The Adorable Poem Jimmy Carter Wrote About His First Date With Rosalynn

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter experienced the longest presidential marriage ever, and their record-setting romance spanned 77 years. They both grew up in Plains, Georgia, a town with about 600 people in the mid-1920s. Their families happened to be neighbors, and since Jimmy's mom was a nurse, she helped deliver Rosalynn. Within days, she introduced toddler Jimmy to newborn Rosalynn. As kids, Rosalynn had a closer bond with Jimmy's sister Ruth, and it would take 17 years until she and her future husband went on their first date. 

When she was a teen, Rosalynn became captivated by Ruth's picture of Jimmy in his U.S. Naval Academy uniform. Ruth supported her friend and tried to play matchmaker between Jimmy and Rosalynn. For years, Rosalynn's affections were unrequited, until fate intervened. 

In 1945, when Jimmy was back in Georgia for a brief visit, he was out driving with Ruth and her boyfriend. The woman Jimmy was seeing was busy that night, and he was looking for a date. In a rom-com-worthy situation, Jimmy happened to see 17-year-old Rosalynn in front of the town's United Methodist Church. Rosalynn was planning to attend a youth meeting when Jimmy invited her to go to a movie. Rosalynn agreed, and it was a pivotal decision. Jimmy was instantly smitten. The next day he proclaimed to his mother, "She's the one I'm going to marry," per USA Today. Fifty years later, Jimmy included a poem about that unforgettable night in his book, "Always a Reckoning."

Decades later, even though Jimmy Carter recalled the title of the film he watched on his first date with Rosalynn Carter, other images from the evening remained. The former U.S. President used poetry to convey his experience, writing in 1995's "Always a Reckoning," writing "I'd pay to sit behind her, blind to / what was on the screen, and watch the image flicker/ upon her hair" (via NPR). Jimmy was drawn to more than just Rosalynn's appearance, however. Their conversations that night presaged a meeting of minds that was the foundation of their equal partnership. Rosalynn was "obviously intelligent, and yet unrestrained in our discussion on the rumble seat of the Ford Coupe," Jimmy wrote in his 2015 memoir, "A Full Life."

Even though Jimmy was head over heels in love with Rosalynn, she turned down his marriage proposal multiple times. He persevered until May 1946, when Rosalynn finally accepted.  To commemorate the occasion, Jimmy gave his beloved a compact with the inscription "ILYTG," which stood for "I love you the goodest," a family motto. 

Rosalynn's reason for saying no to Jimmy wasn't a lack of love; she was instead upholding a commitment she made to her late father. Her dad died when she was 13, and he wanted his daughter to get a college education before getting married. She succeeded, and both Jimmy and Roselynn graduated from their respective schools before their July 7, 1946 wedding.

Although he's a recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize and a former president, Jimmy Carter considers his love story with Rosalynn Carter his ultimate triumph. "The best thing I ever did was marrying Rosalynn. That's the pinnacle of my life," Jimmy explained at The Carter Center in 2015 (via X, formerly known as Twitter).

Before Rosalynn's death on November 20, 2023, she and Jimmy worked hard to make their relationship work. They had a particularly difficult time in 1953 when Jimmy decided to move back to their Georgia hometown to take over the family business after Jimmy's father died. Rosalynn was so angry that Jimmy made this decision that she gave him the silent treatment during their move. A turning point came during his 1966 campaign for governor of Georgia, and from that time forward, their personal and professional interests coalesced into equal partnership.

During his presidency, the Carters maintained their strong bond by frequently discussing White House business. While Rosalynn didn't hesitate to tell her husband when she didn't agree with him, she expressed her opinions privately. Over the decades, the couple strengthened their bond by finding activities they both enjoyed, like fishing, birdwatching, and reading together at bedtime. "It's kind of this lovey-dovey thing that's been going on forever," their son Chip Carter explained to The Washington Post in 2019. "They've evolved ... into an equality that I don't think many people ever get."