Everybody know everything you do and i just tell them that we will born and raised as still live in planes, georgia. It has a population of 683 and everybody has always known everything. I did and jim has never had any yeah, im scandal in his personal life. I really believe he can restore that Honesty Integrity openness confidence and government that we so soul in need in our country today. I think youll be a great person. That was Rosalyn 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. Wanted to influence public policy. She became known as a staunch advocate for those struggling with their Mental Health youll 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. Of february 1977 event at the white house after president carter signed an executive order creating a Mental Health commission, which she served as active honorary chair and important early forum now listen to her in her own words. As you probably know for the past. Year and a half a little more i have campaigned all over the country. My biographical sketch. I had a little paragraph that said that i was interested in Mental Health and so everywhere i went if people had a good program. They wanted me to see it. I had a chance to see things happening all over this country that are good. Also had so things happening that i thought needed help. Hope for the establishment of this commission. I know that we can give some of that help. We have a chance. To do great things in our country. I thought until today that i was going to be the chairperson and i got a little i got. A little note from somebody that says you according to the office of Legal Council at the department of justice and so forth the prep prohibits the president from appointing a close relative such as a wife to a civilian position a civilian position may be unpaid as well as pay justice is advised that the 20 members of the commission including the chair will in fact be serving in civilian positions there is however, no problem with your being designated as honorary chairperson, so im going to be very active honorary chairperson. I intend to were going to have we have office space in the executive office building, which is very close. I will be spending many hours a week there. I will be traveling i will be involved in the fact finding process traveling over the country for hearings in the next six months. I intend to be active he could he could hardly say im going to be president. It was just something that was you never ever dreamed what happened. And but it was excited. I was excited about it. I had campaigned. The whole last year before the a governance race for him and it was hard and amy was a baby. And i didnt like to leave her all the time. But i enjoyed it. I mean i learned so much about our state. We have 159 candidates. I knew. The capital of every county i knew i mean and and issues. In fact, thats how i got involved in Mental Health issues running campaigning for jimmy. They had our big Mental Health facility hospital theyve been a big expose. And the and the Mental Health systems act had been passed in 19. Now. This was yeah. 63 and this was 1966 when jimmy first ran for governor. Got beat that time but we got in late because i lead in Democratic Candidates had a heart attack. But they were moving people out of the hospital because like 12,000 people where they had room for 3,000. It was awful. It was happening all over the country and theyre moving them out before they had any facilities from that no services in the communities and everybody started talking to me 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 public. Thats what i did in georgia developed a good program in georgia, by the way, but dont just didnt come and so one day i was walking in the down floor dance as flow in the white house and met this woman who was one of the press people thats it. You know, i would cover my nobody ever covers my meetings in she said miss carter. Mental health is just not a sexy issue and that with and that i didnt like but i never did get very much coverage for it. But we two of the country and it was needed to developed legislation and past the Mental Health systems act of 1980 it passed through congress. One month before jim as he says was involuntarily retired from the white house and the incoming president put it on his show never implemented. It was one of the greatest disappointments of my life. Youre watching American History tv where youre listening to Rosalind Carter in her own words. Coming up her role as a political and policy partner to president carter serving a groundbreaking role as a representative of the country on foreign trips. Youll also hear her assessment of what she believes to be jimmy carters greatest achievement. And her memories of the iranian hostage crisis, which consumed her husband through the last months of his presidency. I bring you greetings from latin america and the caribbean. Its in grand placer academy a starkey. Ive done this for two weeks and i couldnt resist but seriously, it was a good trip. This morning in venezuela president perry said to me that jim is pan american they speech and my visit to latin america had open new pairs in into American Relations instead of the paternalism that his characterized the past. We are ready and eager. To develop balanced natural normal and equal relationships a fan goodwill and friendship everywhere. I went. They love you in the caribbean and in latin america. And every head of state that i spoke with without exception. Agreed with me on the importance. Of cooperating and consulting closely on the issues that concern you jimmy and the concern us all human rights Nuclear Nonproliferation economic development. Arms control. I think weve made progress in all of these areas. Im glad to be back home. Im glad to be with amy and with jamie. Im going to convey all of this information that i have to jamie. In fact. I look forward to consulting closely with him on a regular basis. I think my role was more one. Of a sounding board for jimmy could explain the issues to me and in the process think them through. Any new i was interested in them because i had been all over the country telling people what he was going to do. And then i wanted to be sure he did. And and i could go add into the countryside and talked to people presents can become very isolated and one reason is because i have such huge entourages when they go out and they cant really get answers from people, but also people tell a president what he wants to hear. And i could i could get information and about how the Energy Crisis at that time was hurting people problems of the elderly had one woman. Tell me that her house had been taken away because she had paid for it, but her husband had taken a second mortgage on it. And in that state there were no laws. But prevented her husband from losing the house those kinds of things i could come home and bring to jimmy and then as he struggled with an issue, maybe something i said would help him and i just make a decision. When when the administration began for example you and and he was going through the process of choosing a cabinet. Did you weigh in on any of those decisions or did he ask your advice on various individuals . I thought the battle of we had a lot of input from people jimmy would jimmy consulted a lot of people about who would be best with certain positions and then we would have a nato list and then would narrow it down. I told him what i thought about people out, which i always did with issues and so forth. I always told him he always knew how i felt. Sometimes you took my advice and sometimes he made the decision. Were you . Do you think that your voice was one he tended to listen to. With greater that had greater weight than perhaps some of his other advisors. Just because sometimes a spouse. Is not going to necessarily have the kind of outside agenda that an employee or an appointee might someday have i dont know whether on some things that i knew about like Mental Health and womens issues and problems of the elderly and those kinds of things. He always listened to what i had to say, but there were so many issues that i didnt know about he could talk to me. For instance. We were trying to make latin America Nuclear free zone so he talked to me all about the whole issue. Of i think the brazilians had bought a power plant from the germans and we were trying. To prevent that sale going through didnt make very good friends in germany. Absolutely. Theres no academic advise him on that. But i knew that he knew what he wanted to do. I knew that we wanted a Nuclear Free Zone and so i when i went to latin america, i could talk to the head of state about it. But as well, our relationship was not one when i said this is what you ought to do. That was never that way. I told him how i felt i told him what i learned when i went out in the countryside. I went to latin america and then he made the decision. We had so few women in congress, but then its been a long time since jimmy was. President i mean amy was nine years old and last week. She had 27th birthday. Been a long time and there were not very many women in congress at that time. And that we were working really hard to elect women all over the country and working really hard to get the equal rights amendment ratified. That was an effort that you joined at the in use in the womens conference, you joined mrs. Ford and mrs. Johnson. As a joint effort i the womens conference, but then i knew every single legislator in every single state who was against the equal rights and then and i called everyone of them more than one time. And i think we had two in florida and two in nevada somewhere 11 in one state if we had gotten i think it was maybe 13 maybe 13 more votes. We could have ratified they could write some amendment. We really worked on but then we were able we were able to get the extension through i think that was 1978. We got the extension for ratification. Four years and then of course another president came in office and that was all gone. What about the the tendency of the press to sort of pigeonhole people, i mean theres a was an easily easy character created of Hillary Clinton and of nancy reagan and have barbara bush of you of all of the first ladies. How much how wide was the gap between the the press perception of you and and who you really were who you you felt should be conveyed to the press. I remember after jimmy was elected. There was a whole page cartoon in the Washington Post with the carter family. Jim is mother me. And there were haystacks we had on straw hats and there was drove between ideas. From that to being the Steel Magnolia and but i thought that was pretty good because steel is tough and magnolia southern. And then i was fuzzy. That was fussy for a while. And then i was most powerful. So i had a full range of images. I didnt think i was any of that. I was proud. I was from the south. I hope i was tough. I didnt think i was fuzzy when we came to washington. I knew what i wanted to do. I had worked on Mental Health problems wajima was governor. I had been the governors wife. I have had my projects. I had entertained ambassadors instead of heads of state had entertained, georgia legislators instead of congress people. There was a lot that i had learned. And i couldnt wait to get to washington to work on Mental Health because i had a chance to do it in the whole country and in the campaign had a sentence in my biographical sketch saying that i was interested in Mental Health issues and so everywhere i went in the country campaigning people would show me the Mental Health facilities. Either because they were proud of them a few were proud of them because they were good mostly because that needed help. And so even before jim was inaugurated after he was elected i had put together a Mental HealthTask Force President s commission on Mental Health jimmy announced that wed been in the white house less than a month. Ive been working on the equal rights amendment. I wanted to get that ratified. And had worked i think maybe my interest in problems of the elderly came in the campaign because when your campaigning people in a community will take you with our crowds of people and they always take you to a Golden Age Club a Convalescent Home because a lot of people there and most of them they were democrats and they would want me to go visit them and so i came really interested in in those. I worked on immunization. I had a good Immunization Program in georgia worked on immunization. So and i knew i had an agenda when i got to the white house. And you what i wanted to do. I was frustrated because i couldnt. Always get the kind of publicity. I wanted to about my issues. In fact, i announced my Mental Health task force. The presence commissioner Mental Health, excuse me. I have a Mental Health task for us now at the corazon, but this was the president s commission on Mental Health. It had a big ceremony invited people from all over the country who interested in Mental Health the leaders in the field. And i was really excited had great people the best people in the country. The next day i picked up the Washington Post and not one word. Not one word. I was really distressed New York Times had a good order. There was not one word. And so then i fussed about it. And people depressed some of the press we would come to came to maybe one or two meetings, but we worked. On those and that task force and that commission and we met long hours and we were and finally one of the press people said doing. Well mrs. Carter Mental Health is just not a sexy issue. Well that made me mad. I was really made me mad. So its frustrated sometimes because they would cover the things that i didnt think was important. And they didnt cover in i didnt want Mental Health cover, but because it was my project. But the stigma is so bad. And that if people are in the country know that its an acceptable thing to work on, you know, it could help people out in the country. So i really wanted it to be covered. So they were frustrating tense, but i had things that i wanted to do when i came to the white house you in 1977. The first lady was still traditionally covered by reporters writing for the womens pages and most of the attention was focused on social matters. As kathy said yesterday on the panel, the press was more interested in what i was going to wear then in the projects i intended to take on. They were that point so interested in my inaugural gown, and they wanted to know why i was only serving wine at state dentist rather than how i expected to improve care for many people with mental illnesses. It was a very traditional and narrow view of the first ladies role and it presented my staff with a lot of problems. I remember when we first met to review the organization of the first ladys office, there were four secretaries social press appointments and personal. No one to help with the things that i had planted to do, and i i had pledged in the campaign. Have jimmys start a president s commission on establish a presence commission on Mental Health . I want to get the equal rights amendment ratified. I want to work on elderly issues. Id seen so many people in the campaign. I had been i think every Senior Citizens facility in the country. I had all kinds of plans and after several weeks of studying we created a Brand New Office director of projects. Can you believe that it took that long to have a director of project. It still exists today and but still in georgia, i think you might remember jimmy cut my staff. About everybody and but but i did rely on volunteers, but i learned one thing very quickly that its very difficult for people to say no to the first lady of the United States so i could call on experts. So i generally finished my work by five and afternoon. And he would call me about 4 30 and say were going to jog and a little while were gonna play tennis or something. So i had to stop planning anything after 4 30 and the afternoon we would just do some take some kind of exercise if it was raining. Wed go down and bowl in the Bowling Alley down stairs in the white house and just just have some time together. This is carter as you sit in this