他是美国总统和乔治亚州州长，但是吉米·卡特总是说他人生的“巅峰”是让埃莉诺·罗莎琳·史密斯嫁给他。
罗莎琳和吉米·卡特结婚超过77年，比任何一对夫妇在白宫居住的时间都长。
卡特中心宣布，这位前第一夫人于周日在佐治亚州的家中平静去世。她在接受临终关怀几天后去世，享年96岁。
吉米·卡特在一份声明中说:“罗莎琳是我成就的平等伙伴。”。“在我需要的时候，她给了我明智的指导和鼓励。只要罗莎琳还活着，我就知道有人爱着我，支持着我。”
1977年，罗丝琳·卡特在丈夫宣誓就任美国第39任总统时陪伴在他身边，在困扰他总统生涯的美国驻伊朗大使馆人质危机中，以及在以压倒性优势输给罗纳德·里根的连任竞选中，都是他坚定的支持者。
在他们持久爱情故事的黄昏，99岁的吉米·卡特在2023年2月宣布，在一系列短暂住院后，他“决定在家里与家人共度余生，接受临终关怀，而不是额外的医疗干预，”之后，他再次依靠妻子。
1977年1月，吉米·卡特总统和妻子罗莎琳·卡特在白宫前的舞台上，从最高法院首席大法官沃伦·伯格手中宣誓就职。
Nik Wheeler/Corbis via Getty Images文件
吉米和罗丝琳·卡特都在为死亡做准备，这对夫妇从他们的四个孩子，他们的11个孙子和14个曾孙那里得到了很多支持。
“他们相安无事，一如既往，他们的家充满了爱，”这对夫妇的孙子、卡特中心董事会主席杰森·卡特今年2月在推特上写道，此前他的祖父宣布他将接受临终关怀。
1945-1962:求爱、婚姻和早期生活在一起
吉米·卡特(Jimmy Carter)曾是一名海军潜艇指挥官，他在美国海军学院(United States Naval Academy)当学员时就开始追求罗莎琳·史密斯(Rosalynn Smith)，在竞选活动和私人生活中，他经常将妻子称为自己的“秘密武器”。
吉米·卡特说:“当我第一次和她约会时，第二天早上我告诉妈妈，这就是我想娶的女孩。”2021年7月告诉美国广播公司新闻他和妻子从新冠肺炎的隔离状态中走出来，庆祝他们结婚75周年。
在同一次采访中，罗丝琳·卡特说她第一次拒绝了他的求婚，说她在父亲弥留之际答应过他，她会在结婚前完成大学学业。
“但他坚持不懈，我屈服了，”她告诉ABC新闻，并补充说，“与吉米·卡特的生活是一场冒险。”
在2015年卡特中心(这对夫妇的人道主义组织)的一次采访中，吉米·卡特反思了他和妻子的生活，他说:“我做过的最好的事情就是娶了罗莎琳。那是我人生的巅峰。”
他们出生在佐治亚州普莱恩斯的一个小镇上，在第一次世界大战和大萧条之间的岁月里，他们相隔三年出生。虽然他们从小就认识，而且她是他姐姐露丝最好的朋友，但罗丝琳·卡特说她直到她未来的丈夫13岁时才真正注意到他。
在菲尔·多纳休和马洛·托马斯2020年出版的《是什么让婚姻长久》一书中，罗丝琳·卡特说她爱上了露丝·卡特挂在她卧室墙上的吉米·卡特的照片。
“在吉米·卡特打电话给我之前，我不认识一个我想与之共度一生的男孩，”她在书中说。但当时，吉米·卡特已经离开普莱恩斯前往马里兰州的安纳波利斯，报名参加海军军官学校。
正如命运安排的那样，吉米·卡特(Jimmy Carter)在从海军学院休学回家时，发现自己没有约会对象，因为他当时的女友参加了一次家庭聚会，他在《是什么让婚姻持久》中回忆道。
“我和我姐姐露丝以及她的男朋友在四处闲逛，只是想找个约会对象，然后我在卫理公会教堂前搭上了罗莎琳，”他回忆道。“我只是觉得和她合得来。她很美很天真，有一种共鸣。我们坐在一辆福特皮卡的后座上——露丝和她的男朋友坐在前面——第一次约会时我吻了她。我记得很清楚。”
这对夫妇于1946年7月7日结婚，当他作为一名潜艇军官被部署到包括珍珠港在内的不同基地时，他们环游了世界。
1963-1981年:政治生活
1953年离开海军后，吉米和罗丝琳·卡特回到普莱恩斯，在那里他接管了他家的花生种植农场，同时也在海军预备役服役了几年。他积极参加当地的民主党，反对种族隔离，支持新兴的民权运动。
1963年，在妻子的陪伴下，吉米·卡特当选为佐治亚州参议员。1970年，他竞选佐治亚州州长并获胜。在州长官邸期间，罗丝琳·卡特专注于精神健康问题，在州长委员会任职，以改善对精神和情感障碍者的服务。她也成为她丈夫管理国家的主要顾问。
1975年，当她的丈夫作为一匹黑马竞选美国总统时，罗丝琳·卡特扩大了这一角色，帮助他击败了现任总统杰拉尔德·福特。
在他的总统任期内，吉米·卡特公开称他的妻子为他的“秘密武器”,并经常要求她列席内阁会议，甚至一些国家安全简报会。在戴维营协议和伊朗人质危机期间，他将她视为知己。
1981年至今:白宫后的生活
在1980年彻底击败罗纳德·里根之后，吉米和罗丝琳·卡特回到了普莱恩斯。他们没有固步自封，而是投身于人道主义工作，与人道家园组织(Habitat for Humanity)联手，这是一个由一对名叫米勒德(Millard)和琳达·富勒(Linda Fuller)的基督教夫妇在1976年成立的非营利组织，其既定使命是通过为有需要的人建造家园，“寻求将上帝的爱付诸行动”。
“Habitat为不同背景的人提供了一个简单而强大的途径，让他们走到一起，实现生活中最有意义的事情。一个体面的家，是的，但也是与我们人类同胞的真正纽带。吉米·卡特曾经说过:“这是一种纽带，它伴随着高墙的建立和壁垒的拆除。”。
除了为世界各地的弱势群体建造房屋，卡特夫妇还分享了观鸟和飞钓的共同爱好，甚至在他们位于佐治亚州的房产上建造了一个飞钓池。
在2021年接受美国广播公司新闻采访时，卡特夫妇被问及他们是如何保持幸福婚姻这么多年的。吉米·卡特将他们婚姻的长久归功于从事他们都感兴趣的项目和爱好，并给彼此空间去追求个人兴趣。
吉米·卡特在2021年接受美国广播公司采访时说:“我们对彼此的爱越来越深。”。
他还在采访中透露，他和妻子像大多数夫妇一样争吵，但很久以前就决定永远不要带着彼此的怒气上床睡觉。
“每天晚上，当我们上床睡觉时，我们试图确保我们完全从白天的所有争论中和解，”他说。
Secrets shared by Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter on their nearly 8-decade marriage
He was the president of the United States and the governor of Georgia, butJimmy Carteralways said the "pinnacle" of his life was getting Eleanor Rosalynn Smith to marry him.
Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter were married for more than 77 years, longer than any couple to have taken up residence at the White House.
The former first lady died peacefully at home in Georgia on Sunday, the Carter Center announced. She died at age 96, just days after going into hospice care.
"Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished," Jimmy Carter said in a statement. "She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me."
Rosalynn Carter was by her husband's side when he was inaugurated as the nation's 39th president in 1977 and was his rock of support during a hostage-taking crisis at the U.S. Embassy in Iran that dogged his presidency, as well as during the crushing landslide reelection loss to Ronald Reagan that made him a one-term commander in chief.
In the twilight of their enduring love story, 99-year-old Jimmy Carter leaned on his wife once more after announcing in February 2023 that, after a series of short hospital stays, he had "decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention."
As Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter both prepared for the end, the couple had plenty of support from their four children, and their 11 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
"They are at peace and – as always – their home is full of love," the couple's grandson, Jason Carter, who chairs The Carter Center governing board, wrote in a Twitter post in February after his grandfather announced he was going into hospice care.
1945-1962: Courtship, marriage and early life together
A one-time commanding officer of a Navy submarine, Jimmy Carter – who began courting Rosalynn Smith while he was a cadet at the United States Naval Academy – often referred to his wife as his "secret weapon," both on the campaign trail and in their private life.
"When I first had a date with her, the next morning I told my mother, that was the girl I wanted to marry," Jimmy Cartertold ABC News in July 2021, as he and his wife emerged from COVID-19 isolation to celebrate their 75th wedding anniversary.
In the same interview, Rosalynn Carter said she turned him down the first time he proposed, saying she had promised her father on his deathbed that she would finish college before she wed.
"But he was persistent and I gave in," she told ABC News, adding, "Life with Jimmy Carter has been an adventure."
In a 2015 interview at The Carter Center, the couple's humanitarian organization, Jimmy Carter reflected on life with his wife, saying, "The best thing I ever did was marrying Rosalynn. That's the pinnacle of my life."
They were born three years apart in the years between World War I and the Great Depression in the tiny town of Plains, Georgia. While they knew each other from childhood, and she was the best friend of his sister, Ruth, Rosalynn Carter said she didn't really notice her future husband until he was about 13.
In the 2020 book "What Makes a Marriage Last" by Phil Donahue and Marlo Thomas, Rosalynn Carter said she fell in love with a photograph of Jimmy Carter that Ruth Carter had on her bedroom wall.
"I didn't know a single boy I thought I'd want to spend my life with until Jimmy Carter came calling," she said in the book. But at the time, Jimmy Carter had left Plains for Annapolis, Maryland, to enroll in the Naval Academy.
As fate would have it, while back home on a break from the Naval Academy, Jimmy Carter found himself without a date because his then-girlfriend was at a family reunion, he recalled in "What Makes a Marriage Last."
"I was cruising around with my sister, Ruth, and her boyfriend, just looking for a date, and I picked up Rosalynn in front of the Methodist church," he recalled. "I just felt compatible with her. She was beautiful and innocent, and there was a resonance. We rode in the rumble seat of a Ford pickup – Ruth and her boyfriend in the front – and I kissed her on that first date. I remember that vividly."
The couple married on July 7, 1946, and traveled the world while he was deployed to different bases, including Pearl Harbor, as a submarine officer.
1963-1981: Life in politics
After leaving the Navy in 1953, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter returned to Plains, where he took over his family's peanut-growing farm while also serving in the Navy Reserve for several years. He became active in the local Democratic Party, opposing racial segregation and supporting the emerging Civil Rights movement.
In 1963, with his wife at his side, Jimmy Carter was elected to the Georgia State Senate and in 1970, he campaigned for governor of Georgia and won. During their time in the governor's mansion, Rosalynn Carter focused on issues of mental health, serving on the Governor's Commission to Improve Services for the Mentally and Emotionally Handicapped. She also became her husband's chief advisor in running the state.
Rosalynn Carter expanded that role in 1975 when her husband ran as a dark horse candidate for U.S. president, helping him defeat incumbent President Gerald Ford.
During his presidency, Jimmy Carter openly called his wife his "secret weapon" and frequently requested she sit in on cabinet meetings and even some national security briefings. He credited her as being his confidant during the Camp David Accords and the Iranian hostage crisis.
1981-present: Life after the White House
After his resounding defeat to Ronald Reagan in 1980, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter returned to Plains. Instead of resting on their laurels, they threw themselves into humanitarian work, joining forces with Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit group founded in 1976 by a Christian couple named Millard and Linda Fuller, with the stated mission of "seeking to put God's love into action" by building homes for people in need.
"Habitat provides a simple but powerful avenue for people of different backgrounds to come together to achieve those most meaningful things in life. A decent home, yes, but also a genuine bond with our fellow human beings. A bond that comes with the building up of walls and the breaking down of barriers," Jimmy Carter once said.
In addition to building houses for the disadvantaged around the world, the Carters also shared a mutual love for bird-watching and fly-fishing, even building a fly-fishing pond on their Georgia property.
In the 2021 interview with ABC News, the Carters were asked how they stayed happily married for so many years. Jimmy Carter attributed the longevity of their union to working on projects and hobbies they are both interested in and giving each other space to pursue individual interests.
"We've always gone deeper in our love for one another," Jimmy Carter told ABC News in 2021.
He also revealed in the interview that he and his wife argued like most couples, but decided long ago never to go to bed angry with each other.
"Every night we try to make sure that we are completely reconciled from all the arguments during the day when we go to bed," he said.
