Rosalynn Carter Service Marks First Melania Trump And Michelle Obama Appearance Together In Six Years

Topline

A memorial service Tuesday afternoon for former First Lady Rosalynn Carter—who died last week at the age of 96—brought out a cast of former presidents and first ladies, including a rare public appearance from former First Lady Melania Trump, and marked the first time in more than six years a member of the Trump family was together with a member of the Obama family.

Key Facts

Surprising Fact

Melania Trump has largely remained out of the public eye following her husband’s loss in the 2020 presidential election and the January 6 Capitol insurrection. Following that election, the former first lady’s few public appearances were limited to a farewell address on January 18, 2021, a Republican Gala hosted by the right-wing LGBT advocacy group Log Cabin Republicans at the couple’s Mar-A-Lago Florida estate in November 2021 and a visit at a U.S. Coast Guard station in Florida in December 2021. Melania Trump also made a rare Fox News appearance in May 2022, accusing the news media of left-wing bias, and joined her husband for his 2024 presidential campaign launch last November.

Contra

Donald Trump has maintained a bitter relationship with Barack Obama since launching his first presidential campaign in 2015, with Trump repeatedly bashing the former president and endorsing false claims that he was born outside the United States, while Obama has excoriated Trump. Trump’s relationship with Biden has also been marked by acrimony. After losing his re-election in 2020 to President Joe Biden, Donald Trump did not extend an invitation to Biden for a meeting in the Oval Office, a presidential tradition to discuss the transfer of power, despite Obama hosting Trump at the White House four years earlier. Donald and Melania Trump also skipped Biden’s inauguration ceremony in 2021, marking the first time an incumbent was absent from their successor’s inauguration since 1869.

Key Background

Rosalynn Carter was known as a steadfast advocate for mental health care and women’s rights as the first lady of Georgia during her husband’s gubernatorial term from 1971 to 1975 and as first lady of the U.S. from 1977 to 1981. She also gained recognition for her political role in her husband’s administration, serving as honorary chair of the Commission on Mental Health during her husband’s time in the White House. Following Jimmy Carter’s loss in the 1980 election to former President Ronald Reagan, the Carters founded the human rights group the Carter Center, a nonprofit dedicated to disease eradication and promoting peace. The couple also became active members with the nonprofit Habitat for Humanity, helping build more than 4,000 homes in more than 10 countries. In a statement with the Carter Center, Jimmy Carter lauded his late wife as his “equal partner in everything I have ever accomplished.”

Further Reading

Where’s Melania? Ex-First Lady Remains Hidden During Donald Trump’s Indictment-Filled Year (Forbes)

Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter—Mental Health Advocate And ‘Equal Partner’ To Jimmy—Dies At 96 (Forbes)