Mary Elizabeth Aitcheson Gore (born August 19, 1948), known as Tipper Gore, is the wife of former Vice President Al Gore and was Second Lady of the United States from 1993 until 2001.

Born Mary Elizabeth Aitcheson in Washington, D.C., the daughter of James (Jack) Aitcheson, a plumbing-supply entrepreneur and commercial real-estate investor, and his first wife, Margaret Odom, she grew up in Arlington, Virginia. Her parents divorced when she was four years old, and she was raised by her mother and maternal grandmother. Her nickname, Tipper, comes from the lullaby "Tippy, Tippy, Tin". She attended St. Agnes (now St. Stephen's and St. Agnes School), a private Episcopalian school in Alexandria, Virginia, where she excelled at athletics and played the drums for an all-girl band, The Wildcats.

She met her future husband, Al Gore, at his high school senior prom (St. Albans School in Washington, D.C.) and they were soon dating. When Gore went north to attend Harvard University, Tipper followed, attending Garland Junior College and later Boston University. They married on 19 May 1970 and have four children: Karenna (born August 6, 1973), Kristin (born June 5, 1977), Sarah (born January 7, 1979) and Albert III (born October 19, 1982).

She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Boston University in 1970 and a master's degree in psychology from George Peabody College, which later merged into Vanderbilt University in 1975. Tipper Gore worked as a newspaper photographer for the Nashville Tennessean until her husband was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1976.

Politics and activism

In 1985, she co-founded the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) with Susan Baker, wife of then United States Secretary of the Treasury James Baker, because Tipper heard her then 12-year-old daughter playing "Darling Nikki" by Prince. Critics of the PMRC, including Jello Biafra, Dave Mustaine, and Frank Zappa, have accused the PMRC of conducting public and under-the-table censorship campaigns against various recording artists and have pointed out the PMRC's ties to the American religious right. Dee Snider of Twisted Sister accused her of downright lying about the content of the lyrics written by his band.

In 2000, Tipper Gore began to make public appearances as a "mental health" advocate. She has been criticised by human rights organizations for her ambiguous stance towards involuntary psychiatric treatment, including forced drugging and commitment of people labelled as mentally ill.

In 2002, Tipper was urged by her supporters to run for the vacant U.S. Senate seat her husband once held in Tennessee, which was being vacated by Fred Dalton Thompson. Speculation mounted when she canceled several appearances in California and flew to Tennessee to discuss a potential candidacy with her family. However, Tipper declined the offer, stating it was not the right thing for her at that time.

In 2002, she and Al wrote two books on family values and the transformed American family: Joined at the Heart and Spirit of Family. The Gores also hold an annual conference in Nashville that bring together families and those who work with them to talk and design better ways to strengthen family life in America. At the center of Family Re-Union is the belief that programs and guidelines should respond to the needs of families and communities and should build on their strengths.

Al and Tipper Gore now reside in Nashville, TN.

Tipper Gore in popular culture

Tipper Gore is the subject of the song "Hook In Mouth" by Megadeth, available on their So Far, So Good... So What! album, released in 1988, in which frontman Dave Mustaine accuses Gore of re-writing documents and stories and obstructing freedom, and of the song "We Love You, Tipper Gore" by Canadian indie band Furnaceface. She is also the subject of "Startin' Up a Posse" by Anthrax, found on their 1991 release Attack of the Killer B's (sung by Scott Ian), which also accuses Gore of obstructing freedom of speech, and accuses the PMRC of being "whores" and uses heavy levels of profanity.

In addition to these songs, she is mentioned in the songs "Porn Wars" by Frank Zappa, "Burn Down the Malls" by Mojo Nixon, "Shelter Me" by Cinderella, "F.I.N.E." by Aerosmith, Fuck Everyone by Everlast, 'Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayit'sworldwouldfallapart' by Manic Street Preachers, 'KKK Bitch' and 'Cop Killer' by Body Count, 'White America' by Eminem, P.M.R.C. by The Fad, 'Sucks' by KMFDM, 'Lovely' by Suicidal Tendencies (and is the subject of, but not directly referenced in You Can't Bring Me Down), 'Censorshit' by the Ramones, 'Stigmata (Live)' by Ministry, as well as 'Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock' by Harry and the Potters. Warrant also have a track on their Cherry Pie album called Ode to Tipper Gore. Canadian alternative rockers Furnaceface penned the anti-Tipper ditty ironically entitled 'We Love You, Tipper Gore'.

In his book The Ice Opinion, the rapper Ice-T wrote [page 9, "Tipper Gore is the only woman I ever directly called a bitch on any of my records, and I meant that in the most negative sense of the word". On the song "Freedom of Speech", Ice-T had also written lyrics that implied that she did not understand the nature of sex.