The President's Closest Emissary

Her trip was proceeding without an awkward moment when the American television reporter asked the question: What made her think she was fit to discuss serious matters with heads of state? Rosalynn Carter's hazel eyes flashed with anger. Said she: "I think I am the person closest to the President of the United States, and if I can help him understand the countries of the world, then that's what I intend to do."

And that is just what the nation's First Lady did last week as she began an ambitious, 13-day swing through seven Caribbean and Latin American countries. By phone, she regularly reported to her husband who--as always --was proud of her performance. Jimmy Carter predicted confidently that the foreign leaders she meets "will be both surprised and pleased at what she knows and how close she is to me."

Vexing Matters. Rosalynn put her personal touch on the trip, employing a specially designed monogram (see picture) that was put on everything from press kits to baggage tags. Occasionally she would break the ice at her meetings by speaking Spanish. TIME Correspondent Stanley Cloud, who accompanied her, reports that she moved quickly and easily into discussions with her hosts about such vexing matters as U.S.-Cuban relations, economic policies and military aid. Said a top White House aide: "Jimmy wants to show these countries that he cares about them and is interested in their problems. In his mind, the best way he could do that--short of making the trip himself--was to send Rosalynn."

She faced a tough challenge at her very first stop--the beautiful but economically blighted island of Jamaica. Prime Minister Michael Manley, a fiery socialist, has hinted at a capitalist U.S. plot to overthrow him. But Manley was the soul of propriety when he greeted Rosalynn at the airport and said that her husband's emphasis on human rights offered "great encouragement."

In all, they talked for more than seven hours, and she did her best to assure the Prime Minister--an admirer of Fidel Castro--that U.S. policy toward Cuba was changing. Indeed, four days later the White House announced plans for a limited exchange of diplomats with Havana, a step toward resuming full relations.

Rosalynn also showed her concern for Jamaica's problems by making an emotional visit to two social service centers in a Kingston slum. Crowds lined the narrow streets as she walked three blocks from one center to the other, and an eleven-year-old girl broke through the guards, hugged her and traipsed along with the President's wife beneath the tropical sun.

Flying to Costa Rica, Rosalynn adroitly deflected President Daniel Oduber Quiros' plea that the U.S. raise its quota on beef imports from his nation.Said she: "I could not promise anything that we could not deliver."

As the trip wore on, Rosalynn was increasingly taxed -- both mentally and physically. In Quito, the 9,350-ft.-high capital of Ecuador, she needed two doses of oxygen to get over the effects of the altitude. She calmly informed members of the ruling military triumvirate that the U.S. was not likely to lift trade restrictions imposed after Ecuador raised its oil prices along with other OPEC members.

Sternest Test. The Ecuadorians argued that the U.S. should lift its ban on their attempted purchase of Israeli-made Kfir jets, which are equipped with General Electric engines. The First Lady explained that the Administration had stopped the sale because it did not want to be responsible for introducing such sophisticated weaponry into the area. In reply, the Ecuadorians argued that they needed the jets because neigh boring Peru, their old enemy, already had sophisticated equipment.

Later, during talks with other officials in the Legislative Palace, she could hear the shouts of between 100 and 150 students yelling "Yankee imperialism!" and "Imperialist Rosalynn Carter!" A couple of Molotov cocktails were thrown and the police fired some tear gas, but the demonstrators got no closer than 100 yds. away from her motorcade and evidently had no intention of threatening her personally.

After arriving in Peru, Rosalynn met privately with President Francisco Morales Bermudez for almost three hours. She gently attempted to persuade her new hosts to slow the pace of the military buildup that had alarmed the Ecuadorians. This week she faces her sternest test--a three-day visit to Brazil, where the military dictatorship was outraged first by her husband's opposition to its plans to buy nuclear-fuel facilities from West Germany, and then by a State Department report citing human rights violations in Brazil.

Reports Cloud: "Rosalynn Carter has shown herself to be intelligent, tough and understanding, and her trip clearly has been worthwhile. But follow-through will be necessary if the benefits are to be anything more than temporary. At almost every stop, Mrs. Carter was given an invitation for the President to visit soon. There seemed to be a message in that: 'We like and are impressed with your wife, Mr. President. She has made a good start. Now it is time to negotiate seriously.' "

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