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1927-present
Who Is Rosalynn Carter?
Rosalynn Carter is an American first lady from Plains, Georgia. She married fellow Plains local Jimmy Carter at age 18 and was at his side during his political rise in the ’60s. Carter became first lady of Georgia when her husband won the governor’s role in 1970 and first lady of the U.S. when he was inaugurated as president in 1977. One of her most important roles during her husband’s presidency was as the honorary chair of the President’s Commission on Mental Health. The humanitarian continues to advocate for mental health, peace, as well as freedom and democracy through The Carter Center, a nonprofit that she founded with her husband in 1982.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Eleanor Rosalynn Smith Carter
BORN: August 18, 1927
BIRTHPLACE: Plains, Georgia
SPOUSE: Jimmy Carter (1946-present)
CHILDREN: John, James, Donnel, and Amy
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Leo
Early Life
The first of four children, Rosalynn Carter was born Eleanor Rosalynn Smith on August 18, 1927, in Plains, Georgia. Her father, Wilburn Edgar Smith, worked as a mechanic and a farmer, and her mother, Allie Murray Smith, was a housewife. However, in 1940, when her father died, Rosalynn was forced to take a job as a hairdresser to help her mother make ends meet. Her mother also took on various jobs to help support them.
Rosalynn attended local high school in Plains and graduated as valedictorian. She enrolled in Georgia Southwestern College (now Georgia Southwestern State University), and the summer after her freshman year, she began dating Jimmy Carter, her best friend’s older brother, and a cadet at the Annapolis Naval Academy.
Marriage to Jimmy Carter
In December 1945, Jimmy proposed to Rosalynn, who refused because she thought it too early in their courtship. Undeterred, Carter proposed again two months later, and Rosalynn accepted. They were married on July 7, 1946, at Plains Methodist Church.
The newlyweds moved to Norfolk, Virginia, the first in a long series of assignments in Jimmy’s naval career that would take them to bases around the country for the next seven years. Their three sons—John “Jack”, James “Chip”, and Donnel “Jeff”—were also born during this time (they would later have a daughter, Amy, in 1967), and Rosalynn split her time between raising them and continuing an education in literature and art through home-study programs.
In 1953, following the death of Jimmy’s father, they returned to Plains, and Jimmy ran the family peanut business. In what would prove to be the first in a long line of collaborations between Rosalynn and her husband, she was responsible for the business’ bookkeeping.
First Lady of Georgia
In 1961, Jimmy Carter was elected to the Georgia Senate, frequently leaving Rosalynn to see to the business while he was away attending legislative sessions. She also handled his political correspondence during his subsequent two terms.
The couple’s working partnership was further cemented when Jimmy ran for governor of Georgia in 1970 and Rosalynn campaigned for her husband. It was on the campaign trail that Rosalynn became deeply interested in mental health issues, as a result of her frequent conversations with his constituents.
When Jimmy was ultimately elected governor, Rosalynn saw to all the traditional responsibilities of a first lady, such as hosting, but she also went further, taking over the financial accounting of the governor’s mansion as well as its landscaping, and also wrote a book about the mansion. More importantly, however, she followed her newfound interest and worked to overhaul the state’s mental health system. She was a member of the Governor’s Commission to Improve Services to the Mentally and Emotionally Handicapped, an honorary chairperson of the Georgia Special Olympics, and a volunteer at an Atlanta hospital—all of which left her with an impressive professional resume in the mental health field.
First Lady of the United States
When Jimmy announced his candidacy for president, nearly two years before the 1976 election, Rosalynn immediately began campaigning for her husband, traveling around the country by car and plane, eventually campaigning in a total of 42 states. While on the trail, she would become the first candidate’s wife to ever make her own campaign promise: that as first lady she would make the welfare of the nation’s mentally ill her priority.
In 1977, Jimmy Carter, with Rosalynn at his side, was sworn in as the 39th president of the United States.
Inaugural Gown
Carter caused a bit of a stir when she decided to re-wear her blue chiffon dress with gold trim at the inaugural ball (she had wore the gown twice before). However, her choice to do so was a reflection of the Carters’ personality. “It enhanced the incoming Carter presidency’s notions of modesty and frugality,” Curator Lisa Kathleen Graddy of The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History told Time in 2013.
Getting Political
As first lady, she participated in President Carter’s political affairs at a level unprecedented by previous first ladies, giving him counsel on both domestic and foreign affairs, advising him on speeches, arranging his appointments, and even attending his cabinet meetings. In June 1977, Rosalynn traveled to Latin America and the Caribbean as the president’s personal representative for substantive political meetings. Upon her return, however, she received much criticism for being underqualified for the task and, subsequently, restricted similar travel in the future to humanitarian missions.
Advocacy for Mental Health and the Elderly
In 1977, Rosalynn served as honorary chair on the President’s Commission on Mental Health. Her work with this committee would result in the Mental Health Systems Bill, which was submitted to Congress in May 1979. The bill was intended to overhaul state and federal support for the chronically mentally ill and to create a bill of rights protecting the mentally ill from discrimination. On May 15, 1979, Rosalynn testified about the bill before Congress. It was passed in September 1980.
Another of Rosalynn’s primary causes during her time as first lady was the welfare of senior citizens. To that end she created a task force to review federal programs for the elderly and lobbied Congress for passage of the Age Discrimination Act, which lifted restrictions on the retirement age within the workforce. Rosalynn also presided over the White House Conference on Aging.
In her more traditional duties as first lady, Rosalynn again stood out, though in this capacity, through the frugal manner in which she ran the White House, serving inexpensive menus at dinners, refusing to serve hard alcohol, and choosing to wear simple, non-designer clothing. In another pair of White House firsts, Rosalynn sponsored a poetry festival and a jazz festival.
After the White House
In 1980, when Jimmy Carter was up for re-election, but was mostly confined to the White House while dealing with the Iran Hostage Crisis, Rosalynn again hit the campaign trail and made speeches as his representative throughout the primary season. However, he was ultimately defeated by Ronald Reagan.
Since leaving the White House, Rosalynn Carter’s life has been anything but quiet. In 1982, she and Jimmy co-founded The Carter Center, a nonprofit focused on peacekeeping, safeguarding democracy, and enhancing global health. Through the organization, Rosalynn continues to bring awareness to mental health issues and advocate for policies to improve care. She has also authored numerous books, including an autobiography titled First Lady from Plains (1984), praised for its insight into Jimmy’s administration. The couple have volunteered with Habitat for Humanity for more than 35 years.
Ever the champion of the neglected, she has also worked to address the unmet needs of American soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and weighed in on the policy of separating children from their parents at border crossings, which was enacted in 2018 during President Donald Trump’s administration. In a statement, Carter called the practice “disgraceful and a shame to our country.”
For her humanitarian efforts, Carter has received countless honors, including various mental health awards and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor. In 2001, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
Grandchildren
The Carters have eight grandchildren, including Jason Carter, who is following in the family’s political legacy, having served as a state senator in Georgia and run for governor as a Democratic nominee in 2014. In 2015, the Carters’ 28-year-old grandson Jeremy (from their son Jeff) died of a heart attack.
Recent Years
Rosalynn and Jimmy currently live in Plains, Georgia. In May 2023, the family announced 95-year-old Rosalynn has dementia. According to a statement, “She continues to live happily at home with her husband, enjoying spring in Plains and visits with loved ones.” The news came three months after Jimmy entered hospice care.
Quotes
- A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go but ought to be.
- Do what you can to show you care about other people, and you will our world a better place.
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