Rosalynn Carter was the best first lady in modern history. Here's why.

Judson L. Jeffries is professor of African American and African Studies at Ohio State University and a regular contributor to the Columbus Dispatch.

There are few rankings of American first ladies on which Eleanor Roosevelt doesn’t sit atop.

Yet, in the modern era, meaning post World War II, few first ladies have come close to the example set by Rosalynn Carter.

That includes Bess Truman, Jackie Kennedy, Pat Nixon, Hillary Clinton, and Barbara Bush.

Known during her husband’s 1976 presidential campaign as “Steel Magnolia” due to her southern genteel manner, Carter was a fierce competitor, possessed an unwavering resolve and displayed an indefatigable work ethic seldom seen in an American president let alone a first lady.

It should be noted that it was Rosalynn Carter who established the Office of the First Lady and arranged along four major departments: press and research, projects and community liaison, schedule, and advance, and social and personal.

To say that Carter was her own woman is an understatement.

During her husband’s presidency Carter traveled extensively throughout parts of the world for the purpose of cultivating relations with leaders for whom previous American presidents seemingly had no use.

Among the heady issues into which she dove were drug trafficking, human rights violations, and nuclear energy. Carter won over many during her visits to Central and South America not only because of the knowledge she displayed on such issues as those cited above, but due to her ability to communicate with the people in their native tongue. Latin America was not the only region of the world where her impact was felt.

More: Rosalynn Carter: From mental health to Camp David to the campaign trail, she made her mark

More: Rosalynn Carter, former first lady who championed mental health and humanitarian causes, dies at 96

While President Jimmy Carter is credited with bringing Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Menachem Begin of Israel to the negotiating table at Camp David for peace talks in the late 1970’s, resulting in a landmark peace agreement between the two nations, it was Rosalynn Carter who urged her husband to reach out to the two men and act as an intermediary.

Known as the Camp David Accords, Begin and Sadat would go on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978. As impactful as Rosalynn Carter was in the foreign policy arena, perhaps her greatest and far-reaching contribution can be found in the area of mental health.

The attention that mental health has received over the last several years in the media and elsewhere can likely be traced to the work of first lady Carter in the 1970s and 80s.

The first lady was committed to finding ways to help the mentally ill.

In her 1984 memoir titled First Lady From Plains she wrote, “If only we could consider mental illness as straightforwardly as we do physical illness, those affected could seek help and be treated in an open and effective way.”

In 1980, Congress approved the Mental Health Systems Act, the first major reform of federal, publicly funded mental health initiatives in decades.

Although crushed by the defeat of her husband by Ronald Reagan in 1980, the former first lady did not allow the disappointing loss to slow her down.

Two years later, she and former president Jimmy Carter established the Carter Center where the former first lady furthered her work with mental health issues as chairperson of the center’s Mental Health Task Force.

Although both Hillary Clinton and Eleanor Roosevelt were prolific writers, no first lady has authored/co-authored more books on a topic that has life and death consequences.

Her books on caregiving and mental health are an extension of her work and have added greatly to the modernization of America’s mental healthcare system.

Judson L. Jeffries is professor of African American and African Studies at Ohio State University and a regular contributor to the Columbus Dispatch.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: What did Rosalynn Carter do to earn the nickname 'Steel Magnolia?'