Women In Public Service (audio)

Rosalynn Carter won the lasting affection of the American public as First Lady of the United States from 1977 to 1981. Born Eleanor Rosalynn Smith, she grew up in Plains, Georgia, where the Smith and Carter families were friends as well as neighbors. She began dating Jimmy Carter, the future President, after her freshman year at Georgia Southwestern College in Americus. They were married after his graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1946. Rosalynn and their children moved from post to post throughout his career in the United States Navy; when Jimmy Carter's father died in 1953, they returned to Plains to manage the family business together. Rosalynn Carter participated in her husband's campaigns for the Georgia State Senate and for Governor of Georgia. When Jimmy Carter ran for President of the United States in 1976, Rosalynn traveled independently throughout the United States on her husband's behalf. As First Lady, she took a strong interest in mental health issues. As vice chair of the Carter Center i