Schram: The making of a president’s most special adviser

Jimmy Carter was always fond of telling writers about how Rosalynn, who died Sunday at age 96 after being diagnosed with dementia, was a quiet and shy — even “timid” — girl when they first dated in Plains. Indeed, when Carter first ran for governor, he famously felt the need to push his wife to campaign by talking with people.

But there certainly was nothing “timid” about Rosalynn Carter by the time I got to know the Carters, while covering the 1976 campaign and their White House years for Newsday, The Washington Post and while writing a book, “Running for President 1976.” She remained soft-spoken and reserved, but had become a confident quiet campaigner, known for being kind and caring.

Part of Rosalynn Carter’s evolution came during the earliest days of that unusual campaign — when Carter asked his wife to campaign without him, on a special assignment.

As always, Carter and his strategists were positioning him as the man-in-the-middle. To his left in Campaign ’76, were liberals including the most impressive Rep. Mo Udall of Arizona. To his right was Alabama’s former Gov. George Wallace. So, in April 1975, Carter asked his wife and their friend, Edna Langford, to go into the heart of George Wallace country — in the northwest panhandle of Florida, which would be a key primary state in 1976.

“Jimmy just told us to go to Florida and make friends,” Langford recalled. “Make friends in George Wallace’s territory and show them that there was an alternative. So that’s what we did.”

The two women traveled on a lonely trek through the most Alabama-like small towns of Florida’s panhandle. They walked into the offices of the local newspapers and radio stations, unannounced. They ended up in news photos on front pages, with Rosalynn holding a Carter bumper sticker. At radio stations they sometimes wrote down questions someone there could ask them. In Panama City, they walked in on a Rotary Club meeting and became a news story. The liberal candidates didn’t campaign much in Florida — and Carter beat Wallace and carried that key state.

It was as a first lady that Rosalynn Carter made by far her most legendary achievement. She became a crusader for one of our most vital, yet neglected, causes — mental health. She focused public attention — and our news media’s coverage — on mental health. She made treating mental health problems a matter of national urgency.

And in the process, she did one thing more for us all:

Rosalynn Carter will be remembered for having given dignity to millions of people who once felt embarrassed to say they suffer from this prevalent and very treatable public health problem. We remain forever grateful.