Second Lady of the United States - Definition and Overview

The Second Lady of the United States is an unofficial title for the wife of the Vice President of the United States styled relatively to the formal title of the First Lady who is wife to the President and principal hostess of the White House. The title is traditionally only used during an active vice presidential term. The current Second Lady is Lynne Cheney.

The significance of a Second Lady has been a recent development as late 20th century and early 21st century vice presidential wives increasingly took on public policy roles that attracted a great deal of media attention. Tipper Gore, wife of former Vice President Al Gore of Tennessee, is often considered the first of modern Second Ladies. During her husband's service as a Senator, she was active in several campaigns to remove indecent material from popular American entertainment like movies, television shows and music. Gore attacked performers for use of obscene lyrics and often debated with her critics, like Jello Biafra.

Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney of Wyoming, championed education reform citing specific failures of the American public education system. She became particularly outspoken about the importance of history education at a time when schools increasingly dropped history courses in favor of science.

External link

• Wives of Vice Presidents (http://www.vicepresidents.com/new_page_6.htm#Wives%20of%20Vice%20Presidents)