By Amelia Alexopoulos / Editor in Chief
On Nov. 19, 2023, Former First Lady, Rosalynn Carter died at the age of 96. Called a “Steel Magnolia,” Rosalynn is considered to be the first activist First Lady since Eleanor Roosevelt. Rosalynn is remembered for her activism regarding mental health and women’s rights, and her behind-the-scenes guidance and support of Jimmy Carter during his presidency.
Rosalynn Carter grew up in Plains, Georgia in a middle class family with three younger siblings. She was the valedictorian of her high school and attended Georgia Southwestern College. In 1946, Rosalynn married Jimmy Carter, a fellow Plains, Georgia native.
At the time, Jimmy Carter was in the United States Naval Academy and joined the navy upon graduation. The family moved around the country to different naval bases and then settled back down in Georgia where Jimmy began his political career first as a senator, then as the Governor of Georgia.
A dark-horse candidate from the Democrat party, Carter narrowly won the nomination for Presidential candidate with the help of Rosalynn. She focused on making Jimmy’s name known in rural communities by holding interviews with small radio stations, therefore reaching thousands of people who would have been left out otherwise. In 1977, after a long campaign, Carter won the election and served as President from 1977 to 1981.
Former First Lady, Rosalynn Carter testifying for the Wellstone Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, July 10, 2007. Photo Credit: The Carter Center.
As First Lady, Rosalynn immediately became involved in White House goings-on and educated herself on the administration’s decisions. Somewhat controversially, Rosalynn began to silently sit in on cabinet meetings and take notes. “I was there to be informed so that when I traveled across the country, which I did a great deal, and was questioned by the press and other individuals about all areas of government, I’d know what was going on,” she said. “And I had needed to know that—I needed for my own self, for my own benefit, to know that Jimmy was doing what he was doing and why he was doing it and that it was good for the country and best for the country,” Rosalynn said, as quoted by NPR.
While she was hardly the first First Lady to take up a cause, “She was particularly outstanding in terms of almost wanting to be a member of the cabinet and have a voice as a political advisor,” Upper School social studies teacher, Dr. Art Echerd said.
Rosalynn was in fact a pioneering woman who reminded Americans what the role of First Lady could be. On her weekly lunch date with the President, she would bring a folder filled with her own ideas and suggestions about issues she found pressing. “The folder sat on her desk in her bedroom and she stuck notes in it throughout the week. By the time she brought it with her to their Wednesday lunch, it was packed,” a CNN article said.
Rosalynn’s greatest focus was on mental health. She was only the second First Lady, after Eleanor Roosevelt, to appear before Congress when she testified on behalf of the Mental Health Systems Bill in 1980, which would provide grants to community centers for mental health care. After Carter’s presidency, the Carters established the Carter Center for world peace and health. Rosalynn Carter founded the Carter Center’s Mental Health Program which focuses on destigmatizing mental health issues and eradicating certain diseases such as Guinea worm. She worked to have health insurance cover mental illnesses the same way it covered other illnesses; this act finally passed in 2008.
While she focused on mental health, she did not neglect other issues. In the late 1970s during the genocide in Cambodia, she traveled to the region and was able to convince her husband to raise quotas for Cambodian refugees.
“Over nearly 80 years, the Carters forged the longest, closest and arguably most productive high-level political partnership in American history — more seamless than those between Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt or Bill and Hillary Clinton because it lacked the personal drama of those marriages,” a New York Times opinion piece said.
Indeed, the Carter marriage was a ‘love for the ages.’ “She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me,” said Jimmy Carter.
In terms of her legacy: “I think it certainly will stand the test of time,” said Dr. Echerd.