The death of Rosalynn Carter took place on the 160th Anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettyburg Address, an irony, as she and her husband Jimmy Carter represent a different kind of South in their social justice mission.
Remember that Jimmy Carter was the first Southerner elected to the Presidency since Zachary Taylor in 1848.
The couple represented a progressive tradition on race, and a concern about other than themselves, as they both dedicated their lives to advancing of society and international cooperation.
Rosalynn Carter will stand out as the most significant First Lady chronologically since Eleanor Roosevelt, making the position of First Lady much more interacting and engaged than it had ever been before. She was a true partner of her husband in his responsibilities and duties as President.
Whether her husband can live on for long without her will be a question on many people’s minds, as Jimmy Carter has good odds that he might live to be a centenarian in less than ten and a half months with his 100th birthday on October 1, 2024.