Good morning! Mayor Karen Bass is under pressure as wildfires sweep L.A., Tesla’s board is told to return its compensation, and what drove Jimmy Carter’s fight for women’s rights.
– Lasting legacy. Five presidents, two presidential candidates, and four first ladies gathered in Washington yesterday for the funeral of Jimmy Carter, the former president who died at 100 on Dec. 29. It was a rare symbol of presidential unity before Donald Trump takes office later this month, with Trump and Barack Obama seated next to each other and even seen laughing, with Joe Biden, Jill Biden, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Kamala Harris all nearby.
The legacy of Carter, the one-term 39th president who served from 1977 to 1981, was reason enough to gather this complicated group. Carter is remembered for his humanitarian impact. The Democrat and Georgia peanut farmer eradicated Guinea worm disease, won the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to find peaceful solutions to conflicts, and worked to advance human rights.
Less trumpeted is his legacy for women’s rights, which The 19th* examined. In 2015, he called the abuse of women and girls the “number one abuse of human rights on Earth.” He authored a book, A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power.
During his time in office, he signed the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 and championed the Equal Rights Amendment, extending the deadline for its ultimately unsuccessful passage. As The 19th* reports, he set records at the time by appointing four women to Cabinet-level positions and 41 women and 57 people of color to federal judgeships—including naming Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 1980. That was more than all previous presidents had appointed combined. He named Patricia Roberts Harris as Housing and Urban Development secretary, making her the first Black woman to serve in the Cabinet. As Biden said in his eulogy: “Today, many think he was from a bygone era. But in reality, he saw well into the future.”
Carter and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, started the permanent office of the first lady, which created the infrastructure that elevated the work of future first ladies, including Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama, who did not attend yesterday’s service due to a reported scheduling conflict.
Carter will be buried in Georgia next to Rosalynn, who died at 96 last year. They were married for 77 years—longer than any other presidential couple. Carter’s grandson Jason Carter, who chairs the nonprofit Carter Center, said, “Rest assured that in these last weeks, he told us that he was ready to see [Rosalynn] again. But his life was also a broader love story about love for his fellow humans and about living out the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself.”
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
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ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Wildfire wreckage. Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass has faced scrutiny for traveling on a presidential delegation to Ghana this week, meaning she was absent from the city as wildfires raged. She returned on Wednesday, but her former political opponent Rick Caruso capitalized on her absence. Bass has also faced criticism for cutting $17 million from the fire department's budget. CNN
- News from France. Isaac Steidl, the founder and manager of the website Dominique Pelicot used to recruit men to rape his wife, Gisèle Pelicot, was charged in France for offenses including the administration of an online platform to facilitate an illegal transaction by an organized gang. The website was shut down earlier this year. Steidl’s lawyers declined to comment following his arrest. Guardian
- Return to owner. Tesla directors, including chair Robyn Denholm, must return up to $919 million to the company after a Delaware court approved a settlement, resolving overpayment allegations; they did not admit wrongdoing. Denholm had called the $280 million she earned serving on the board as “life-changing wealth.” Reuters
- Link up. Ecommerce platform LTK faces its first true competitor in ShopMy, another affiliate marketing platform. LTK founder Amber Venz Box essentially created the category; the company is backed by SoftBank and valued at $2 billion. Puck
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Southwest chief financial officer Tammy Romo and chief administration officer Linda Rutherford will retire in April, after more than 30 years at the airline; they are Southwest’s highest-ranking female executives.
MERGE, a marketing firm and technology solutions provider, named Stephanie Trunzo CEO. Most recently, she was SVP and general manager of Oracle Industries.
Digital sports platform Fanatics named Toretha McGuire chief people officer. She was most recently the company’s SVP, talent management and diversity, equality, and inclusion.
Moloco, an operational machine learning company, appointed Iris Chen as general counsel and corporate secretary. Previously, she was VP and deputy general counsel at Airbnb.
Onera Health, a sleep diagnostics company, appointed Maria Sainz as chair of its board of directors. Sainz is CEO of Hyperfine.
UnisLink, a healthcare revenue cycle management solutions provider, appointed Julie Klapstein and Christine Schuster to its board of directors. Klapstein is the founding CEO of Availity. Schuster is CEO and president of Emerson Hospital.
Project Healthy Minds, a non-profit mental health tech platform, appointed Jody Gerson to its board of directors. Gerson is chairman and CEO of Universal Music Publishing Group.
ON MY RADAR
Is this AOC’s moment? Washington Post
The ‘Ice Maiden’ cometh: Can Susie Wiles, Trump’s chief of staff, survive? New York Times
‘Audiences can smell fakeness a mile away’: The creative directors behind pop’s biggest stars Guardian
PARTING WORDS
“It’s an exciting time for women. I think that having social media and brands behind us gives us more permission to be feminine and stand in our power.”
— Basketball player Kysre Gondrezick, formerly of the Chicago Sky, on seeing an increase in women’s sports sponsorships
