Happy 75th (!) wedding anniversary to Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter:
On Wednesday, the Carters will be married 75 years, the longest in presidential history. Jimmy, 96, and Rosalynn, 93, will mark the occasion in the town where they met nearly a century ago. “They will probably just sit and hold hands,” said a friend and neighbor, Jill Stuckey. [snip]
Eleanor Rosalynn Smith and James Earl Carter Jr. have known each other virtually since birth. Their love story blossomed in World War II and survived the searing scrutiny of political life. Two years ago, the length of their marriage surpassed that of George H.W. and Barbara Bush. Jimmy is also the longest-living president in history.
The Carters’ union has evolved with the times, starting as a traditional “father-knows-best” marriage in the 1940s and ’50s and eventually becoming a full partnership.
Born in the Deep South in 1924, Jimmy became a champion of gender equality. He appointed record numbers of women to the federal bench, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who went on to serve on the Supreme Court.
Rosalynn, born in 1927, was at first a stay-at-home mom, but she gradually took a leading role in the family business and politics. By the 1960s and ’70s, when many women were demanding equality, she had become a pioneering voice in the State Capitol and the White House.
“Over the years, we became not only friends and lovers, but partners,” Rosalynn said at Jimmy’s 90th birthday celebration. “He has always thought I could do anything, and because of that, I/we have had some wonderful adventures and challenges.”
It's been said that Carter was a better ex- President than
President, noting his and Rosalynn's involvement in building homes for
Habitat for Humanity and raising money through the Carter Center to
promote democracy, gender equality and health around the world (for
which he won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2002). The
good works that he and Rosalynn have been engaged in over the past 4
decades of marriage would be hard to eclipse by any former President and First Lady.
If you're not familiar with the Carters' long union, take time to read this article, complete with family pictures and accounts of how they became partners in politics -- and in life after politics.
(Photo: the Carters at a Habitat for Humanity worksite in 2018/ Robert Franklin, South Bend Tribune/AP)
