This is the story of Rosalynn Carter, considered by many to be the most powerful First Lady in America's history. The author traces Rosalynn Carter's background in simple, dramatic terms through her childhood, her adolescence, her first meeting with the President as a teenager, their courtship and marriage. We follow the Carters through the birth of their children, a Navy career, the family business, grueling political campaigns, and on up to Rosalynn's life as First Lady.
The book is rich in personal anecdotes, intimate insights into this remarkable woman's makeup, and her relationships with all the people in her multi-faceted private life. Rosalynn was a hard-working smalltown girl who rose to become the gracious and knowledgeable hostess to heads of state, as well as a warm and loving mother and wife to her own family. But above all, Rosalynn Carter is shown as the President's most important emissary as she rides evenly and forcefully on the tide of her partner's public life. Her mission, begun with their marriage, grew though rigorous political campaigning in backwoods whistle-stops to opening doors for for him so that he would become known.
Dawn Langley Simmons, author of eleven books (including the biography JACQUELINE KENNEDY, with Ann Pinchot) researched material for this book on Rosalynn Carter by spending a great deal of time visiting in Plains, Georgia, and staying with local families, as well as on St. Simon's Island, Georgia, where the First Family often came. Prior to the election she met and talked with Rosalynn Carter, Miss Lillian, the late Alton Carter (the family's patriarch), Billy Carter, and Amy. She has spent much time with Miss Alice (Mrs. Alice Smith), Rosalynn's mother, and considers this book "a three-year labor of love."
Dawn Langley SImmons is the adopted daughter of the late Dame Margaret Rutherford, the beloved British actress. She lives in upstate New York.