksen (R-Ill.)--although Everett and Leverett still sound like more persuasive forces on the floor than Lev and Ev. Rare now are such dignified names as Lowell P. Weicker Jr. (R-Conn.) or Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.); such nominal formality, even majesty, is being replaced by Bob Dole (R-Kan.), Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). Bob is among the presidential possibilities for 1988, along with Bill (Bradley, Sen., D-N.J.) and Jack (Kemp, Rep., R-N.Y.). Some insiders, in fact, believe that a previous President, Jimmy (Carter, D-Ga.), is responsible for the popularity of peanut-sized names and the dumping of middle names as well as middle initials.

Perhaps complex times call for down-to-earth, down-home names, spreading a Deep South affection for good old boys--or girls--to all corners of the country. At the gubernatorial level we have Ed Herschler (D-Wyo.), Ted Schwinden (D-Mont.) and Bill Sheffield (D-Alaska), although Arch A. Moore Jr. (R-W.Va.) survives as a resonant reminder of old glories on the stump.

The Almanac of American Politics, published by the National Journal, lists more than 70 governors and members of Congress who choose to be publicly identified in the manner of Reps. Al Swift (D-Wash.), Mickey Edwards (R-Okla.) and Buddy Roemer (D-La.). Closer to home, in California we have a capital full of short first names: Sens. Ed Davis (R), Jim Ellis (R), Bill Greene (D), Ken Maddy (R) and Art Torres (D), among others. In the Assembly are such familiars as Rusty Areias (D), Stan Statham (R), Wally Herger (R), Tom Hayden (D) and Sunny Mojonnier (R).

Ah, but haven’t we always had our Abes and Teddys, Ikes and Gerrys? Yes, but only in casual reference. The media, dutifully, have always used an elected official’s full, legal name--first, middle initial, last--even if the fellow was commonly known by his nickname. Outside Boston, Tip O’Neill will always be Thomas P. O’Neill Jr. (D-Mass.).

In the old days, even presidential shortenings kept the middle initial: F.D.R., J.F.K. and L.B.J. didn’t have to be spelled out. Ronald Reagan doesn’t bother to use his middle name, although his parents put a presidential Wilson between the two Rs.

This is indeed a political trend, almost unnoticed by the pundits paid to report trends. Reps. Les Aspin (D-Wis.), Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), Larry Hopkins (R-Ky.) and Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) only happened to illuminate it when they appeared together on the letter about defense reorganization. Hopkins, true, has J. for a middle initial, but otherwise Les, Newt, Larry and Ike could have been a pro football front four or Pep Boys competitors selling car parts in Canoga Park.

These days Howard H. Baker Jr. could be in trouble if he made a run on the White House. So could Mario M. Cuomo. As Pete Wilson (born Peter Barton Wilson) explains, these days an elected official wants to appear as “a normal person, one of the guys--not Reginald Something the Third.”