Photos: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's 70-plus year marriage
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Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's 70-year marriage On July 7, 2016, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary. Here are images from their amazing life together. (Jimmy Carter Presidential Library) (SEE CAPTION)
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's 70-year marriage 1946: Ensign Jimmy Carter gets help with his epaulets from his fiancee Rosalynn, at left, and his mother Miss Lillian, right, on the day of his graduation from the Naval Academy. Jimmy and Rosalynn began dating in 1945 and married one month after this photo. (Jimmy Carter Presidential Library) (COPY)
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's 70-year marriage 1946: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter pose on their wedding day. The couple, who had both attended Plains High School, met through a mutual friend when Jimmy Carter was serving in the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md. (Jimmy Carter Presidential Library)
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's 70-year marriage 1952: Jimmy Carter's active naval service lasted from 1946-1953. (He's seen here in 1952, in the top center in the background looking at instruments on the submarine USS K-1.) During that time, the couple lived in Norfolk, Va., and had their first three children -- John, James and Jeffrey. (Amy was born in 1967.) In 1953, they returned to Plains to take over the family peanut business after Jimmy Carter's father died. (AP file) (COPY)
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's 70-year marriage 1966: Jimmy and Rosalynn became public figures once he became a Georgia state senator in 1963, and office he would hold until 1967. In 1966, Jimmy ran for governor but lost the Democratic primary election. The couple are seen here on that otherwise disappointing election night. (AP file) (HANDOUT)
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's 70-year marriage 1970: Four years later, Jimmy Carter would be elected governor on his second try. Here, he celebrates on election night with Rosalynn and his mother Miss Lillian. (Billy Downs / AJC Archive at the GSU Library AJCN089-019b)
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's 70-year marriage 1971: Gov. Jimmy Carter and Georgia's new First Lady Rosalynn Carter dance at the inaugural ball at the Regency Hotel in downtown Atlanta. (Billy Downs / AJC Archive at the GSU Library AJCN089-023a)
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's 70-year marriage 1972: Georgia's First Couple travel through South America. Decades later the couple would put their wanderlust to good use through the Carter Center. (AJC Archive at the GSU Library AJCN089-100c)
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's 70-year marriage 1976: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter greet the crowd during the Democratic National Convention at Madison Square Garden. They are joined by Walter Mondale and his wife Joan. (AP file)
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's 70-year marriage 1977: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter are all smiles at Jimmy's Presidential Inauguration. At their side is the outgoing President Gerald Ford and his wife Betty. (AJC file) (Staff Photo)
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's 70-year marriage 1977: Jimmy, Amy, and Rosalynn Carter walk down Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House after the inauguration ceremony. (AJC file) (COPY)
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's 70-year marriage 1977: The nation's First Couple poses on the White House lawn with daughter Amy. (Jimmy Carter Presidential Library)
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's 70-year marriage 1980: In the last year of his term, President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter attend Sunday School at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains. Jimmy Carter continues to teach Sunday School at the church to this day. (Calvin Cruce / AJC file) (Calvin Cruce)
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's 70-year marriage 1999: In 1982, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter founded the Carter Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to "improve life for people in more than 80 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy and human rights; preventing diseases; and improving mental health care." Carter Center missions have sent the couple around the world for almost 35 years, such as this trip to observe elections in Indonesia in 1999. (The Carter Center) (TCC)
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's 70-year marriage 2002: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter pose for a portrait in their Plains home. (Bita Honarvar / AJC file) (BITA HONARVAR)
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's 70-year marriage 2007: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter wear traditional Ghanaian attire, a gift from the chief of Tingoli village in northern Ghana, during a field trip to assess Carter Center disease prevention work in Africa. (Carter Center)
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's 70-year marriage 2009: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter kiss during the reopening ceremony of the Carter Presidential Museum after a major five-month renovation. The event also marked Jimmy Carter's 85th birthday. (Brant Sanderlin / bsanderlin@ajc.com) (Brant Sanderlin)
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's 70-year marriage 2014: Rosalynn Carter gets emotional during a dedication ceremony and birthday celebration with staff and guests at the Day Chapel of the Ivan Allen III Pavilion at the Carter Center. (Hyosub Shin / hshin@ajc.com)
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's 70-year marriage 2014: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter join in the Festival Dance on Main Street during the 18th Annual Plains Peanut Festival in Plains. (Curtis Compton / ccompton@ajc.com)
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's 70-year marriage 2014: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter hold hands as they leave the Maranatha Baptist Church following church services in Plains. (Curtis Compton / ccompton@ajc.com)
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's 70-year marriage 2015: Jimmy Carter sneaks a kiss with Rosalynn while the couple works on a Habitat for Humanity build in Memphis. (Ben Gray / bgray@ajc.com)
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's 70-year marriage 2015: Jimmy Carter kisses Rosalynn on the "Kiss Cam" during a baseball game between the Atlanta Braves and the Toronto Blue Jays in Atlanta. Carter had recently announced his cancer diagnosis. (John Bazemore / AP) (John Bazemore)
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter mark 70th anniversary June 22, 2016 - Atlanta - Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter talk about their years together in his office at the Carter Center in Atlanta. They will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary July 7. BOB ANDRES / BANDRES@AJC.COM (Bob Andres)
Photos: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's 70-plus year marriage September 30, 2018 Atlanta: Former president Jimmy Carter and first lady Rosalynn Carter give Falcons head coach Dan Quinn a thumbs up before playing the Bengals in a NFL football game on Sunday, Sept 30, 2018, in Atlanta. Curtis Compton/ccompton@ajc.com (ccompton@ajc.com)
Photos: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter's 70-plus year marriage June 9, 2019 Plains: President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn bow in prayer along with members and visitors during the worship service at Maranatha Baptist Church less than a month after the 39th U.S. president and Plains native fell breaking his hip on Sunday, June 9, 2019, in Plains. Curtis Compton/ccompton@ajc.com (ccompton@ajc.com)
