♪♪ good afternoon. i am chris jansing. thank you for joining us for special coverage of the service to honor the life of former first lady rosalynn carter. we are watching an extraordinary gathering that is making its way to atlanta. that service is scheduled to begin in the coming minutes. rosalynn carter died last week at the age of 96. today she is being remembered both for her tireless humanitarian efforts, and, of course, her life long love story with her husband, former president jimmy carter. you see the empty pews there. and they will soon be filled with some of the most notable politicians in the country, among the mourners at glen memorial church. they include president biden and first lady jill biden, vice president harris and second gentleman doug inhofe, former president bill clinton and hillary clinton, along with every other living former first lady, laura bush will be there, michelle obama, melania trump. even at that, the most moving image we expect to see today will be of president carter himself. 99 years old, in hospice care since february, he is making a rare public appearance to honor his wife, a woman he called an extension of myself. over their more than 77 years of marriage, the two did everything together, what a great picture of them there, often sitting close to each other, his arm around her, or you can see that wherever they went, holding hands. in her final hours, the two had their beds positioned so they could be face to face. rosalynn carter was much more than the wife of a former president. although history will remember her for helping elevate that position. she carved out a unique role in american life, spending decades as one of the nation's leading advocates for mental health and women's rights. her combination of tenacity and southern charm earning her the nickname the steel magnolia. it is that spirit that drove what may have been her life's work, to create what she described as a more caring society. her own words are quoted prominently in the program for today's service, do what you can to show you care about others, and you will make our world a better place. nbc's blayne alexander joins me from atlanta. kelly o'donnell is at the white house for us. richard lui joins me here in new york. also with me, msnbc contributor jonathan alter, author of "his very best: jimmy carter, a life." so good to have all of you with us. i was watching a little earlier, seeing the hearse just pulling up outside the church. set the scene for us, blayne. >> reporter: you're absolutely right. there have been so many stunning scenes already so far this morning as we watched those dignitaries that you rattled off, watched the motorcades pull up and watch the reverence here. i want to tell you about something you can't see outside the church, what is happening inside is invitation only with live streamed, but just across the street from where i'm standing, there are dozens and dozens of people leaning up against barricades, coming out to pay their respects, to catch a glimpse of the former first lady's casket and the other people who are coming and this kind of represents something that we have seen all along, from plains to america's georgia to the carter center and at emory university, which is so many people are just coming out to line the streets and show their love and respect for the former first lady. so, yes, as we set the scene with that, what we're expecting to see inside really is going to be a beautiful reflection of a life well lived. of course you talked about the very big names, current and past occupants of the white house that are going to be here. and certainly when we talk about that, we talk about her husband, knowing the fact he is 99 years old, he's been in hospice care since february we know it was not easy for him to get here. it is 160 miles or so from their hometown down in plains up here to atlanta. he made that trip, i'm told he was here yesterday, he was resting to make sure that he could be in attendance today. so, in addition to the names that we know, we're also going to hear from their children. grandchildren, great grandchildren are all going to play a role. much of the music that we hear is going to be music that was very special to rosalynn carter. music that were her favorite songs and arrangements, even one of the pianists will be somebody who was a long time favorite of the carters. so this is certainly going to wrap up her rich life of service and we'll see so much of her personality reflected during this service today, chris. >> thank you so much for that, blayne. you see governor brian kemp walking in with his first lady, the mayor of atlanta georgia i believe was coming in behind. this was a driven and yet humble woman. her father drove a school bus and ran a farm. her mother worked in the school lunch room. when she was asked how she would like to be remembered, this is what she said. i would like for people to think that i took advantage of the opportunities i had and did the best i could. how do you think what we'll see in the next hour or two will reflect not just the girl who grew up in plains, georgia, not just the first lady, but the way she really lived her life to reflect the values that she held. >> well, chris, this was an epic american life. when you think about that tiny town of 650 people that both jimmy and rosalynn carter came from, and they met 96 years ago, just days after rosalynn smith was born because jimmy's mother was a nurse and she delivered rosalynn. so that's how long they knew each other. but this life of decency and strength and commitment and honesty, it is such a refreshing message in today's world that we can celebrate a woman who led life as it really should be led. i think that's a value judgment we can make, that this was a model american life. >> she was not afraid to stand up for things that may have been controversial, maybe not popular, or ahead of her time. she really profoundly believed , for example, in the era, we talked about women's rights. when she founded the rosalynn carter institute for caregivers, she said there are four kinds of people in this world, those who have been caregivers, those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers. why was this so important to her? >> and she brought that same message, chris, to congress, to say this is important. you know, it started when she was a kid, a child, helping mom to take care of dad, dad was battling cancer, she was a child caregiver. that moved on to later on then caring for her husband, jimmy carter, and then later on receiving care, so, she lived all four of those descriptions that she brought to us when she started that particular foundation and institute. and it is something that came very strangely was when they were running for governor, and she was out in the streets, and she met a couple that needed help, was going through an emotional battle. she got in line for jimmy carter and said what are you going to do to help the fellow georgians? he said what are you doing getting in line for q&a and he said this counts. he said i guess we better do something and she said who is going to do it, he said, i guess i know, you. she was a trailblazer about thinking about others. >> there is no doubt about that. we are looking at the outside of the church. we saw arriving on the the inside georgia's two u.s. senators, raphael warnock and jon ossoff as we continue to wait for the many other dignitaries to arrive. we should note, kelly o'donnell, that despite the fact that president biden and other notable politicians are going to attend today, none of them will be speaking. and, in fact, president biden isn't just there because he's president. he has a long history with the carters, that goes back to 1976, if not before. tell us about that relationship that continued through all those decades. >> it is indeed a long and enduring relationship and president biden would be quick to say he was the first u.s. senator to endorse jimmy carter as a candidate. he was young in his senate career then. and, of course, we often make a point of the age of the current president. well, part of his long sweep of public life means he was in office and working with jimmy carter when he was acting as president. so it is a long relationship. and it is one that certainly settles on a lot of the same causes and concerns. and we also saw how president biden knew in his time in office, made a special trip with the first lady, dr. jill biden, to visit with the carters personally at their home in plains to make that connection again. and certainly it is a part of a long friendship, and part of the respect that when we see the current president, former president clinton, who also had as a -- he was also a southern democratic governor, when he became president, part of their bond, and as you know, chris, it is tradition when we say good-bye to first ladies that all the living first ladies attend and so that is part of why we're se when a former president dies, it is elevated to a state funeral. this is something that is about more family and her life story, which is why the current president is not speaking, the carter family gets to create this remembrance and tribute ceremony today. i've spent a lot of time in plains and when you are there, you also see how really two different parts of rosalynn carter come together. it is the woman known by her community, where the good works and the organizations that she has been so a part of are thriving there. and, of course, the national and global reputation. when a president and first lady are in office there, perhaps the most famous people in the world and in small plains, she and president carter remained incredibly important to that community. even as the politics around them has changed over time, they are beloved in their hometown and the work that they do has been very much about contributing to their neighbors, to people around the globe, with democracy, and healthcare policy, people around the country who needed a home built through habitat for humanity, there has been so much that they have been actively doing, while leading in many ways a simple kind of life. famous, involved, politically engaged, mrs. carter did not shy away from saying that she enjoyed politics and that is something right there we're seeing the daughter of former president johnson, that's linda baynes johnson, with her husband chuck robb, a former senator in the state of virginia. so you get a sense that presidential families come together here. and that's part of what these tributes are, as you know, fist ladies are beloved in a way, in our country, that goes beyond the politics of the moment. and that is part of why you'll see that reflected of the respect and the honor and the affection which we don't often see in politics. but we do when it comes to our first ladies, chris. >> i would say, jonathan, the admiration for the carters and people who may not have agreed at all with the politics of the president or some of the stands that rosalynn carter made or the way she really broke barriers as a first lady. at the time, it seemed like that was a little step too far. and yet it is impossible almost to find someone who doesn't admire the way that she has lived her life, the way that she has continued to serve, and maybe a little envy of the relationship that they had as well. you were fortunate enough to spend time with them, when you were writing his book. tell us about the rosalynn carter you saw. >> just tremendously gracious, charming, and strong, formidable woman. when you spoke to her, you had the sense of a -- a unique combination of compassion and a willingness to work on behalf of what she believed and a lot of people are compassionate, they write a check once and a while for something, but they don't actually get out there and do something. and it is interesting that this service today is being held in a methodist church on the campus of emory university. rosalynn carter was born and raised a methodist, and then she became a baptist and for many decades and they worshipped at a baptist church, but the credo of methodism is do as much as you can for as many as you can for as long as you can. and for rosalynn carter, that wasn't a platitude. every time you talked to her, she had a charming sense of humor, she would always be back on point about what could they do, even if it was building a path for butterflies, literally, in plaplains, georgia, there is butterfly path that she developed. and that was one of hundreds -- >> literally hundreds. >> -- literally hundreds of things that she did locally and nationally and internationally as kelly o'donnell pointed out. >> i just want to say, today, some of the women walking in are actually wearing butterfly pins. it is one of the things she is known for. >> but i just think that it is the reason that she was always popular, even when her husband slipped way down in the polls, she was never unpopular. there was some controversy when she began sitting in on cabinet meetings, silently, but the controversy ended because people in washington understood that she was actually making a significant policy contribution. and the fact that her husband, as she said often stubborn husband didn't always listen to her didn't mean that all the aides and senators weren't glad that she was in the room. because her advice was very sound, especially her political advice. and so this really -- it was very hard to find anybody, didn't find anybody in five years of research, 250 interviews for my book, and a lot of the book is about rosalynn carter, i didn't find a single person with a critical word to say about her. not true of her husband. but it was true of her. that's how formidable and gracious and impressive she was. >> part of what is impressive is, again, the work that she did, what she accomplished, richard. you know the field of care giving very well, having done it for your dad, written a book about it, observed what rosalynn carter did. it is not an easy subject or to dedicate yourself too. care giving by its nature is extraordinarily difficult, often done for a person you love. often done at your own emotional, physical, mental expense. >> right. >> what was it about her, do you think that made her able to do that and i'm curious, and feel free to jump in as well on this, jonathan, their relationship in the end. i mean, he was still teaching sunday school when he was 96. she was still doing work well into her -- >> he would be cutting the grass and she would be vacuuming. just to give you a sense of how modest they were. >> i think there is -- >> $160,000, you know, this is -- these are people who did not believe in putting on airs, put it mildly. >> if i'm remembering correctly, in your book, you actually write about someone, he was -- he was in the church yard working. and somebody walked up to him, we lost the signal for a second, somebody walked up to him and asked if this was a church, where the former president worshipped, and it was jimmy carter and he said, yes, it is. and when he went inside, she was working as you say, inside the sanctuary, they were people who would eat off of paper plates, right? >> i did that with them. yeah. and they weren't faking it. this was who they were. some people thought it was a mistake for jimmy carter to depomp the presidency. the president should seem more like a king. they didn't really think that. occasionally she thought her husband went too far when he would turn down the temperature as part of his conservation efforts and she said, jimmy, can't you turn up the temperature a little bit. but mostly she went along with that modesty. >> and then their famous bills around the world, they were building homes for those in need, they would not stay in a special tent. they would not eat in any other different place. you would see them walking around in these builds when i was with them over the last ten years and they would eat from the same paper plates that you're talking about, hold hands and kiss in public, and they would sit with everybody in the middle of the mess hall that were building homes, that truly was who they were and are. that idea of them taking care of each other and what you started the hour by saying they faced each other, i've been speaking with the team and they keep on talking about what will now, the former president do, because a famous cartoon that is circulated within their team, rosalynn carter's team specifically, is a cartoon showing them facing each other. this is before they actually had beds facing each other, and in the bubble it says, i'm your caregiver. and in his bubble, it says, i'm your caregiver. them taking care of each other. so the journey now when i was speaking with chip carter on sunday was, you know what, i don't know what my dad is going to do now, and through his tears right now, what i realized, he also told me it was the first time that he hugged his dad when he was 65, talking about this very topic. and at the age of 65 he went through that for the third time this is a topic very close, but also something not necessarily often talked about. as jonathan so well said in his book, they're a very public but very private family at the same time. this is a small town gathering that we're seeing here in atlanta. and it is a big town event, though. and when i was talking with chip, he was saying -- >> let me play a little bit. the interview was so great. we don't have an opportunity to hear from the family very often. so this is part of richard's conversation with chip carter. >> every morning when i walked into the house, i would say, the only reason i came is for my hug, you know? she would -- i would get a great hug, been doing that for many years before the last six, but that's the reason i came down, at least as far as she was concerned and that was a big deal. that was part of it. i would walk in and she would hold her arms up wanting a hug. that was good. >> and, you know, chris, during that, he also said there were days she did not recognize him. but once they would open their arms together, she would go oh, and she would come up and hug him and during that hug there would be that moment of saying, that's you, chip. he would drive, talking about care giving, two to three times a week, six-hour round trip, to go down and take care of both of them. he was certainly the guy that showed up, throughout this entire time, and so right now for him, it is really what will be next. he was saying thursday will be the day that he can really sit down with and he was talking about crying and just letting himself feel through what will now be a different journey as he now has to take the lead in taking care of his father, where it was his mother, rosalynn carter, who had been doing that. >> just on the care giving point, in the 1970s, before, this concept didn't exist. there are currently 53 million caregivers in the united states. they didn't even have a category, much of it is unpaid work, of course. >> and untrained. >> and rosalynn did so much to kind of put it on the map as an idea that this -- that this work has value and she had to do a lot of it in her own family, including for chip who has been very public about his past substance abuse problems, others in the family had all the kinds of problems that afflict most american families and she was often the caregiver. and, but then, jimmy carter became the caregiver. the reason he went into hospice, he did not want to spend another night apart from her, back in the hospital. he said i'm not ever going in the hospital again, i'm going to stay here with rosalynn. >> and so he did. you're seeing a gathering there. these are the honorary pallbearers, the grandchildren of rosalynn and jimmy carter. jason, sarah, margaret, hugo, john mi