Mr. Vice President

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sweetcharity

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I’ve been hearing Joe Biden verbally being addressed as Mr. Vice President. In writing, more often, he is referred to as the ‘former’ VP. I tried looking up the etiquette of this, and this is what I found. Let me know if you agree, or disagree with this.

Because there are multiple officer holders you can refer to a former Senator, Congress, Mayor, Governor, etc, by whatever their highest former title was. So, if you were a mayor and governor, you can be addressed as Governor Smith. The reason being, there are multiple Governors.

However, because there is only one President and one VP, then only the current office holders should be addressed by the term.
 
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These titles are sticky. Former Presidents are always referred to as President. Vice President too, apparently.
 
I searched and have found what I believe is the definitive answer to the question of how to address former Presidents and Vice Presidents.

Miss Manners (Judith Martin) wrote a column about it, in 1990:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-10-07-9003250348-story.html

She says that they should be called by their former title. So, for example, after President Eisenhower served, he could rightly have been addressed as General Eisenhower. President Obama can be called Mr. Obama, and Mr. Biden for the moment is just Mr. Biden.

Further, she instructs that former mayors, governors, senators, and representatives do not retain the title, but likewise revert to their former title.

So says Miss Manners.
 
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In the United States, as in Britain and other English-speaking countries, the traditional rule was the one laid down by Miss Manners: only the current title-holder is addressed by that title. In recent years, however, we seem to have come to prefer the rule that was always observed in Italy and other Latin countries: once a president, always a president, and so on, though of course only as a courtesy title. If you were wandering around St. Peter’s today and happened by chance to come face to face with the Pope Emeritus, what would you say to him? I’d call him “Holy Father,” and similarly I think I’d feel more comfortable addressing Joe Biden as “Mr. Vice President.”
 
I don’t care, as long as Joe Biden remains “Mr. Vice President”.
 
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