He was the president of the United States and the governor of Georgia, but Jimmy Carter he always said the “highlight” of his life was marrying him, Eleanor Rosalynn Smith.
Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter were married for more than 77 years, longer than any couple who took up residence in the White House.
The former first lady died peacefully at home in Georgia in November 2023 at the age of 96, a few days after going to the hospital. The former president died a little over a year later, at the age of 100.
“Rosalynn was my partner in everything I ever accomplished,” Jimmy Carter said in a statement when his beloved wife died. “She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew that someone loved and supported me.”
Rosalynn Carter was by her husband’s side when he was named the nation’s 39th president in 1977 and was her bulwark during the hostage crisis at the US embassy in Iran that marred his presidency, as well as his devastating landslide election loss. to Ronald Reagan, who made him a one-term commander-in-chief.
In the twilight of their enduring love story, Jimmy Carter once again leaned on his wife, announcing in February 2023 that after a few brief hospital stays, he had “decided to spend most of his time at home with his family and receive hospital care instead of additional medical intervention.”
President Jimmy Carter, with his wife Rosalyn Carter, was sworn in by Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger on the stage in front of the White House in January 1977.
Nik Wheeler/Corbis via Getty Images, FILE
As Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter prepared for the end, the couple was greatly supported by their four children, 11 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
“They are at peace and, as always, their home is full of love,” wrote the couple’s grandson, who chairs the Carter Center’s board of directors, in February 2023 after his grandfather announced he was going to the hospital. take care
(1945-1962: Courtship, marriage and early life together
Former Navy submarine commander Jimmy Carter – who began courting Rosalynn Smith while a cadet at the US Naval Academy – often referred to his wife as his “secret weapon” both on and off the campaign trail. their private lives.
“When I had my first date with her, the next morning I told my mother, that’s the girl I wanted to marry,” Jimmy Carter. he told ABC News in July 2021as he and his wife emerged from COVID-19 isolation to celebrate their 75th wedding anniversary.
In the same interview, Rosalynn Carter said that the first time he turned her down, she promised her father on his deathbed that he would finish college before getting married.
Former President Jimmy Carter, center, and his wife Rosalyn, right, and grandson Jason plant trees as they attend the Georgia Delegation Day Service at Bicentennial Park in Aurora, Denver.
Hyoung Chang/Denver Post via Getty Images, FILE
“But it was persistent and I gave up,” she told ABC News, adding, “Life with Jimmy Carter has been an adventure.”
In a 2015 interview at The Carter Center, the couple’s humanitarian organization, Jimmy Carter reflected on life with his wife, saying, “The best thing I ever did was marry Rosalynn. That’s the pinnacle of my life.”
They were born three years apart in the years between World War I and the Great Depression in the small town of Plains, Georgia. Although they had known each other since childhood, and Ruth was her sister’s best friend, Rosalynn Carter said she didn’t notice her future husband until she was about 13 years old.
In the 2020 book “What Makes a Marriage Last” by Phil Donahue and Marlo Thomas, Rosalynn Carter said that she fell in love with a picture of Jimmy Carter that Ruth Carter had on her bedroom wall.
“I didn’t know a single guy I wanted to spend my life with until I called him Jimmy Carter,” he said in the book. But at that time, Jimmy Carter left the Plains for Annapolis, Maryland, to enroll at the Naval Academy.
As fate would have it, when he returned home during a break from the Naval Academy, Jimmy Carter found himself without a date because his then-girlfriend was at a family reunion, he recalled in “What Makes a Marriage Last.”
“I was cruising with my sister, Ruth, and her boyfriend, looking for a date, and I picked Rosalynn up in front of the Methodist church,” he recalled. “I felt compatible with her. She was beautiful and innocent, and there was a resonance. We rode in the buzzing seats of a Ford pickup – Ruth and her boyfriend in the front – and I kissed her on that first date. I remember that vividly.”
The couple married on July 7, 1946, and traveled the world while being deployed to various bases, including Pearl Harbor, as a submarine officer.
1963-1981: Life in politics
After leaving the Army in 1953, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter returned to the Plains, where he took over his family’s peanut farm for several years while he served in the Army Reserves. He was active in the local Democratic Party, opposing racial segregation and supporting the emerging Civil Rights movement.
In 1963, with his wife by his side, Jimmy Carter was elected to the Georgia State Senate and in 1970, he campaigned and won for governor of Georgia. During her time in the Governor’s Mansion, Rosalynn Carter focused on mental health issues, serving on the Governor’s Commission to Improve Services for the Intellectually and Emotionally Handicapped. She also became her husband’s chief adviser on managing the state.
Rosalynn Carter expanded that role in 1975, when her husband ran as a shadowy candidate for President of the United States, helping him defeat incumbent President Gerald Ford.
During his presidency, Jimmy Carter openly called his wife his “secret weapon” and frequently asked her to sit in on cabinet meetings as well as national security briefings. He acknowledged that he was his confidant in the Camp David Accords and the Iran hostage crisis.
1981-Present: Life After the White House
After a crushing defeat against Ronald Reagan in 1980, Jimmy and Rosalynn returned to Carter Plains. Instead of resting on their laurels, they entered humanitarian work, joining forces with Habitat for Humanity, a non-profit group founded in 1976 by a Christian couple named Millard and Linda Fuller, with the mission of “seeking to put God’s love into action”. “by building homes for people in need.
“Habitat offers a simple but powerful way to bring people of different backgrounds together to achieve the most meaningful things in life. A decent home, yes, but also a real connection with our fellow men. The connection that comes with building. Breaking down walls and barriers,” Jimmy Carter once said.
About 300 volunteers, including former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn, worked on homes in Baltimore, Maryland, and Annapolis on October 5, 2010, as part of a week-long national project with Habitat for Humanity.
Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty Images, FILE
In addition to building homes for the underprivileged around the world, the Carters also shared a love of bird watching and fly fishing, even building a fly fishing pond on their Georgia property.
In a 2021 interview with ABC News, the Carters were asked how they stayed happily married for so many years. Jimmy Carter attributes the longevity of their union to working on projects and hobbies that both interest them and giving each other space to pursue their individual interests.
“We’ve always had a deep love for each other,” Jimmy Carter told ABC News in 2021.
He also revealed in the interview that he and his wife argue like most couples, but they decided a long time ago not to go to bed angry with each other.
“Every night we try to go to bed to make sure that all the arguments during the day are completely reconciled,” he said.
