EPISODE 837: RIP ROSALYNN CARTER, OUR LADY OF FIRE AND GRACE

Rosalynn Carter was teaching us so much, even when we weren't looking.

POP CULTURE SPIRIT WOW

Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter died today.

I was just a kid when she and Jimmy Carter came to the White House, and honestly most of what I remember about their four years were the press’ frequent stories about Jimmy’s brother Billy, who had a lot of problems.

So I’ve been fascinated to learn what an incredible partner Mrs. Carter was to her husband, how deeply she was involved in every aspect of his work as politician and president. It’s because of her that Congress formally recognized the office of the first lady became a federal position and provided funding for a staff, which at this point is so essential that it’s hard to believe it’s such a recent change. (How could Eleanor Roosevelt have not had this??) 

I was also astonished to learn that Rosalynn had such independence that at one point she worked with Billy, who had ties to Libya—*cringe*—to try and gain the freedom of the American hostages in Iran without consulting with Jimmy. (It did not go well.)

Jimmy also sent her throughout Latin America on a 13-day, 12,000 mile diplomatic trip, which a First Lady had never done before. She frequently did her talks in Spanish, having just done an intensive language program. (It’s hard to imagine that she was able to say all that much, but still, that kind of commitment to connect with those she was meeting on their terms is decades ahead of most of her political peers.)

There are so many amazing stories about the Carters. (My first read was the obit by the great obituary writer Katharine Q. Seelye in the Times.) Like the fact that Jimmy’s mother delivered Rosalynn, and introduced him to her in her crib a few days later. Or that when they and their family walked down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House after Jimmy’s election, they were the first to do so since Jefferson, and began the current tradition. Or that when the moved into the White House they brought with them a nanny, who had been convicted of murder in Georgia and worked in the governor’s mansion in a work-release program. Mrs. Carter helped enable her to come to Washington, D.C. with them, by way of having Mr. Carter made her parole officer. Later Prince’s case was reopened and she received a full pardon.

Joe Holley and Kevin Sullivan in the Washington Post noted that Rosalynn was often called the “steel magnolia” for her combination of gentle and lovely Southern demeanor and fierce strength of will and ambition. I have to say, looking at the photos of her I am totally caught up in the elegance of her self-presentation.

Rosalynn and Jimmy were in their 50s when Jimmy lost reelection to Ronald Reagan, a hot mess of a president who we now bizarrely remember only for his charm and for bringing down the Soviet Union. In fact one of his first acts as president was to dismantle the funding for mental health programs that Rosalynn had fought so hard to achieve while First Lady. He did much the same thing as Governor of California. The next time you see a poor soul on the street who is clearly in need of mental health help, or wonder why a friend or family member can’t afford the help they need, don’t forget to think of that ****** of ******** Ronald Reagan, and all those who came after him and looked to his thinking to justify their own.

(Forgive me.  I don’t generally get into the politics of it all, and I have a lot less grace than Mrs. Carter. But I find it bizarre how easily we allow the passage of time to wash away the bad decisions of presidents. I’m glad that George Bush has taken up painting, and I agree, Reagan knew how to work a crowd, and he certainly had some important political accomplishments. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t make some truly catastrophic decisions that continue to affect us whether we realize it or not.)

As we know, the Carters’ loss proved to be a huge part of their story, as they ended up using the platform of their experience to do so much good for people around the world. It’s astonishing how much they accomplished in retirement, how much more of a positive global impact they were able to have than in four years in the White House.

Early in my life in the Jesuits, I was studying at the Loyola Chicago Jesuit community. Loyola is kind of like the mothership of the Society of Jesus in Chicago, and funerals for Jesuits are frequently held there, with the provincial superior (the guy in charge of all the Jesuits of that area) presiding. And at the time I was studying there the then-provincial would often finish the services by offering 2 or 3 “points,” basically things that we could learn from the life of the person who had died.

Here’s a couple that come to mind as I read the stories about her.

Anger can be Fuel

When Jimmy Carter lost re-election, one of his staffers noted that he didn’t seem bitter. Mrs. Carter replied, “I’m bitter enough for the both of us.” (God I love her.)

She’s such an elegant, soft-spoken woman, people can forget that Rosalynn had a spine of steel, and a capacity for real fury. And yet reading about her, it sounds like her capacity for outrage propelled her outward to fight for people like those with mental health issues that others dismissed or tried to bury.

When I would hear confessions one of the things I frequently met was people who thought that being angry was itself a sin. But in my experience anger is not a sin, any more than laughing or being attracted to someone is a sin. Anger is a feeling, an instinctive response to external events. That can’t be a sin. The key is what we do with it. And Rosalynn Carter used it to do good.

Style is Blessing

Rosalynn Carter, people. The lady had style.

More than that, her style said things about who she was and what the Carters were about, the seriousness with which they took their roles and the respect they had for the people they served. And that had meaning for those people, too. It told them they were worthy of respect.

I’m writing this in a coffee shop wearing a sweatshirt and blue jeans. Which, you know, fine. It’s a Sunday. I’m a nobody. Who cares.  

But you look at these amazing photos of Rosalynn Carter, and it makes me think about the way our dress can nourish others. It’s like we’re all little fonts of beauty.

A weird comparison: Are you watching The Great British Bake-Off? After a couple years of kind of going cold to it, I’m back and just adoring this season. And week after week, the thing I find myself thinking is, how can I look like this?

Prue Leith: Top to bottom, she has just unbelievable style sense. And seeing her just makes me happy. Every outfit feels like a little gift.

Compare that with this:

This was the scene in Midtown last month, when members of the Archdiocese of New York did a procession to celebrate the Eucharist as part of a three year national eucharistic revival which I cannot explain but the bishops wanted.

In fact, there were a lot of people in that procession that were not seminarians, priests and nuns in habits. They were just all in the back. There were elements of the procession that could be understood as pretty meaningful even for those not into that kind of stuff or the Catholic scene, like the fact that the Mass before the procession which was said for the people of Israel. (The march was days after the Hamas attacks.)

But while that self-presentation will feed some people for sure, it is incredibly alienating for a lot of others. As much as I appreciate the sentiment, I walk away not fed but sick to my stomach.

It’s weird but also true: the things you wear can feed others.

Endings are Beginnings 

This is the lesson above all the others, isn’t it? The Carters finished their political careers in their 50s, and yet rather than retire into obscurity, they used their freedom and their experience to reach out to so many other people.

People talk about the presidency as the greatest and most important job in the world, but for the Carters it was more like the booster rocket that fell away to allow them to do the most important and meaningful work of their lives.  

We can get fired. A marriage or relationship can fall apart. We can retire or get sick. But none of that is the end of us. It’s always, always, always a beginning.

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·      An interview with musical theater composer Jim Merillat, one of Marie’s Crisis pianists and a musical theater encyclopedia, on his personal history with this New York City piano bar institution;

·      A conversation with Frank DeBernardo, director of New Ways Ministry, which for decades has advocated for queer Catholics within the Church, often under great duress. Frank was just in Rome for the Synod and got to meet the Pope (see below!). We’re going to talk about that and also about his thoughts on the recent statement from that Vatican on the baptism of transgender Catholics;

·      An interview with William Glenn, director of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley and a former Jesuit, who has written a beautiful book about his own experiences with the Catholic Church in and out of the Society;

·      The secret history of Mickey Mouse: It’s Disney’s 100^th anniversary, and I’m fascinated with how the company has managed to keep as its mascot a figure that a) is super weird; and b) hasn’t been used in a major Disney movie or cartoon in decades (because a) he is super weird);

·      A dissection of the opening credits of the Crown (which I am obsessed with);

·      What it’s like to live a vow of poverty, including how personalities and power can make it either really liberating or really humiliating; and how Jesuits deal with it when things get crazy;

·      And that’s just the stuff I can confirm!

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I’ve always thought of this newsletter and newsletters like it as creating a kind of community, and I’m hoping people might enjoy the chance to spread a little sparkle to others in the Wownder.

Down Wonwder?

The Great BeWownd?

Definitely still workshopping!

Rosalynn Carter, thank you for teaching us about fire and grace. God bless you and keep you.