Rosalynn Carter Has Died

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Rosalynn Carter died today at age 96, The Carter Center announced.

"Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished," President Carter said in a statement. "She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me."

"Besides being a loving mother and extraordinary First Lady, my mother was a great humanitarian in her own right," her son, Chip Carter, said. "Her life of service and compassion was an example for all Americans. She will be sorely missed not only by our family but by the many people who have better mental health care and access to resources for caregiving today."

Carter was the oldest living former First Lady at the time of her death. Born Eleanor Rosalynn Smith in August 1972 in Plains, Georgia, Rosalynn Carter was a longtime advocate for mental health issues. The eldest of four children, she grew up in the same small rural town as her future husband, Jimmy Carter. They married in 1946, soon after Jimmy Carter graduated from the Naval Academy.

She played an active role in her husband's political career. President Carter once said, "there's very seldom a decision that I make that I don't discuss with her, either to tell her after the fact what I've done or, very frequently, to tell her my options and seek her advice."

When she became First Lady of Georgia in 1970, she dedicated her attention to the field of mental health. When Jimmy Carter decided to run for president, she campaigned on his behalf—often solo—across the country.

"The best politician in the family is my mother," Chip Carter, her second eldest, said in 2008. She was "not only was better at campaigning, but better with every day-to-day politics. I mean she would sit there with Dad at the dinner table and go through a list of things that meant something and he would listen."

One of her main causes as First Lady was mental health treatment and care. "For every person who needs mental health care to be able to receive it close to his home, and to remove the stigma from mental health care so people will be free to talk about it and seek help. It's been taboo for so long to admit you had a mental health problem," Carter said in her first interview as First Lady.

During her tenure as First Lady, she lobbied for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment and often attended Cabinet meetings. As she later wrote, "I was there to be informed so that when I traveled across the country, which I did a great deal, and was questioned by the press and other individuals about all areas of government, I'd know what was going on."

After leaving the White House, they moved back to Plains, Georgia, and Carter wrote her autobiography, First Lady from Plains. The Carters co-founded the Carter Center, dedicated to expanding human rights worldwide, and she created the Carter Center Mental Health Task Force.

In 1999, the Carters were awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Then-President Clinton said in his speech, "Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter have done more good things for more people in more places than any other couple on the face of the earth."

In May 2023, her family announced she was diagnosed with dementia. At the time, they wrote, "She continues to live happily at home with her husband, enjoying spring in Plains and visits with loved ones." They added that they hoped to decrease stigma around the diagnosis, writing, "We hope sharing our family's news will increase important conversations at kitchen tables and in doctor’s offices around the country." On Friday, they announced she had entered hospice care.

Her legacy is intertwined with that of her husband, who is currently in hospice care. Rosalynn is survived by their four children, 11 grandchildren, and 14 great-grandchildren. One of her grandsons passed away in 2015.

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