Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter are celebrating their 74th wedding anniversary. The couple was married on this day in 1946 in Plains, Georgia, when he was 21 and she was 18.
Throughout their marriage, the Carters have journeyed from Plains to Georgia’s Governor’s Mansion to the White House.
The former president is now 95 years old and the oldest-living president in U.S. history. In March 2019, Carter passed the record previously held by former president George H.W. Bush who was 94 years, 171 days old when he died in 2018.
The Carters also have the longest marriage of any presidential couple. Their longstanding romance started at a young age. When growing up in Plains, Rosalynn was a frequent playmate of Jimmy's younger sister.
Credit: Associated Press
Credit: Associated Press
In 1945, Jimmy asked Rosalynn to go to the movies with him while he was home on leave from the U.S. Naval Academy. When his mother asked him what he thought of Rosalynn the next day, he is said to have responded, "she's the one I'm going to marry."
In his 2015 book, “A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety,” Carter wrote of his first date with his future wife, “She was remarkably beautiful, almost painfully shy, obviously intelligent, and yet unrestrained in our discussion on the rumble seat of the Ford Coupe.”
Credit: Jimmy Carter Library
Credit: Jimmy Carter Library
It’s been nearly 40 years since Carter lost his re-election campaign to Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential contest. However, both he and Rosalynn have been extremely busy in the years since leaving the political arena.
The couple founded the Carter Center in 1982, with a mission to advance peace and improve health worldwide. They frequently volunteer with Habitat for Humanity and have worked for voting rights across the world.
In 1999, then-President Bill Clinton awarded Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter the Presidential Medal of Freedom. “Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter have done more good things for more people in more places than any other couple on the face of the Earth,” Clinton said at the time.
» Jimmy Carter: Man of the people
On Carter’s 75th birthday he was asked about the most important thing he had done with his life, without hesitation he said, “Marrying Rosalynn,” according to the Carter Center.
» ‘Always on my bucket list:’ Going to Plains, Sunday school with Jimmy Carter
