So this happened a few days ago.
How amazing is this? 72 years of marriage! Yet another bar set far higher by the Carters than the rest of us can possibly dream about.
Some people know couples who have been married for 40 years or more. My own parents are in this category. Fewer of us know couples who have remained together for 50 years.
The Carters, the former first family, have been married together now for an incredible 72 years! That's almost three-quarters of a century! Just think of how different this world was when the first got married, which would be in July of 1946. World War II had ended less than one year before, Winston Churchill had just described the "Iron Curtain" that had descended between eastern and western Europe, and the Korean War was still years away. Much of Europe lay in rubble, as did much of Asia. China was not yet a communist country, and Gandhi had not yet achieved the independence of India. Israel was not yet a country. The world population was about 2.5 billion people (one-third of what the world population is now!), and the population of the United States was just over 140 million people (it is now estimated to be over 325 million). Alaska and Hawaii were not yet American states. Apartheid had not yet been officially introduced, much less abolished, in South Africa, and hardly anyone had heard of Nelson Mandela or Bishop Tutu. Franklin D. Roosevelt had died in office the year before, and President Truman was in the White House. Space exploration still seemed a distant dream. People still held the firm belief that human beings had not done any serious damage to this planet with any of their activities.
They are the ultimate in terms of ideal American couples, serving as an inspiration for the entire world. These two really should be the faces and the voices of this country abroad. How much better would our national image be right now if that were more the case?
In any case, what an incredible accomplishment, and what resolve and dedication from both of them to have gone through all that they have gone through, from the peaks and valleys that all couples go through, kids, a prominent political career that ended in the White House, to the most successful post-presidency in history, being real-life, as well as goodwill ambassadors the world over, and with both of them having fought serious health issues.
Truly an inspiration, and I applaud them both.
Happy 72nd wedding anniversary, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter! July 03, 2018 By Jill Vejnoska
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