(39) Eleanor Rosalynn Smith Carter

 

Eleanor Rosalynn Smith Carter

Birthdate

08/18/1927

Death date

11/19/2023

President

Jimmy Carter

Dates of service

01/20/1977-01/20/1981

Relationship to president

Spouse

Other marriages 

N/A

 

Websites

Jimmy Carter Presidential Libraray and Museum: Rosalynn Carter Biography

The White House: Rosalynn Smith Carter

First Ladies National Library Biography of Rosalynn Carter

Papers/letters collections

Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum Archival Collections

Rosalynn Carter on the Mental Health Crisis

Book: First Lady from Plains

Book: Everything to Gain: Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life

Historical sites

Rosalynn Carter Childhood Home

Historic Plains, Georgia

Fascinating details

  • Rosalynn played an integral part in Jimmy Carter’s campaign, travelling separately from her husband for various speaking engagements.
  • First ‘first lady’ to establish an office in the East Wing of the White House.
  • In 1977, Rosalynn broke precedent when she embarked on a policy-oriented U.S. delegation to seven Latin American and Caribbean countriesreporting to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee upon her return.  

  • She displayed ample support for the Equal Rights Amendment, following her predecessor, Betty Ford’s, footsteps in lobbying state legislators for their votes.
  • She also proudly lists her husband’s appointment of three women to cabinet secretary positions and 41 women as federal judges.
  • Named a honorary chairperson of the Last Acts Campaign  a campaign dedicated to improving end-of-life care. She was also an early advocate of hospice and palliative care. 
  • Best known as an advocate of mental health issues.
  • Co-founder of the Carter Center and the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism.
  • Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1999.

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