You might think of the junior senator from Alabama as Jeff Sessions, but these days, critics on the left prefer to call him something else: Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III.
That is indeed the senator’s full name, although he’s always been known as Jeff. At various times in the past, some of Sessions’ Democratic adversaries, eager to cast a shadow of racism on a conservative Southern Republican, have referred to Sessions by his full name, stressing the middle moniker — after Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard — to give it the full Confederate flavor.
Now, we’re hearing it again. “Sen. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III,” reported NPR on May 6. “Sen. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III,” reported MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on May 5. “Sen. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III,” reported the Chicago Tribune on the same day. Beyond those big-media outlets, a bevy of bloggers, some of them influential, are doing the same thing.
“I grew up in the South, and I had a grandfather who was born at the start of the Civil War, and that’s how I got that name,” Sessions says. “I think some people may be using that to suggest that I would be unfair because I’m a Southerner, but that completely misrepresents the nature of the South today. We’re so proud of all the progress that’s been made.
“This is a nation of diverse people of different backgrounds,” Sessions adds, “and each one should cherish that.”
Sessions is perfectly comfortable with his name; it’s just part of his life. So when he had a son, Sessions chose to name him … Sam. “I thought three was enough,” he laughs.
