The schedule was grueling, almost as tough as her husbands but through all of it, rosalynn remained in earnest and gracious campaigner. People ask me how can you stand here, Everybody Knows everything you do. Are just tell them that we were born and raised in georgia with a population of 683 and everybody has always known everything i did. There was no hint of scandal in his personal life. I really believe he can restore honesty, integrity, openness, confidence in government we so sorely need in our country today. I think he will be a great president. That was Rosalynn Carter. She arrived at the white house after the 1976 campaign with a blueprint to go to work. She was a valued political partner to her husband jimmy, but found that there were many obstacles facing a first lady who wanted to influence public policy. She became known as a staunch advocate for those struggling with their Mental Health. He will hear directly from her, featuring footage from cspans video library. First, her work on Mental Health issues and why they became so important to her. February 1977 event at the white house after president carter signed an executor border creating a Mental Health commission which she served as active honorary chair, an important early for him. Now listen to her in her own words. As you probably know, for the last year and 1 2 or more, i have campaigned all over the country. My biographical sketch had a paragraph that said i was interested, everywhere i went, people wanted me to see yet. I had a chance to see things happening all over this country that are clear. I also had some things happening that i thought needed help. I hope with the establishment of this commission i know that we can give some of that help. We have a chance to do great things in the country. I thought i was going to be the chairperson and i got a little i got a little note from somebody that says according to the office of legal counsel, the department of justice, prohibits the president from promoting the wife to a civilian position. It may be unpaid as well as paid. Members of the commission, disturbing and civilian positions that is now not only being designated as honorary chairperson. [laughter] i am going to be an active honorary chairperson. I intend, we are going to have office space, the executive office, i will be spending many hours a week, traveling, involved in factfinding process traveling over the country in the next six months. I intend to be active. It was something we never dreamed would happen. But it was exciting. I was excited about it. I had campaigned the whole last year. Before the governors race. It was hard. I didnt like to leave her all the time. I enjoyed it. I learned so much about our experience. We have 159 candidates. I knew i got involved in the issue running the campaign in virginia, which was our Mental Health facility hospital, a brilliant expose and the systems acted been passed this was in 63. This was 1966 when jimmy first ran for governor. We got in late, the leading Democratic Candidates had a harder time. They were moving people out of the hospital. They had room for three guys. This was happening all over the country. Before i had any facilities in the community. About what would your husband do if hes elected governor of georgia . I just learned so much about what was going on and after we lost that election i worked. Four years to learn a little bit about Mental Health and then the first month and office the opponent of the governors commissioned improve services to the mentally and emotional handicap. I got upset with the press too, because they covered. My Mental Health work the first few. Meetings i have and then they never showed up anymore. And one of the things i wanted to do is bring attention to the issue and what a terrible it wasnt what few services they were and but and thinking just getting it out in the p just getting it out in the public and thats what i did in georgia, the vote, the Good Parliament in georgia by the way. But they just didnt come and one day i was walking on the dance floor in the white house and this woman that was one of the press people, i said covering them and said its just not a sexy issue. I didnt get very much coverage and we toured the country and found out what was needed and developed legislation and passed the Mental Health system from 1980 and the incoming president put on a show and never imin the meantimed it one of the greatest disappointments of my life. Youre watching American History tv where youre listening to rose linn carter in your own words. Coming up, her role as a lit cal and policy partner to president serving a groundbreaking role as a representative of the country on foreign trips and youll also hear her assessment of what she believes to be jimmy carters greatest achievement and iranian hostage crisis, that consumed her husbandnd through the last months of his president schism i bring you greetings fromm latin mesh and the caribbean. Ive done this for two weeks and i couldnt resist but seriously, it was a good trip. This morning the speech and my visit to latin america opened new paths into american relation and instead of the paternalism for the path. Were ready and eager to develop vowest natural, normal and equal relationships. I find good will and friendship everywhere i went. They love you in the caribbean and in latin america. Rating with the human rights Nuclear Nonproliferation and arms control and i think weve made progress in all of the areas. Im glad to be back home and glad to be with amy and jimmy. Im going to convey all of this information that i have to jimmy and i look forward to consulting closely with him on a regular lay r basis. I would go out into the country side and talk to people. President s can become very isolated and one reason is because it has such huge bank robber and one woman said he struggled and maybean somethingi said could help him and maybe make a decision. When the administration began for example and he was going to the process of choosing a cabinet. Did you weigh in any of those decisions or did he ask your advice on various individual s . I talked about a lot. People that would be best and hes the fan. After what i thought about peopleor chips act did and alwas knew how i feel and sometimes he advice and he made that decision. Were you, do you think that your voice was one he tended to listen to with greater weight and perhaps some of his other advisers just because sometimes a spouse is not going to necessarily have the kind of outside agenda that an employee or an appointee might some day have. I dont know whether on some things that i knew about like Mental Health and womens issues and problem withs the elderly and all those things and the issue theist didnt know a. C. He could talk tomy me and for instancee trying to make latin america a nuclearfree zone and talked to me about the whole issue of the brazilians bought a power plant from the germans andng were trying to prevent that from going through, didnt make very good friends on the germans. Theres no advice on that and i knew he wanted a nuclear line and going through latin america and talk to the state about it. Our relationship is not one when i said s this is what you oughto do. That wasth never that way. I told him how i felt and what i learn when had i was there in the country side going in congress and its been a long time since jimmy was praying for that. He was 9 9 years old and last wk he had a 27 birthday. Its been a long time. And there were not very much women in congress at that time. Really working hard to elect women all over the country. Working reallyd hard to get equl rrights ratified. [ applause ]. Two in florida and two in nevada somewhere, if we had gotten, i think it was maybe 13, maybe 13 more points. What about the tendency of the press to pidgeon hole people and there was an easy caricature of Hillary Clinton and barbara bush and all the first ladies. How much how wide was the gap between the press perception of you and who you really were or who you felt should be conveyed to the press . After jimmy was elected and a page in the Washington Post with the Carter Family and there was hay stacks we had on straw hats and straw between our teeth. I went from that to being steel magnolia. I thought it was pretty good because they were tough in magnolia southern. Even because they were proud of them, a few were proud of them because they were good and mostly because they needed help. So even before i put together a Mental Health and a commission on Mental Health. Its less than a month. Equal rights and then i get that past. I had worked i think maybe in problems of t the elderly campan and when youre campaigning, people will take you where theres crowds of people and then always take you to a golden age adolescent home because theres a lot of people there and most of the time they were democrats. And they want me to go visit them and i became really interested and worked in immunization and had a good program in georgia and worked on immunization and i had an agenda with the white house. Knowing what i wanted to do. I was frustrated because i couldnt get them about the issue. With that line. Some of the press could come to change maybe one or two meeting ands we worked on that task force and commission. Frustrated sometimes because theyve recovered things i didnt think was important. I really wanted it to be covered so they were frustrating times and i had things i wanted to do when i came to the white house. 1977, the first lady was traditionally covered and writing for the wins pages and he said yesterday on the powell and the press was more interested in what i was going to wear than on the project side and it all i went down. They wanted to know why i was only serving wine at state winners rather than how i expected to improve. The firsts ladys office and there wereri prayers, departmens and more. More on the campaign and the president s and the campaign with the facility in the country and i had all kinds of plans and steady planning and created a brand new director of projects and can you believe that was the director of projects. I rely on volunteers and its very difficult for people in the United States. I could call on it. Trying to finish my work at about 5 00 in the afternoon. He would call me about 4 30 and say were going to go a little while and play tennis or something so its 4 30 in the afternoon and take some kind of exercise from raining and have some time together. Together. Mrs. Carter, as you sit here in the officethe last day were at the white house and there was inauguration and president reagan came over several times and telling him to get dressed for theus inauguration and workg onon the hostage situation. Parttime with the freedom and rights they have arnold the world, and i think that since his presidency, human rights policy continued and i think as far as thats concerned, he was better off. Our country and take human rights into consideration and were better off in that way. Theres a way to have a lot of program withs the culture and Agricultural Centers in the developing countries of the world and we see that the people are not free. Too much suffering and thinking we can do to help people have a better and fair life, our country should do it and we should do and try to do it at the carter center. Waiting for the press conference in iran and there was no idea what was going on and only way to know what was going on was with hed come out and i was thinking about meeting with the families all along and thinking about the people who members were there and what it was doing about the presidency and it was awful. It. Was awful. I would go out and i would go out and campaign and i had to find out earlier that i could when the president s out, hes surrounded and people doesnt get close enough to people to have conversations normally like you would about their hopes and dreams and i didnt know what was jimmy was doing and if he could help them. I had learn that had really. During his presidency. I would go out and everybody would say, tell the president to do something. And tell him hes got to do something and he would come home and say why dont you do something and say what hes doing. Going over to the harbor and felt like a lot of people were talking about it. He said then have them bring out one prisoner every day and hang him in public. Maybe that was not the best thing to do. Tv it was every day and every night. It was awful. Listening to rose linn carter in her own words. Hear from 2011 as former first lady advocating for her special causes. The conflict resolution around the world and she is a dedicated advocate for caregivers and Mental Health issues here at home. Shes president of the Roselynn Carter at Arizona State and leads to promote the wellbeing and shes an inspiration for many and legend in her own right. Im very pleased to be here this afternoon and speaking about care giving and its a topic important to me. I was 12 years old and my father was diagnosed with leukemia at age 24. He was rather run aground. But i still vividly remember going to my secret hiding place and the outdoor place to cry where i could cry or be alone. As the oldest child and i felt the burden of needing to help care for my father and three younger siblings, i was afraid and didnt always feel like being strong, but my mother depended on me. Less than a year after my father died, my mothers mother died, and my grandfather came to live with us. Heus was 70 and lived to be 95. My h mother cared for him till e died and i helped as much as i could but i wasch married and living away much of the time. During the last few years of his life, he was bedridden and totally dependent on her and thankful to family and friends for all of his needs. They inform the appointment that was so much apart of my life in a small town. Neighbors, extended family, the church, theyre not there for millions of americans. Families are fractured and disbursed and women are not caregivers and are integrate part of the integral parts of the work force and theyre soarly lacking. About 90 is provided by unpaid, informal caregiver and most often family members and providing tests that only skilled nurses perform only a decading a and with minimal preparation and trainingg and many are for the elderly themselves and find the burden ofng caregiverring overwhelming. As we close our look at Rosalynn Carter here on American History tv, youll hear her account on the partnership and friendship she formed on the predecessor she formedd and a close relationship that mirrored the one between her husband jimmy carter and harold ford and talk about her legacy. Doing 40 yearsing a that wed develop a close personal flip and at that time friendship for life of the Vice President of the United States and she advanced for the Dance Company and performed in Carnegie Hall and shed come to michigan with the train project taking six cars with great art to Rural Communities across the country. Jimmy was governor andno we invited him to stay at the governors mansion. I was nervous and she was the mostui distinguished guest we hd ever had. It might have been a very awkward moment from personal experience it was a difficult time for her. Yet she was just betty, as gracious as always. As i assumed responsibilities as first lady, i had an excellent role mod and he will a tough act to follow. Betty broke new ground in speaking out on womens issues, herc Public Disclosure of her on battle with Breast Cancer lifted the veil of secrecy from the terrible disease and used influence from the office of first lady to promote Early Detection and millions of women are in her debt today. And she was never afraid to speak the truth. Even about the most sensitive subjects including her own struggles withpa alcohol and painkillers. She got some criticism. I thought she was wonderful, and her honesty gave hope to others every single day. But her example also helped me recover fromm jimmys loss in 1980. Having embraced the cause of better treatment for men and women recovering from alcoholism and chemical dependence, she workede tirelessly as former first lady to establish the betty ford center. We both participated in the panel in 1984 and Mental Health and came together in many ways and we could be a stronger force if we worked as partners and we did for manyy years. Im so glad she lived to see this happen. We didnt get everything we wanted, but we got a good start. I know that made her as happy as it made me. We talked about it. Before we go to washington, shed round up the republicans and i would round up the democrats and after the 1984 conference, i still treasure things and she expressed her admiration of women and had a courage of recognition and more. The most appropriate description of she was a tireless advocate for those struggling, some struggling alone and ashamed to seek help. It was a privilege to work with her to bring addiction and Mental Health problems into the light. I love her children, michael, jack, steven and susan was unbounded by her love and her grandchildren were a source of constant pleasure. We our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Here that mourn the loss of your mother, your grandmother, and great grandmother today, jimmy and i extend our most sincere sympathies and want you to know of the deep love and respect we have for this extraordinary woman. It was my privilege to know her. Thank you. Rosalynn carter, youve had 33 years, the longest in postpresident history and you and president carter have been very active. What do you think your legacy as first lady is . Or what would you like it to be . Think great opportunities for so long now. To go through africa throughout