Rosalynn Carter

In my adult life, I've been starstruck to the point where I became speechless just twice in my life.

The first, when I sat, uh, next to President, uh, Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter.

The second, I was in line at security at Bradley International Airport, standing behind our next guest.

Very excited.

She became only the third sitting first lady ever to address the club.

The other two, Rosalynn Carter in 1978 and Eleanor Roosevelt in 1938.

And she told what happened on September 11th.

I was on my way to meet with Senator Ted Kennedy.

The job had come with a security clearance from the Secret Service and a lapel pin to prove it, and for a few minutes, it put him face to face with the First Lady of the United States.

She posed for a photograph with John and signed it, "To John Gacy, best wishes, Rosalynn Carter." This became a huge embarrassment for the Secret Service when just months later, investigators found the photograph in John's home.

While John was standing next to the First Lady with his Secret Service security pin front and center, dozens of murdered boys were hidden beneath his house.

That picture was the epitome of everything John had spent his life chasing, the status, the connections, and proof that he was somebody who mattered, and it came at the exact moment the whole thing started to crumble.

Jason Carter is the chair of the Carter Center Board of Trustees and a partner at the law firm of Bondurant, Mixon, and Elmore in Atlanta, Georgia.

As the grandson of the center's founders, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, Jason has been involved with the center's programs for 20 years, working to advance peace and health across the globe.

Prior to becoming the chair of the board, he oversaw the Center's strategic planning and participated in the Center's programs in Liberia, Egypt, Myanmar, and the West Bank, Gaza.

Aside from the Center, he combines a successful litigation practice with a strong commitment to public service.

Yes.

So with this position that he got, it gave him the opportunity to take a photo with the first lady, Rosalynn Carter.

So he gets a picture with the president's wife on May 6th, 1978.

Now the funny thing is, now this is not funny, but the funny thing is in order to get a picture with Ms. Carter, the Secret Service, they had to do a background check on anybody who like takes a picture with her, meets her to make sure, you know, They're not killers, whatever.

That was the biggest challenge when we first started.

So just kind of rolling back, Rosalynn Carter and Betty Bumpers founded Us is Every Child by Two in 1991.

That was on the heels of a massive measles outbreak.

They had already been working as first ladies in their own states of Georgia and Arkansas on vaccines.