Lancer, Lace, Lyric, Lark

When that thin veil of grief descended on November 22, 1963, irrevocably dividing hope from the future, I could not have anticipated that the grief would come again so fresh fifty years later. I have lost, this country has lost, the art of language in political discourse, the love of rhetoric in the service of justice. Our basic cultural myth is, essentially, creation by the word, and I have seen in these fifty years the degradation of political process and commonality by the insistence on a increasingly simplistic vocabulary.  Language creates ideas, creates our reality.

Take this one example of language: where once the President and First Lady were known to the Secret Service as Lancer and Lace, they have now for several administrations been known at POTUS and FLOTUS -- sounds that can only evoke public lavatories.

These were the Secret Service codes fifty years ago:

The First Family:

Lancer

Lace

Lyric

Lark

Vice Presidential Group:

Volunteer

Victoria

Velvet

Venus

Vigilant

Places:

Castle

Crown

Angel

Charcoal

SS 100 X

Halfback

Varsity

Cabin

Hamlet

Chateau

Crossroads

Acrobat

Calico

Carpet Cork

Central Volcano

Official Family:

Wand

Willow

Wayside

Market

Watchman

Warrior

Wing

Witness

Tiger

Freedom

Secret Service Agents:

Domino

Suplex

Deacon

Dazzle

Dandy

Digest

Daylight

Debut

Dusty

Dagger

Dancer

Dresser

Drummer

White House Communications:

Star

Satchel

Sturdy

Shadow