(39) Rosalynn Carter

Eleanor Rosalynn Smith Carter

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 countries, reporting 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 in 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.