Eleanor Rosalynn Smith Carter (born August 18, 1927), commonly known as Rosalynn Carter, is the wife of the former President of the United States Jimmy Carter, and in that capacity served as the First Lady of the United States from 1977 to 1981. As First Lady and after, she was a leading advocate for numerous causes, perhaps most prominently for mental health research. She was politically active in her White House years as her husband's closest a...
more
Eleanor Rosalynn Smith Carter (born August 18, 1927), commonly known as Rosalynn Carter, is the wife of the former President of the United States Jimmy Carter, and in that capacity served as the First Lady of the United States from 1977 to 1981. As First Lady and after, she was a leading advocate for numerous causes, perhaps most prominently for mental health research. She was politically active in her White House years as her husband's closest adviser as well, and sat in on Cabinet and policy meetings. She also served as an envoy abroad, most prominently to Latin America.
Eleanor Rosalynn Smith was born in Plains, Georgia, the eldest of the four children of Frances Allethea Murray (1905–1997), a dressmaker, and Wilburn Edgar Smith (1896–1940), an automobile mechanic and farmer. Her brothers were William Jerrold "Jerry" Smith (engineer, 1929–2003) and Murray Lee Smith (teacher and minister, 1932–2003) and her sister is Lillian Allethea Smith Wall (born 1936).
Her father died of...
less
