1. Eleanor Rosalynn Carter was an American activist and humanitarian who served as the first lady of the United States from 1977 to 1981, as the wife of President Jimmy Carter.
109 Facts About Rosalynn Carter
1. 2.
Rosalynn Carter first became attracted to her future husband, from Plains, after seeing a picture of him in his US Naval Academy uniform, and they married in 1946.
3.
Rosalynn Carter helped her husband win the governorship of Georgia in 1970, and decided to focus her attention in the field of mental health when she was that state's first lady.
4.
Rosalynn Carter campaigned for him during his successful bid to become president of the United States in the 1976 election, defeating incumbent Republican president Gerald Ford.
5.
Rosalynn Carter was politically active during her husband's presidency, though she declared that she had no intention of being a traditional first lady.
6.
Rosalynn Carter represented her husband in meetings with domestic and foreign leaders, including as an envoy to Latin America in 1977.
7.
Rosalynn Carter campaigned for his failed re-election bid in the 1980 election, which he lost in a landslide to Republican nominee Ronald Reagan.
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Rosalynn Carter received the Presidential Medal of Freedom alongside her husband in 1999.
9.
Eleanor Rosalynn Carter Smith was born on August 18,1927, in Plains, Georgia.
10.
Rosalynn Carter was the eldest of four children of Wilburn Edgar Smith, an auto mechanic, bus driver, and farmer, and Frances Allethea "Allie" Murray Smith, a teacher, dressmaker, and postal worker.
11.
Rosalynn Carter's brothers were William Jerrold "Jerry" Smith, an engineer, and Murray Lee Smith, a teacher and minister.
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Rosalynn Carter was named after Rosa Wise Murray, her maternal grandmother.
13.
Rosalynn Carter drew buildings and was interested in airplanes, which led her to believe that she would someday become an architect.
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Rosalynn Carter's father died of leukemia in 1940, when she was 13.
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Rosalynn Carter called the loss of her father the conclusion of her childhood.
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At Plains High School, Rosalynn Carter worked hard to achieve her father's dream of seeing her go to college.
17.
Rosalynn Carter agreed to marry Jimmy in February 1946, when she went to Annapolis with his parents.
18.
Rosalynn Carter was hesitant to tell her mother she had chosen to marry instead of continuing her education.
19.
Rosalynn Carter was appointed to the Governor's Commission to Improve Services for the Mentally and Emotionally Handicapped.
20.
Rosalynn Carter described her efforts on behalf of mentally disabled children as her proudest achievement as First Lady of Georgia.
21.
Rosalynn Carter served as a volunteer at the Georgia Regional Hospital at Atlanta, and for four years was honorary chairperson for the Georgia Special Olympics.
22.
When her husband's gubernatorial term ended in January 1975, Rosalynn, Jimmy, and Amy Carter returned to Plains.
23.
Rosalynn Carter got back on the campaign trail, this time on a national quest to gather support for her husband.
24.
Rosalynn Carter campaigned alone on his behalf in 41 states.
25.
Rosalynn Carter sat in the balcony at Madison Square Garden with friends and family the night of the nomination, while her husband was with his mother and daughter.
26.
Rosalynn Carter had "butterflies in her stomach" until the Ohio delegation announced its votes were for her husband.
27.
Rosalynn Carter wished she could have been with him at that time.
28.
Rosalynn Carter declared that she had no intention of being a traditional first lady of the United States.
29.
Rosalynn Carter joined Lady Bird Johnson and Betty Ford in supporting the unsuccessful campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment at the Houston conference celebrating the International Women's Year in 1977.
30.
On July 27,1978, Rosalynn Carter was the host of "First Lady's Employment Seminar".
31.
In March 1977, Rosalynn Carter gave her first interview since becoming first lady.
32.
Rosalynn Carter served as an active honorary chair of the President's Commission on Mental Health.
33.
Rosalynn Carter said that a first lady could influence officials or the public by discussing an issue or giving attention to it.
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Years after leaving the White House, Rosalynn Carter would remain bothered by claims that she exerted too much influence on her husband, insisting they had an equal partnership.
35.
Rosalynn Carter represented her husband in meetings with domestic and foreign leaders, most notably as an envoy to Latin America in 1977.
36.
Rosalynn Carter purposely scheduled her meetings so as not to have any with the heads of state.
37.
President Rosalynn Carter said that while his wife initially been met with hesitance as an American representative, "at the conclusion of those meetings, they now rely on her substantially to be sure that I understand the sensitivities of the people".
38.
President Rosalynn Carter said the meeting was intended to display American "appreciation for the degree of freedom of worship in the country".
39.
Rosalynn Carter led the American delegation to the May 1978 inauguration of Rodrigo Carazo Odio as president of Costa Rica.
40.
Rosalynn Carter led a delegation to Thailand in 1979 to address the problems of Cambodian and Laotian refugees.
41.
Rosalynn Carter examined camps where Cambodian refugees had fled to avoid the combat between the Vietnamese troops and the government of Pol Pot.
42.
Rosalynn Carter returned to the United States and played a prominent role in expediting an appeal for large assistance after she witnessed their suffering during her visit.
43.
Rosalynn Carter stated that she had wanted to return to the US as quickly as possible to mobilize assistance to assuage the refugees' plight.
44.
Rosalynn Carter was the first of all the first ladies to keep her own office in the East Wing.
45.
In 1977, Rosalynn Carter reported that her family was divided in their reaction to public perception of them, saying her sons were worried about how they would be perceived living there, while she personally thought nothing of it as the public was not financing their residence and she favored the family being together.
46.
In January 1977, prior to his inauguration, Rosalynn Carter substituted for him in speaking with Senator Birch Bayh over the phone, as the latter wanted President-elect Rosalynn Carter to lobby for support of the Equal Rights Amendment being ratified in Indiana.
47.
Rosalynn Carter persuaded Wayne Townsend to switch his vote and the ERA was approved in an Indiana Senate vote of 26 to 24.
48.
Rosalynn Carter wanted to be sure that the struggle for ERA really appealed to mainstream America.
49.
Rosalynn Carter was known for a lack of attention paid to fashion, and her choice to wear the gown she wore at her husband's swearing-in as governor to his presidential inauguration reinforced this view of her.
50.
Amid the sinking approval ratings of her husband, Rosalynn Carter maintained high favorable viewpoints in the eyes of the public, and was tied with Mother Teresa for most-admired woman in the world.
51.
President Rosalynn Carter was challenged by Ted Kennedy for his re-election bid in the Democratic presidential primaries.
52.
Rosalynn Carter later cited Christian conservatives, the Iran hostage crisis, inflation, and the desire to wage a protest vote against the current administration with having contributed to Carter's defeat.
53.
Rosalynn Carter telephoned supporters of the re-election campaign to thank them for their involvement, and met with Reagan's wife, Nancy, during the transitional period and gave her a tour of the White House.
54.
Rosalynn Carter was satisfied that the Iran hostages were released on the day of Reagan's inauguration.
55.
Rosalynn Carter became attracted to him after seeing a picture of him in his Annapolis uniform.
56.
Rosalynn Carter agreed to marry Jimmy in February 1946 when she went to Annapolis with his parents.
57.
Rosalynn Carter resisted telling her mother she had chosen to marry instead of continuing her education.
58.
In 1953, after her husband left the Navy, Rosalynn Carter helped run the family peanut farm and warehouse business, handling accounting responsibilities.
59.
Around this time, yearning for another child, the Carters discovered Rosalynn had physical ailments preventing pregnancy.
60.
Rosalynn Carter underwent surgery to remove a large tumor from her uterus 12 years later.
61.
Rosalynn Carter's obstetrician confirmed she could have another child, and their daughter Amy was born thereafter.
62.
Rosalynn Carter had different relationships with each member of Jimmy's family.
63.
However, she and Jimmy's mother, Lillian Gordy Rosalynn Carter, had difficulty living together.
64.
Rosalynn Carter traveled to many towns throughout the state with promotional materials, visiting establishments such as radio stations and newspaper offices, and attending meetings of civic organizations.
65.
The month after the election, Jimmy Rosalynn Carter began campaigning for the 1970 Georgia gubernatorial election.
66.
Rosalynn and her husband former President Jimmy Carter traveled to Mongolia in 2013 and both Carters fished for taimen.
67.
Rosalynn Carter underwent a gynecological procedure at Bethesda Naval Hospital in August 1977, which her press secretary Mary Hoyt described as a routine private matter.
68.
On May 30,2023, the Rosalynn Carter Center announced that Rosalynn Carter had been diagnosed with dementia.
69.
Rosalynn Carter's health had been failing amid a urinary tract infection which had not improved with antibiotics.
70.
Rosalynn Carter died two days later at her home in Plains, Georgia, at age 96.
71.
Jimmy Rosalynn Carter attended the Plains funeral, where he and their children wore leis to reference the family's time in Hawaii.
72.
Rosalynn Carter was a member of the center's board of trustees and participated in many of the center's programs, but gave special attention to the mental health program.
73.
Rosalynn Carter created and served as the chair of The Rosalynn Carter Center Mental Health Task Force, an advisory board of experts, consumers, and advocates promoting positive change in the mental health field.
74.
Rosalynn Carter hosted the annual Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Mental Health Policy, bringing together nationwide leaders in the mental health field.
75.
Rosalynn Carter established the Mental Health Task Force that same year to guide the Symposia as well as other Mental Health programs.
76.
Rosalynn Carter became chair of the International Women Leaders for Mental Health in 1992, and three years later she was honored with the naming of the Rosalynn Carter Mental Georgia Health Forum after her.
77.
In 2007, Rosalynn Carter joined with David Wellstone, son of one-time US Senator Paul Wellstone, in pushing Congress to pass legislation regarding mental health insurance.
78.
In 1977, Rosalynn Carter was a speaker at the 1977 National Women's Conference among other speakers including Betty Ford, Bella Abzug, Lady Bird Johnson, Barbara Jordan, Audrey Colom, Claire Randall, Gerridee Wheeler, Cecilia Burciaga, Gloria Steinem, Lenore Hershey and Jean O'Leary.
79.
Rosalynn Carter served on the Policy Advisory Board of The Atlanta Project of The Rosalynn Carter Center, addressing social ills associated with poverty and quality of life citywide.
80.
In 1991, Rosalynn Carter launched Every Child By Two, a nationwide campaign that sought to increase early childhood immunizations along with Betty Bumpers, wife of former US Senator Dale Bumpers of Arkansas.
81.
Rosalynn Carter served as president of the organization and Bumpers as vice president.
82.
Rosalynn Carter served on the board of advisors for Habitat for Humanity and as an honorary chair of Project Interconnections, both of which aim to provide housing for those in need.
83.
Shortly after leaving office, Rosalynn Carter signed with Houghton Mifflin for the writing of her autobiography.
84.
Rosalynn Carter voiced her desire for her husband to run for a second non-consecutive term.
85.
Rosalynn Carter knew in her heart that her husband would not seek a non-consecutive term and went into depression in the early weeks of the retirement, Jimmy's attempts at portraying an artificial happiness strained the relationship due to him seeming to not understand her reasons for being disappointed in their current state of affairs.
86.
The Carters visited Jehan, who Rosalynn pledged to stay with during the funeral.
87.
In October 1982, Rosalynn Carter attended the funeral of Bess Truman in Independence, Missouri.
88.
In late 1983, Rosalynn Carter visited her ailing mother-in-law Lillian Rosalynn Carter at Americus-Sumter County Hospital, and was by her bedside when she died.
89.
In July 1986, Rosalynn Carter traveled with her husband to Chicago, Illinois for a weekend assisting with construction projects for Habitat for Humanity.
90.
On January 19,1988, Rosalynn Carter was given the honor of christening the cruise ship Sovereign of the Seas in a gala ceremony in Miami.
91.
In March 1988, Rosalynn Carter attended a hearing on mental health by the House Select Committee on Aging.
92.
Rosalynn Carter lamented that ten years after a presidential commission found that 10 percent of Americans needed some form of mental health care, "most who were underserved at that time are still underserved in 1988".
93.
Rosalynn Carter attended the November 4,1991, dedication of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.
94.
On December 4,2001, Rosalynn Carter delivered a speech to the National Press Club.
95.
In January 2003, Rosalynn Carter attended the benefit for the 20th anniversary celebration of the Betty Ford Center in Indian Wells, California.
96.
In December 2006, Rosalynn Carter was ordained a deacon at the Maranatha Baptist Church.
97.
In 2010, Rosalynn Carter criticized television crime dramas that portrayed mentally ill people as violent, when in fact they were more prone to being victims of crime.
98.
Rosalynn Carter attended a speech given by Georgia National Guard's Colonel Brent Bracewell in the morning hours of October 25,2012.
99.
In October 2013, Rosalynn Carter spoke about her confidence in the American people and her lack of confidence in the government on the issue of the income gap in the United States.
100.
Rosalynn Carter saw "one of the greatest disappointments" corrected in November 2013 when Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that the Obama administration had passed a mental health insurance rule.
101.
Rosalynn Carter said she was "shaking" upon learning that the new government rules required equal treatment for mental health care.
102.
In 2013, Rosalynn Carter traveled to the neighborhood of Queens Village in New York City to help with 5 housing construction projects.
103.
In July 2016, Rosalynn Carter endorsed Proposition 62, which would abolish the death penalty in California, releasing a joint statement with her husband in support of the measure.
104.
Rosalynn Carter voted for Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential primary of that year.
105.
Rosalynn Carter differed from her husband in believing Russia had interfered with determining the results of the general election.
106.
In 2001, Rosalynn Carter was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York.
107.
Rosalynn Carter became the third first lady inducted into the Hall of Fame, joining Abigail Adams and Eleanor Roosevelt.
108.
Rosalynn Carter served as distinguished centennial lecturer at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia, from 1988 to 1992.
109.
Rosalynn Carter was a Distinguished Fellow at the Emory University Department of Women's Studies in Atlanta from 1989 to 2018.