Why doesn't the convention of capitalizing proper nouns apply to Secretary of State, Attorney General, FBI Director, etc?
In American news these days, the names State Department and Secretary of State are frequently written. However, in professional print and web news sources, those proper nouns are almost always (there are exceptions) written in all lower case as such: state department and secretary of state.
What is going on? Even though I see the New York Times writing:
The secretary of state is a cabinet level position.
I can't do it. I am sure it is wrong. I write:
The Secretary of State is a Cabinet level position.
cabinet, instead of Cabinet, is a piece of furniture.
secretary, instead of Secretary, is someone who might work at a law firm.
Please, someone set me straight. Maybe I've just been reading news sources with low-quality proof checkers? I mean, I just read "www.rt.com" and they have it as Secretary of State.
Best Answer
Capitalization issues are style related. However, your basic assumption, Secretary of state is a proper noun, is faulty.
Here are some examples using instructions from The Chicago Manual of Style:
The president drank coffee today. President Obama drank coffee today.
The secretary of state went to China.
Former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton went to China.
Hilary Clinton, the former secretary of state, went to China.
I traveled south.
I traveled to the South.
The Bishop of Rome falls into his own category and can depend on who one is talking to. Capitalization depends on the article:
A pope retains the office for life.
The Pope can retire before his death.
As far as cabinet, I suppose you could make an argument based on comprehension, but consider something like After closing arguments, the case went to the jury; in the end, it was a hung jury. However, I'd personally capitalize:
The Eisenhower Cabinet was instrumental in post-war politics, but Eisenhower's cabinet pushed for arms build-up in Southeast Asia.