US first ladies, presidents mourn Rosalynn Carter

Rosalynn Carter — wife of Jimmy Carter, who as US president in 1979 normalized relations with China — was mourned on Tuesday by every living US first lady and three presidents, including her 99-year-old husband.

The service at Glenn Memorial Church in Atlanta was the second day of a three-day schedule of public events in tribute to the former first lady and global humanitarian, who died on Nov 19 at the age of 96 at home in Plains, Georgia.

Born Eleanor Rosalynn Smith in 1927 in Plains, the former first lady was valedictorian of her class at Plains High School and later attended Georgia Southwestern College, where she was class vice-president, graduating in 1946.

She was politically active during her husband's presidency (1977-81) and would sit in on Cabinet meetings. Mrs Carter was known for her advocacy of mental health and worked with her husband Jimmy in the nonprofit housing organization Habitat for Humanity.

The former president, who is 10 months into home hospice care and had not been seen in public since September, watched from his wheelchair, reclining and covered with a blanket featuring his wife's face, with his son Chip and daughter Amy holding his hands. The Carters' other sons, Jeff and Jack, flanked them.

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, longtime friends of the Carters, joined them in the front row, along with former president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and former first ladies Melania Trump, Michelle Obama and Laura Bush.

Tom Watkins, a former adviser to the Michigan-China Innovation Center, told China Daily he had the pleasure of meeting Mrs Carter on several occasions.

"Perhaps the most memorable was when she spoke at an international mental health conference I organized in 1988 in Detroit. Also in attendance were four preeminent mental health scholars from the PRC," he said. "Mrs Carter acknowledged the work of the PRC in upgrading the prospects of the poor and disabled as they worked on reforms and opening up."

When president Carter normalized relations with China in January 1979, the one person at his side was the first lady.

The former president founded The Carter Center in 1982. One of the nonprofit's major objectives has been to promote peaceful relations between the United States and China.

In the Shanghai Institute of American Studies' 40 People on 40 Years series commemorating the 40th anniversary of diplomatic normalization between the US and China, former president Carter elaborated on what the historic event meant to him.

In his 1976 presidential election campaign, Carter announced his commitment to pursue normalization.

"I consider the normalization of diplomatic relations with China as an especially historic achievement," he said in the interview.

"Of all that I was able to achieve during my term as president, normalization with China may have been the most beneficial to world peace and understanding."

Carter said he believed that the normalization of relations between the two countries would advance the cause of peace in Asia and the world.

In 2009, Rosalynn traveled to Beijing with her husband, along with former diplomats Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski, to mark 30 years after the normalization of relations with China.