Inaugural holder Abigail Adams | Website WhiteHouse.gov | |
 | ||
Style The Honorable (formal)
Mrs. Pence (informal)
Madam Second Lady (informal) Residence Number One Observatory Circle Formation April 21, 1789
(227 years ago) (1789-04-21) | ||
The wife of the Vice President of the United States is sometimes referred to as Second Lady of the United States (SLOTUS), but this title is much less common.
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The term "Second Lady", coined in contrast to the First Lady (who is almost always the wife of the President), may have been first used by Jennie Tuttle Hobart (whose husband was Vice President from 1897 to 1899) to refer to herself.
The title later fell out of favor, but was revived in the 1980s. During the 1990s the title was again abandoned, in favor of "wife of the Vice-President", but was later resurrected during the administration of Barack Obama and continues to be used by the administration of Donald Trump.
History
The second lady's visibility in the public sphere has been a somewhat recent development. Although the role of the First Lady as White House hostess dates from the beginning of the republic (and was typically filled by another member of the president's family if the president was unmarried or a widower), with a few exceptions, it was generally not until the late 20th century and early 21st century that vice-presidential wives took on public roles that attracted significant media attention.
Floride Calhoun, wife of Vice President John C. Calhoun, was a central figure in the Petticoat Affair, a social-political scandal which involved the social ostracism of Secretary of War John H. Eaton and his wife Margaret O'Neill Eaton further damaging already-strained relations between Vice President Calhoun and President Andrew Jackson. Tipper Gore, wife of Vice President Al Gore, was active in several campaigns to remove material she found objectionable from popular American entertainment like movies, television shows and music, starting when her husband was a senator. She challenged performers over their use of profane lyrics and often debated with her critics, such as Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra. Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, championed education reform, citing specific failures of the American public education system during her tenure as second lady. She is a particularly outspoken supporter of American history education, having written five bestselling books on this topic for children and their families. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, works as an English professor at Northern Virginia Community College, and is thought to be the first second lady to hold a paying job while her husband was vice president. She has been involved in various causes, including breast cancer awareness and literacy.
At the 2016 Democratic National Convention, Dr. Jill Biden said, "Let me start by thanking you for allowing me to serve as Second Lady of the United States for the past eight years. It has been an honor." This was the first time the informal title was used by an incumbent at a national convention. The term remains an unfamiliar and uncertain one even when it is used.
There have been 17 periods of vacancy in the role, the longest of which continued for 16 years between the service of vice presidential spouses Abigail Adams and Ann Gerry. The most recent second lady vacancy was for 132 days in 1974, between the service of Betty Ford and Happy Rockefeller.
List of living former Second Ladies
As of March 2017, there are five living former Second Ladies. The most recent second lady to die was Nelson Rockefeller's widow, Happy Rockefeller on May 19, 2015. The most recently serving second lady to die was Walter Mondale's wife, Joan Mondale, on February 3, 2014.