Jimmy Carter's Personal Letter To Rosalynn Speaks Volumes About Their Relationship

Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter's love story was truly one for the ages. Their romance seemed almost fated because Jimmy's family lived next door to Rosalynn's, and their mothers were friends. In fact, the future president was only three when he laid eyes on a newborn Rosalynn. The future first lady gradually developed a close friendship with Jimmy's sister as she grew up. Then, when Rosalynn was 17, she went out on her first date with a 20-year-old Jimmy. Speaking to The Washington Post in 2018, the beloved politician recalled how he informed his mother the very next day that he had found The One. Suffice it to say, Jimmy didn't share that sentiment lightly, as he later told Oprah Winfrey that he popped the question less than a year later, but Rosalynn declined. 

However, the future president wasn't deterred and he persisted until she finally agreed in May 1946, with the lovebirds tying the knot in July. Jimmy and Rosalynn's dreamy marriage only got stronger as the years went by. The happy couple remained by each other's sides until the former first lady passed away in 2023. During her memorial service, their daughter, Amy Carter, teared up as she read a sweet love letter that her father wrote to her mother. "While I am away I try to convince myself that you really are not, could not be as sweet and beautiful as I remember," it read. "But when I see you I fall in love with you all over again. Does that seem strange to you? It doesn't to me," (via YouTube).

Jimmy Carter immortalized his first date with Rosalynn Carter with an adorable poem. In the former president's 1995 poetry collection, "Always a Reckoning," Jimmy shared the sweet ode he'd penned for his future wife after they went out to see a movie on their first date. "I'd pay to sit behind her, blind to / what was on the screen, and watch the image flicker/ upon her hair," it read, per NPR. While the poem and aforementioned love letter would have us believe that good old fashioned romance was the key to their long-standing relationship, the adorable couple had an entirely different theory. 

In a 2014 interview with People, the former first lady clarified that their ability to give each other plenty of breathing room when required made the couple happier together overall. Meanwhile, when the oldest living president spoke to People himself in 2019, Jimmy credited his life partner with helping him to achieve that illustrious title, advising readers: "Marry the best spouse: Someone who will take care of you and engage and do things to challenge you and keep you alive and interested in life." 

Even as the couple grew older and dealt with health issues, their love for each other didn't diminish. In a 2023 chat with The Washington Post, the Carters' son, James E. Carter III, proudly shared that his father was by his mother's side in her final moments, reminiscing, "My Dad told her he loved her and thanked her for all the wonderful things she had done." After that, the longtime spouses shared a few moments in private.