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Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients
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Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients
President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter
 Biography of Rosalynn Carter
Eleanor Rosalynn Smith Carter
(Mrs. James Earl "Jimmy" Carter)
Eleanor Rosalynn Smith was born August 18, 1927 in Plains, Georgia, the daughter of Allie Murray Smith and Edgar Smith. She grew up in Plains and was a friend of her classmate and sister of Jimmy Carter, Ruth Carter. When Jimmy was home from the Naval Academy in the summer of 1945, he had a date with his sister's friend. Upon returning, his mother asked him how he liked Rosalynn. "She's the girl I want to marry was his reply." Shortly after his graduation from the Naval Academy, they were married on July 7, 1946 in the Plains Methodist church.
Jimmy Carter was in the United States Navy for the early part of their married life. They lived first in Norfolk, Virginia, and then New London, Connecticut, San Diego, California, Honolulu, Hawaii and Schenectady, New York. During this time their three sons were born: John William (Jack) in Portsmouth, VA, July 3, 1947; James Earl III (Chip) in Honolulu, HI, April 12, 1950; and Donnel Jeffrey August 18, 1952 in New London, CT.
When Jimmy's father died in 1953, the family moved back to Plains to run the family business. For the first year they lived in public housing, and Jimmy Carter ran the warehouse and Rosalynn Carter kept the books. While in Plains the couple's only daughter, Amy Lynn, was born (October 19, 1967).
Since 1962, the year Jimmy was elected state Senator, she has been active in political life. As first lady of Georgia, Rosalynn was appointed to the Governor's Commission to Improve Services for the Mentally and Emotionally Handicapped. The Commission presented recommendations to Governor Carter, many of which were ultimately passed into law. She also served as a volunteer at the Georgia Regional Hospital in Atlanta and for five years was honorary chairperson for the Georgia Special Olympics for Retarded Children.
In January 1975, when his gubernatorial term was over, Mr. Carter, along with Rosalynn and Amy, went back to Plains. He had already announced his plans to run for President of the United States. Rosalynn returned to the campaign trail, this time in a national quest for support for her husband. She campaigned alone on his behalf in 41 states.
During the months she was campaigning across the country, Rosalynn was elected to the Board of Directors of the National Association of Mental Health; she was honored by the National Organization for Women with an Award of Merit for her vigorous support of the Equal Rights Amendment; and she received the Volunteer of the Year Award from the Southwestern Association of Volunteer Services.
During her years in the White House, Rosalynn was honored by many organizations and received numerous awards. She served as honorary chair of the President's Commission on Mental Health, the work of which resulted in the passage of the Mental Health Systems Act. She was named the Volunteer of the Decade by the National Mental Health Association. Rosalynn also received two honorary degrees as First Lady: a Doctor of Humanities degree from Tift College, and a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Morehouse College.
A full partner with the President in all the Center's activities, the former First Lady is Vice Chair of the Center's Board of Trustees. She created and chairs The Carter Center's Mental Health Task Force, an advisory body of experts, consumers, and advocates promoting positive change in the mental health field. Each year, she hosts the Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Mental Health Policy, bringing together leaders of the nation's mental health organizations to address critical issues. Mrs. Carter emerged as a driving force for mental health when, during the Carter administration, she became active honorary chair of the President's Commission on Mental Health, which resulted in passage of the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980.
Mother of four, Mrs. Carter has maintained a life-long dedication to issues affecting women and children. In 1991, she launched with Mrs. Betty Bumpers, wife of U.S. Senator Dale Bumpers of Arkansas, "Every Child By Two," a nationwide campaign to publicize the need for early childhood immunizations. She served on the Policy Advisory Board of The Atlanta Project (TAP), a program of The Carter Center addressing the social ills associated with poverty and quality of life citywide, from the program's inception in 1991 until its transfer to Georgia State University in 1999. In 1988, she convened with three other former first ladies the "Women and the Constitution" conference at the Center to assess that document's impact on women.
Outside the Center, Mrs. Carter is president of the board of directors for the Rosalynn Carter Institute of Georgia Southwestern State University (RCI), which was established in her honor on the campus of her alma mater in Americus, Georgia. The mission of the RCI is to help family and professional caregivers. In 1996 she became honorary chair of the call-to-action campaign for end-of-life care, Last Act Partnership, a national coalition of individuals and organizations advocating more compassionate care for those who are dying. She also works for Habitat for Humanity, a network of volunteers who build homes for the needy, and Project Interconnections, a public/private nonprofit partnership to provide housing for homeless people who are mentally ill. She served as distinguished centennial lecturer at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia, from 1988 92 and is currently a distinguished fellow at the Emory University Institute for Women's Studies in Atlanta.
Since graduating from Georgia Southwestern College in l946, Mrs. Carter has received many honors, among them the Volunteer of the Decade and "Into the Light" awards from the National Mental Health Association; the Award of Merit for Support of the Equal Rights Amendment from the National Organization for Women; the Notre Dame Award for International Service; the Eleanor Roosevelt Living World Award from Peace Links; the Kiwanis World Service Medal from Kiwanis International Foundation; the Jefferson Award from the American Institute for Public Service; the Georgia Woman of the Year Award from the Georgia Commission on Women; the Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health from the Institute of Medicine; the United States Surgeon General's Medallion; and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor. In 2001 she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
She has written four books: her autobiography First Lady from Plains; Everything To Gain: Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life, a book about life after the White House co-authored with President Carter; Helping Yourself Help Others: A Book For Caregivers (with Susan K. Golant); and Helping Someone with Mental Illness: A Compassionate Guide for Family, Friends, and Caregivers (with Susan K. Golant), which was selected as the winner of the 1999 American Society of Journalists and Authors Outstanding Book Award in the service category. She continues to travel and speak throughout the world and enjoys fly-fishing, bird-watching, biking, and jogging in her free time.
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Medal History
