USPOL
I've got to know...why did they choose the name czar for topic-specific high level officials?
It's such a weird naming choice.
re: USPOL
@urusan
IIRC it refers to them having lots of power to make decisions themselves on that topic. I think it originated in WWII or WWI when in wartime people were appointed that were given permission to make massive sweeping decisions without having to consult anyone beforehand, and as such were metaphorically “czars” of whatever they were overseeing.
Now I'm thinking it was probably WWI, with the Russian revolution bringing the term czar into the front of people's minds, but I'm not sure
re: USPOL
@nytpu
The term was first used to refer to a political official shortly before WWI, but it didn't become popular in the media until FDR was making appointments during WWII. So it depends on your perspective I guess.
The executive branch has a lot more power today than it did in the 40s which I think partly explains why it's become so ubiquitous. Also, Americans don't like UK monarchy terms but it turns out we're pretty ok with authority in general. (If we lost WWII would the US have gone fascist or communist?) So a foreign sounding word was probably more palatable. (Wikipedia has a lot of the same info but without my commentary... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czar_(political_term))
@urusan
