Vol. 39, No. 4: Fed Chairman

May 30, 2026 - 09:44

The Wall Street Journal's latest stylebook bulletin, Vol. 39, No. 4, settles a small but persistent language debate inside the newsroom. Kevin Warsh, the former Federal Reserve governor now widely discussed as a potential future leader of the central bank, will be referred to as "Fed chairman" in the paper's pages. This marks a deliberate return to the older title, breaking from the recent practice of using the gender-neutral "chair" for his predecessor, Jerome Powell.

The decision is not a political statement but a style choice rooted in clarity and tradition. The Journal's editors note that "chairman" remains the official statutory title for the head of the Federal Reserve Board. While many institutions have shifted to "chair" or "chairperson" in recent years, the paper will stick with the formal designation for Warsh, reflecting both the legal language and the historical usage that readers recognize.

Elsewhere in the bulletin, the style team offers a few other updates. The word "ceasefire" will now be written as a single, unhyphenated word, aligning with common modern usage in military and diplomatic contexts. The editors also clarify that "Trump Accounts" refers to the former president's social media profiles, not financial holdings. And with the World Cup approaching, the stylebook reminds writers to capitalize the event name but keep the phrase "World Cup" simple, without unnecessary modifiers. The goal, as always, is to keep the language clean and the meaning unmistakable.