Rosalynn Carter, Outspoken Former First Lady, Dead At 96

ATLANTA, Ga. – Rosalynn Carter, Jimmy Carter’s closest counsel throughout his one time as President of the United States and for the next four decades as a worldwide humanitarian, has died at the age of 96.

According to the Carter Center, she died on Sunday after suffering from dementia and poor health for several months. According to the announcement announcing her death, she “died peacefully, with family by her side” at 2:10 p.m. in Plains, Georgia.

“Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished,” Carter stated. “She provided me with sound advice and encouragement when I needed it.” “As long as Rosalynn was alive, I knew someone loved and supported me.”

Jill Biden said she had to “lead this off with a sad announcement” of Rosalynn Carter’s death while speaking at a Naval Air Station event in Norfolk, Virginia. “She was well-known for her work in mental health, caregiving, and women’s rights.” So I hope you’ll remember the Carter family in your prayers during the holidays,” she stated.

She spoke at a hangar where she and President Joe Biden prepared to host an early Thanksgiving dinner for service members and their families.

Rosalynn Carter, Outspoken Former First Lady, Dead At 96

The Carters were married for over 77 years, forming what they both called a “full partnership.” Unlike many prior first ladies, Rosalynn Carter attended Cabinet meetings, spoke out on difficult matters, and accompanied her husband on foreign tours. Aides to President Carter secretly referred to her as “co-president.”

“Rosalynn is my best friend… the perfect extension of me, probably the most influential person in my life,” Jimmy Carter told aides during their time in the White House, which lasted from 1977 to 1981.

Rosalynn Carter was a fiercely loyal and caring first lady who was also politically smart, and no one denied her influence behind the scenes. When her role in a widely publicized Cabinet shuffle was revealed, she was forced to publicly declare, “I am not running the government.”

Many presidential advisers claimed that her political instincts were superior to her husband’s, and they frequently sought her approval for a project before discussing it with the president. Her steely determination, ostensibly modest attitude, and sweet Southern accent prompted Washington reporters to dub her “the Steel Magnolia.”

According to both Carters, Rosalynn Carter was always the more political of the two. After Jimmy Carter’s overwhelming defeat in 1980, it was she, not the former president, who considered an unlikely comeback, and she said years later that she missed their life in Washington.

Jimmy Carter trusted her so much that, just months into his presidency, he dispatched her on a mission to Latin America to assure dictators that he meant what he said about refusing military aid and other forms of support to human rights abusers.

She also had strong sentiments about the Carter White House’s style. The Carters did not serve hard liquor at public events, but Rosalynn did allow US wine. There were fewer ballroom dancing nights and more square dancing and picnics.

Throughout her husband’s political career, she made mental health and senior issues her defining policy focus. When the news media didn’t cover her efforts as much as she thought they deserved, she chastised them for writing solely about “sexy subjects.”

Rosalynn Carter, Outspoken Former First Lady, Dead At 96

As honorary chairwoman of the President’s Commission on Mental Health, she once spoke before a Senate subcommittee, becoming the first lady to do so since Eleanor Roosevelt. She returned to Washington in 2007 to lobby Congress for better mental health care, stating, “We’ve been working on this for so long, and it finally seems to be in reach.”

She stated she became interested in mental health during her husband’s run for governor of Georgia.

“I used to come home and tell Jimmy, ‘Why are people telling me about their problems?'” “And he said, ‘Because you may be the only person they’ll ever see who knows someone who can help them,'” she explained.

Rosalynn Carter appeared more distraught than her husband after Ronald Reagan won the presidency in 1980. She first hesitated to return to Plains, Georgia, where they were both born, married and lived the majority of their life.

“I was hesitant, not at all sure that I could be happy here after the dazzle of the White House and the years of stimulating political battles,” she said in her autobiography, published in 1984, “First Lady from Plains.” Eventually, “we slowly rediscovered the satisfaction of a life we had left long before.”

Jimmy and Rosalynn co-founded The Carter Center in Atlanta to continue their work after leaving Washington. She led the center’s annual mental health symposium and gathered funds for programs to help the mentally ill and homeless. She also published “Helping Yourself Help Others,” a memoir about the difficulties of caring for elderly or unwell family, and a sequel, “Helping Someone With Mental Illness.”

Rosalynn Carter, Outspoken Former First Lady, Dead At 96

The Carters frequently departed home on humanitarian missions, building houses with Habitat for Humanity and supporting public health and democracy in foreign countries.

“I get tired,” she admitted of her journeys. “However, something wonderful always happens.” Going to a town where they have Guinea worm and then returning a year or two later and there is no Guinea worm, the people dance and sing — it’s so amazing.”

Jimmy Carter’s physicians identified four tiny lesions on his brain in 2015. The Carters felt he had only a few weeks to live. He was given a medicine to enhance his immune system and later declared that no indications of cancer remained. But when they first heard the news, she stated she didn’t know what to do.

“I depend on him when I have questions, when I’m writing speeches, anything, I consult with him,” she said.

She later assisted Carter’s recovery after he had hip replacement surgery at the age of 94 and had to relearn how to walk. She was with him earlier this year when he opted to forego additional medical procedures and initiate end-of-life care following a series of hospital stays.

Jimmy Carter is the longest-serving president of the United States. Rosalynn Carter was the second-longest-living first lady in American history, trailing only Bess Truman, who died at 97.

Rosalynn Carter, Outspoken Former First Lady, Dead At 96

Eleanor Rosalynn Smith, the eldest of four children, was born in Plains on August 18, 1927. Her father died while she was young, so when her mother went to work part-time, she took on much of the responsibility of caring for her siblings.

Rosalynn Carter also helped support the family by working at a beauty salon after school. “We were very poor and worked very hard,” she once stated, yet she continued her education, finishing as class valedictorian from high school.

Rosalynn Carter quickly fell in love with one of her best friend’s brothers. Jimmy and Rosalynn had known each other their entire lives — Jimmy’s mother, nurse Lillian Carter, was the one who delivered Rosalynn — but he went to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, while she was still in high school.

Jimmy told his mother after a blind date, “That’s the girl I want to marry.” They married in 1946, shortly after his Annapolis graduation and Rosalynn’s graduation from Georgia Southwestern College.

Their boys were born at the locations where Jimmy Carter was stationed: John William (Jack) in Portsmouth, Virginia, in 1947; James Earl III (Chip) in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1950; and Donnel Jeffery (Jeff) in New London, Connecticut, in 1952. Amy was born in 1967 in Plains. Carter was a state senator at the time.

Rosalynn Carter’s first opportunity to travel the world came from her Navy time. When Carter’s father, James Earl Sr., died in 1953, Jimmy Carter returned the family to Plains, where he took over the family property without asking his wife. She worked with him daily, keeping the books and weighing fertilizer trucks.

“We developed a partnership when we were working in the farm supply business,” Rosalynn Carter said proudly in an interview with The Associated Press in 2021. “On paper, I knew more about the business than he did.” He would listen to my suggestions.”

Lillian Carter said of her daughter-in-law at the height of the Carters’ political power: “She can do anything in the world with Jimmy, and she’s the only one.” He pays attention to her.”

SOURCE – (AP)