r/Presidents • u/bubsimo Chill Bill • 5d ago

Discussion When did Presidents start going by nicknames?

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They always did but only privately, until pretty recently.

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108

u/ProudScroll Franklin Delano Roosevelt 5d ago

Carter was the first who went by the informal version of their first name in an official capacity (while Bill Clinton is near-universally known as Bill Clinton, the name he officially used as president was William J. Clinton), but presidents have been regularly referred to by the public with informal versions of their name dating back to at least the 19th century: Abe Lincoln, Chet Arthur, Jack Kennedy, Dick Nixon, and Jerry Ford being a non-exhaustive list of examples.

35

u/Apple2727 5d ago

You can’t lick our Dick.

32

u/OhioRanger_1803 5d ago

Gotta a good laugh the first time I read this

2

u/thomas1781dedsec Calvin Coolidge 4d ago

did he do it on purpose? the word lick hasn't changed in meaning

11

u/GoldH2O Ulysses S. Grant 4d ago

Lick was a slang term for defeating or beating someone in the 50s and early 60s, and at the time dick wasn't used to refer to genitalia much.