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Nevertheless, Carter has been winning the name game for a decade in public life and is not about to give up. As Governor, he got a ruling from the Georgia secretary of state that he could legally use his nickname. In the presidential election, South Carolina and Maine balked at putting "Jimmy" on the ballot. Carter's lawyers successfully argued in court that "it was the actual name by which the public knows and recognizes him." Maine Superior Court Justice David Nichols wrote, "It appears that, without resorting to judicial proceedings, this nominee did change his name to Jimmy Carter. His change was in the pattern of such Presidents as were at birth named Hiram Ulysses Grant, Stephen Grover Cleveland, Thomas Woodrow Wilson, [and] John Calvin Coolidge."
NBC'S Edwin Newman, a language connoisseur, doesn't agree. Says he: "I don't like it [Jimmy], but he's entitled to use the name he wants ... I wonder if it would have helped if we had had 'Herbie Hoover' in the White House."
One institution is holding fast—Marquis Who's Who, Inc., has issued a new Who's Who in Government, and the entry on the 39th President comes under "Carter, James Earl, Jr." But on down, under "Carter, James Marshall" (a federal judge), is this line: "Carter, Jimmy—see James Earl, Jr. (Jimmy)."