Setting a High Standard
When one talks about First Lady Rosalynn Carter and President Jimmy Carter, the words honesty, humility, and decency immediately come to mind.
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) talked earlier this year about President Carter and appreciated the fact that after leaving the White House in 1981, the Carters immersed themselves in promoting the cause of democracy at home and around the world without enriching themselves in the process.
Rosalynn Carter redefined the role of the First Lady. She wasn’t just a political wife smiling adoringly at her man. (Nancy Reagan, anyone?) In more ways than one, she was her husband’s equal.
Succeeding first ladies owe her a huge debt of gratitude.
Only two first ladies in the 20th century can claim to have transformed the institution. Eleanor Roosevelt shaped America’s highest expectations of a first lady — but it was Rosalynn Carter who built a fully staffed Office of the First Lady to match her activist ambitions, creating a power base not just for herself but for all of her successors.
Serving as an equal partner to her husband, the president, advancing a mental health policy agenda, brokering peace between Israel and Egypt: These were high aspirations. Mrs. Carter had the canny instincts to know that a player who courts influence requires a court. She hired a seasoned Washington journalist as press secretary, set up a separate office led by a highly trained adviser — the director of projects — to handle policy and brought on a chief of staff to oversee it all. She assembled a highly competent team and moved the first lady’s personal office from the residence to the East Wing itself to join them.
“Steel Magnolia”
On the 70th marriage anniversary of Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter in 2016, author and journalist Jonathan Alter wrote about this love story in an article for the New Yorker magazine.
The Carter Center has monitored more than a hundred elections around the world, and Jimmy is worried about the impact of voter suppression on this year’s American contest. He was the first major political figure to call the Trump campaign racist.
Another recent article in the New York Times detailed her enduring contribution to American politics.
Mrs. Carter transformed the unelected, unpaid and sometimes unappreciated position of first lady in ways that reverberate to this day.
She had greater ambitions than simply throwing state dinners, she explained, and she paved the way for a new, more enduring view of how a presidential spouse could make a difference. “The first lady role has changed,” she observed. “I don’t think there will ever be another first lady who will be just a hostess and pour tea.”
If that is true, Mrs. Carter will have been one of the primary reasons.
While she spent only four years in the White House, she transformed the unelected, unpaid and sometimes unappreciated position of first lady in ways that reverberate to this day. By the time she died at age 96 on Sunday at her home in Plains, Ga., she had long since dropped out of public view, but every one of her successors knew how important she was in shaping the role they inherited.
Rest in Peace, Rosalynn Carter
Read more about Rosalynn Carter’s last momnents in this CBS News report — Jimmy Carter's last moments with Rosalynn Carter, his partner of almost eight decades
First Lady Rosalynn Carter on “60 Minutes” With Morley Safer — December 11, 1977
In response to a question by CBS journalist Morley Safer, First Lady Rosalynn Carter addresses the fact that many referred to her as a “Steel Magnolia,” an ambitious lady with steely determination and traditional Southern charm* — one who played a major role in propelling her husband to become President of the United States.
Note how deftly she answers Safer without acknowledging or denying the active role she was widely believed to have played in her husband’s political career and his quest for the presidency.
The interview was conducted almost 46 years ago and one should evaluate the questions asked to be reflective of the period when it happened. Times have indeed changed.
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* It brings to mind when a young, newly-elected Congressman in late 1946 from Massachusetts by the name of John F. Kennedy was asked his opinion of Washington, DC as a city. JFK famously replied in his characteristic, understated style of New England humor: “Washington, DC is a city with Northern charm and Southern efficiency.”
Just yesterday I wrote two diaries about JFK. The first one is quite long and covers three of his memorable speeches while looking at his many contributions to American political culture.
A Wonderful First Lady
Attribution for the above cartoon: John Cole @ColeToon
A Long and Happy Marriage
Saying Goodbye
Advance Trip
From President Jimmy Carter
Happy Thanksgiving to All of You
Remember the Good Times
Whatever you’re doing this evening, I hope you are safe and enjoying the company of family and friends. I’m watching the Commanders-Cowboys game and as I live in Washington, DC you can guess which team I’m rooting for.
We could desperately use a win. The game just ended a few minutes ago. The Commanders did not win on this day! ;)
Just Use Your Discretion on This Day
Those Damn Immigrants
The Truth
Badly Needed: Masks
An Early Thanksgiving
Generosity Has Its Limits
What Are You Thankful For?
May the Force Be With You
Home Sweet Home
The Last Word
Don’t Let This Happen
A Worthwhile Wish
No Pardon for This Last One Left
It’s a Large Country… Why Not?
The Day After Thanksgiving