George W. Romney

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George Wilcken Romney
3rd United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
In office January 22, 1969 – January 20, 1973
Preceded by	Robert Coldwell Wood
Succeeded by	James Thomas Lynn
43rd Governor of Michigan
In office 1963 – 1969
Preceded by	John Swainson
Succeeded by	William Milliken
Born	July 8, 1907 Chihuahua, Mexico
Died	July 26, 1995 (aged 88) Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Political party	Republican
Profession	Automobile industrialist; Politician
Religion	The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

George Wilcken Romney (July 8, 1907 – July 26, 1995) was chairman of the American Motors Corporation from 1954 to 1962 and was elected three times as the Republican Governor of Michigan from 1963 to 1969. He was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968, losing to Richard Nixon.

Contents 1 Background 2 Automobile industry 3 Political career 4 Public service 5 Retirement 6 Natural born citizen? 7 See also 8 External links 9 References

[edit] Background

Romney was born in the Mexican state of Chihuahua to Gaskell Romney and Anna Amelia Pratt. Romney's grandparents were polygamous Mormons who fled the United States when the Mormon church disavowed polygamy; polygamy was a federal crime in the U.S. and Mexico, but ignored in remote Mexican villages.^[1] When the Mexican Revolution broke out in late 1910, Romney's family went to Oakley, Idaho, and finally ending up in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Some people would later ask questions about Romney being eligible for the presidency as a natural-born citizen when his birth was actually in Mexico.)

In 1926, Romney spent two years as a Mormon missionary in England and Scotland.

Romney took coursework at the University of Utah and George Washington University, but never completed work on a college degree.^{[citation needed]}

In the late 1920s, Romney followed his high school sweetheart, Lenore LaFount, to Washington, DC after her father had accepted a government position. Romney became a speechwriter for Massachusetts Democratic senator David I. Walsh, then moved on to become a lobbyist for Alcoa in 1930. When LaFount, an aspiring actress, began earning bit roles in Hollywood movies, Romney was able to be transferred out West to continue the relationship. When LaFount had the opportunity to sign a three-year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios, Romney convinced her to return to Washington, and married her on July 2, 1931. They had four children: Lynn, Jane, G. Scott and Mitt.

[edit] Automobile industry

After nine years with Alcoa, Romney's career had stagnated, so he moved to Detroit with his wife and their two daughters to become the local manager of the American Automobile Manufacturers Association (AAMA). During World War II, Romney headed the Automotive Council for War Production, which worked to optimize automotive companies' war production.

After the war, Romney worked as an executive for the manufacturing firm Nash-Kelvinator Corporation under company head George W. Mason, and played a key role in the development of the Rambler. When that firm merged on May 1, 1954 with Hudson Motor Car to become the American Motors Corporation (AMC), Romney became the chairman of the combined company.

Working with Mason and chief engineer Meade Moore, Romney elected to phase out the well-known but poor selling Nash and Hudson brands in favor of the Rambler nameplate, as part of a then-untried strategy of focusing on making compact cars exclusively, an approach that led to unexpected financial success for AMC. At the time of the decision, the company had been on the verge of being taken over by corporate raider Louis Wolfson, but the company's resurgence made Romney a household name, and he capitalized on it by entering politics.

[edit] Political career

He led the Constitutional Convention that revised Michigan's Constitution from 1961 to 1962 and followed this up with a successful 1962 campaign for Governor of Michigan. However, his running mate was defeated by the Democratic candidate and incumbent, Thaddeus Lesinski. Romney was a strong supporter of civil rights and was generally considered a moderate Republican, perhaps a bit to the right of Nelson Rockefeller, but well to the left of Barry Goldwater or Ronald Reagan.

After deciding to wait out the 1964 election, Romney announced he was a candidate for president in the 1968 election. Polls in 1967 showed him the leader among rank and file Republicans, especially among the "moderates."

On 31 August 1967 Governor Romney made a statement that ruined his chances for getting the nomination.^[2] In a taped interview with Lou Gordon of WKBD-TV in Detroit, Romney stated, "When I came back from Viet Nam [in November 1965], I'd just had the greatest brainwashing that anybody can get." He then shifted to opposing the war: "I no longer believe that it was necessary for us to get involved in South Vietnam to stop Communist aggression in Southeast Asia," he declared. Decrying the "tragic" conflict, he urged "a sound peace in South Vietnam at an early time." Thus Romney disavowed the war and reversed himself from his earlier stated belief that the war was "morally right and necessary." The connotations of brainwashing following the experiences of the American prisoners of war (highlighted by the 1962 film The Manchurian Candidate) made Romney's comments devastating to his status as the GOP front-runner. Republican Congressman Robert Stafford of Vermont sounded a common concern: "If you're running for the presidency," he asserted, "you are supposed to have too much on the ball to be brainwashed."^[2] At the National Convention Romney finished a weak 6th with only 50 votes on the first ballot (44 of Michigan's 48 plus 6 from Utah).

Following Nixon's election, Romney was named to the cabinet as Housing and Urban Development secretary. He served in that office until the start of Nixon's second term in January 1973. During his four years, Romney slightly increased the amount of federally subsidized housing, but was prevented from expanding the concept to suburban areas.

[edit] Public service

Romney was known as an advocate of public service. At the first meeting of the National Center for Voluntary Action (NCVA), February 20, 1970, he said:

Americans have four basic ways of solving problems that are too big for individuals to handle by themselves. One is through the federal government. A second is through state governments and the local governments that the states create. The third is through the private sector - the economic sector that includes business, agriculture, and labor. The fourth method is the independent sector - the voluntary, cooperative action of free individuals and independent association. Voluntary action is the most powerful of these, because it is uniquely capable of stirring the people themselves and involving their enthusiastic energies, because it is their own - voluntary action is the people's action. As Woodrow Wilson said, "The most powerful force on earth is the spontaneous cooperation of a free people." Individualism makes cooperation worthwhile - but cooperation makes freedom possible.

The George W. Romney Institute of Public Management at Brigham Young University honors the legacy left behind by Romney.

[edit] Retirement

For much of the next two decades, he was out of the public eye, but re-emerged in 1994 when he helped campaign for his son, Mitt Romney, during the younger Romney's unsuccessful bid to unseat Senator Edward M. Kennedy in Massachusetts.

That same year, Romney's ex-daughter-in-law, Ronna Romney, decided to seek the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate from Michigan while continuing to use her married name. (She was formerly married to the governor's other son, G. Scott Romney.) The former governor showed his displeasure by endorsing her opponent, Spencer Abraham, who went on to win the primary and the general election.

The following year, Romney died of a heart attack at the age of 88, while exercising on his treadmill in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Romney served as a patriarch for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints until his death.

In 2002, Mitt Romney, also a Republican, was elected to the office of Governor of Massachusetts. Mitt Romney declared his intent to run for President of the United States in 2008.

[edit] Natural born citizen?

Romney was born in Mexico, which raised the issue if he was eligible to be President, which is constitutionally limited to a "natural born citizen" of the United States. Both his parents were American citizens, and he returned to the U.S. before he turned 21. That was sufficient for him to be a U.S. citizen, but not necessarily to pass the "natural born" test (which only applies to presidents). The issue was never tested in court and contrasts with the cases of Barry Goldwater, who was born in the Arizona Territory (Arizona was not yet a state), and John McCain, who was born to American parents in the Panama Canal Zone at a time it was part of the U.S. and his father (a naval officer) was assigned to duty there. The Romneys had purposely left American legal jurisdiction.

[edit] See also

• Pratt-Romney family

[edit] External links

• George W. Romney Institute of Public Management

[edit] References

1. ^ Romney's family tree has polygamous roots Associated Press, February 24, 2007
2. ^ ^{a b} Andrew L. Johns; "Achilles' Heel: The Vietnam War and George Romney's Bid for the Presidency, 1967 to 1968" Michigan Historical Review, Vol. 26, 2000 pp 1+

• D. Duane Angel, Romney: A Political Biography (1967)
• Hess, Stephen and David S. Broder. The Republican Establishment: The Present and Future of the G.O.P. New York : Harper & Row, 1967.
• T. George Harris, Romney's Way: A Man and an Idea (1967)
• Clark R. Mollenhoff, George Romney: Mormon in Politics (1968)
• George W. Romney, Shirtsleeve Public Servant

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[ edit ] Category

Preceded by John Swainson	Governor of Michigan 1963–1969	Succeeded by William G. Milliken
Preceded by Robert Coldwell Wood	United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 1969–1973	Succeeded by James T. Lynn

Governors of Michigan

Territorial: Hull • Cass • Porter • Mason • Horner Mason • Woodbridge • Gordon • Barry • Felch • Greenly • Ransom • Barry • McClelland • Parsons • Bingham • Wisner • Blair • Crapo • Baldwin • Bagley • Croswell • Jerome • Begole • Alger • Luce • Winans • Rich • Pingree • Bliss • Warner • Osborn • Ferris • Sleeper • Groesbeck • Green • Brucker • Comstock • Fitzgerald • Murphy • Fitzgerald • Dickinson • Van Wagoner • Kelly • Sigler • Williams • Swainson • Romney • Milliken • Blanchard • Engler • Granholm

United States Secretaries of Housing and Urban Development
Weaver • Wood • Romney • Lynn • Hills • Harris • Landrieu • Pierce • Kemp • Cisneros • Cuomo • Martinez • Jackson