ExclusiveRosalynn Carter: The Steel Magnolia

Welcome to American Legends. My name is Tiffany Brannan. Each culture has its legends, and that could be myths or different stories, but here in America, our greatest legends are the wonderful heroes who are right from our history pages. Now, some of these heroes are very famous, and some are obscure, but each person deserves to be discovered because each man or woman stands as a great example of how we can be better Americans in our daily lives. From the mid-20th century onward, perhaps even earlier than that, the First Lady of the United States has often taken on a very active political role, even aside from her husband's own campaign policies and goals. This really began with Eleanor Roosevelt, but that legacy has been continued in different ways by basically every subsequent First Lady. Today, we're going to talk about a First Lady who was ranked as one of the most inspiring and motivating women of her time, even though she didn't want to fulfill some of the more traditional aspects of being a First Lady. Rosalind Carter's name isn't ranked as highly, nor is it as instantly recognizable as many other 20th century First Ladies. She isn't remembered quite as fondly or as famously as Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Kennedy, even Betty Ford. Yet, she made some very substantial contributions to the office of First Lady and some important changes, really, to the whole nation in that role. Rosalind Carter was a common woman of the people, just as her husband, Jimmy Carter, was a very relatable down-to-earth president. She was born Rosalind Smith in Plains, Georgia, the same town where her future husband would grow up. In fact, the Carter and Smith families were good friends, with one of her sisters being named after one of the members of the Carter family. As a young girl, Rosalind would play with the boys on her block because there weren't any little girls who were her same age. She said that her childhood ended at the age of 13, when her father died of leukemia. She then had to help her mother, who was a seamstress, with her dressmaking and other work to help them make ends meet. They grew up in a good deal of poverty, but she said that they didn't really realize they were poor because everybody they knew was poor, so they didn't have anything less than the other families they knew, and they had a simple but good life. It was her father's greatest desire for his daughter to go to college, so she studied very hard in high school so that she could end up going to college. When she was in her late teenage years, she went to Georgia Southwestern University and she studied well and graduated with a degree from there. She then intended to go to Georgia Women's College, but her plans changed a bit as she met Jimmy Carter in 1945. He was, at this time, a student at the Naval Academy, and he was the brother of her best friend. In one incident, her best friend, which was Carter's sister, and her boyfriend, and Jimmy were all riding along in a car, and Jimmy and Rosalind were in the back seat. Impulsively, the young naval student kissed her. She was very surprised, but shortly after that they began courting. She said that she was immediately attracted to him when she saw a picture of him in his naval uniform. They developed an understanding and secretly agreed to get married, but she was reluctant to tell her family because she knew that her mother wanted her to continue her education. They ended up getting married in July of 1946, shortly after he graduated from the Naval Academy. At the time, he was 21 and she was 18. Of course, she was very close to his sister and she would have a harder time getting close to his mother, but it wasn't an issue right away because he was quickly assigned to many different naval positions. During the first few years of their marriage, he was stationed in many different places and she would often travel around to be near him, but she did spend a lot of time raising the children on her own. They had three children during this time, within a few years of each other, and she actually said she enjoyed how much freedom she had in raising the children almost single-handedly as he was very busy with his naval duties. Their whole lives changed drastically in 1953 when his father died, so he wanted to return to their hometown of Plains to take over the peanut farm because the farm had racked up a lot of debts and he saw it as his duty as the oldest son to take over the family business. Rosalind did not agree that that was his duty. She didn't want him to have to give up his whole life, the life they were building together. She was very happy with the life that they were building elsewhere and she did not want to return to Plains. Eventually, she did bow to his wishes, but apparently she wasn't speaking to him for quite a while and they had to just communicate through their children for the first while after moving, and she also found it difficult to have to live in the same place with his mother because they weren't very close, although they would grow closer. The Carter family struggled a great deal for the first few years after moving back, having to live in public housing for the first year and as Jimmy took out many different loans since, as I said, there were a lot of debts associated with the farm, but she was determined since they decided that's what they were going to do, that she was going to help him make a great success of it. As he studied agriculture to learn better how to farm, she began studying business and accounting so that she could help him with running the business. She was his great supporter with the family business and then, a few years later, as he began his political career, first serving in the state legislature beginning in 1966 and then when he became the state governor in the year 1971. She was a very active political partner, helping him campaign for both positions he held and going out there and speaking to people, trying to win public support for her husband. She said that her least favorite part of campaigning for any type of office was having to ask people for donations, but she did enjoy the aspect of meeting people and getting to really be involved in the issues that were at hand because she was very passionate about many different political issues. Around this time, they had their fourth child, who was a daughter named Amy, born in 1967. This was 20 years after their first child was born and the reason for this big age gap between their third and fourth child was because Rosalind had had some health issues and doctors believed she couldn't have any more children after the third child, but it turned out that she had a rather large tumor and it was eventually removed 12 years later and then she was able to conceive and bear their fourth child. And that's why it's surprising to see why they had such a young daughter when they were in the White House. She was only 10 when he was elected president and that made it a rather unique presidency for them because many presidents are much older, they're more grandparent age, so they don't have young children in the White House. Of course, they were also grandparents at the time that he was president and she was first lady. As first lady of Georgia, when her husband was the governor, Rosalind was a very active hostess, sometimes welcoming as many as 750 people per week into the governor's home, shaking their hands, welcoming them, and being a very positive force for her husband's popularity. He always saw her as his complete equal, that they were political partners and personal partners, they were always very close. They had many habits that they would do together to keep their bond close, such as back when they were living in Plains, they would ride for miles on their scooters together and then in the evening they would often read the Bible to each other in Spanish. Their bond politically deepened as they both were supporters of Lyndon B. Johnson, who was very unpopular among other southerners because of his civil rights activism. Rosalind was alienated from her own family on this point, but she and Jimmy bonded over the issue. When she was first lady of Georgia, Rosalind began advocating for mental health awareness. This was a cause that was very close to her heart and she believed very strongly that the stigma around mental illness needed to be greatly reduced for all the people of the United States to advocate the best health policies for testing, detection, prevention and treatment. And she believed that it wouldn't be possible until people were able to admit to having certain challenges mentally without the stigma or the fear of being called crazy. In 1975, they returned to Plains, Georgia as he had completed his term as governor, but he had already announced his intention to run for president. He was seen as a dark horse candidate. Very few people knew who he was outside of Georgia, so Rosalind took it upon herself to help him in his campaign and the number one thing that she was going to do was to help people know who he was. This was in reaction to the frequent question that was derisively asked about him, Jimmy who? So she visited 41 different states to tell people just who Jimmy Carter was and to inform people about his policies, his background and make them realize what a good president he would be. She enjoyed being on the campaign trail and helping her husband in this manner. As she viewed the prospect of becoming first lady, she said that she didn't want to be a very traditional first lady with the roles of hostess most notably. Although she enjoyed meeting people and welcoming them into their home, she wasn't big on the fancy parties, that just wasn't who she was. Rosalind was overjoyed and called it the proudest moment of her life when her husband won the presidency. They were together at the campaign headquarters when they received the news and they both burst into tears at the news. It was a joyous moment for them and it would be a long difficult road for the next four years, but she was eager to take on the challenge. After his inauguration, the Carters made the bold and historical decision to not take a limousine in the motorcade, but rather to walk through the streets of Washington DC to the White House. This made headlines and it was sort of a first example of the kind of president and first lady they were going to be. Very down-to-earth, very relatable. This was both seen as a good point for those who wanted them to be more relatable and a point of criticism. At one television appearance, he appeared in a cardigan sweater instead of wearing a suit coat to address the nation, so he gained the nickname Jimmy Cardigan. At the same time, Rosalind, while perhaps not that casual, definitely didn't care as much about her having really glamorous fashion as many other first ladies had. For instance, she wore the same gown at the inaugural ball for her as president as she had at his inaugural ball as governor of Georgia. Many people were rather critical of that fact, but she didn't really care if people weren't too thrilled that she didn't wear lavish gowns because that wasn't who she was. She always was very lovely though and very feminine and attractive in what she wore. She would often wear more of a simple blouse and skirt, but her fashion was interesting because it didn't really fit the style of the day, because this was now the late 1970s when women were wearing longer dresses, more pants. There are a few pictures of her wearing longer, more flowing dresses, but many times you see her in a blousier top with fuller skirts, almost evocative of the 1940s or 50s. I think, again, as she didn't really care about fashion, she wore what she liked even if it was years or decades behind the times. Their daughter, Amy, was the focus of a lot of media attention because people were very eager to see the young daughter of the president, but Rosalind always tried to keep her protected and without too much undue attention. Two of their sons, who were grown and married with their families, also lived in the White House with them while they were staying there, and their other son would often visit with his wife and children. Many people criticized this as a wasteful spending of taxpayer money, but Rosalind refused to be dissuaded because of this criticism because she knew that they were spending their own money for the household, the taxpayers weren't paying for it, and she liked having the family together. Rosalind was a trendsetter in many ways as a first lady. She was the first first lady to have an actual office in the East Wing. She also served as a foreign ambassador many times for her husband. For instance, she made a tour of Latin America, visiting Brazil, and serving as a goodwill ambassador. This was often seen as a point of contention because she wasn't an elected official, neither appointed nor anointed, as they say, but many foreign diplomats actually saw it as a very unique opportunity to get to the ear of the president because who was closer to him than his wife. She continued her advocacy for the cause that was closest to her heart, mental health, and she lobbied and encouraged her husband to pass legislature that would help in this cause. When he was governor, she had served on committees and commissions for more research and support of mental health issues, and she also had served as a chair of the Georgia Special Olympics. As first lady, she was the honorary chair of the Mental Health Commission. She didn't like that term or that title because she felt that it just sounded like a nothing position, like it was just such an honorary thing, someone who wasn't really doing anything, but it very difficult to find the right position for her that was even legal because there were certain rules about the president appointing his family into positions, so that's why it had to be honorary, but she really was the spirit behind the movement. She was only the second first lady in history to testify before Congress in support of the Mental Health Rights Act in 1980. She was the first first lady to sit in on cabinet meetings. She began doing this right away in February of 1977. The reason she did so was that she was asking her husband about certain positions he had on different issues since she was often traveling on her own and answering questions at interviews, and she wanted to be well informed, so he invited her to sit in at the cabinet meeting so that she could really see the issues firsthand. She was relieved to see that there were many other officials who were not actual cabinet members there, so she wasn't the only one who was sort of an honorary visitor. She didn't speak at these meetings, but she made lots of notes because she saw it as an important way to really find out what was happening and be well informed. President Carter discussed all the important issues with her, except the most top secret security issues, and he always relied on her advice, her wisdom, and her support. Throughout his political career, she lobbied very actively in 1977 and continuing onward for the Equal Rights Amendment, and she said that the greatest disappointment of her life was that the Equal Rights Amendment was not passed. She felt that a lot of people didn't really understand what it was, and she did try to help separate it from the more extreme aspects of feminism, because although she supported many of the feminist movement's ideals, she herself was a very traditional woman, having gotten married very young and had children and been dedicated to taking care of her husband and her family. I think she, like many other first ladies, represents how a woman could be both very active in business, politics, and society, and also extremely close to her husband as a helpmate, because her business was studying accounting to help with the family business and to run the peanut business when her husband was deployed or serving in other capacities. And then politically, although she advocated for some slightly different causes than her husband, she made it a point to never publicly criticize anything he did, because she said that would only make people have less trust in both of them. If she had something to say to him, she'd say it to him privately, but she thought that the job of a first lady politically would be to raise awareness and just bring more light to certain issues. By talking about it, she made people talk about, think about, and know about issues which she thought were important. Despite her husband's, shall we say, less than enthusiastic support for a good deal of his presidency, Rosalyn was a very popular lady. During her husband's presidency, she tied with Mother Teresa as the most inspiring woman, and in the years that would follow, the time when she left the White House, she was consistently ranked as the second most popular and beloved first lady of recent years, after only Jackie Kennedy. She said that she knew people viewed them as hicks. She knew that they thought they were just going to bring a bunch of gingham and barn raisings and square dances to the White House. She said that they did bring a little of that, but that that wasn't all there was to them. They were a lot more multifaceted than that. One year, when decorating the White House Christmas tree, she used homemade ornaments, which consisted of eggshells and peanut shells and other simple homemade crafts. But at the same time, she found it very important to entertain and host people who were important for her husband's presidency, and to show support for people of all races and all backgrounds. Speaking on the importance of leadership, Rosalind Carter said, 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. She said, I believe that one of the most important things to learn in life is that you can make a difference in your community, no matter who you are or where you live. She also said, Kindness is the connection that links us all together and strengthens the bonds within our communities, neighborhoods, and families. She's quoted as saying, Without volunteers, we'd be a nation without a soul. And she herself spent a good deal of her life volunteering in many different organizations, both long before and long after being in the White House. Speaking about the importance of support for caregivers, she said, There are only four kinds of people in the world, those who have been caregivers, those who are caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers. After leaving the White House, the Carters enjoyed a very long retirement. During that time, Rosalind and Jimmy Carter remained extremely active, starting many philanthropic organizations. Together, they founded the Carter Center in Georgia. They also were very instrumental in founding the nonprofit organization Habitats for Humanity. Rosalind continued her activism for mental health issues, and in her honor, the Rosalind Carter Institute for Caregiving was founded at Georgia Southwestern University. Alongside her husband, she was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1999, and she worked with other former first ladies, including Lady Bird Johnson and Betty Ford, to advocate for important issues. She died at the age of 96 in 2023, and just a year later, her husband would die at the age of 100. They enjoyed the longest presidential marriage to date, and it had all evidence of being a very happy one. Rosalind Carter may not be the most fashionable first lady. She wasn't in the White House for the longest time. She isn't remembered as one of the most popular first ladies, yet she left a legacy of being a woman who was very active and very strong while being very feminine. They called her the Steel Magnolia because she had a very delicate feminine appearance with very delicate, refined features, lovely hair, just a cute face and a rather delicate frame, but she had a tough nails interior because she was a really strong person who had a lot of southern charm as her exterior, which helped endear her to people. So I think she's a good example of a very feminine woman who also was very active in her community and was, above all, a very supportive helpmate to her husband, which is ultimately the number one duty of the first lady. Thank you for watching, and I hope you'll join me next time for more American Legends.