nixon's last mistake?

December 29, 2006 12:40 AM

nixon's last mistake?

hivemind,

nixon's resignation letter is being flashed all over tv again these days, for obvious reasons, and it reminded me of something that has bugged me for quite some time.

Dear Mr. Secretary:

I hereby resign the Office of President of the United States.

shouldn't it be I hereby resign from the Office? said office did after all still exist sans nixon.

posted by krautland to writing & language (9 comments total)

I think it's valid, if a little outdated. Here are two other examples.

I resign the office of Secretary of State (CA)

I resign the office of President (US Deaf Gold Association. Seriously)
posted by allen.spaulding at 1:04 AM on December 29, 2006

I think he meant it like a title, something you held. "I resign the crown of england" sounds normal to me.
posted by delmoi at 2:16 AM on December 29, 2006

The verb "to resign" has both transitive and intransitive forms. As long as it's not used with a reflexive pronoun, the meaning remains the same.
posted by ikkyu2 at 2:38 AM on December 29, 2006

I think maybe adding the "from" is probably something relatively recent. If you look at this page about "resign" from Webster's dictionary of (apparently) 1913, you'll see that resign is used without the "from," and that it's only listed as a transitive verb.

Perhaps later usage has added the "from" because of a certain similarity to "retire" and "retire from"?
posted by taz at 2:48 AM on December 29, 2006

I've heard of military officers resigning their commission, but never resigning from their commission.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 3:15 AM on December 29, 2006

I always understood that while there was a position of being President one could hold, one was only President by virtue of winning the office of the President (similar to how an MP is only an MP because they won their seat). Thus, while one could theoretically resign from being President, it would still make sense (or probably make more sense) for one to resign the Office (note the capital on Office, designating it as its own entity) of President if one was indeed resigning.
posted by Effigy2000 at 3:38 AM on December 29, 2006

It sounds like the things you can just resign without a from are all metonyms standing for a particular position or honor. When you resign from the presidency, you resign the office. When you resign from the military, you resign the commission. (Hey Brits — if the King or Queen abdicates, can you say they've resigned the throne?)
posted by nebulawindphone at 6:56 AM on December 29, 2006

Hey Brits — if the King or Queen abdicates, can you say they've resigned the throne?

Well it sounds right.
But it's not exactly what Edward said.
posted by TrashyRambo at 8:05 AM on December 29, 2006

Sure, the person and the office have to coexist. Nixon no longer wished to hold that office, so he resigned it. Quit it. Left it behind. Etc. If you resign "from" an office, you are saying that the title can exist without a person holding it. David Rice Atchison notwithstanding, as of the 25th Amendment it's constitutionally impossible for there to be a vacancy in the office of President of the United States.

(Heh, the California Secretary of State apparently resigned "with deepest personal egret." Those things should really not be kept as pets.)
posted by Saucy Intruder at 8:28 AM on December 29, 2006