WASHINGTON — Rosalynn Carter, the former First Lady of the United States who changed what it meant to serve in that role, has died. She was 96.
The Carter Center said the 96-year-old former first lady had died peacefully with family by her side.
“Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished,” former President Jimmy Carter said in a statement. “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.”
On Friday, Carter had entered hospice care at home in Plains, Georgia. The family announced earlier this year that the former first lady had been diagnosed with dementia. The former president, now 99, entered hospice care at home in February.
Eleanor Rosalynn Smith was born in Plains, Georgia on August 18, 1927. She was the eldest of four children. When she was 13, her father, Wilburn Edgar Smith, died of leukemia. Rosalynn was forced to take charge of her family while her mother got a job.
She later credited her mother, Frances Allethea Murray Smith, with infusing her with a sense of independence.
"I learned from my mother you can do what you have to do," she told the Chicago Tribune in 2002.
Rosalynn attended Plains High School and graduated from Georgia Southwestern College in 1946.
Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter were married on July 7, 1946 – one month before Rosalynn’s 19th birthday. They had three sons over the next six years -- John William, James Earl III and Donnel Jeffrey – and then waited another 15 years before having a daughter, Amy.
She was a full partner with Jimmy in business and as he entered local, state and national politics. Jimmy declared Rosalynn was the “only politician in the family” – and he meant it.
Her unmatched ferocity to win was cloaked in her gracious Southern charms, earning her the nickname “Steel Magnolia”.
As First Lady of Georgia after her husband was elected governor in 1970, Rosalynn turned her attention to mental health. She went on a statewide tour of mental health facilities and served on the Governor's Commission to Improve Services to the Mentally and Emotionally Handicapped.
Rosalynn was 49 years old when she entered the national stage as her husband ran for president in 1976. She was an active participant in his campaign, traveling independently throughout the country to share her belief that her husband was the best person to lead the nation.
After Jimmy was elected president, Rosalynn redefined the role of First Lady, with a relentless drive to pursue an independent agenda. She went to Cabinet meetings, attended major briefings and served as the “President’s personal emissary to Latin American countries”. She was the first First Lady to keep her own office in the East Wing (and the first to have a VCR in the White House).
Rosalynn was a strong supporter of the arts, inviting classical artists from around the world to the White House.
Rosalynn went to war for her signature cause – the fight to revolutionize mental health care. She served as the Honorary Chairperson of the President’s Commission on Mental Health.
She continued her public service after the White House, starting the Carter Center in Atlanta in 1982. It focused on helping the weakest, the poorest and the sickest. The center helped achieve a monumental change to get mental illness covered under health insurance plans.
She served on the Policy Advisory Board of The Atlanta Project (TAP), a program of The Carter Center addressing the social ills associated with poverty and quality of life citywide. In 1988, she convened with three other former first ladies for the “Women and the Constitution” conference at The Carter Center to assess that document’s impact on women.
Carter received many honors for her volunteer and public service work. In 2001, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
Relatively late in life, Rosalynn began a love of fly fishing. She enjoyed birdwatching, biking, and a glass of wine with her friends and family. She was the author or co-author of five books.
Well into her 90s, Rosalynn worked full-time to make opportunities for others around the world. In October 2019, she continued to work alongside her husband building homes with Habitat for Humanity.
Rosalynn and Jimmy also hold the record of the longest-married couple in presidential history – with the couple celebrating their 77th wedding anniversary on July 7, 2023.
Rosalynn leaves behind her husband, four children, 11 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
“There are only four kinds of people in the world - those who have been caregivers, those who are caregivers, those who will be caregivers and those who will need caregivers.”
Some information from this biography was pulled from The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library as well as the Carter Center.