Consider This from NPR - Remembering The Long Life And Lasting Legacy Of Rosalynn Carter

Episode Date: November 20, 2023

It was announced on Sunday that former first lady Rosalynn Carter had died, at age 96. The Carter family had said she was suffering from dementia earlier this year.Although President Jimmy Carter only served for one term, Rosalyn Carter transformed the role of first lady.And her influence continued for decades after she left the White House. NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with journalist Judy Woodruff, who covered the Carter administration, about Rosalynn Carter's life and legacy.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

At the Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, there's a volunteer opportunity that comes up every month. Every Thursday, Saturday of the month, we give away a distribution of food to the poor. That food handout is where a Plains resident named Winston Churchill met a former First Lady of the United States. And that's when I met her. I shook her hands right here.

To me, she was humble. Just no political, you know. It was always one person to another, you know. Rosalind Carter was born and raised in Plains, like her husband, former President Jimmy Carter. They were married for almost eight decades, and on Sunday, she died at the age of 96. Remembrances are now pouring in from around the world, but in the tiny town of Plains, population just over 500, people knew the Carters personally. Mrs. Carter was known for impactful global projects that had local roots, like butterfly gardens. Plains resident Annette Wise helped her build the first one after the former first lady learned about the worldwide decline in insect populations. So that one garden that started in her front yard, we wanted to have

milkweed in it and native plants and plants that would attract butterflies and serve as a habitat for them. But that one garden has led to over 3,000 gardens scattered all around the United States. Consider this. Although she only served for one term, Rosalind Carter transformed the role of First Lady, and her influence continued for decades after she and President Carter left the White House. From NPR, I'm Ari Shapiro. It's Monday, from NPR. Earlier this year, the Carter family announced that Rosalind Carter had been diagnosed with dementia. She died on Sunday. NPR's Chloe Weiner looks back at her life and legacy. As First Lady, Rosalind Carter was often called the Steel Magnolia, a nod to the strength behind her gentle Southern demeanor. Here she is in a 60 Minutes interview from 1977.

What do you think the public perception of Rosalind Carter is? I don't know. It's probably what people like you say. She's a Steel Magnolia. But it's not because I am. Carter may not have seen herself as steely, but she certainly was tough. She was born Eleanor Rosalind Smith in 1927 in Plains, Georgia, a small town of less than a thousand. Her father died from cancer when she was just 13. And afterwards, Carter helped her mother care for her siblings and grandfather. Here's Kathy Cade, who worked alongside Carter in the White House. She came from very humble roots, really a woman of almost the late 19th century in terms of how life was organized

in the rural South at that point in time. One day, a teenaged Rosalind was at her close friend Ruth's house, and Ruth had an older brother. His name was Jimmy. When Rosalind saw a photo of Jimmy on her best friend's wall, she thought he was the most handsome man she'd ever seen in her life.

That's Kate Anderson Brower, author of the book First Women. She asked Ruth if she could take his photo home with her. The pair went on their first date in 1945, when she was a student at Georgia Southwestern College and he was in the Naval Academy. They married the next year. Their partnership became a public one when Jimmy Carter was elected governor of Georgia in 1970, making Mrs. Carter the state's first lady. Six years later, he won the presidency and Rosalynn Carter ushered in a new era as first lady, revolutionizing a role that was often limited to hostess duties. I think that Rosalynn was a feminist and was somebody who wanted to be a true partner to her husband, and she didn't see any reason why she shouldn't be allowed to do that.

In the White House, her top priority was mental health. It was a passion Carter developed years earlier when she was campaigning across Georgia. She heard stories of people struggling with their mental health, and at the time there were few community-based mental health services. She really began the effort in this country to modernize mental health care. The mental health care system that we have today in many ways reflects her 50 years of advocacy. After Jimmy Carter lost his re-election bid in 1980, the Carters made what they called an involuntary retirement back to Plains. Mrs. Carter told NPR in 1987 that working on their house helped keep her mind off the disappointing loss. We didn't know what we were going to do with the rest of our lives, and all of a sudden we had to get the house in shape. We'd been gone for 10 years from home and the yard's

in shape. Soon after, they founded the Carter Center in Atlanta, where they worked to eradicate guinea worm disease in parts of Africa and Asia, and advance human rights around the world. They also worked for Habitat for Humanity, and Mrs. Carter founded an institute to support caregivers. In 1999, President Bill Clinton awarded the Carters with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter have done more good things for more people and more places than any other couple on the face of the earth. In 2019, the Carters became the longest married presidential couple, celebrating their 75th anniversary two years later. The pair always tried new things together,

like tennis, birdwatching, turkey hunting, fly fishing, and skiing. In that same 1987 interview, NPR's Susan Stanberg witnessed their bond up close. You're offering a life saver to your husband and he is refusing it. Is that correct? Yeah, that's right. You prefer a different flavor. No, it's fine. You get along very well, I see. Rosalind and Jimmy Carter had four children and 12 grandchildren.

When asked once how she'd like to be remembered, the former First Lady said, I would like for people to think that I took advantage of the opportunities I had and did the best I could. That was NPR's Chloe Weiner. On Sunday, my All Things Considered co-host Scott Detrow discussed the former First Lady with journalist Judy Woodruff, who covered the Carter administration. I'm sorry that I have to lead this off with a sad announcement. Former first lady Rosalind Carter has just passed. That was First Lady Jill Biden speaking to military families in Virginia today. Rosalind Carter was 96 years old.

She died this afternoon at her homes in Plains, Georgia, surrounded by her family. Carter was first lady from 1977 to 1981 and one of her husband's closest advisors. She spoke to All Things Considered back in 1984. I don't think I'm smarter than Jimmy Carter, but I love the political life. I loved it. I like the intrigue and having one election, people who really support you in the next election will be your opponents and the ones who are your opponents will be your supporters. I just like the whole, I like all of it. I like getting out and meeting people and talking with them and learning the country. It was just fascinating to me. I miss it. Longtime PBS NewsHour anchor Judy Woodruff covered the Carter White

House and got to know Rosalind Carter over the years. Judy, welcome to All Things Considered. Thank you. Thank you, Scott. In a statement today, President Carter said, Rosalind was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished. I mean, they were married for more than three quarters of a century, but that idea of a partnership was especially true when Carter was in the White House, wasn't it? It was, Scott. And I actually go back even farther than the White House. One of my first assignments as a reporter starting out in Atlanta was to cover the Carter candidacy for governor in 1970. And even back then, he and Rosalind Carter were a tight pair.

They didn't do everything together, but he consulted with her on everything. And it was very much the two of them on that journey that started all those decades ago. That sense of a love of politics that we just heard from her, could you sense that on the campaign trail in the White House and the governor's office? Well, I would say not in the beginning. When I first met her, he had run for governor four years earlier and hadn't made it. And by 1970, she had a little practice, but it still was something she didn't love to do. She wrote much later about how it was an ordeal for her, but she grew to love it. She grew to be someone who relished that role. And yes, as you just heard in her voice and what she said in that interview to NPR, that when he lost the presidency and they went back to Georgia, she was very disappointed, probably even more disappointed than he was.

Of course, she got over it. They had a much richer life to live ahead of them. But that was a telling comment. Any specific places that her partnership with Carter, her deep involvement in his presidency, left its mark on the administration, on its policies? Well, there would be several. I mean, I covered a trip that she made. It was history making. For the first time, a first lady traveled overseas to visit a number of foreign countries and meet with heads of state, heads of government on behalf of the president. She made this trip to Latin America. I think it was seven different countries. And no one expected her. A lot of people didn't expect her to do well. She ended up

doing quite well in conveying his message. And these were some tough conversations. But I would say the thing that most I remember most is Camp David, the Camp David Accord. She was there by the president's side for almost that entire, I guess it was 13 days, and was a fly on the wall, was giving advice in the corner. I don't want to pretend that she was a foreign policy advisor, but she was very much, she was a close observer of people. And that was a huge asset for him. Yeah. And a lot of these things are commonplace in a sense, the way a modern first lady approaches the job, but it was really groundbreaking and unique that she was doing all of this and being so involved at that time. Well, it was. And she very early, I think it was in weeks that he came to the White House, she told him she was going to sit in on cabinet meetings. And it made big news in Washington,

because that wasn't something first ladies had done before. But she explained it very simply. She said, well, she said, I told Jimmy that I didn't want to make him have to go over with me everything that had happened during the day. And I thought if I just sat here at myself and she did do that for a while, it didn't it didn't go on forever. But, Scott, I do have to say the legacy that she leaves, it's not only her time in the White House and her closeness to him, but it's it's the work she did for many, many years around mental health, advocacy for mental health, trying to reduce the stigma around mental health, and also for caregivers. She was a huge advocate of people who take care of those who can't take care of themselves. We've got about a minute here, but I wanted to ask you about the personal side. I know you

interviewed the Carters when they hit 75 years of marriage. What stood out to you about their partnership and relationship? Well, it was something I will never forget. We spoke with each other just a block or so down the street from their home at this quaint little inn that she had actually helped to decorate. And when I asked her what the secret to their 75 years was, she said, and I don't, this isn't an exact quote, but she said, we give each other space, which is so interesting given how close they are. That was the first thing she said. But then she, of course, went on to say, we do things together. We go birding, we go fly fishing and so forth and so on. But she was very much her own person at the same time.

She was a partner for him. That was journalist Judy Woodruff remembering First Lady Rosalind Carter, who died Sunday at age 96. We had additional reporting in this episode from Grant Blankenship. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Ari Shapiro.