In November 1977, New Zealand Prime Minister Robert Muldoon and wife Thea visited US President Jimmy Carter and wife Rosalynn in Washington. The wives chatted over coffee while the menfolk talked in the Oval Office.
Rosalynn Carter, who died on November 19 aged 96, was not the traditional First Lady. With her advocacy work for mental health and women’s rights, she was perhaps the Michelle Obama of her generation.
The archives of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, where this photo comes from, also contain the staff-prepared talking points for the Muldoons’ visit, which coincided with the publication of the Prime Minister’s memoir. One prompt for the President was: “The Prime Minister’s second book, which is called Muldoon, is coming out today. You would have called your own book, Carter, except at the time most people thought your last name was ‘Who?’”
As a tireless campaigner for her husband when he ran for Governor of Georgia and the presidency, Rosalynn Carter did much to solve her husband’s anonymity problem. The now 99-year-old Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist and statesman said after her death: “Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished.”
Married in 1946 when he was 21 and she was 18, the Carters were the longest-married US President and First Lady in history.
