First Family Stories: Remembering Rosalynn Carter | November 21, 2023
First Family Stories
By Clifton Truman Daniel
“Remembering Rosalynn Carter”
I DID NOT KNOW ROSALYNN CARTER WELL. We met only once, in 2019, when I was invited to give a talk during the annual meeting of the Carter Political Items Collectors in Plains, Georgia. Even so, I felt her presence throughout the town.
Plains, her home, to which she and Jimmy Carter returned after leaving the White House, was—and is—so small that Lillian Carter, Rosalynn’s future mother-in-law, helped deliver her on the day she was born. Years later, when Jimmy Carter first asked her on a date, she turned him down. Then she “ran around with everyone else in Plains,” as he put it, before accepting his invitation.
First Family Stories: Truman Defeats Dewey | November 1, 2023
First Family Stories
By Clifton Truman Daniel
“Truman Defeats Dewey”
THE FIRST STORY my mother told me about the 1948 presidential campaign had nothing to do with tactics, crowds, or the upset victory.
The Ferdinand Magellan presidential railcar was outfitted with a speedometer connected to the engine, so folks in back could see how fast they were going. Mom and Grandpa were in the lounge one afternoon, reading, when Mom noticed Grandpa glancing up repeatedly at the speedometer, which was climbing. 80. 82. 85 . . . Finally, he said to an aide, “Tell the engineer to slow down.”
