Former President Carter’s wife, Mrs. ‘Steel Magnolia’ Rosalynn, passes away…Carter’s political companion.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter are celebrating their 75th wedding anniversary in Plains, Georgia on July 10, 2021./AP·Yonhap News

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 in a statement that Mrs. Carter passed away at her home in Plains, southwest Georgia. The Center had previously announced in May that she had been diagnosed with dementia and entered hospice care in November. 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 on July 7, were the longest-married presidential couple in U.S. history, and spent their last few months together at their home in Plains, according to the Washington Post (WP).

Mrs. Carter earned the nickname “Steel Magnolia” for her soft-spoken southern charm, which concealed her ambitious and determined nature during the 1976 presidential campaign when then-Democratic candidate Carter was running against then-President Gerald Ford.

Rosalynn Carter, wife of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, is holding a press conference at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia on November 5, 2019./AP·Yonhap News

◇ Rosalynn Carter, Carter’s closest political and policy advisor ‘Steel Magnolia’… First to set up an office in the White House

Mrs. Carter participated in cabinet meetings during her time in the White House, advising on policy issues, urging Congress to pass mental health legislation, and leading improvements in the treatment of mental patients, serving as the closest political and policy advisor to then-President Carter, according to the WP. Mrs. Carter served as the honorary chair of the President’s Commission on Mental Health from 1977 to 1978.

She decided not to remain in the traditional role of First Lady and, following the tradition of Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of the 32nd President Franklin Roosevelt, she also strived to stand on the extension line of 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 in Congress after Mrs. Roosevelt.

She supported Walter Mondale, a political veteran and Carter’s vice-presidential candidate, and actively worked on issues she was personally interested in, such as mental health, elderly care, and the Equal Rights Amendment.

U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter are dancing at the annual Congressional Christmas Ball on December 13, 1978./AP·Yonhap News

Fidel Castro, then President of Cuba (center), is shaking hands with Rosalynn Carter after welcoming former U.S. President Jimmy Carter at the State Council in Havana, Cuba on May 12, 2002./AFP·Yonhap News

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, his wife Rosalynn Carter, and their daughter Amy (center) are attending the Democratic National Committee Reception at the White House in Washington D.C. on January 21, 1977./AP·Yonhap News

◇ Rosalynn, encouraged mediation in the 1978 Middle East peace talks… Carter’s ‘equal companion’ who toured seven South American countries

In particular, 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, Maryland, near Washington D.C. in September 1978, and provided support and advice as Carter mediated the historic peace agreement between the two countries, according to the WP.

Mrs. Carter visited seven South American countries over 13 days in May-June 1977, which the WP described as unprecedented for a First Lady as it was not a social visit but a diplomatic tour with practical objectives to engage with South American government officials on issues such as human rights, beef exports, arms reduction, disarmament, drug trafficking, and nuclear energy.

Mrs. Carter spoke Spanish in many meetings after completing an intensive language course before the tour, and submitted reports to the Department of State 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 victory.’

In her memoir, Mrs. Carter repeatedly expressed her thirst for victory, saying “I don’t like to seize the opportunity of defeat,” and “I always want to win.” In a 2018 WP interview, she said she was angrier than her husband when President Carter lost to Republican candidate Ronald Reagan in his 1980 re-election bid, saying “I hate to lose.”

The official portrait of Rosalynn Carter, wife of the 76th U.S. President Jimmy Carter, in the Vermeil Room of the White House on February 18, 1977./White House Provided·AP·Yonhap News

◇ 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 Carter’s mother, who was a nurse, helped deliver Rosalynn.

A few days after Rosalynn was born, 3-year-old Carter visited with his mother, which AP reported was their fateful first encounter. Young Carter, a 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 followed her husband, a naval officer, away from their hometown until they returned to Plains in 1953 when Carter inherited his father’s peanut farm, and they ran the business together.

Mrs. Carter had been a key figure in election campaigns since Carter started his political career by being elected a state senator in Georgia in 1962, and contributed to his election as Governor of Georgia in 1970.