Rosalynn Carter’s life in photos
Rosalynn Carter, who died on November 19 at the age of 96, was a bridge – between generations, between the quiet simplicity of small-town life and the chaotic arenas of national and international politics, between competing views on the place of the woman in the world. at home and in the world.
She was a humanitarian who confronted dictators with human rights abuses and was on a mission to eradicate Guinea worm disease – a parasitic infection that once seemed intractable, but which she and others came remarkably close to eradicating during her lifetime.
She was also a grandmother who continued to send her grandson birthday cards with twenty-dollar bills well into her forties, and made pimento sandwiches to hand out to relatives and even strangers on flights.
In recent days there has been an outpouring of memories from family members, friends and aides, and from others who knew Rosalynn Carter only through her estate. Many noted how much the world had changed over her lifetime, and how she had been an agent of that transformation, using her influence as first lady, her own political instincts, and her sheer willpower.
Yet her life began and ended dozens of miles away from a highway or even a traffic light. For sixty years, her home was a modest farmhouse just off the main road in Plains, Georgia, which she shared with Jimmy Carter, her husband of 77 years.
Here you will find a selection of photographs that reflect her long and varied life.
Mrs. Carter, born Eleanor Rosalynn Smith, outside her childhood home in Plains, around 1927. Jimmy Carter’s mother helped deliver Rosalynn when she was born. Jimmy and Rosalynn married in 1946.
Rosalynn and Jimmy at his campaign headquarters in Atlanta in 1966, when he was a senator.
Mrs. Carter combs her daughter Amy’s hair at home in Georgia after the 1976 Democratic National Convention.
Mrs. Carter speaks in Nashville in 1976.
The Carters kiss surrounded by family members at the 1976 Democratic National Convention in New York City.
The Carters drive down Fifth Avenue in New York in 1976.
Mrs. Carter watches her husband being sworn in as President of the United States in 1977.
The Carters dance at the inaugural ball in 1977.
Mrs. Carter cut a White House cake in Plains after a reception for Jimmy Carter during a trip to their hometown in 1976.
Mrs. Carter planted a Japanese wireleaf maple outside the White House in 1978, replacing one of the original trees planted in 1893 by a previous first lady, Frances Cleveland.
The Carters are fishing in 1978.
Mrs. Carter shows table decorations to her 1-year-old granddaughter Sarah in 1979.
President Anwar el-Sadat of Egypt and his wife Jehan Sadat with the Carters at the pyramids during a diplomatic visit in 1979.
The Carters are having one of their weekly work lunches in the Oval Office.
Mrs. Carter played basketball with members of the Harlem Globetrotters outside the White House in 1980.
Mrs. Carter on a flight to Thailand for a five-day tour of Southeast Asia in 1979.
The Carters aboard the Delta Queen, a riverboat, sailing down the Mississippi River in 1979.
Mrs. Carter accompanied Pope John Paul II at Boston’s Logan Airport in 1979.
Mrs. Carter watched as her husband spoke to townspeople and tourists at a Plains train station in 1980.
The Carters jog across an icy field in Plains in 1981.
The Carters in their cabin in Ellijay, Georgia, in 1983.
The Carters at a dedication ceremony for the Carter Center in Atlanta in 1986.
The Carters worked on a Habitat for Humanity home in Atlanta in 1988.
The Carters on stage with Willie Nelson at the Omni Coliseum in Atlanta in 1982.
The Carters at a book signing in San Francisco in 1987.
From left to right, former first ladies Rosalynn Carter, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Betty Ford, Barbara Bush, Nancy Reagan and Lady Bird Johnson at the dedication of the George HW Bush Presidential Library in Texas in 1997.
Mrs. Carter outside a church on Sapelo Island, Georgia, with local women after a Sunday morning worship service in 1997.
The Carters at the Grand Hotel in Oslo during a torchlight procession before the Norwegian Nobel Committee banquet in 2002.
Mrs. Carter called voters on behalf of her son, Jack Carter, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, in Las Vegas in 2006.
The Carters are pictured with congregants after a church service at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains in 2019.
The Carters announced their involvement in a solar energy project that was expected to eventually power more than half of Plains during a 2017 ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The Carters at their Plains home in 2021.