"A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be." -- Rosalynn Carter
Rosalynn Carter (née Eleanor Rosalynn Smith Carter born August 18, 1927), is the wife of the former President of the United States Jimmy Carter, and in that capacity served as the First Lady of the United States from 1977 to 1981. As First Lady and after, she has been a leading advocate for numerous causes, perhaps most prominently for mental health research. She was politically active in her White House years as her husband's closest adviser as well, and sat in on Cabinet and policy meetings. She also served as an envoy abroad, most prominently to Latin America.
"Do what you can to show you care about other people, and you will make our world a better place.""Don't worry about polls, but if you do, don't admit it.""If you don't accept failure as a possibility, you don't set high goals, you don't branch out, you don't try - you don't take the risk.""There is nothing more important than a good, safe, secure home.""You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through.""You must accept that you might fail; then, if you do your best and still don't win, at least you can be satisfied that you've tried. If you don't accept failure as a possibility, you don't set high goals, you don't branch out, you don't try - you don't take the risk."
Carter was born in Plains, Georgia, the eldest of the four children of Frances Allethea Murray (1905–1997), a dressmaker, and Wilburn Edgar Smith (1896–1940), an automobile mechanic and farmer. Her brothers were William Jerrold "Jerry" Smith (engineer, 1929–2003) and Murray Lee Smith (teacher and minister, 1932–2003) and her sister is Lillian Allethea Smith Wall (born 1936).
Her father died of leukemia when she was 13, and she helped her mother raise her younger siblings as well as assist her dressmaking in order to meet the family's financial needs. She graduated as valedictorian of Plains High School and then attended Georgia Southwestern College.
Although their families were acquainted, Rosalynn Carter first dated Jimmy in 1945 while he was at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. On July 7, 1946, they married in Plains.
The couple have four children: John William "Jack" (born 1947), James Earl "Chip" III (born 1950), Donnel Jeffrey "Jeff" (born 1952), and Amy Lynn (born 1967). The first three were born in different parts of the country and away from Georgia, due to her husband's military duties.
In 1953, after her husband left the Navy, Carter helped him run the family peanut farming and warehousing business, handling the accounting responsibilities. Since 1962, the year her husband Jimmy was elected to the Georgia State Senate, she has been active in the political arena.
After helping her husband win the governorship of Georgia in 1970, Carter decided to focus her attention as First Lady of Georgia on the field of mental health. She was appointed to the Governor's Commission to Improve Services for the Mentally and Emotionally Handicapped. Many of the Commission's recommendations were approved and became law. She also served as a volunteer at the Georgia Regional Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia and for four years was honorary chairperson for the Georgia Special Olympics.
In January 1975, when the gubernatorial term was over, Rosalynn, Jimmy and Amy Carter returned to Plains. Jimmy had already announced his plans to run for President of the United States; Rosalynn returned to the campaign trail, this time in a national quest for support for her husband. She campaigned alone on his behalf in 41 states.
During the months she was campaigning across the country, Carter was elected to the board of directors of the National Association of Mental Health, she was honored by the National Organization for Women with an Award of Merit for her vigorous support for the Equal Rights Amendment, and she received the Volunteer of the Year Award from the Southwestern Association of Volunteer Services.
In January 1977, Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter walked hand-in-hand down Pennsylvania Avenue during his presidential inauguration parade. For the inaugural balls, she wore the same gown she had worn six years earlier at the balls in Atlanta when her husband became governor.
During the her husband's administration, Carter supported his public policies as well as his social and personal life. To be fully informed, at the invitation of the President, she would sit in on Cabinet meetings. She represented him in meetings with domestic and foreign leaders, most notably as an envoy to Latin America in 1977. She also led a delegation to Thailand in 1979 to address the problems of Cambodian and Laotian refugees. Helping the refugees, particularly the children, became a special cause for her. When the cultural exchange program Friendship Force International was launched at the White House on March 1, 1977, she became honorary chairperson, a title she held until 2002.
She served as an active honorary chair of the President's Commission on Mental Health. On behalf of the Mental Health System Bill, enacted in 1980, she testified before a Senate committee, the second First Lady to appear before the Congress (the first being Eleanor Roosevelt). In addition, Carter was a strong proponent of the Equal Rights Amendment.
She oversaw her family at the White House. Her nine year old daughter Amy, attracted much public attention. The two youngest sons, Chip and Jeff, and their families, also lived in the White House. Other members of the family, including son Jack and his wife and children, were frequent visitors.
Rosalynn Carter's Secret Service codename is "Dancer".
After leaving the White House in 1981, Carter, like her husband, has continued a very active life. In 1982, she co-founded The Carter Center, a private, not-for-profit institution based in Atlanta, Georgia. She is a member of the Center's Board of Trustees and participates in many of the Center's programs. but gives special attention to the Mental Health Program.
Mental health advocacy
She created and chairs The Carter Center Mental Health Task Force, an advisory board of experts, consumers, and advocates promoting positive change in the mental health field. She hosts the annual Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Mental Health Policy, bringing together nationwide leaders in the mental health field.
In April 1984, she was made an Honorary Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and is also board member emeritus of the National Mental Health Association.
The Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism provide stipends to journalists to report on topics related to mental health or mental illnesses. The one-year fellowships seek to promote public awareness of mental health issues as well as erase the stigma associated with them.
In 2007, she joined with David Wellstone, son of the late U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, to push Congress to pass legislation regarding mental health insurance. Wellstone and Carter are working to pass the "Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act" which would require equal coverage of mental and physical illnesses when policies include both types of coverage; both testified before a House subcommittee regarding the bill in July 2007.
Legislation requiring parity in health insurance coverage for treatment of mental illnesses was ultimately passed and signed into law in October 2008.
Carter is president of the board of directors for the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving (RCI) at Georgia Southwestern State University, her alma mater, in Americus, Georgia. The RCI was established in 1987 and works to address issues related to caregiving in America and internationally. The Institute focuses its work on both family and professional caregivers for individuals living with chronic illness and disabilities, limitations related to aging, and other health concerns across the lifespan. It plays a major role in moving science into practice for caregivers by supporting the implementation of evidence-based programs and interventions for caregivers in community settings.
In 1988, Carter convened with three other former first ladies...Betty Ford, Lady Bird Johnson, and Pat Nixon...the "Women and the Constitution" conference at The Carter Center to assess that document's impact on women. It featured over 150 speakers and 1500 attendees from all 50 states and 10 foreign countries.
She served on the Policy Advisory Board of The Atlanta Project (TAP) of The Carter Center addressing social ills associated with poverty and quality of life citywide.
In 1991, she launched Every Child By Two, a nationwide campaign to increase early childhood immunizations along with Betty Bumpers, wife of former U.S. Senator Dale Bumpers of Arkansas. Carter serves as President of the organization and Bumpers as Vice-President.
She serves on the board of advisors for Habitat for Humanity and as honorary chair of Project Interconnections, both of which work to provide housing for the needy.
On October 5, 2002, Carter was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York. She was only the third First Lady ever inducted into the Hall of Fame, joining Abigail Adams and Eleanor Roosevelt.
In 1999, she and her husband received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor.
Jefferson Award, American Institute for Public Service, 1996
United Nations Children's Fund International Child Survival Award, 1999
Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health, Institute of Medicine, 2000
United States Surgeon General's Medallion, 2000
American Peace Award along with Jimmy Carter, 2009
She has received honorary degrees from the following institutions:
H.H.D., Tift College, 1979
L.H.D., Morehouse College, 1980
D.P.S., Wesleyan College, 1986
LL.D., University of Notre Dame, 1987
D.Litt., Emory University, 1991
L.H.D., Georgia Southwestern State University, 2001
LL.D., Regis College, 2002
She served as distinguished centennial lecturer at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia, from 1988 to 1992. She has been a Distinguished Fellow at the Emory University Department of Women's Studies in Atlanta since 1990.
