New Carter book tells life of 'remarkable mother'

Jimmy, her eldest son, considered her his secret weapon during his 1976 presidential campaign.

"Since I ultimately defeated Gerald Ford by a very narrow margin, I think it's accurate to say had my mama not been out on the campaign trail, I probably would not have won," Jimmy Carter said. "By the time the other candidates woke to what was happening, they had already lost the election."

Even before her son became commander in chief, Lillian Carter was making social and political waves.

She was a nurse in the small town of Plains, Ga., often treating black families when such behavior was taboo in the racially divided South. She insisted black visitors enter through the front door when social customs dictated they use the back.

"It's important to show the American people what a superb American citizen might be ..." Carter said. "She was indomitable, she was courageous and she didn't yield to public pressure when she thought she was right."

In 2006, Jimmy Carter and his wife visited Vikhroli, India, where Lillian Carter had volunteered to serve in the Peace Corps at age 68, spending two years working with lepers. The couple was besieged by dozens of villagers telling stories about the Carter family matriarch, even though 40 years had passed since her stay there.

The former president reflects on the visit in the postscript of his new book: "Our hearts filled with pride and our eyes with tears, as we thought about how many other lives had been affected by my mother."