Former President Carter’s wife, Mrs. ‘Steel Magnolia’ Rosalynn, passes away…Carter’s political companion.
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Rosalynn Carter, the wife of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed away at the age of 96 on November 19th, local time.
The Carter Center announced that Mrs. Carter passed away at her home in Plains, southwest Georgia. Previously in May, the Carter Center announced that she was diagnosed with dementia, and in November, it was revealed that she had entered hospice care. Former President Carter also decided to stop treatment for malignant melanoma skin cancer last February.
◇ Rosalynn Carter, wife of former President Carter, passes away… 77 years of marriage, the longest in U.S. presidential history
The Carters, who celebrated their 77th wedding anniversary last July 7th, are the longest-married presidential couple in U.S. history, and they spent their last few months together at their home in Plains, according to the Washington Post (WP).
During the 1976 presidential campaign, when her husband, a Democratic candidate, was competing against then-President Gerald Ford, Mrs. Carter earned the nickname “Steel Magnolia” for her soft-spoken, ambitious, and determined personality, signifying her Southern roots.
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◇ Rosalynn Carter, Carter’s closest political and policy adviser ‘Steel Magnolia’… First to set up an office in the White House
During her time in the White House, Mrs. Carter attended cabinet meetings to advise on policy issues, urged Congress to pass mental health legislation, and led efforts to improve treatment for mental health patients, serving as the closest political and policy adviser to then-President Carter, according to the WP. She served as the honorary chair of the Presidential Commission on Mental Health from 1977 to 1978.
She decided not to be confined to the traditional role of First Lady and followed the tradition of Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of the 32nd President Franklin Roosevelt, by striving to align herself with President Carter and his policies. She was the first First Lady to have an office in the East Wing of the White House and the second First Lady to testify before Congress after Mrs. Roosevelt.
She supported Walter Mondale, a political veteran and Senator from Minnesota, as Carter’s vice-presidential running mate and actively campaigned for issues she was personally interested in, such as mental health, elderly care, and the Equal Rights Amendment.
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◇ Rosalynn, encouraged mediation of the 1978 Middle East peace talks… Carter’s ‘equal companion’ on a diplomatic tour of seven South American countries
Notably, Mrs. Carter encouraged President Carter to mediate the peace talks between Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat at Camp David in Maryland, near Washington D.C., in September 1978. She provided support and advice to President Carter as he mediated the historic peace agreement between the two countries, according to the WP.
In May and June of 1977, Mrs. Carter visited seven South American countries over 13 days, which was unprecedented for a First Lady. It was not a social visit but a substantive diplomatic tour to engage with South American government officials on issues such as human rights, beef exports, arms reduction, disarmament, drug trafficking, and nuclear energy, according to the WP.
Mrs. Carter spoke Spanish in many of the meetings after completing an intensive language course before the tour, and she submitted reports to the State Department every day after the meetings.
Former President Carter referred to Mrs. Carter as an ‘equal companion.’ In her memoir, ‘First Lady from Plains (1984),’ she described herself as ‘much more political than Jimmy (her husband), and more interested in popularity and re-election victories.’
In her memoir, she repeatedly expressed her thirst for victory, saying “I do not like to seize the opportunity of defeat,” and “I always want to win.” In a 2018 WP interview, she said that she was angrier than her husband when President Carter lost his re-election challenge to Republican candidate Ronald Reagan in 1980, saying, “I hate to lose.”
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◇ The Carters, born in Plains, Georgia, first met as infants, married in 1946
Mrs. Carter was born on August 18, 1927, in the same small town of Plains as former President Carter. Their parents were neighbors, and the former President’s mother, a nurse, assisted in the birth of Rosalynn.
A few days after Rosalynn was born, a three-year-old Carter visited with his mother, marking their fateful first meeting, according to the Associated Press. Carter, then a young cadet at the Naval Academy, had his first date with 17-year-old Rosalynn when he briefly returned home in 1945, and they married in 1946.
After their marriage, Rosalynn left her hometown to follow Carter, a naval officer. They returned to Plains in 1953 when Carter inherited the family’s peanut farm after his father’s death, and they ran the business together.
Mrs. Carter was a key figure in election campaigns since Carter began his political career by being elected as a Georgia state senator in 1962, and she contributed to his election as Governor of Georgia in 1970.
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