George W. Romney
Encyclopedia
George Wilcken Romney (July 8, 1907July 26, 1995) was an American
businessman and Republican Party
politician
. He was chairman and CEO of American Motors Corporation
from 1954 to 1962, the 43rd Governor of Michigan
from 1963 to 1969, and the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
from 1969 to 1973. He is the father of former Governor of Massachusetts
Mitt Romney
and the husband of former Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Lenore Romney
.
Romney was born to American parents in the Mormon colonies in Mexico
; events during the Mexican Revolution
forced his family to move back to the United States when he was a child. The family lived in several states and ended up in Salt Lake City, Utah
, where they struggled during the Great Depression
. Romney worked in a number of jobs, served as a Mormon missionary
in England
and Scotland
, and attended two universities in the U.S. but did not graduate from either. In 1939 he moved to Detroit and joined the American Automobile Manufacturers Association
, where he served as the chief spokesperson for the automobile industry during World War II
and headed a cooperative arrangement in which companies could share production improvements. He joined Nash-Kelvinator
in 1948, and became chairman and CEO of its successor, American Motors Corporation in 1954. There he turned around the struggling firm by focusing all efforts on the smaller Rambler car. Romney mocked the products of the "Big Three" automakers as "gas-guzzling dinosaurs" and became one of the first high-profile, media-savvy business executives. Devoutly religious, Romney presided over the Detroit Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Romney entered politics by participating in a state constitutional convention
to rewrite the Michigan Constitution
during 1961–1962. He was elected Governor of Michigan
in 1962 and was re-elected by increasingly large margins in 1964 and 1966. Romney worked to overhaul the state's financial and revenue structure, culminating in Michigan's first state income tax
, and greatly expanded the size of state government. Romney was a strong supporter of the American Civil Rights Movement while governor. He briefly represented moderate Republicans against conservative Republican Barry Goldwater
during the 1964 U.S. presidential election
. He requested the intervention of federal troops during the 1967 Detroit riot.
Romney was a candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 1968
. While initially a front-runner, he proved an ineffective campaigner, and fell behind Richard Nixon
in polls. Following a mid-1967 remark that his earlier support for the Vietnam War
had been due to a "brainwashing" by U.S. military and diplomatic officials in Vietnam, his campaign faltered even more, and he withdrew from the contest in early 1968. Once elected president, Nixon appointed Romney Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Romney's ambitious plans for housing production increases for the poor, and for open housing to desegregate suburbs, were modestly successful but often thwarted by Nixon. Romney left the administration at the start of Nixon's second term in 1973. Returning to private life, Romney advocated volunteerism and public service, and served as a regional representative of the Twelve
within his church.
Mormon
s who fled the United States with their children because of the federal government's opposition to polygamy. His maternal grandfather was Helaman Pratt
(1846–1909), who presided over the Mormon mission in Mexico City
before moving to the state of Chihuahua and who was the son of original Mormon apostle Parley P. Pratt
(1807–1857). Romney's uncle Rey L. Pratt (1878–1931) would in the 1920s play a major role in the preservation and expansion of the Mormon presence in Mexico and in its introduction to South America
. A more distant kinsman was George Romney
(1734–1802), a noted portrait painter in Britain during the last quarter of the 18th century.
George Wilcken Romney's parents were American citizens Gaskell Romney (1871–1955) and Anna Amelia Pratt (1876-1926); they married in 1895 in Mexico and lived in Colonia Dublán
, Galeana
, in the Mexican state of Chihuahua (one of the Mormon colonies in Mexico
) where George was born on July 8, 1907. They practiced monogamy. George had three older brothers and would gain two more brothers and a sister. Gaskell Romney was a successful carpenter, house builder, and farmer who headed the most prosperous family in the colony.
The Mexican Revolution
broke out in 1910 and the Mormon colonies were endangered in 1911–1912 by raids from marauders, including "Red Flaggers" Pascual Orozco
and José Inés Salazar
. Young George heard the sound of distant gunfire and saw rebels walking through the village streets. The Romney family fled and returned to the United States in July 1912, leaving their home and almost all of their property behind. Romney would later say, "We were the first displaced persons of the 20th century."
From here on, George Romney grew up in humble circumstances. The family subsisted with other Mormon refugees on government relief in El Paso, Texas
for a few months before moving to Los Angeles, California
, where the father worked as a carpenter. In kindergarten there, other children mocked Romney's national origin by calling him "Mex".
In 1913, the family moved to Oakley, Idaho
, and bought a farm, where they grew and subsisted largely on Idaho potatoes. The farm was not well located and failed when potato prices fell. The family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah
, in 1916, where Gaskell Romney resumed construction work but was generally poor. In 1917, the family moved to Rexburg, Idaho
, where the senior Romney became a successful home and commercial builder in an area growing because of high World War I
commodities prices. George Romney started working in wheat and sugar beet fields at the age of eleven and was the valedictorian at his grammar school graduation in 1921. The Depression of 1920–21 brought a collapse in prices and local building was abandoned. The family returned to Salt Lake in 1921, and while his father resumed construction, George became skilled at lath-and-plaster work. The family was again prospering when the Great Depression
hit in 1929 and ruined them. George watched his parents fail financially in Idaho and Utah, with their debts taking a dozen years to pay off; seeing their struggles influenced his life and business career.
In Salt Lake, Romney worked to support himself while attending Roosevelt Junior High School and, beginning in 1922, Latter-day Saints High School. There he played halfback
in football, guard in basketball, and right field in baseball, all with more persistence than talent, but in an effort to uphold the family tradition of athleticism, he earned varsity letter
s in all three sports. In his senior year, he and junior Lenore LaFount
became high school sweethearts; she was from a more well-assimilated Mormon family. Academically, Romney was steady but undistinguished. Romney graduated from high school in 1925; his yearbook picture caption was "Serious, high minded, of noble nature—a real fellow." Partly to stay near Lenore, Romney spent the next year as a junior college student at the co-located Latter-day Saints University, where he was elected student body president
. He was also president of the booster club
and played on the basketball team that won the Utah–Idaho Junior College Tournament.
. In October 1926 he sailed to Great Britain
and was first assigned to preach in a Glasgow, Scotland slum; the abject poverty and hopelessness he saw there affected him greatly, but he was ineffective in gaining converts and temporarily suffered a crisis of faith
. In February 1927 he was shifted to Edinburgh
and in February 1928 to London
, where he kept track of mission finances. He worked under renowned Quorum of the Twelve Apostles intellectuals James E. Talmage
and John A. Widtsoe
; the latter's admonitions to "Live mightily today, the greatest day of all time is today" made a lasting impression on the young Mormon. Romney experienced British sights and culture and was introduced to members of the peerage
and the Oxford Group
.
In August 1928, Romney became president of the Scottish missionary district. Operating in a whisky
-centric region was difficult, and he developed a new "task force" approach of sending more missionaries to a single location at a time; this succeeded in drawing local press attention and several hundred new recruits. Romney's frequent public proselytizing – from Edinburgh's Mound
, and from soap boxes at Speakers' Corner
in Hyde Park
and from a platform at Trafalgar Square
– developed his gifts for debate
and sales
, which he would use the rest of his career. Three decades later, Romney said that his missionary time had meant more to him in his work than any other experience.
and LDS Business College
. He followed LaFount to Washington, D.C.
, in fall 1929, after her father had accepted an appointment by President Calvin Coolidge
to serve on the Federal Radio Commission
. He worked for Massachusetts
Democratic U.S. Senator David I. Walsh
during 1929 and 1930, first as a stenographer using speedwriting
, then, when his abilities at that proved limited, as a staff aide working on tariffs and other legislative matters. Romney researched aspects of the proposed Hawley-Smoot tariff legislation and sat in on committee meetings; the job was a turning point in his career and gave him lifelong confidence in dealing with Congress. With one of his brothers, Romney opened a dairy bar in nearby Virginia
during this time that soon failed during the Great Depression. He also attended George Washington University
at night. Romney did not attend for long, or graduate from, any college in which he was enrolled, and has been described instead as an autodidact.
Romney became an apprentice for Alcoa
in Pittsburgh in 1930. When LaFount, an aspiring actress, began earning bit roles in Hollywood movies, Romney arranged to be transferred to Alcoa's Los Angeles office as a salesman. LaFount had the opportunity to sign a $50,000, three-year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
studios, but Romney convinced her to return to Washington where he worked for Alcoa and the Aluminum Wares Association as a lobbyist. He would consider his wooing of her his greatest sales achievement. The couple married on July 2, 1931, at Salt Lake City Temple. They would have four children: Margo Lynn (born 1935), Jane LaFount (born 1938), George Scott
(born 1941), and Willard Mitt
(born 1947).
As a lobbyist, Romney frequently competed on behalf of the aluminum industry against the copper industry, and defended Alcoa against charges of being a monopoly. In the early 1930s he helped get aluminum windows installed in the U.S. Department of Commerce Building
, at the time the largest office building in the world. He joined the National Press Club and the Burning Tree
and Congressional Country Club
s; one reporter watching Romney hurriedly play golf at the latter said, "There is a young man who knows where he is going." Lenore's cultural refinement and hosting skills helped him in business, and the couple met the Hoovers, the Roosevelts, and other prominent Washington figures. He was chosen by Pyke Johnson, a Denver newspaperman and automotive industry trade representative whom he met at the Press Club, to join the newly-formed Trade Association Advisory Committee to the National Recovery Administration
, whose work continued even after that agency was declared unconstitutional in 1935. During 1937 and 1938, Romney was also president of the Washington Trade Association Executives.
, which needed a manager for its new Detroit office. Romney got the job and moved there with his wife and two daughters in 1939. An association study found Americans using their cars more for short trips and convinced Romney that the trend was towards more functional, basic transportation. In 1942 he was promoted to general manager of the association, a position he held until 1948. Romney also served as president of the Detroit Trade Association in 1941.
As World War II
raged overseas, Romney (who was soon beyond draft
age) helped start the Automotive Committee for Air Defense in 1940, which coordinated planning between the automobile and aircraft industries. Immediately following the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor
that drew the U.S. into the war, Romney helped turn that committee into, and became managing director of, the Automotive Council for War Production. This organization established a cooperative arrangement in which companies could share production improvements, thus maximizing the industry's contribution to the war production effort. With labor leader Victor Reuther, Romney led the Detroit Victory Council, which sought to improve conditions for Detroit workers under wartime stress and deal with the causes of the 1943 Detroit race riots
. Romney appealed to the Federal Housing Administration
and got housing made available to black workers near the Ford Willow Run
plant. He also served on the labor-management committee of the Detroit section of the War Manpower Commission
.
Romney became the chief spokesman of the automobile industry, often testifying before Congressional hearings about production, labor, and management issues; he was mentioned or quoted in over 80 stories in The New York Times
during this time. By war's end, 654 manufacturing companies had joined the Automotive Council for War Production, and produced nearly $29 billion in output for the Allied military forces. These included over 3 million motorized vehicles, 80 percent of all tanks and tank parts, 75 percent of all aircraft engines, half of all diesel engines, and a third of all machine guns. Between a fifth and a quarter of all U.S. wartime production was accounted for by the automotive industry.
As peacetime production began, Romney persuaded government officials to cut short complex contract-termination procedures, thus freeing auto plants to quickly produce cars for domestic consumption and avoid large layoffs. Romney was director of the American Trade Association Executives in 1944 and 1947, and managing director of the National Automobile Golden Jubilee Committee in 1946. From 1946 to 1949, he served as a U.S. employer delegate to the Metal Trades Industry conference of the International Labor Office. By 1950, Romney was a member of the Citizens Housing and Planning Council, and criticized racial segregation
in Detroit's housing program when speaking before the Detroit City Council
. Romney's personality was blunt and intense, giving the impression of a "man in a hurry", and he was considered a rising star in the industry.
. When Mason became chairman of the manufacturing firm Nash-Kelvinator
in 1948, he invited Romney along "to learn the business from the ground up" as his roving assistant. As Mason's protégé, Romney assumed executive assignment for the development of the Rambler. Mason had long sought a merger of Nash-Kelvinator with one or more other companies, and on May 1, 1954, it merged with Hudson Motor Car to become the American Motors Corporation (AMC). It was the largest merger in the history of the industry, and Romney became an executive vice president of the new firm. In October 1954, Mason suddenly died of acute pancreatitis
and pneumonia
. Romney was named AMC's Chairman and CEO.
When Romney took over, he reorganized upper management, brought in younger executives, and pruned and rebuilt AMC's dealer network
. Romney believed that the only way to compete with the "Big Three" (General Motors, Ford
, and Chrysler) was to stake the future of AMC on a new small car line. Together with chief engineer Meade Moore, by the end of 1957 Romney had completely phased out the Nash
and Hudson
brands whose sales had been lagging. The Rambler brand was selected for development and promotion, as AMC pursued an innovative strategy: manufacturing only compact car
s. The company struggled badly at first, losing money in 1956, more in 1957, and experiencing defections from its dealer network. Romney instituted company-wide savings and efficiency measures and he and other executives reduced their salaries by up to 35 percent. AMC was on the verge of being taken over by corporate raider Louis Wolfson
, but Romney was able to fend him off. Then sales of the Rambler finally took off, leading to unexpected financial success for AMC. It posted its first quarterly profit in three years in 1958, was the only car company to show increased sales during the recession of 1958
, and moved from thirteenth to seventh place among worldwide auto manufacturers.
In contrast with the Hudson's NASCAR
racing success in the early 1950s, the Ramblers were frequent winners in the coast-to-coast Mobil Economy Run
, an annual event on U.S. highways. Sales remained strong during 1960 and 1961, with the Rambler being America's third most popular car during both years.
A believer in "competitive cooperative consumerism", Romney was effective in his frequent appearances before Congress. He discussed what he saw as the twin evils of “big labor” and “big business”, and called on Congress to break up the Big Three. As the Big Three automakers introduced ever-larger models, AMC undertook a "gas-guzzling dinosaur fighter" strategy, and Romney became the company spokesperson in print advertisements, public appearances, and commercials on the Disneyland television program. The CEO, who was known for his fast-paced, shirt-sleeved management style that ignored organization charts and levels of responsibility, often wrote the ad copy himself. Romney thus became a "folk hero of the American auto industry", and one of the first high-profile media-savvy business executives. His focus on small cars as a challenge to AMC's domestic competitors, as well as the foreign-car invasion, was documented in the April 6, 1959, cover story of Time
magazine, which concluded that "Romney has brought off singlehanded one of the most remarkable selling jobs in U.S. industry." A full biography of him was published in 1960; the company's resurgence made Romney a household name. In the process, the company's stock had risen from $7 per share to $90 per share and Romney became a millionaire from stock options. However, when he felt his salary and bonus was excessively high for a year, he gave the excess back to the company. After initial wariness, he developed a good relationship with United Automobile Workers leader Walter Reuther
, and AMC workers also benefited from a then-novel profit-sharing plan
. Romney was one of only a few Michigan corporate chiefs to support passage and implementation of the state Fair Employment Practices Act.
Religion was a paramount force in Romney's life: "Except for it, I could easily have become excessively occupied with industry. Sharing responsibility for church work has been a vital counterbalance." Following LDS Church practices, he did not drink liquor or caffeinated beverages, smoke or swear. He was a high priest in the Melchizedek priesthood, and beginning in 1944 he headed the Detroit church branch. By the time he was AMC chief, he presided over the Detroit Stake, which included not only all of Metro Detroit, Ann Arbor, and the Toledo area of Ohio but also the western edge of Ontario along the Michigan border. In this role, Romney oversaw the religious work of some 2,700 church members, preached occasional sermons, and supervised the construction of the first stake tabernacle east of the Mississippi River
in 100 years. Because the stake covered part of Canada, he often interacted with Canadian Mission President Thomas S. Monson
. Romney and his wife tithe
d regularly, and during the decade beginning in 1955 gave 19 percent of their income to the church and another 4 percent to charity. Romney's rise to a leadership role in the church reflected the church's journey from a fringe pioneer religion to one that was closely associated with mainstream American business and values.
Romney and his family lived in affluent Bloomfield Hills
, having moved there from Detroit in the early 1950s. He became deeply active in Michigan civic affairs. He was on the board of directors of the Children's Hospital of Michigan
and the United Foundation of Detroit, and was also chairman of the executive committee of the Detroit Round Table of Catholics, Jews, and Protestants. In 1959, he received the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai Brith
's Americanism award. Starting in late 1956, he headed a citizen-based committee for improved educational programs in Detroit's public schools. The late 1958 final report of the Citizens Advisory Committee on School Needs was largely Romney's work and received considerable public attention; it made nearly 200 recommendations for economy and efficiency and for the need for better teacher pay and new infrastructure funding. Romney helped a $90 million education-related bond issue and tax increase win an upset victory in an April 1959 referendum. He organized Citizens for Michigan in 1959, a nonpartisan group that sought to study Detroit's problems and build an informed electorate. Citizens for Michigan built on Romney's belief that assorted interest groups held too much influence in government, and that only the cooperation of informed citizens acting for the benefit of all could counter them.
Based on his fame and accomplishments in a state where automobile making was a central topic of conversation, Romney was seen as a natural to enter politics. Romney first became directly involved in this area in 1959, when he was a key force in the petition drive calling for a constitutional convention to rewrite the Michigan Constitution
. Romney's sales skills made Citizens for Michigan one of the most effective organizations calling for the convention. Previously unaffiliated politically, Romney now declared himself a member of the Republican Party
and gained election to the convention. By early 1960, many in Michigan's somewhat moribund Republican Party were touting Romney as a possible candidate for governor, U.S. senator, or even U.S. vice president. Romney briefly considered a run in the 1960 Senate election, but instead became a vice president of the constitutional convention that revised the Michigan constitution from 1961 to 1962.
After a period of pained indecision and a two-day prayer fast, Romney resigned from AMC in 1962 to enter electoral politics.
His position as the leader of the moderate Republicans at the constitutional convention helped gain him the Republican nomination for Governor of Michigan
.
He ran against incumbent Democratic Governor John B. Swainson in the general election. Romney campaigned on revising the state's tax structure, increasing its appeal to businesses and the general public, and getting it "rolling again". Romney decried both the large influence of labor unions within the Democratic Party and the similarly large influence of big business within the Republican Party. His campaign was among the first to exploit the capabilities of electronic data processing
.
Romney won by some 80,000 votes and ended a fourteen-year stretch of Democratic rule in the state executive spot. Romney's win was attributed to his appeal to independent voters and to the increasingly influential suburban Detroit voters, who by 1962 were more likely to vote Republican than the heavily Democratic residents of the city itself. Additionally, Romney had appeal to labor union members that was unusual for a Republican. Democrats won all of the other statewide executive offices in the election, including Democratic incumbent T. John Lesinski
in the separate election for Lieutenant Governor of Michigan
. Romney's success caused immediate mention of him as a presidential possibility for 1964.
Romney was sworn in as governor on January 1, 1963. His initial concern was with implementing the overhaul of the state's financial and revenue structure that had been authorized by the constitutional convention. In 1963 he proposed a comprehensive tax revision package that included a flat-rate state income tax
, but general economic prosperity alleviated pressure on the state budget and the Michigan Legislature
rejected it. Romney's early difficulties with the legislature helped undermine an attempted push that year of Romney as a national political figure by former Richard Nixon
associates. One Michigan Democrat said of Romney, "He has not yet learned that things in government are not necessarily done the moment the man at the top gives an order. He is eager and sometimes impatient." His blunt and unequivocal manner also sometimes caused friction. But over his first two years in office, Romney was able to work with Democrats – who often had at least partial control of the legislature – and an informal bipartisan coalition formed that allowed Romney to accomplish many of his goals and initiatives.
Romney held a series of Governor's Conferences, which sought to find new ideas from public services professionals and community activists who attended. He opened his office in the Michigan State Capitol
to visitors, spending five minutes with every citizen who wanted to speak with him on Thursday mornings, and was always sure to shake the hands of schoolchildren visiting the capitol. He almost always eschewed political activities on Sundays, the Mormon Sabbath.
Romney supported the American Civil Rights Movement while governor. His hardscrabble background and subsequent life experiences had given him a different perspective from the LDS Church policy on blacks
; he reflected, "It was only after I got to Detroit that I got to know Negroes and began to be able to evaluate them and I began to recognize that some Negroes are better and more capable than lots of whites." During his first State of the State address
in January 1963, Romney declared that "Michigan's most urgent human rights problem is racial discrimination—in housing, public accommodations, education, administration of justice, and employment." Romney helped create the state's first civil rights commission. When Martin Luther King, Jr.
came to Detroit in June 1963 to stage a civil rights march, Romney issued a proclamation in support of the event and sent two representatives to it on his behalf, but did not attend himself because it was on a Sunday. Romney did participate in a smaller march protesting housing discrimination the following Saturday in Grosse Pointe
, after King had left. Romney's advocacy of civil rights brought him criticism from his own church; in January 1964, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles member Delbert L. Stapley
wrote him that a proposed civil rights bill was "vicious legislation" and telling him that "the Lord had placed the curse upon the Negro" and it was not for men to remove it. Romney refused to change his position and increased his efforts towards civil rights.
In the 1964 U.S. presidential election
, Senator Barry Goldwater
quickly became the likely Republican Party nominee. Goldwater represented a new wave of American conservatism
, of which the moderate Romney was not a part. Romney also felt that Goldwater would be a drag on Republicans running in the all the other races that year, including Romney's own (at the time, Michigan had two-year terms for its governor). Finally, Romney disagreed strongly with Goldwater's views on civil rights; he would later say, "Whites and Negroes, in my opinion, have got to learn to know each other. Barry Goldwater didn't have any background to understand this, to fathom them, and I couldn't get through to him." During the June 1964 National Governors' Conference, 13 of 16 Republican governors present were opposed to Goldwater; their leaders were Jim Rhodes
of Ohio, Nelson Rockefeller
of New York (whose own campaign had just stalled out with a loss to Goldwater in the California primary), William Scranton
of Pennsylvania, and Romney. Romney held an unusual Sunday press conference where he declared, "If [Goldwater's] views deviate as indicated from the heritage of our party, I will do everything within my power to keep him from becoming the party's presidential nominee." Romney had, however, previously vowed to Michigan voters that he would not run for president in 1964. Detroit newspapers indicated they would not support him in any such bid, and Romney quickly decided to honor his pledge to stay out of the contest. Scranton entered instead, but Goldwater prevailed decisively at the 1964 Republican National Convention
. Romney's name was entered into nomination as a favorite son
by U.S. Representative Gerald Ford
of Michigan (who had not wanted to choose between candidates during the primary campaign) and he received the votes of 41 delegates in the roll call (40 of Michigan's 48 and one from Kansas).
At the convention, Romney fought for a strengthened civil rights plank in the party platform that would pledge action to eliminate discrimination at the state, local, and private levels, but it was defeated on a voice vote. He also failed to win support for a statement that condemned both left- and right-wing extremism without naming any organizations, which lost a standing vote by a two-to-one margin. Both of Romney's positions were endorsed by former President Dwight Eisenhower, who had an approach to civic responsibilities similar to Romney's. As the convention concluded, Romney neither endorsed nor repudiated Goldwater and vice presidential nominee William E. Miller
, saying he had reservations about Goldwater regarding both civil rights and political extremism.
For the fall elections, Romney cut himself off from the national ticket, refusing to even appear on the same stage with them. He campaigned in mostly Democratic areas, and when pressed at campaign appearances about whether he supported Goldwater, he replied, "You know darn well I'm not!" Romney was re-elected in 1964 by a margin of over 380,000 votes over Democratic Congressman Neil Staebler
, despite Goldwater's landslide defeat sweeping many other Republican candidates away. Romney won 15 percent of Michigan's black vote, compared to Goldwater's two percent.
In 1965, Romney visited South Vietnam
for 31 days and said that he was continuing his strong support for U.S. military involvement there.
During 1966, while son Mitt
was away in France on missionary work
, George Romney helped his fiancée Ann Davies
convert to Mormonism. Governor Romney continued his support of civil rights; after violence broke out during the Selma to Montgomery marches
in 1965, he marched at the front of a Detroit parade in solidarity with the marchers. In 1966, Romney had his biggest electoral success, winning re-election again by some 527,000 votes over Democratic lawyer Zolton Ferency
(this time to a four-year term, Michigan having changed its law). His share of the black vote rose to over 30 percent, a virtually unprecedented accomplishment for a Republican.
By 1967, a looming deficit prompted the legislature to overhaul Michigan's tax structure. Personal and corporate state income taxes were created while business receipts and corporation franchise taxes were eliminated. Passage of an income levy had eluded past Michigan governors no matter the party in control of the legislature. Romney's getting Democratic and Republican factions to compromise on the details of the measure was considered a key test of his political ability.
The massive 12th Street riot
in Detroit began during the predawn hours of July 23, 1967, precipitated by a police raid of a blind pig in a predominantly black neighborhood. As the day wore on and looting and fires got worse, Romney called in the Michigan State Police
and the Michigan National Guard
. At 3 a.m. on July 24, Romney and Detroit Mayor Jerome Cavanagh
called U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark
and requested that federal troops be sent. Clark indicated that to do so, Romney would have to declare a state of civil insurrection, which the governor was loath to do from fear that insurance companies would seize upon it as a reason to not cover losses due to the riot. Elements of the 82nd and 101st U.S. Army Airborne Divisions
were mobilized outside of the city. With the situation worsening, Romney told Deputy Secretary of Defense
Cyrus Vance
, "We gotta move, man, we gotta move." Near midnight on July 24, President Lyndon B. Johnson
authorized thousands of paratroopers to enter Detroit. Johnson went on national television to announce his actions and made seven references to Romney's inability to control the riot using state and local forces. Thousands of arrests took place and the rioting continued until July 27. The final toll was the largest of any American civil disturbance in fifty years: 43 dead, over a thousand injured, 2,500 stores looted, hundreds of homes burned, some $50 million overall in property damage. There were strong political implications in the handling of the riot, as Romney was seen as a leading Republican contender to challenge Johnson's presidential re-election the following year; Romney charged Johnson with having "played politics" in his actions.
The riot notwithstanding, by the end of Romney's governorship the state had made strong gains in civil rights related to public employment, government contracting, and access to public accommodations. Lesser improvements were made in combating discrimination in private employment, housing, education, and law enforcement. Considerable state and federal efforts were made during this time to improve the lot of Michigan's migrant farm workers
and Native Americans
, without much progress in either case.
Romney greatly expanded the size of state government while governor. Romney's first state budget in office came in at $550 million for fiscal year 1963, a $20 million increase over that of his predecessor Swainson. Romney had also inherited a $85 million budget deficit, but got the state to where it had a surplus. In the following fiscal years, the state budget increased to $684 million for 1964, $820 million for 1965, $1 billion for 1966, $1.1 billion for 1967, and was proposed as $1.3 billion for 1968. Romney led the way for a large increase in state spending on education, and Michigan began to develop one of the nation's most comprehensive systems of higher education. There was a significant increase in funding support for local governments and there were generous benefits for the poor and unemployed. Romney's spending was enabled by generally prosperous economic conditions that allowed continued government surpluses and by a consensus of both parties in Michigan to maintain and administer extensive state bureaucracies and to expand public sector services.
The bipartisan coalitions that Romney worked with in the state legislature enabled him to reach most of his legislative goals. Romney's record as governor continued his reputation for having, as writer Theodore H. White
said, "a knack for getting things done." Noted University of Michigan
historian Sidney Fine
assessed Romney as "a highly successful governor".
. Former Congressman and Republican National Committee
chair Leonard W. Hall
became Romney's informal campaign manager. A Gallup Poll after the November elections showed Romney as favored among Republicans over former Vice President Richard Nixon
for the Republican nomination, 39 percent to 31 percent, and a Harris Poll showed Romney besting President Johnson among all voters by 54 percent to 46 percent. Nixon considered Romney his chief opponent.
Romney announced an exploratory phase in February 1967, beginning with a visit to Alaska and the Rocky Mountain states. Romney's greatest weakness was a lack of foreign policy expertise and a need for a clear position on the Vietnam War
. The press coverage of the trip focused on Vietnam and reporters were frustrated by Romney's initial reluctance to speak about it. The qualities that helped Romney as an industry executive worked against him as a presidential candidate; he had difficulty being articulate, often speaking at length and too forthrightly on a topic and then later correcting himself while maintaining he was not. Reporter Jack Germond
joked that he was going to add a single key on his typewriter that would print, "Romney later explained...." Life
magazine wrote that Romney "manages to turn self-expression into a positive ordeal" and that he was no different in private: "nobody can sound more like the public George Romney than the real George Romney let loose to ramble, inevitably away from the point and toward some distant moral precept."
The perception grew that Romney was gaffe-prone and an oaf; the campaign, beset by internal rivalries, soon went through the first of several reorganizations. By then, Nixon had already overtaken Romney in Gallup's Republican preference poll, a lead he would hold throughout the rest of the campaign. The techniques that had brought Romney victories in Michigan, such as operating outside established partisan formulas and keeping a distance from Republican Party organizational elements, proved ineffective in a party nominating contest. Romney's national poll ratings continued to erode, and by May he had lost his edge over Johnson. The Detroit riots of July 1967 did not change his standing among Republicans, but did give him a bounce in national polls against the increasingly unpopular president. A couple of months later, Romney staged a three-week, 17-city tour of the nation's ghettos, seeking to engage militants and others in dialogue.
Questions were occasionally asked about Romney's eligibility to run for President
due to his birth in Mexico, given the ambiguity in the United States Constitution
over the phrase "natural-born citizen
". Romney's membership in the LDS church was scarcely mentioned at all during the campaign, with what indirect attention there was focusing on the contrast between Romney's pro-civil rights stance and his church’s policy at the time of not allowing blacks to participate fully. Some historians and Mormons suspected then and later that had Romney's campaign lasted longer and been more successful, his religion might have become a more prominent issue. Romney's campaign did often focus on his core beliefs; a Romney billboard in New Hampshire read "The Way To Stop Crime Is To Stop Moral Decay". Dartmouth College
students gave a bemused reaction to his morals message, displaying signs such as "God Is Alive and Thinks He's George Romney". A spate of books were published about Romney, more than for any other candidate, and included a friendly campaign biography, an attack from a former staffer, and a collection of Romney's speeches.
On August 31, 1967, in a taped interview with talk show host 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." 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 "brainwashing" reference had been an offhand, unplanned remark that came at the end of a long, behind-schedule day of campaigning. By September 7 it found its way into prominence at The New York Times
. Eight other governors who had been on the same 1965 trip as Romney said no such activity had taken place, with one of them, Philip H. Hoff
of Vermont, saying Romney's remarks were "outrageous, kind of stinking ... Either he's a most naïve man or he lacks judgment." The connotations of brainwashing, following the experiences of American prisoners of war (highlighted by the 1962 film The Manchurian Candidate
), made Romney's comments devastating, especially as it reinforced the negative image of Romney's abilities that had already developed. The topic of brainwashing quickly became newspaper editorial and television talk show fodder, with Romney bearing the brunt of the topical humor. Senator Eugene McCarthy
, running against Johnson for the Democratic nomination, said that in Romney's case, "a light rinse would have been sufficient." Republican Congressman Robert T. Stafford of Vermont sounded a common concern: "If you're running for the presidency, you are supposed to have too much on the ball to be brainwashed." After the remark was aired, Romney's poll ratings nosedived, going from 11 percent behind Nixon to 26 percent behind.
Romney nonetheless persevered, and formally announced on November 18, 1967, at Detroit's Veterans Memorial Building
, that he had "decided to fight for and win the Republican nomination and election to the Presidency of the United States." He spent the following months campaigning tirelessly, focusing on the New Hampshire primary
, the first of the season, and doing all the on-the-ground activities known to that state: greeting workers at factory gates before dawn, having neighborhood meetings in private homes, stopping at bowling alleys. He returned to Vietnam in December 1967 and made speeches and proposals on the subject, one of which presaged Nixon's eventual policy of Vietnamization
. For a while he got an improved response from voters.
Two weeks before the March 12 primary, an internal poll showed Romney losing to Nixon by a six-to-one margin in New Hampshire. Rockefeller, seeing the poll result as well, publicly maintained his support for Romney but said he would be available for a draft; the statement made national headlines and embittered Romney (who would later claim it was Rockefeller's entry, and not the "brainwashing" remark, that doomed him). Seeing his cause was hopeless, Romney announced his withdrawal as a presidential candidate on February 28, 1968. Romney wrote his son Mitt, still away on missionary work: "Your mother and I are not personally distressed. As a matter of fact, we are relieved. ... I aspired, and though I achieved not, I am satisfied."
Nixon went on to gain the nomination. At the 1968 Republican National Convention
in Miami Beach, Romney refused to release his delegates to Nixon, something Nixon did not forget. Romney finished a weak fifth, with only 50 votes on the roll call (44 of Michigan's 48, plus six from Utah). When party liberals and moderates and others expressed dismay at Nixon's choice of Spiro Agnew
as his running mate, Romney's name was placed into nomination for vice president by Mayor of New York John Lindsay
and pushed by several delegations. Romney said he did not initiate the move, but nor did he make an effort to oppose it. Nixon saw the rebellion as a threat to his leadership and actively fought against it; Romney lost to Agnew 1,119–186. Romney worked for Nixon's eventually successful campaign in the fall, which did earn him Nixon's gratitude.
Presidential historian Theodore H. White
wrote that during his campaign Romney gave "the impression of an honest and decent man simply not cut out to be President of the United States." Governor Jim Rhodes
of Ohio more memorably said, "Watching George Romney run for the presidency was like watching a duck try to make love to a football."
After the election, Romney was named Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD). The president-elect made the announcement as part of a nationally televised presentation of his new cabinet on December 11, 1968. Nixon praised Romney for his "missionary zeal" and said that he would also be tasked with mobilizing volunteer organizations to fight poverty and disease within the United States. In actuality, Nixon distrusted Romney politically, and appointed him to a liberally-oriented, low-profile federal agency partly to appease Republican moderates and partly to reduce Romney's potential to challenge for the 1972 Republican presidential nomination
. Romney was confirmed by the Senate without opposition on January 20, 1969, the day of Nixon's inauguration, and was sworn into office on January 22, with Nixon presiding. Romney resigned as Governor of Michigan that same day, and was succeeded by Lieutenant Governor William G. Milliken. (Milliken continued Romney's model of downplaying party label and ideology, and Republicans held onto the governorship for three more terms until 1983 despite Michigan being one of the nation's most blue-collar states.)
As secretary, Romney conducted the first reorganization of the department since its 1966 creation. His November 1969 plan brought programs with similar functions together under unified, policy-based administration at the Washington level, and created two new assistant secretary positions. At the same time, he increased the number of regional and area offices and decentralized program operations and locality-based decisions to them.
The Fair Housing Act of 1968 mandated a federal commitment towards housing desegregation, and required HUD to orient its programs in this direction. Romney, filled with moral passion, wanted to address the widening economic and geographic gulf between whites and blacks by moving blacks out of inner city ghettos and into suburbs. Romney proposed an open housing scheme to facilitate desegregation, dubbed "Open Communities"; HUD planned it for many months without keeping Nixon informed. Once made public, local reaction was often hostile. This included Warren, Michigan
, a blue-collar suburb of Detroit where many blacks worked but could not live due to the zoning practices, refusals, and intimidatory actions of white property owners, many of whom had come there from the city as part of white flight
. HUD made Warren a prime target for Open Communities enforcement and threatened to halt all federal assistance to the town unless it took a series of actions to end racial discrimination there; town officials said progress was being made and that their citizens resented forced integration. Romney rejected this response, partly because when he was governor, Warren residents had thrown rocks and garbage and yelled obscenities for days at a biracial couple who moved into town. Now the secretary said, "The youth of this nation, the minorities of this nation, the discriminated of this nation are not going to wait for 'nature to take its course.' What is really at issue here is responsibility – moral responsibility."
Romney visited Warren in July 1970, and emphasized that affirmative action
rather than forced integration was all that HUD was demanding, but the local populace was not satisfied and Romney was jeered as a police escort took him away from the meeting place. Nixon saw what happened in Warren and had no interest in the Open Communities policy in general, remarking to domestic adviser John Ehrlichman
that, "This country is not ready at this time for either forcibly integrated housing or forcibly integrated education." Open Communities also conflicted with Nixon's use of the Southern strategy
and his own views on race. Romney was forced to back down on Warren and release federal monies to them unconditionally. When Black Jack, Missouri
subsequently resisted a HUD-sponsored plan for desegregated lower- and middle-income housing, Romney appealed to U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell
for Justice Department intervention. In September 1970, Mitchell refused and Romney's plan collapsed. Under Romney, HUD did put into place stricter racial guidelines in relation to new public housing projects, but overall administration implementation of the Fair Housing Act was lacking. Some of the responsibility lay with Romney's inattentiveness to gaining political backing for the policy, including the failure to rally natural allies such as the NAACP. Salisbury State University historian Dean J. Kotlowski writes that "No civil rights initiative developed on Nixon's watch was as sincerely devised or poorly executed as open communities."
Another of Romney's initiatives was "Operation Breakthrough", which was intended to increase the amount of housing available to the poor and which did have Nixon's initial support. Based on his automotive industry experience, Romney thought that the cost of housing could be significantly reduced if in-factory modular construction
techniques were used. However, HUD officials saw it too as a means to spearhead desegregation; Romney said, "We've got to put an end to the idea of moving to suburban areas and living only among people of the same economic and social class". This aspect of the program brought about strong opposition at the local suburban level and lost support in the White House as well. Over half of HUD's research funds during this time were spent on Operation Breakthrough, and it was modestly successful in its building goals. It did not revolutionize home construction, and was phased out once Romney left HUD, but side effects of the program did lead to more modern and consistent building codes and to introduction of technological advances such as the smoke alarm.
Romney was largely outside the president's inner circle and had minimal influence within the Nixon administration. His intense, sometimes bombastic style of making bold advances and awkward pullbacks lacked adequate guile to succeed in Washington. Desegregation efforts in employment and education had more success than in housing during the Nixon administration, but HUD's many missions and unwieldy structure, which sometimes worked at cross-purposes, made it institutionally vulnerable to political attack. Romney also failed to understand or circumvent Nixon's use of Ehrlichman and White House Chief of Staff
H. R. Haldeman
as policy gatekeepers and the consequent de facto downgrading of cabinet officers. Romney was used to being listened to and making his own decisions, and annoyed Nixon by casually interrupting him at meetings; at one point, Nixon told Haldeman, "Just keep [Romney] away from me." A statement by Romney that he would voluntarily reduce his salary to aid the federal budget was viewed by Nixon as an "ineffective grandstand play". By early 1970, Nixon decided he wanted Romney out. Nixon, who hated having to fire people and was, as Ehrlichman later described, "notoriously inadept" at it, instead hatched a plot to get Romney to run in the 1970 U.S. Senate race in Michigan. Wife Lenore Romney
ended up running instead, losing badly to incumbent Democrat Philip A. Hart. In late 1970, after opposition to Open Communities reached a peak, Nixon again decided that Romney should go. Still reluctant to dismiss him, Nixon tried to get Romney to resign by forcing him to capitulate on a series of policy issues. Romney surprised both Nixon and Haldeman by agreeing to back off his positions, and Nixon kept him on. Nixon remarked privately afterwards, "[Romney] talks big but folds under pressure." Puzzled by Nixon's lack of apparent ideological consistency across different areas of the government, Romney told a friend, "I don't know what the president believes in. Maybe he doesn't believe in anything," an assessment shared by others both inside and outside the administration.
Romney spent much of the rest of his tenure as secretary implementing provisions of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1970. Using conventional methods, HUD set records for the amount of construction of assisted housing for low and moderate income families. In early 1972, Romney oversaw demolition of the infamous Pruitt–Igoe housing project in St. Louis
. In spring 1972, a major scandal struck the Federal Housing Administration
(FHA), when a number of its employees along with a number of real estate firms and lawyers were indicted for a scheme in which the value of cheap inner city homes was inflated and sold using government-backed mortgages to black buyers who could not really afford them, with the government being stuck for the bad loans when owners defaulted. FHA was under Romney's purview, when not trying to divert attention to the greater issues of ghetto housing, he conceded that HUD had been unprepared to deal with speculators and inalert to earlier signs of illegal activity. The FHA scandal gave Nixon the ability to shut down HUD's remaining desegregation efforts with little political risk; by the following January, all federal housing funds had been frozen.
In August 1972, Nixon announced Romney would inspect Hurricane Agnes
flood damage in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
, but neglected to tell Romney first. Much of the area lacked shelter six weeks after the storm, residents were angry, and Romney got into a three-way shouting match with Governor Milton J. Shapp and a local citizen's representative. Romney denounced Shapp's proposal that the federal government pay off the mortgages of victims as "unrealistic and demagogic", and the citizen representative angrily responded to Romney, "You don't give a damn whether we live or die." The confrontation received wide media attention and damaged Romney's public reputation. By now totally frustrated, Romney wanted to resign immediately, but Nixon, worried about the fallout to his 1972 re-election campaign
, insisted that Romney stay on. Romney agreed, although he indicated to the press that he would leave eventually.
Romney finally did hand in his resignation on November 9, 1972, following Nixon's re-election. His leaving was announced on November 27, 1972, as part of the initial wave of departures from Nixon's first-term cabinet. Romney said he was unhappy with presidential candidates who declined to address "the real issues" facing the nation for fear they would lose votes, and said he would form a new national citizens' organization that would attempt to enlighten the public on the most vital topics. He added that he would stay on as secretary until his successor could be appointed and confirmed, and did stay until Nixon's second inauguration on January 20, 1973. Upon his departure Romney said he looked forward "with great enthusiasm" to his return to private life.
The Boston Globe
later termed Romney's conflicts with Nixon a matter that "played out with Shakespearean drama". Despite all the setbacks and frustrations, University at Buffalo political scientist Charles M. Lamb concluded that Romney pressed harder to achieve suburban integration than any prominent federal official from the 1970s through the 1990s. Lehman College
sociology professor Christopher Bonastia sees the Romney-era HUD as having come "surprisingly close to implementing unpopular antidiscrimination policies" but in the end was unable to bring about meaningful alterations in American segregation patterns, with no equivalent effort having happened since then or likely to in the foreseeable future.
In 1974, Romney became founding chair of the National Volunteer Center, which promoted volunteerism; it would later merge with President George H. W. Bush
's Points of Light Foundation. That is part of the greater Corporation for National and Community Service
, which gives out a George W. Romney Volunteer Center Excellence Award at the annual National Conference on Community Volunteering and National Service. The George W. Romney Volunteer Center itself is sponsored by the United Way for Southeastern Michigan, and began during Romney's lifetime.
. As part of a longtime habit of playing golf daily, he had long ago concocted a "compact 18" format in which he played three balls on each of six holes, or similar formulations depending upon the amount of daylight. In 1987, he held a four-generation extended family reunion in Washington, where he showed the places and recounted the events of his life which had occurred there.
He re-emerged to the general public in 1994 when he campaigned for his son, Mitt Romney
, during the younger Romney's bid to unseat Senator Edward M. Kennedy in the 1994 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts
. Romney had urged Mitt to enter the race and moved into his son's house for its duration, serving as an unofficial advisor. Romney was a vigorous surrogate for his son in public appearances and at fundraising events. When Kennedy's campaign sought to bring up the LDS Church's past policy on blacks, Romney interrupted Mitt's press conference and said loudly, "I think it is absolutely wrong to keep hammering on the religious issues. And what Ted is trying to do is bring it into the picture." The father counseled the son to be relaxed in appearance and to pay less attention to his political consultants and more to his own instincts, a change that the younger Romney made late in the ultimately losing campaign.
That same year, Ronna Romney
, Romney's ex-daughter-in-law (formerly married to G. Scott Romney
), decided to seek the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate from Michigan. While Mitt and G. Scott endorsed Ronna Romney, George Romney had endorsed her opponent and the eventual winner, Spencer Abraham
, during the previous year when Ronna was considering a run but had not yet announced. A family spokesperson said that George Romney had endorsed Abraham before knowing Ronna Romney would run and could not go back on his word, although he did refrain from personally campaigning on behalf of Abraham.
On July 26, 1995, Romney died of a heart attack
at the age of 88 while he was exercising on his treadmill
at his home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
; he was discovered by his wife Lenore but it was too late to save him. He was buried at the Fairview Cemetery in Brighton, Michigan
. In addition to his wife and children, Romney was survived by 23 grandchildren and 33 great-grandchildren.
The building housing the main offices of the Governor of Michigan in Lansing
is known as the George W. Romney Building
following a 1997 renaming. The Governor George Romney Lifetime Achievement Award is given annually in Michigan, to recognize citizens who have demonstrated a commitment to community involvement and volunteer service throughout their lifetimes. The George W. Romney Institute of Public Management in the Marriott School of Management
at Brigham Young University
, so named in 1998, honors the legacy left by Romney. Its mission is to develop people of high character who are committed to service, management, and leadership in the public sector and in non-profit organizations throughout the world. In 2010, Adrian College
in Michigan announced the opening of its George Romney Institute for Law and Public Policy. Its purpose is to explore the interdisciplinary nature of law and public policy and encourage practitioners, academics, and students to work together on issues in this realm.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
businessman and Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
. He was chairman and CEO of American Motors Corporation
American Motors
American Motors Corporation was an American automobile company formed by the 1954 merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Company. At the time, it was the largest corporate merger in U.S. history.George W...
from 1954 to 1962, the 43rd Governor of Michigan
Governor of Michigan
The Governor of Michigan is the chief executive of the U.S. State of Michigan. The current Governor is Rick Snyder, a member of the Republican Party.-Gubernatorial elections and term of office:...
from 1963 to 1969, and the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
The United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development is the head of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, a member of the President's Cabinet, and thirteenth in the Presidential line of succession. The post was created with the formation of the Department of Housing...
from 1969 to 1973. He is the father of former Governor of Massachusetts
Governor of Massachusetts
The Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the executive magistrate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The current governor is Democrat Deval Patrick.-Constitutional role:...
Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...
and the husband of former Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Lenore Romney
Lenore Romney
Lenore LaFount Romney was the former First Lady of Michigan and later a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1970 from Michigan. Her husband, George Romney was the former Governor of Michigan, presidential candidate in 1968 and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development...
.
Romney was born to American parents in the Mormon colonies in Mexico
Mormon Colonies in Mexico
The Mormon colonies in Mexico are settlements located near the Sierra Madre mountains in northern Mexico which were established by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints beginning in 1885. Many of the original colonists came to Mexico due to federal attempts to curb and...
; events during the Mexican Revolution
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
forced his family to move back to the United States when he was a child. The family lived in several states and ended up in Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
, where they struggled during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. Romney worked in a number of jobs, served as a Mormon missionary
Mormon missionary
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, with over 52,000 full-time missionaries worldwide, as of the end of 2010...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, and attended two universities in the U.S. but did not graduate from either. In 1939 he moved to Detroit and joined the American Automobile Manufacturers Association
Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers is a trade group of automobile manufacturers that operate in the United States. Their mission is to "represent the common interests of its members and provide a forum to enable them to advance public policies that meet consumer and societal needs for clean,...
, where he served as the chief spokesperson for the automobile industry during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and headed a cooperative arrangement in which companies could share production improvements. He joined Nash-Kelvinator
Nash-Kelvinator Corporation
Nash-Kelvinator Corporation was the result of a merger between Nash Motors and Kelvinator Appliance Company. The union of these two companies was brought about as a result of a condition made by George W...
in 1948, and became chairman and CEO of its successor, American Motors Corporation in 1954. There he turned around the struggling firm by focusing all efforts on the smaller Rambler car. Romney mocked the products of the "Big Three" automakers as "gas-guzzling dinosaurs" and became one of the first high-profile, media-savvy business executives. Devoutly religious, Romney presided over the Detroit Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Romney entered politics by participating in a state constitutional convention
Constitutional convention (political meeting)
A constitutional convention is now a gathering for the purpose of writing a new constitution or revising an existing constitution. A general constitutional convention is called to create the first constitution of a political unit or to entirely replace an existing constitution...
to rewrite the Michigan Constitution
Michigan Constitution
The Constitution of the State of Michigan is the governing document of the U.S. state of Michigan. It describes the structure and function of the state's government....
during 1961–1962. He was elected Governor of Michigan
Governor of Michigan
The Governor of Michigan is the chief executive of the U.S. State of Michigan. The current Governor is Rick Snyder, a member of the Republican Party.-Gubernatorial elections and term of office:...
in 1962 and was re-elected by increasingly large margins in 1964 and 1966. Romney worked to overhaul the state's financial and revenue structure, culminating in Michigan's first state income tax
State income tax
State and local income taxes are imposed in addition to Federal income tax. State income tax is allowed as a deduction in computing Federal income tax, subject to limitations for individuals. Some localities impose an income tax, often based on state income tax calculations. Forty-three states...
, and greatly expanded the size of state government. Romney was a strong supporter of the American Civil Rights Movement while governor. He briefly represented moderate Republicans against conservative Republican Barry Goldwater
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...
during the 1964 U.S. presidential election
United States presidential election, 1964
The United States presidential election of 1964 was held on November 3, 1964. Incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson had come to office less than a year earlier following the assassination of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy. Johnson, who had successfully associated himself with Kennedy's...
. He requested the intervention of federal troops during the 1967 Detroit riot.
Romney was a candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 1968
George Romney presidential campaign, 1968
George Romney ran for the 1968 Republican Party nomination in the 1968 United States presidential election.Romney was the Governor of Michigan and a renowned automaker who focused his campaign on the issues of fiscal responsibility, welfare reform and the Vietnam War...
. While initially a front-runner, he proved an ineffective campaigner, and fell behind Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
in polls. Following a mid-1967 remark that his earlier support for the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
had been due to a "brainwashing" by U.S. military and diplomatic officials in Vietnam, his campaign faltered even more, and he withdrew from the contest in early 1968. Once elected president, Nixon appointed Romney Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Romney's ambitious plans for housing production increases for the poor, and for open housing to desegregate suburbs, were modestly successful but often thwarted by Nixon. Romney left the administration at the start of Nixon's second term in 1973. Returning to private life, Romney advocated volunteerism and public service, and served as a regional representative of the Twelve
Regional representative of the Twelve
Regional representative of the Twelve, commonly shorted to regional representative or regional rep, was a priesthood calling in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1968 and 1995...
within his church.
Early life
Romney's grandparents were polygamousPolygamy
Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...
Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
s who fled the United States with their children because of the federal government's opposition to polygamy. His maternal grandfather was Helaman Pratt
Helaman Pratt
Helaman Pratt was an early leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mexico.-Family:...
(1846–1909), who presided over the Mormon mission in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
before moving to the state of Chihuahua and who was the son of original Mormon apostle Parley P. Pratt
Parley P. Pratt
Parley Parker Pratt, Sr. was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from 1835 until his murder in 1857. He served in the Quorum with his younger brother, Orson Pratt...
(1807–1857). Romney's uncle Rey L. Pratt (1878–1931) would in the 1920s play a major role in the preservation and expansion of the Mormon presence in Mexico and in its introduction to South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. A more distant kinsman was George Romney
George Romney (painter)
George Romney was an English portrait painter. He was the most fashionable artist of his day, painting many leading society figures - including his artistic muse, Emma Hamilton, mistress of Lord Nelson....
(1734–1802), a noted portrait painter in Britain during the last quarter of the 18th century.
George Wilcken Romney's parents were American citizens Gaskell Romney (1871–1955) and Anna Amelia Pratt (1876-1926); they married in 1895 in Mexico and lived in Colonia Dublán
Colonia Dublan
Colonia Dublán began as a Mormon colony, located in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. It is now a part of Nuevo Casas Grandes. It is one of the few surviving Mormon colonies in Mexico .-History:...
, Galeana
Galeana, Chihuahua
Galeana is one of the 67 municipalities of Chihuahua, in northern Mexico. The municipal seat lies at Hermenegildo Galeana. The municipality covers an area of 1,529 km².As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 3,774....
, in the Mexican state of Chihuahua (one of the Mormon colonies in Mexico
Mormon Colonies in Mexico
The Mormon colonies in Mexico are settlements located near the Sierra Madre mountains in northern Mexico which were established by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints beginning in 1885. Many of the original colonists came to Mexico due to federal attempts to curb and...
) where George was born on July 8, 1907. They practiced monogamy. George had three older brothers and would gain two more brothers and a sister. Gaskell Romney was a successful carpenter, house builder, and farmer who headed the most prosperous family in the colony.
The Mexican Revolution
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
broke out in 1910 and the Mormon colonies were endangered in 1911–1912 by raids from marauders, including "Red Flaggers" Pascual Orozco
Pascual Orozco
Pascual Orozco Vazquez was a Mexican revolutionary leader who, after the triumph of the Mexican Revolution, rose up against Francisco I...
and José Inés Salazar
José Inés Salazar
José Inés Salazar was a leading Orozquista General in the Mexican Revolution.Salazar was a native of Casas Grandes, Chihuahua.Prior to the Mexican Revolution he was a member of the Partido Liberal Mexicano....
. Young George heard the sound of distant gunfire and saw rebels walking through the village streets. The Romney family fled and returned to the United States in July 1912, leaving their home and almost all of their property behind. Romney would later say, "We were the first displaced persons of the 20th century."
From here on, George Romney grew up in humble circumstances. The family subsisted with other Mormon refugees on government relief in El Paso, Texas
El Paso, Texas
El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...
for a few months before moving to Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, where the father worked as a carpenter. In kindergarten there, other children mocked Romney's national origin by calling him "Mex".
In 1913, the family moved to Oakley, Idaho
Oakley, Idaho
Oakley is a city in Cassia County, Idaho, United States. The population was 763 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Burley, Idaho Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Oakley is located at , at 4,560 feet in elevation...
, and bought a farm, where they grew and subsisted largely on Idaho potatoes. The farm was not well located and failed when potato prices fell. The family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
, in 1916, where Gaskell Romney resumed construction work but was generally poor. In 1917, the family moved to Rexburg, Idaho
Rexburg, Idaho
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 17,257 people, 4,274 households, and 2,393 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,534.4 people per square mile . There were 4,533 housing units at an average density of 928.4 per square mile...
, where the senior Romney became a successful home and commercial builder in an area growing because of high World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
commodities prices. George Romney started working in wheat and sugar beet fields at the age of eleven and was the valedictorian at his grammar school graduation in 1921. The Depression of 1920–21 brought a collapse in prices and local building was abandoned. The family returned to Salt Lake in 1921, and while his father resumed construction, George became skilled at lath-and-plaster work. The family was again prospering when the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
hit in 1929 and ruined them. George watched his parents fail financially in Idaho and Utah, with their debts taking a dozen years to pay off; seeing their struggles influenced his life and business career.
In Salt Lake, Romney worked to support himself while attending Roosevelt Junior High School and, beginning in 1922, Latter-day Saints High School. There he played halfback
Halfback (American football)
A halfback, sometimes referred to as a tailback, is an offensive position in American football, which lines up in the backfield and generally is responsible for carrying the ball on run plays. Historically, from the 1870s through the 1950s, the halfback position was both an offensive and defensive...
in football, guard in basketball, and right field in baseball, all with more persistence than talent, but in an effort to uphold the family tradition of athleticism, he earned varsity letter
Varsity letter
A varsity letter is an award earned in the United States for excellence in school activities. A varsity letter signifies that its winner was a qualified varsity team member, awarded after a certain standard was met.- Description :...
s in all three sports. In his senior year, he and junior Lenore LaFount
Lenore Romney
Lenore LaFount Romney was the former First Lady of Michigan and later a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1970 from Michigan. Her husband, George Romney was the former Governor of Michigan, presidential candidate in 1968 and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development...
became high school sweethearts; she was from a more well-assimilated Mormon family. Academically, Romney was steady but undistinguished. Romney graduated from high school in 1925; his yearbook picture caption was "Serious, high minded, of noble nature—a real fellow." Partly to stay near Lenore, Romney spent the next year as a junior college student at the co-located Latter-day Saints University, where he was elected student body president
Student body president
The President of the Student Government is the highest ranking officer of a student government or student union association on the high school, college, or university level...
. He was also president of the booster club
Booster club
A booster club is an organization that is formed to support an associated club, sports team, or organization. Booster clubs are popular in American schools at the high school and university level...
and played on the basketball team that won the Utah–Idaho Junior College Tournament.
Missionary work
After becoming an elder, Romney earned enough money working to fund himself as a Mormon missionaryMissionary (LDS Church)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, with over 52,000 full-time missionaries worldwide, as of the end of 2010...
. In October 1926 he sailed to Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and was first assigned to preach in a Glasgow, Scotland slum; the abject poverty and hopelessness he saw there affected him greatly, but he was ineffective in gaining converts and temporarily suffered a crisis of faith
Crisis of faith
Crisis of faith is a term commonly applied to periods of intense doubt and internal conflict about one's preconceived beliefs or life decisions...
. In February 1927 he was shifted to Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
and in February 1928 to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where he kept track of mission finances. He worked under renowned Quorum of the Twelve Apostles intellectuals James E. Talmage
James E. Talmage
James Edward Talmage born in Hungerford, Berkshire, England, was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1911 until his death in 1933....
and John A. Widtsoe
John A. Widtsoe
John Andreas Widtsoe was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1921 until his death. Widtsoe was also a noted author, scientist, and academician.-Early life:...
; the latter's admonitions to "Live mightily today, the greatest day of all time is today" made a lasting impression on the young Mormon. Romney experienced British sights and culture and was introduced to members of the peerage
Peerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
and the Oxford Group
Oxford Group
The Oxford Group was a Christian movement that had a following in Europe, China, Africa, Australia, Scandinavia and America in the 1920s and 30s. It was initiated by an American Lutheran pastor, Frank Buchman, who was of Swiss descent...
.
In August 1928, Romney became president of the Scottish missionary district. Operating in a whisky
Whisky
Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Different grains are used for different varieties, including barley, malted barley, rye, malted rye, wheat, and corn...
-centric region was difficult, and he developed a new "task force" approach of sending more missionaries to a single location at a time; this succeeded in drawing local press attention and several hundred new recruits. Romney's frequent public proselytizing – from Edinburgh's Mound
The Mound
The Mound is an artificial hill in central Edinburgh, Scotland, which connects Edinburgh's New Town and Old Town. It was formed by dumping around 1,501,000 cartloads of earth excavated from the foundations of the New Town into the drained Nor Loch which forms today's Princes Street Gardens. The...
, and from soap boxes at Speakers' Corner
Speakers' Corner
A Speakers' Corner is an area where open-air public speaking, debate and discussion are allowed. The original and most noted is in the north-east corner of Hyde Park in London, United Kingdom. Speakers there may speak on any subject, as long as the police consider their speeches lawful, although...
in Hyde Park
Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
and from a platform at Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...
– developed his gifts for debate
Debate
Debate or debating is a method of interactive and representational argument. Debate is a broader form of argument than logical argument, which only examines consistency from axiom, and factual argument, which only examines what is or isn't the case or rhetoric which is a technique of persuasion...
and sales
Sales
A sale is the act of selling a product or service in return for money or other compensation. It is an act of completion of a commercial activity....
, which he would use the rest of his career. Three decades later, Romney said that his missionary time had meant more to him in his work than any other experience.
Early career
Romney returned to the U.S. in late 1928 and studied briefly at the University of UtahUniversity of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
and LDS Business College
LDS Business College
LDS Business College is a two-year college in Salt Lake City, Utah, focused on training students in business and industry. The college is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and operates under the Church Educational System and is associated with the Brigham Young University...
. He followed LaFount to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, in fall 1929, after her father had accepted an appointment by President Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
to serve on the Federal Radio Commission
Federal Radio Commission
The Federal Radio Commission was a government body that regulated radio use in the United States from its creation in 1926 until its replacement by the Federal Communications Commission in 1934...
. He worked for Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
Democratic U.S. Senator David I. Walsh
David I. Walsh
David Ignatius Walsh was a United States politician from Massachusetts. As a member of the Democratic Party, he served in the state legislature and then as Lieutenant Governor and then as the 46th Governor . His first term in the U.S...
during 1929 and 1930, first as a stenographer using speedwriting
Speedwriting
Speedwriting is a shorthand writing system developed in 1924 by Emma Dearborn, an instructor at the University of Chicago. It uses alphabetic characters and was originally designed so that it could be written by pen, or on a typewriter....
, then, when his abilities at that proved limited, as a staff aide working on tariffs and other legislative matters. Romney researched aspects of the proposed Hawley-Smoot tariff legislation and sat in on committee meetings; the job was a turning point in his career and gave him lifelong confidence in dealing with Congress. With one of his brothers, Romney opened a dairy bar in nearby Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
during this time that soon failed during the Great Depression. He also attended George Washington University
George Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
at night. Romney did not attend for long, or graduate from, any college in which he was enrolled, and has been described instead as an autodidact.
Romney became an apprentice for Alcoa
Alcoa
Alcoa Inc. is the world's third largest producer of aluminum, behind Rio Tinto Alcan and Rusal. From its operational headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Alcoa conducts operations in 31 countries...
in Pittsburgh in 1930. When LaFount, an aspiring actress, began earning bit roles in Hollywood movies, Romney arranged to be transferred to Alcoa's Los Angeles office as a salesman. LaFount had the opportunity to sign a $50,000, three-year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
studios, but Romney convinced her to return to Washington where he worked for Alcoa and the Aluminum Wares Association as a lobbyist. He would consider his wooing of her his greatest sales achievement. The couple married on July 2, 1931, at Salt Lake City Temple. They would have four children: Margo Lynn (born 1935), Jane LaFount (born 1938), George Scott
G. Scott Romney
George Scott Romney is an American Republican politician and lawyer in the state of Michigan. He formerly sat on the Michigan State University Board of Trustees. A member of the Pratt-Romney family—a well-known political family in Michigan—he is the son of former Michigan Governor...
(born 1941), and Willard Mitt
Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...
(born 1947).
As a lobbyist, Romney frequently competed on behalf of the aluminum industry against the copper industry, and defended Alcoa against charges of being a monopoly. In the early 1930s he helped get aluminum windows installed in the U.S. Department of Commerce Building
Herbert C. Hoover Building
The Herbert C. Hoover Building is the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the United States Department of Commerce.The building is located at 1401 Constitution Avenue, Northwest, Washington, D.C., on the block bounded by Constitution Avenue NW to the south, Pennsylvania Avenue NW to the north, 15th...
, at the time the largest office building in the world. He joined the National Press Club and the Burning Tree
Burning Tree Club
Burning Tree Club is a private, all-male golf club in Bethesda, Maryland. Membership in the club is extremely exclusive. The course at Burning Tree has been played by numerous presidents, foreign dignitaries, high-ranking executive officials, members of Congress, and military leaders...
and Congressional Country Club
Congressional Country Club
The Congressional Country Club is a country club and golf course in Bethesda, Maryland, USA. Congressional opened in 1924 and has hosted three U.S. Opens and a PGA Championship, and is an annual stop on the PGA Tour, with the AT&T National, hosted by Tiger Woods. The tournament was first...
s; one reporter watching Romney hurriedly play golf at the latter said, "There is a young man who knows where he is going." Lenore's cultural refinement and hosting skills helped him in business, and the couple met the Hoovers, the Roosevelts, and other prominent Washington figures. He was chosen by Pyke Johnson, a Denver newspaperman and automotive industry trade representative whom he met at the Press Club, to join the newly-formed Trade Association Advisory Committee to the National Recovery Administration
National Recovery Administration
The National Recovery Administration was the primary New Deal agency established by U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933. The goal was to eliminate "cut-throat competition" by bringing industry, labor and government together to create codes of "fair practices" and set prices...
, whose work continued even after that agency was declared unconstitutional in 1935. During 1937 and 1938, Romney was also president of the Washington Trade Association Executives.
Automotive industry representative
After nine years with Alcoa, Romney's career had stagnated; there were many layers of executives to climb through and a key promotion he had wanted was given to someone with more seniority. Pyke Johnson was vice president of the Automobile Manufacturers AssociationAutomobile Manufacturers Association
The Automobile Manufacturers Association was a trade group of automobile manufacturers which operated under various names in the United States from 1911 to 1999....
, which needed a manager for its new Detroit office. Romney got the job and moved there with his wife and two daughters in 1939. An association study found Americans using their cars more for short trips and convinced Romney that the trend was towards more functional, basic transportation. In 1942 he was promoted to general manager of the association, a position he held until 1948. Romney also served as president of the Detroit Trade Association in 1941.
As World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
raged overseas, Romney (who was soon beyond draft
Conscription in the United States
Conscription in the United States has been employed several times, usually during war but also during the nominal peace of the Cold War...
age) helped start the Automotive Committee for Air Defense in 1940, which coordinated planning between the automobile and aircraft industries. Immediately following the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
that drew the U.S. into the war, Romney helped turn that committee into, and became managing director of, the Automotive Council for War Production. This organization established a cooperative arrangement in which companies could share production improvements, thus maximizing the industry's contribution to the war production effort. With labor leader Victor Reuther, Romney led the Detroit Victory Council, which sought to improve conditions for Detroit workers under wartime stress and deal with the causes of the 1943 Detroit race riots
Detroit Race Riot (1943)
The Detroit Race Riot broke out in Detroit, Michigan in June 1943 and lasted for three days before Federal troops restored order. The rioting between blacks and whites began on Belle Isle on 20 June 1943 and continued until 22 June, killing 34, wounding 433, and destroying property valued at $2...
. Romney appealed to the Federal Housing Administration
Federal Housing Administration
The Federal Housing Administration is a United States government agency created as part of the National Housing Act of 1934. It insured loans made by banks and other private lenders for home building and home buying...
and got housing made available to black workers near the Ford Willow Run
Willow Run
The Willow Run manufacturing plant, located between Ypsilanti and Belleville, Michigan, was constructed during World War II by Ford Motor Company for the mass production of the B-24 Liberator military aircraft....
plant. He also served on the labor-management committee of the Detroit section of the War Manpower Commission
War Manpower Commission
The War Manpower Commission was a World War II agency of the United States Government charged with planning to balance the labor needs of agriculture, industry and the armed forces. It was created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Executive Order 9139 of April 18, 1942. Its chairman was Paul V...
.
Romney became the chief spokesman of the automobile industry, often testifying before Congressional hearings about production, labor, and management issues; he was mentioned or quoted in over 80 stories in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
during this time. By war's end, 654 manufacturing companies had joined the Automotive Council for War Production, and produced nearly $29 billion in output for the Allied military forces. These included over 3 million motorized vehicles, 80 percent of all tanks and tank parts, 75 percent of all aircraft engines, half of all diesel engines, and a third of all machine guns. Between a fifth and a quarter of all U.S. wartime production was accounted for by the automotive industry.
As peacetime production began, Romney persuaded government officials to cut short complex contract-termination procedures, thus freeing auto plants to quickly produce cars for domestic consumption and avoid large layoffs. Romney was director of the American Trade Association Executives in 1944 and 1947, and managing director of the National Automobile Golden Jubilee Committee in 1946. From 1946 to 1949, he served as a U.S. employer delegate to the Metal Trades Industry conference of the International Labor Office. By 1950, Romney was a member of the Citizens Housing and Planning Council, and criticized racial segregation
Racial segregation in the United States
Racial segregation in the United States, as a general term, included the racial segregation or hypersegregation of facilities, services, and opportunities such as housing, medical care, education, employment, and transportation along racial lines...
in Detroit's housing program when speaking before the Detroit City Council
Detroit City Council
The Detroit City Council is the legislative body of Detroit, Michigan, United States. The City Council consists of nine members elected for a four-year term in a single election conducted on an at-large and non-partisan basis...
. Romney's personality was blunt and intense, giving the impression of a "man in a hurry", and he was considered a rising star in the industry.
American Motors Corporation CEO
As managing director of the Automobile Manufacturers Association, Romney became good friends with then-president George W. MasonGeorge W. Mason
George Walter Mason was an American industrialist. During his career Mason served as the Chairman and CEO of the Kelvinator Corporation , Chairman and CEO of the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation , and Chairman and CEO of American Motors Corporation .- Early life :George W. Mason was born in Valley...
. When Mason became chairman of the manufacturing firm Nash-Kelvinator
Nash-Kelvinator Corporation
Nash-Kelvinator Corporation was the result of a merger between Nash Motors and Kelvinator Appliance Company. The union of these two companies was brought about as a result of a condition made by George W...
in 1948, he invited Romney along "to learn the business from the ground up" as his roving assistant. As Mason's protégé, Romney assumed executive assignment for the development of the Rambler. Mason had long sought a merger of Nash-Kelvinator with one or more other companies, and on May 1, 1954, it merged with Hudson Motor Car to become the American Motors Corporation (AMC). It was the largest merger in the history of the industry, and Romney became an executive vice president of the new firm. In October 1954, Mason suddenly died of acute pancreatitis
Pancreatitis
Pancreatitis is inflammation of the pancreas. It occurs when pancreatic enzymes that digest food are activated in the pancreas instead of the small intestine. It may be acute – beginning suddenly and lasting a few days, or chronic – occurring over many years...
and pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
. Romney was named AMC's Chairman and CEO.
When Romney took over, he reorganized upper management, brought in younger executives, and pruned and rebuilt AMC's dealer network
Car dealership
A car dealership or vehicle local distribution is a business that sells new or used cars at the retail level, based on a dealership contract with an automaker or its sales subsidiary. It employs automobile salespeople to do the selling...
. Romney believed that the only way to compete with the "Big Three" (General Motors, Ford
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
, and Chrysler) was to stake the future of AMC on a new small car line. Together with chief engineer Meade Moore, by the end of 1957 Romney had completely phased out the Nash
Nash Motors
Also see: Kelvinator and American Motors CorporationNash Motors was an automobile manufacturer based in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in the United States from 1916 to 1938. From 1938 to 1954, Nash was the automotive division of the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation...
and Hudson
Hudson Motor Car Company
The Hudson Motor Car Company made Hudson and other brand automobiles in Detroit, Michigan, from 1909 to 1954. In 1954, Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation to form American Motors. The Hudson name was continued through the 1957 model year, after which it was dropped.- Company strategy...
brands whose sales had been lagging. The Rambler brand was selected for development and promotion, as AMC pursued an innovative strategy: manufacturing only compact car
Compact car
A compact car , or small family car , is a classification of cars which are larger than a supermini but smaller than or equal to a mid-size car...
s. The company struggled badly at first, losing money in 1956, more in 1957, and experiencing defections from its dealer network. Romney instituted company-wide savings and efficiency measures and he and other executives reduced their salaries by up to 35 percent. AMC was on the verge of being taken over by corporate raider Louis Wolfson
Louis Wolfson
Louis Elwood Wolfson was a Wall Street financier and one of the first modern corporate raiders, labeled by Time Magazine as such in a 1956 article...
, but Romney was able to fend him off. Then sales of the Rambler finally took off, leading to unexpected financial success for AMC. It posted its first quarterly profit in three years in 1958, was the only car company to show increased sales during the recession of 1958
Recession of 1958
The Recession of 1958 was a sharp worldwide economic downturn in 1958, and the most significant one during the post-World War II boom between 1945 and 1970....
, and moved from thirteenth to seventh place among worldwide auto manufacturers.
In contrast with the Hudson's NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
racing success in the early 1950s, the Ramblers were frequent winners in the coast-to-coast Mobil Economy Run
Mobil Economy Run
Mobil Economy Run was an event that took place every year from 1936 to 1968. It was designed to provide real fuel efficiency numbers during a coast to coast test on real roads and with regular traffic and weather conditions...
, an annual event on U.S. highways. Sales remained strong during 1960 and 1961, with the Rambler being America's third most popular car during both years.
A believer in "competitive cooperative consumerism", Romney was effective in his frequent appearances before Congress. He discussed what he saw as the twin evils of “big labor” and “big business”, and called on Congress to break up the Big Three. As the Big Three automakers introduced ever-larger models, AMC undertook a "gas-guzzling dinosaur fighter" strategy, and Romney became the company spokesperson in print advertisements, public appearances, and commercials on the Disneyland television program. The CEO, who was known for his fast-paced, shirt-sleeved management style that ignored organization charts and levels of responsibility, often wrote the ad copy himself. Romney thus became a "folk hero of the American auto industry", and one of the first high-profile media-savvy business executives. His focus on small cars as a challenge to AMC's domestic competitors, as well as the foreign-car invasion, was documented in the April 6, 1959, cover story of Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine, which concluded that "Romney has brought off singlehanded one of the most remarkable selling jobs in U.S. industry." A full biography of him was published in 1960; the company's resurgence made Romney a household name. In the process, the company's stock had risen from $7 per share to $90 per share and Romney became a millionaire from stock options. However, when he felt his salary and bonus was excessively high for a year, he gave the excess back to the company. After initial wariness, he developed a good relationship with United Automobile Workers leader Walter Reuther
Walter Reuther
Walter Philip Reuther was an American labor union leader, who made the United Automobile Workers a major force not only in the auto industry but also in the Democratic Party in the mid 20th century...
, and AMC workers also benefited from a then-novel profit-sharing plan
Profit-sharing agreement (USA)
A profit-sharing agreement in the United States is the agreement that establishes a pension plan maintained by the employer to share its profits with its employees.-History:...
. Romney was one of only a few Michigan corporate chiefs to support passage and implementation of the state Fair Employment Practices Act.
Religion was a paramount force in Romney's life: "Except for it, I could easily have become excessively occupied with industry. Sharing responsibility for church work has been a vital counterbalance." Following LDS Church practices, he did not drink liquor or caffeinated beverages, smoke or swear. He was a high priest in the Melchizedek priesthood, and beginning in 1944 he headed the Detroit church branch. By the time he was AMC chief, he presided over the Detroit Stake, which included not only all of Metro Detroit, Ann Arbor, and the Toledo area of Ohio but also the western edge of Ontario along the Michigan border. In this role, Romney oversaw the religious work of some 2,700 church members, preached occasional sermons, and supervised the construction of the first stake tabernacle east of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
in 100 years. Because the stake covered part of Canada, he often interacted with Canadian Mission President Thomas S. Monson
Thomas S. Monson
Thomas Spencer Monson is an American religious leader and author, and the 16th and current President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . As president, Monson is considered by adherents of the religion to be a "prophet, seer, and revelator" of God's will on earth...
. Romney and his wife tithe
Tithe
A tithe is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash, cheques, or stocks, whereas historically tithes were required and paid in kind, such as agricultural products...
d regularly, and during the decade beginning in 1955 gave 19 percent of their income to the church and another 4 percent to charity. Romney's rise to a leadership role in the church reflected the church's journey from a fringe pioneer religion to one that was closely associated with mainstream American business and values.
Romney and his family lived in affluent Bloomfield Hills
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Bloomfield Hills is a city in Oakland County of the U.S. state of Michigan, northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 3,869...
, having moved there from Detroit in the early 1950s. He became deeply active in Michigan civic affairs. He was on the board of directors of the Children's Hospital of Michigan
Children's Hospital of Michigan
Children’s Hospital of Michigan is a hospital located in Detroit, Michigan. It is part of the Detroit Medical Center. It is an international provider of pediatric neurology, neurosurgery, cardiology, oncology and diagnostic services including Positron Emission Tomography and MRI...
and the United Foundation of Detroit, and was also chairman of the executive committee of the Detroit Round Table of Catholics, Jews, and Protestants. In 1959, he received the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai Brith
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
's Americanism award. Starting in late 1956, he headed a citizen-based committee for improved educational programs in Detroit's public schools. The late 1958 final report of the Citizens Advisory Committee on School Needs was largely Romney's work and received considerable public attention; it made nearly 200 recommendations for economy and efficiency and for the need for better teacher pay and new infrastructure funding. Romney helped a $90 million education-related bond issue and tax increase win an upset victory in an April 1959 referendum. He organized Citizens for Michigan in 1959, a nonpartisan group that sought to study Detroit's problems and build an informed electorate. Citizens for Michigan built on Romney's belief that assorted interest groups held too much influence in government, and that only the cooperation of informed citizens acting for the benefit of all could counter them.
Based on his fame and accomplishments in a state where automobile making was a central topic of conversation, Romney was seen as a natural to enter politics. Romney first became directly involved in this area in 1959, when he was a key force in the petition drive calling for a constitutional convention to rewrite the Michigan Constitution
Michigan Constitution
The Constitution of the State of Michigan is the governing document of the U.S. state of Michigan. It describes the structure and function of the state's government....
. Romney's sales skills made Citizens for Michigan one of the most effective organizations calling for the convention. Previously unaffiliated politically, Romney now declared himself a member of the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
and gained election to the convention. By early 1960, many in Michigan's somewhat moribund Republican Party were touting Romney as a possible candidate for governor, U.S. senator, or even U.S. vice president. Romney briefly considered a run in the 1960 Senate election, but instead became a vice president of the constitutional convention that revised the Michigan constitution from 1961 to 1962.
Governor of Michigan
His position as the leader of the moderate Republicans at the constitutional convention helped gain him the Republican nomination for Governor of Michigan
Governor of Michigan
The Governor of Michigan is the chief executive of the U.S. State of Michigan. The current Governor is Rick Snyder, a member of the Republican Party.-Gubernatorial elections and term of office:...
.
He ran against incumbent Democratic Governor John B. Swainson in the general election. Romney campaigned on revising the state's tax structure, increasing its appeal to businesses and the general public, and getting it "rolling again". Romney decried both the large influence of labor unions within the Democratic Party and the similarly large influence of big business within the Republican Party. His campaign was among the first to exploit the capabilities of electronic data processing
Electronic data processing
Electronic Data Processing can refer to the use of automated methods to process commercial data. Typically, this uses relatively simple, repetitive activities to process large volumes of similar information...
.
Romney won by some 80,000 votes and ended a fourteen-year stretch of Democratic rule in the state executive spot. Romney's win was attributed to his appeal to independent voters and to the increasingly influential suburban Detroit voters, who by 1962 were more likely to vote Republican than the heavily Democratic residents of the city itself. Additionally, Romney had appeal to labor union members that was unusual for a Republican. Democrats won all of the other statewide executive offices in the election, including Democratic incumbent T. John Lesinski
T. John Lesinski
Thaddeus John "T. John" Lesinski, , was politician and judge from the U.S. state of Michigan.-Biography:Lesinski was born in Detroit, Michigan and lived in Detroit and Grosse Pointe Shores...
in the separate election for Lieutenant Governor of Michigan
Lieutenant Governor of Michigan
The Lieutenant Governor of Michigan is the second-ranking official in U.S. state of Michigan, behind the governor, and one of four great offices of state...
. Romney's success caused immediate mention of him as a presidential possibility for 1964.
Romney was sworn in as governor on January 1, 1963. His initial concern was with implementing the overhaul of the state's financial and revenue structure that had been authorized by the constitutional convention. In 1963 he proposed a comprehensive tax revision package that included a flat-rate state income tax
State income tax
State and local income taxes are imposed in addition to Federal income tax. State income tax is allowed as a deduction in computing Federal income tax, subject to limitations for individuals. Some localities impose an income tax, often based on state income tax calculations. Forty-three states...
, but general economic prosperity alleviated pressure on the state budget and the Michigan Legislature
Michigan Legislature
The Michigan Legislature is the legislative assembly of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is organized as a bicameral body consisting of the Senate, the upper house, and the House of Representatives, the lower house. Article IV of the state's Constitution, adopted in 1963, defines the role of the...
rejected it. Romney's early difficulties with the legislature helped undermine an attempted push that year of Romney as a national political figure by former Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
associates. One Michigan Democrat said of Romney, "He has not yet learned that things in government are not necessarily done the moment the man at the top gives an order. He is eager and sometimes impatient." His blunt and unequivocal manner also sometimes caused friction. But over his first two years in office, Romney was able to work with Democrats – who often had at least partial control of the legislature – and an informal bipartisan coalition formed that allowed Romney to accomplish many of his goals and initiatives.
Romney held a series of Governor's Conferences, which sought to find new ideas from public services professionals and community activists who attended. He opened his office in the Michigan State Capitol
Michigan State Capitol
The Michigan State Capitol is the building housing the legislative and executive branches of the government of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located in the state capital of Lansing in Ingham County...
to visitors, spending five minutes with every citizen who wanted to speak with him on Thursday mornings, and was always sure to shake the hands of schoolchildren visiting the capitol. He almost always eschewed political activities on Sundays, the Mormon Sabbath.
Romney supported the American Civil Rights Movement while governor. His hardscrabble background and subsequent life experiences had given him a different perspective from the LDS Church policy on blacks
Blacks and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
From 1849 to 1978, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had a policy against ordaining black men of African descent to the priesthood. Whereas other churches usually have full-time salaried clergy of whom individual members are often the chief minister to several families, in the LDS...
; he reflected, "It was only after I got to Detroit that I got to know Negroes and began to be able to evaluate them and I began to recognize that some Negroes are better and more capable than lots of whites." During his first State of the State address
State of the State Address
The State of the State Address is a speech customarily given once each year by the governors of most states of the United States. The speech is customarily delivered before both houses of the state legislature sitting in joint session, with the exception of the Nebraska Legislature, which is a...
in January 1963, Romney declared that "Michigan's most urgent human rights problem is racial discrimination—in housing, public accommodations, education, administration of justice, and employment." Romney helped create the state's first civil rights commission. When Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
came to Detroit in June 1963 to stage a civil rights march, Romney issued a proclamation in support of the event and sent two representatives to it on his behalf, but did not attend himself because it was on a Sunday. Romney did participate in a smaller march protesting housing discrimination the following Saturday in Grosse Pointe
Grosse Pointe, Michigan
Grosse Pointe is a suburban city bordering Detroit in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city covers just over one square mile, and had a population of 5,421 at the 2010 census. It is bordered on the west by Grosse Pointe Park, on the north by Detroit, on the east by Grosse Pointe...
, after King had left. Romney's advocacy of civil rights brought him criticism from his own church; in January 1964, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles member Delbert L. Stapley
Delbert L. Stapley
Delbert Leon Stapley was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1950 to 1978.-Early life:Stapley was born in Mesa, Arizona Territory...
wrote him that a proposed civil rights bill was "vicious legislation" and telling him that "the Lord had placed the curse upon the Negro" and it was not for men to remove it. Romney refused to change his position and increased his efforts towards civil rights.
In the 1964 U.S. presidential election
United States presidential election, 1964
The United States presidential election of 1964 was held on November 3, 1964. Incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson had come to office less than a year earlier following the assassination of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy. Johnson, who had successfully associated himself with Kennedy's...
, Senator Barry Goldwater
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...
quickly became the likely Republican Party nominee. Goldwater represented a new wave of American conservatism
American conservatism
Conservatism in the United States has played an important role in American politics since the 1950s. Historian Gregory Schneider identifies several constants in American conservatism: respect for tradition, support of republicanism, preservation of "the rule of law and the Christian religion", and...
, of which the moderate Romney was not a part. Romney also felt that Goldwater would be a drag on Republicans running in the all the other races that year, including Romney's own (at the time, Michigan had two-year terms for its governor). Finally, Romney disagreed strongly with Goldwater's views on civil rights; he would later say, "Whites and Negroes, in my opinion, have got to learn to know each other. Barry Goldwater didn't have any background to understand this, to fathom them, and I couldn't get through to him." During the June 1964 National Governors' Conference, 13 of 16 Republican governors present were opposed to Goldwater; their leaders were Jim Rhodes
Jim Rhodes
James Allen Rhodes was an American Republican politician from Ohio, and one of only five US state governors to serve four four-year terms in office. As governor in 1970, he decided to send National Guard troops onto the Kent State University campus, resulting in the shooting of students on May 4...
of Ohio, Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the 41st Vice President of the United States , serving under President Gerald Ford, and the 49th Governor of New York , as well as serving the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations in a variety of positions...
of New York (whose own campaign had just stalled out with a loss to Goldwater in the California primary), William Scranton
William Scranton
William Warren Scranton is a former U.S. Republican Party politician. Scranton served as the 38th Governor of Pennsylvania from 1963 to 1967. From 1976 to 1977, he served as United States Ambassador to the United Nations.-Early life:...
of Pennsylvania, and Romney. Romney held an unusual Sunday press conference where he declared, "If [Goldwater's] views deviate as indicated from the heritage of our party, I will do everything within my power to keep him from becoming the party's presidential nominee." Romney had, however, previously vowed to Michigan voters that he would not run for president in 1964. Detroit newspapers indicated they would not support him in any such bid, and Romney quickly decided to honor his pledge to stay out of the contest. Scranton entered instead, but Goldwater prevailed decisively at the 1964 Republican National Convention
1964 Republican National Convention
The 1964 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States took place in the Cow Palace, San Francisco, California, on July 13 to July 16, 1964. Before 1964, there had only been one national Republican convention on the West Coast...
. Romney's name was entered into nomination as a favorite son
Favorite son
A favorite son is a political term.*At the quadrennial American national political party conventions, a state delegation sometimes nominates and votes for a candidate from the state, or less often from the state's region, who is not a viable candidate...
by U.S. Representative Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
of Michigan (who had not wanted to choose between candidates during the primary campaign) and he received the votes of 41 delegates in the roll call (40 of Michigan's 48 and one from Kansas).
At the convention, Romney fought for a strengthened civil rights plank in the party platform that would pledge action to eliminate discrimination at the state, local, and private levels, but it was defeated on a voice vote. He also failed to win support for a statement that condemned both left- and right-wing extremism without naming any organizations, which lost a standing vote by a two-to-one margin. Both of Romney's positions were endorsed by former President Dwight Eisenhower, who had an approach to civic responsibilities similar to Romney's. As the convention concluded, Romney neither endorsed nor repudiated Goldwater and vice presidential nominee William E. Miller
William E. Miller
William Edward "Bill" Miller was a New York politician. He was the Republican Party nominee for Vice President of the United States in the 1964 election...
, saying he had reservations about Goldwater regarding both civil rights and political extremism.
For the fall elections, Romney cut himself off from the national ticket, refusing to even appear on the same stage with them. He campaigned in mostly Democratic areas, and when pressed at campaign appearances about whether he supported Goldwater, he replied, "You know darn well I'm not!" Romney was re-elected in 1964 by a margin of over 380,000 votes over Democratic Congressman Neil Staebler
Neil Staebler
Neil Oliver Staebler was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan.Staebler was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan and graduated from Ann Arbor High School in 1922. He received a B.A. from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1926. He served on the staff of the Office of Price Administration,...
, despite Goldwater's landslide defeat sweeping many other Republican candidates away. Romney won 15 percent of Michigan's black vote, compared to Goldwater's two percent.
In 1965, Romney visited South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
for 31 days and said that he was continuing his strong support for U.S. military involvement there.
During 1966, while son Mitt
Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...
was away in France on missionary work
Missionary (LDS Church)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, with over 52,000 full-time missionaries worldwide, as of the end of 2010...
, George Romney helped his fiancée Ann Davies
Ann Romney
Ann Romney is the wife of American businessman and Republican Party politician Mitt Romney. From 2003 to 2007 she was First Lady of Massachusetts....
convert to Mormonism. Governor Romney continued his support of civil rights; after violence broke out during the Selma to Montgomery marches
Selma to Montgomery marches
The Selma to Montgomery marches were three marches in 1965 that marked the political and emotional peak of the American civil rights movement. They grew out of the voting rights movement in Selma, Alabama, launched by local African-Americans who formed the Dallas County Voters League...
in 1965, he marched at the front of a Detroit parade in solidarity with the marchers. In 1966, Romney had his biggest electoral success, winning re-election again by some 527,000 votes over Democratic lawyer Zolton Ferency
Zolton Ferency
Zolton Ferency was an American lawyer, political activist and professor of criminal justice.Unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Governor of Michigan 1966, defeated by George W...
(this time to a four-year term, Michigan having changed its law). His share of the black vote rose to over 30 percent, a virtually unprecedented accomplishment for a Republican.
By 1967, a looming deficit prompted the legislature to overhaul Michigan's tax structure. Personal and corporate state income taxes were created while business receipts and corporation franchise taxes were eliminated. Passage of an income levy had eluded past Michigan governors no matter the party in control of the legislature. Romney's getting Democratic and Republican factions to compromise on the details of the measure was considered a key test of his political ability.
The massive 12th Street riot
12th Street riot
The 1967 Detroit riot, also known as the 12th Street riot, was a civil disturbance in Detroit, Michigan, that began in the early morning hours of Sunday, July 23, 1967. The precipitating event was a police raid of an unlicensed, after-hours bar then known as a blind pig, on the corner of 12th and...
in Detroit began during the predawn hours of July 23, 1967, precipitated by a police raid of a blind pig in a predominantly black neighborhood. As the day wore on and looting and fires got worse, Romney called in the Michigan State Police
Michigan State Police
The Michigan State Police is the state police agency for the state of Michigan. The MSP is a full service law enforcement agency with its sworn members having full police powers statewide....
and the Michigan National Guard
Michigan National Guard
The Michigan National Guard consists of the Michigan Army National Guard and the Michigan Air National Guard.-Units:Michigan Army National Guard units include:* Joint Forces Headquarters, Lansing, MI* 177th Military Police Brigade, Taylor, MI...
. At 3 a.m. on July 24, Romney and Detroit Mayor Jerome Cavanagh
Jerome Cavanagh
Jerome Patrick Cavanagh was the mayor of Detroit, Michigan from 1962 to 1970. Initially seen as another John F. Kennedy, his reputation was doomed by the 1967 riots. He was the first mayor to inhabit the Manoogian Mansion, donated to the city by the industrial baron Alex Manoogian.-Early...
called U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark
Ramsey Clark
William Ramsey Clark is an American lawyer, activist and former public official. He worked for the U.S. Department of Justice, which included service as United States Attorney General from 1967 to 1969, under President Lyndon B. Johnson...
and requested that federal troops be sent. Clark indicated that to do so, Romney would have to declare a state of civil insurrection, which the governor was loath to do from fear that insurance companies would seize upon it as a reason to not cover losses due to the riot. Elements of the 82nd and 101st U.S. Army Airborne Divisions
101st Airborne Division (United States)
The 101st Airborne Division—the "Screaming Eagles"—is a U.S. Army modular light infantry division trained for air assault operations. During World War II, it was renowned for its role in Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944, in Normandy, France, Operation Market Garden, the...
were mobilized outside of the city. With the situation worsening, Romney told Deputy Secretary of Defense
United States Deputy Secretary of Defense
The Deputy Secretary of Defense is the second-highest ranking official in the Department of Defense of the United States of America. The Deputy Secretary of Defense is appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate...
Cyrus Vance
Cyrus Vance
Cyrus Roberts Vance was an American lawyer and United States Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1980...
, "We gotta move, man, we gotta move." Near midnight on July 24, President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
authorized thousands of paratroopers to enter Detroit. Johnson went on national television to announce his actions and made seven references to Romney's inability to control the riot using state and local forces. Thousands of arrests took place and the rioting continued until July 27. The final toll was the largest of any American civil disturbance in fifty years: 43 dead, over a thousand injured, 2,500 stores looted, hundreds of homes burned, some $50 million overall in property damage. There were strong political implications in the handling of the riot, as Romney was seen as a leading Republican contender to challenge Johnson's presidential re-election the following year; Romney charged Johnson with having "played politics" in his actions.
The riot notwithstanding, by the end of Romney's governorship the state had made strong gains in civil rights related to public employment, government contracting, and access to public accommodations. Lesser improvements were made in combating discrimination in private employment, housing, education, and law enforcement. Considerable state and federal efforts were made during this time to improve the lot of Michigan's migrant farm workers
Migrant worker
The term migrant worker has different official meanings and connotations in different parts of the world. The United Nations' definition is broad, including any people working outside of their home country...
and Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
, without much progress in either case.
Romney greatly expanded the size of state government while governor. Romney's first state budget in office came in at $550 million for fiscal year 1963, a $20 million increase over that of his predecessor Swainson. Romney had also inherited a $85 million budget deficit, but got the state to where it had a surplus. In the following fiscal years, the state budget increased to $684 million for 1964, $820 million for 1965, $1 billion for 1966, $1.1 billion for 1967, and was proposed as $1.3 billion for 1968. Romney led the way for a large increase in state spending on education, and Michigan began to develop one of the nation's most comprehensive systems of higher education. There was a significant increase in funding support for local governments and there were generous benefits for the poor and unemployed. Romney's spending was enabled by generally prosperous economic conditions that allowed continued government surpluses and by a consensus of both parties in Michigan to maintain and administer extensive state bureaucracies and to expand public sector services.
The bipartisan coalitions that Romney worked with in the state legislature enabled him to reach most of his legislative goals. Romney's record as governor continued his reputation for having, as writer Theodore H. White
Theodore H. White
Theodore Harold White was an American political journalist, historian, and novelist, known for his wartime reporting from China and accounts of the 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972 and 1980 presidential elections.-Life and career:...
said, "a knack for getting things done." Noted University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
historian Sidney Fine
Sidney Fine (historian)
Sidney Fine was a professor of history at the University of Michigan. He authored many books on Frank Murphy, who served successively as mayor of Detroit, governor of Michigan, U.S. attorney general and associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He was a Guggenheim Fellow and twice the winner...
assessed Romney as "a highly successful governor".
1968 presidential campaign
Romney's wide margin of re-election in November 1966 thrust him to the forefront of national Republicans. In addition to his political record, the tall, square-jawed, handsome, graying Romney matched what the public thought a president should look like. Republican governors were determined not to let a Goldwater-sized loss recur, and neither Rockefeller nor Scranton wanted to run again; the governors quickly settled on Romney as their favorite for the Republican presidential nomination in the 1968 U.S. presidential electionRepublican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 1968
The 1968 Republican presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Republican Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 1968 U.S. presidential election...
. Former Congressman and Republican National Committee
Republican National Committee
The Republican National Committee is an American political committee that provides national leadership for the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican political platform, as well as coordinating fundraising and election strategy. It is...
chair Leonard W. Hall
Leonard W. Hall
Leonard Wood Hall was a United States Representative from New York. Born in Oyster Bay, Nassau County, he attended the public schools and graduated from the law department of Georgetown University in 1920...
became Romney's informal campaign manager. A Gallup Poll after the November elections showed Romney as favored among Republicans over former Vice President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
for the Republican nomination, 39 percent to 31 percent, and a Harris Poll showed Romney besting President Johnson among all voters by 54 percent to 46 percent. Nixon considered Romney his chief opponent.
Romney announced an exploratory phase in February 1967, beginning with a visit to Alaska and the Rocky Mountain states. Romney's greatest weakness was a lack of foreign policy expertise and a need for a clear position on the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. The press coverage of the trip focused on Vietnam and reporters were frustrated by Romney's initial reluctance to speak about it. The qualities that helped Romney as an industry executive worked against him as a presidential candidate; he had difficulty being articulate, often speaking at length and too forthrightly on a topic and then later correcting himself while maintaining he was not. Reporter Jack Germond
Jack Germond
Jack Worthen Germond is an American journalist, author, and pundit. -Life and career:Germond was born in Boston, Massachusetts, an only child and raised in a striving middle-class household in Boston and Trenton, New Jersey. When he was 13, his family moved to Mississippi, and then to Baton Rouge,...
joked that he was going to add a single key on his typewriter that would print, "Romney later explained...." Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
magazine wrote that Romney "manages to turn self-expression into a positive ordeal" and that he was no different in private: "nobody can sound more like the public George Romney than the real George Romney let loose to ramble, inevitably away from the point and toward some distant moral precept."
The perception grew that Romney was gaffe-prone and an oaf; the campaign, beset by internal rivalries, soon went through the first of several reorganizations. By then, Nixon had already overtaken Romney in Gallup's Republican preference poll, a lead he would hold throughout the rest of the campaign. The techniques that had brought Romney victories in Michigan, such as operating outside established partisan formulas and keeping a distance from Republican Party organizational elements, proved ineffective in a party nominating contest. Romney's national poll ratings continued to erode, and by May he had lost his edge over Johnson. The Detroit riots of July 1967 did not change his standing among Republicans, but did give him a bounce in national polls against the increasingly unpopular president. A couple of months later, Romney staged a three-week, 17-city tour of the nation's ghettos, seeking to engage militants and others in dialogue.
| Date | Percentage | Margin |
|---|---|---|
| November 1966 | 39% | +8 |
| January 1967 | 28% | –11 |
| February 1967 | 31% | –10 |
| March 1967 | 30% | –9 |
| April 1967 | 28% | –15 |
| June 1967 | 25% | –14 |
| August 1967 | 24% | –11 |
| September 1967 | 14% | –26 |
| October 1967 | 13% | –29 |
| November 1967 | 14% | –28 |
| January 1968 | 12% | –30 |
| February 1968 | 7% | –44 |
Gallup Poll percentages of Republican Party voters preferring Romney for the presidential nomination, and margin ahead or behind usual poll leader Richard Nixon. Romney was trailing almost from the start, and his numbers dropped further after the August 31, 1967, "brainwashing" remark. |
||
Questions were occasionally asked about Romney's eligibility to run for President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
due to his birth in Mexico, given the ambiguity in the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
over the phrase "natural-born citizen
Natural-born citizen
Status as a natural-born citizen of the United States is one of the eligibility requirements established in the United States Constitution for election to the office of President or Vice President...
". Romney's membership in the LDS church was scarcely mentioned at all during the campaign, with what indirect attention there was focusing on the contrast between Romney's pro-civil rights stance and his church’s policy at the time of not allowing blacks to participate fully. Some historians and Mormons suspected then and later that had Romney's campaign lasted longer and been more successful, his religion might have become a more prominent issue. Romney's campaign did often focus on his core beliefs; a Romney billboard in New Hampshire read "The Way To Stop Crime Is To Stop Moral Decay". Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
students gave a bemused reaction to his morals message, displaying signs such as "God Is Alive and Thinks He's George Romney". A spate of books were published about Romney, more than for any other candidate, and included a friendly campaign biography, an attack from a former staffer, and a collection of Romney's speeches.
On August 31, 1967, in a taped interview with talk show host 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." 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 "brainwashing" reference had been an offhand, unplanned remark that came at the end of a long, behind-schedule day of campaigning. By September 7 it found its way into prominence at The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. Eight other governors who had been on the same 1965 trip as Romney said no such activity had taken place, with one of them, Philip H. Hoff
Philip H. Hoff
Philip Henderson Hoff is an American politician from the U.S. state of Vermont where he served as the 73rd Governor of Vermont from 1963 to 1969. At the time of his election, he was the first Democrat elected Governor of Vermont in 108 years.-Life and career:Hoff was born in Turners Falls,...
of Vermont, saying Romney's remarks were "outrageous, kind of stinking ... Either he's a most naïve man or he lacks judgment." The connotations of brainwashing, following the experiences of American prisoners of war (highlighted by the 1962 film The Manchurian Candidate
The Manchurian Candidate (1962 film)
The Manchurian Candidate is a 1962 American Cold War political thriller film starring Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh and Angela Lansbury, and featuring Henry Silva, James Gregory, Leslie Parrish and John McGiver...
), made Romney's comments devastating, especially as it reinforced the negative image of Romney's abilities that had already developed. The topic of brainwashing quickly became newspaper editorial and television talk show fodder, with Romney bearing the brunt of the topical humor. Senator Eugene McCarthy
Eugene McCarthy
Eugene Joseph "Gene" McCarthy was an American politician, poet, and a long-time member of the United States Congress from Minnesota. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the U.S. Senate from 1959 to 1971.In the 1968 presidential election, McCarthy was the first...
, running against Johnson for the Democratic nomination, said that in Romney's case, "a light rinse would have been sufficient." Republican Congressman Robert T. Stafford of Vermont sounded a common concern: "If you're running for the presidency, you are supposed to have too much on the ball to be brainwashed." After the remark was aired, Romney's poll ratings nosedived, going from 11 percent behind Nixon to 26 percent behind.
Romney nonetheless persevered, and formally announced on November 18, 1967, at Detroit's Veterans Memorial Building
UAW-Ford National Programs Center
The UAW-Ford National Programs Center is a tall building in Hart Plaza, Downtown Detroit, Michigan. The high-rise building was constructed in 1948 as the Veterans Memorial Building. It stands at in height, with 10 above-ground floors...
, that he had "decided to fight for and win the Republican nomination and election to the Presidency of the United States." He spent the following months campaigning tirelessly, focusing on the New Hampshire primary
New Hampshire primary
The New Hampshire primary is the first in a series of nationwide political party primary elections held in the United States every four years , as part of the process of choosing the Democratic and Republican nominees for the presidential elections to be held the subsequent November.Although only a...
, the first of the season, and doing all the on-the-ground activities known to that state: greeting workers at factory gates before dawn, having neighborhood meetings in private homes, stopping at bowling alleys. He returned to Vietnam in December 1967 and made speeches and proposals on the subject, one of which presaged Nixon's eventual policy of Vietnamization
Vietnamization
Vietnamization was a policy of the Richard M. Nixon administration during the Vietnam War, as a result of the Viet Cong's Tet Offensive, to "expand, equip, and train South Vietnam's forces and assign to them an ever-increasing combat role, at the same time steadily reducing the number of U.S....
. For a while he got an improved response from voters.
Two weeks before the March 12 primary, an internal poll showed Romney losing to Nixon by a six-to-one margin in New Hampshire. Rockefeller, seeing the poll result as well, publicly maintained his support for Romney but said he would be available for a draft; the statement made national headlines and embittered Romney (who would later claim it was Rockefeller's entry, and not the "brainwashing" remark, that doomed him). Seeing his cause was hopeless, Romney announced his withdrawal as a presidential candidate on February 28, 1968. Romney wrote his son Mitt, still away on missionary work: "Your mother and I are not personally distressed. As a matter of fact, we are relieved. ... I aspired, and though I achieved not, I am satisfied."
Nixon went on to gain the nomination. At the 1968 Republican National Convention
1968 Republican National Convention
The 1968 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States was held in at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Dade County, Florida, from August 5 to August 8, 1968....
in Miami Beach, Romney refused to release his delegates to Nixon, something Nixon did not forget. Romney finished a weak fifth, with only 50 votes on the roll call (44 of Michigan's 48, plus six from Utah). When party liberals and moderates and others expressed dismay at Nixon's choice of Spiro Agnew
Spiro Agnew
Spiro Theodore Agnew was the 39th Vice President of the United States , serving under President Richard Nixon, and the 55th Governor of Maryland...
as his running mate, Romney's name was placed into nomination for vice president by Mayor of New York John Lindsay
John Lindsay
John Vliet Lindsay was an American politician, lawyer and broadcaster who was a U.S. Congressman, Mayor of New York City, candidate for U.S...
and pushed by several delegations. Romney said he did not initiate the move, but nor did he make an effort to oppose it. Nixon saw the rebellion as a threat to his leadership and actively fought against it; Romney lost to Agnew 1,119–186. Romney worked for Nixon's eventually successful campaign in the fall, which did earn him Nixon's gratitude.
Presidential historian Theodore H. White
Theodore H. White
Theodore Harold White was an American political journalist, historian, and novelist, known for his wartime reporting from China and accounts of the 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972 and 1980 presidential elections.-Life and career:...
wrote that during his campaign Romney gave "the impression of an honest and decent man simply not cut out to be President of the United States." Governor Jim Rhodes
Jim Rhodes
James Allen Rhodes was an American Republican politician from Ohio, and one of only five US state governors to serve four four-year terms in office. As governor in 1970, he decided to send National Guard troops onto the Kent State University campus, resulting in the shooting of students on May 4...
of Ohio more memorably said, "Watching George Romney run for the presidency was like watching a duck try to make love to a football."
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
The United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development is the head of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, a member of the President's Cabinet, and thirteenth in the Presidential line of succession. The post was created with the formation of the Department of Housing...
(HUD). The president-elect made the announcement as part of a nationally televised presentation of his new cabinet on December 11, 1968. Nixon praised Romney for his "missionary zeal" and said that he would also be tasked with mobilizing volunteer organizations to fight poverty and disease within the United States. In actuality, Nixon distrusted Romney politically, and appointed him to a liberally-oriented, low-profile federal agency partly to appease Republican moderates and partly to reduce Romney's potential to challenge for the 1972 Republican presidential nomination
United States presidential election, 1972
The United States presidential election of 1972 was the 47th quadrennial United States presidential election. It was held on November 7, 1972. The Democratic Party's nomination was eventually won by Senator George McGovern, who ran an anti-war campaign against incumbent Republican President Richard...
. Romney was confirmed by the Senate without opposition on January 20, 1969, the day of Nixon's inauguration, and was sworn into office on January 22, with Nixon presiding. Romney resigned as Governor of Michigan that same day, and was succeeded by Lieutenant Governor William G. Milliken. (Milliken continued Romney's model of downplaying party label and ideology, and Republicans held onto the governorship for three more terms until 1983 despite Michigan being one of the nation's most blue-collar states.)
As secretary, Romney conducted the first reorganization of the department since its 1966 creation. His November 1969 plan brought programs with similar functions together under unified, policy-based administration at the Washington level, and created two new assistant secretary positions. At the same time, he increased the number of regional and area offices and decentralized program operations and locality-based decisions to them.
The Fair Housing Act of 1968 mandated a federal commitment towards housing desegregation, and required HUD to orient its programs in this direction. Romney, filled with moral passion, wanted to address the widening economic and geographic gulf between whites and blacks by moving blacks out of inner city ghettos and into suburbs. Romney proposed an open housing scheme to facilitate desegregation, dubbed "Open Communities"; HUD planned it for many months without keeping Nixon informed. Once made public, local reaction was often hostile. This included Warren, Michigan
Warren, Michigan
Warren is a city in Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The 2010 census places the city's population at 134,056, making Warren the largest city in Macomb County, the third largest city in Michigan, and Metro Detroit's largest suburb....
, a blue-collar suburb of Detroit where many blacks worked but could not live due to the zoning practices, refusals, and intimidatory actions of white property owners, many of whom had come there from the city as part of white flight
White flight
White flight has been a term that originated in the United States, starting in the mid-20th century, and applied to the large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban or exurban regions. It was first seen as...
. HUD made Warren a prime target for Open Communities enforcement and threatened to halt all federal assistance to the town unless it took a series of actions to end racial discrimination there; town officials said progress was being made and that their citizens resented forced integration. Romney rejected this response, partly because when he was governor, Warren residents had thrown rocks and garbage and yelled obscenities for days at a biracial couple who moved into town. Now the secretary said, "The youth of this nation, the minorities of this nation, the discriminated of this nation are not going to wait for 'nature to take its course.' What is really at issue here is responsibility – moral responsibility."
Romney visited Warren in July 1970, and emphasized that affirmative action
Affirmative action in the United States
In the United States, affirmative action refers to equal opportunity employment measures that Federal contractors and subcontractors are legally required to adopt. These measures are intended to prevent discrimination against employees or applicants for employment, on the basis of "color,...
rather than forced integration was all that HUD was demanding, but the local populace was not satisfied and Romney was jeered as a police escort took him away from the meeting place. Nixon saw what happened in Warren and had no interest in the Open Communities policy in general, remarking to domestic adviser John Ehrlichman
John Ehrlichman
John Daniel Ehrlichman was counsel and Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under President Richard Nixon. He was a key figure in events leading to the Watergate first break-in and the ensuing Watergate scandal, for which he was convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury...
that, "This country is not ready at this time for either forcibly integrated housing or forcibly integrated education." Open Communities also conflicted with Nixon's use of the Southern strategy
Southern strategy
In American politics, the Southern strategy refers to the Republican Party strategy of winning elections in Southern states by exploiting anti-African American racism and fears of lawlessness among Southern white voters and appealing to fears of growing federal power in social and economic matters...
and his own views on race. Romney was forced to back down on Warren and release federal monies to them unconditionally. When Black Jack, Missouri
Black Jack, Missouri
Black Jack is a second-ring suburb of St. Louis, located in northern St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 6,929 at the 2010 census...
subsequently resisted a HUD-sponsored plan for desegregated lower- and middle-income housing, Romney appealed to U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell
John N. Mitchell
John Newton Mitchell was the Attorney General of the United States from 1969 to 1972 under President Richard Nixon...
for Justice Department intervention. In September 1970, Mitchell refused and Romney's plan collapsed. Under Romney, HUD did put into place stricter racial guidelines in relation to new public housing projects, but overall administration implementation of the Fair Housing Act was lacking. Some of the responsibility lay with Romney's inattentiveness to gaining political backing for the policy, including the failure to rally natural allies such as the NAACP. Salisbury State University historian Dean J. Kotlowski writes that "No civil rights initiative developed on Nixon's watch was as sincerely devised or poorly executed as open communities."
Another of Romney's initiatives was "Operation Breakthrough", which was intended to increase the amount of housing available to the poor and which did have Nixon's initial support. Based on his automotive industry experience, Romney thought that the cost of housing could be significantly reduced if in-factory modular construction
Modular building
Modular buildings and modular homes are sectional prefabricated buildings or houses that consist of multiple modules or sections which are built in a remote facility and then delivered to their intended site of use...
techniques were used. However, HUD officials saw it too as a means to spearhead desegregation; Romney said, "We've got to put an end to the idea of moving to suburban areas and living only among people of the same economic and social class". This aspect of the program brought about strong opposition at the local suburban level and lost support in the White House as well. Over half of HUD's research funds during this time were spent on Operation Breakthrough, and it was modestly successful in its building goals. It did not revolutionize home construction, and was phased out once Romney left HUD, but side effects of the program did lead to more modern and consistent building codes and to introduction of technological advances such as the smoke alarm.
White House Chief of Staff
The White House Chief of Staff is the highest ranking member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and a senior aide to the President.The current White House Chief of Staff is Bill Daley.-History:...
H. R. Haldeman
H. R. Haldeman
Harry Robbins "Bob" Haldeman was an American political aide and businessman, best known for his service as White House Chief of Staff to President Richard Nixon and for his role in events leading to the Watergate burglaries and the Watergate scandal – for which he was found guilty of conspiracy...
as policy gatekeepers and the consequent de facto downgrading of cabinet officers. Romney was used to being listened to and making his own decisions, and annoyed Nixon by casually interrupting him at meetings; at one point, Nixon told Haldeman, "Just keep [Romney] away from me." A statement by Romney that he would voluntarily reduce his salary to aid the federal budget was viewed by Nixon as an "ineffective grandstand play". By early 1970, Nixon decided he wanted Romney out. Nixon, who hated having to fire people and was, as Ehrlichman later described, "notoriously inadept" at it, instead hatched a plot to get Romney to run in the 1970 U.S. Senate race in Michigan. Wife Lenore Romney
Lenore Romney
Lenore LaFount Romney was the former First Lady of Michigan and later a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1970 from Michigan. Her husband, George Romney was the former Governor of Michigan, presidential candidate in 1968 and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development...
ended up running instead, losing badly to incumbent Democrat Philip A. Hart. In late 1970, after opposition to Open Communities reached a peak, Nixon again decided that Romney should go. Still reluctant to dismiss him, Nixon tried to get Romney to resign by forcing him to capitulate on a series of policy issues. Romney surprised both Nixon and Haldeman by agreeing to back off his positions, and Nixon kept him on. Nixon remarked privately afterwards, "[Romney] talks big but folds under pressure." Puzzled by Nixon's lack of apparent ideological consistency across different areas of the government, Romney told a friend, "I don't know what the president believes in. Maybe he doesn't believe in anything," an assessment shared by others both inside and outside the administration.
Romney spent much of the rest of his tenure as secretary implementing provisions of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1970. Using conventional methods, HUD set records for the amount of construction of assisted housing for low and moderate income families. In early 1972, Romney oversaw demolition of the infamous Pruitt–Igoe housing project in St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
. In spring 1972, a major scandal struck the Federal Housing Administration
Federal Housing Administration
The Federal Housing Administration is a United States government agency created as part of the National Housing Act of 1934. It insured loans made by banks and other private lenders for home building and home buying...
(FHA), when a number of its employees along with a number of real estate firms and lawyers were indicted for a scheme in which the value of cheap inner city homes was inflated and sold using government-backed mortgages to black buyers who could not really afford them, with the government being stuck for the bad loans when owners defaulted. FHA was under Romney's purview, when not trying to divert attention to the greater issues of ghetto housing, he conceded that HUD had been unprepared to deal with speculators and inalert to earlier signs of illegal activity. The FHA scandal gave Nixon the ability to shut down HUD's remaining desegregation efforts with little political risk; by the following January, all federal housing funds had been frozen.
In August 1972, Nixon announced Romney would inspect Hurricane Agnes
Hurricane Agnes
Hurricane Agnes was the first tropical storm and first hurricane of the 1972 Atlantic hurricane season. A rare June hurricane, it made landfall on the Florida Panhandle before moving northeastward and ravaging the Mid-Atlantic region as a tropical storm...
flood damage in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Wilkes-Barre is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, the county seat of Luzerne County. It is at the center of the Wyoming Valley area and is one of the principal cities in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area, which had a population of 563,631 as of the 2010 Census...
, but neglected to tell Romney first. Much of the area lacked shelter six weeks after the storm, residents were angry, and Romney got into a three-way shouting match with Governor Milton J. Shapp and a local citizen's representative. Romney denounced Shapp's proposal that the federal government pay off the mortgages of victims as "unrealistic and demagogic", and the citizen representative angrily responded to Romney, "You don't give a damn whether we live or die." The confrontation received wide media attention and damaged Romney's public reputation. By now totally frustrated, Romney wanted to resign immediately, but Nixon, worried about the fallout to his 1972 re-election campaign
United States presidential election, 1972
The United States presidential election of 1972 was the 47th quadrennial United States presidential election. It was held on November 7, 1972. The Democratic Party's nomination was eventually won by Senator George McGovern, who ran an anti-war campaign against incumbent Republican President Richard...
, insisted that Romney stay on. Romney agreed, although he indicated to the press that he would leave eventually.
Romney finally did hand in his resignation on November 9, 1972, following Nixon's re-election. His leaving was announced on November 27, 1972, as part of the initial wave of departures from Nixon's first-term cabinet. Romney said he was unhappy with presidential candidates who declined to address "the real issues" facing the nation for fear they would lose votes, and said he would form a new national citizens' organization that would attempt to enlighten the public on the most vital topics. He added that he would stay on as secretary until his successor could be appointed and confirmed, and did stay until Nixon's second inauguration on January 20, 1973. Upon his departure Romney said he looked forward "with great enthusiasm" to his return to private life.
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
later termed Romney's conflicts with Nixon a matter that "played out with Shakespearean drama". Despite all the setbacks and frustrations, University at Buffalo political scientist Charles M. Lamb concluded that Romney pressed harder to achieve suburban integration than any prominent federal official from the 1970s through the 1990s. Lehman College
Lehman College
Lehman College is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, USA. Founded in 1931 as the Bronx campus of Hunter College, the school became an independent college within the City University in 1968. The college is named after Herbert Lehman, a former New York governor,...
sociology professor Christopher Bonastia sees the Romney-era HUD as having come "surprisingly close to implementing unpopular antidiscrimination policies" but in the end was unable to bring about meaningful alterations in American segregation patterns, with no equivalent effort having happened since then or likely to in the foreseeable future.
Public service and volunteerism
Romney was known as an advocate of public service, and volunteerism was a passion of his. At the first meeting of the National Center for Voluntary Action, on 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.
In 1974, Romney became founding chair of the National Volunteer Center, which promoted volunteerism; it would later merge with President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
's Points of Light Foundation. That is part of the greater Corporation for National and Community Service
Corporation For National and Community Service
The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America, and other national service initiatives...
, which gives out a George W. Romney Volunteer Center Excellence Award at the annual National Conference on Community Volunteering and National Service. The George W. Romney Volunteer Center itself is sponsored by the United Way for Southeastern Michigan, and began during Romney's lifetime.
Final years
For much of the next two decades, Romney was out of the public eye. Within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints he was prominent, serving as patriarch of the Bloomfield Hills Stake and holding the office of regional representative of the TwelveRegional representative of the Twelve
Regional representative of the Twelve, commonly shorted to regional representative or regional rep, was a priesthood calling in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints between 1968 and 1995...
. As part of a longtime habit of playing golf daily, he had long ago concocted a "compact 18" format in which he played three balls on each of six holes, or similar formulations depending upon the amount of daylight. In 1987, he held a four-generation extended family reunion in Washington, where he showed the places and recounted the events of his life which had occurred there.
He re-emerged to the general public in 1994 when he campaigned for his son, Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...
, during the younger Romney's bid to unseat Senator Edward M. Kennedy in the 1994 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts
United States Senate election in Massachusetts, 1994
The 1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts was held on November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy won re-election.- Candidates :* Mitt Romney, CEO of Bain Capital and son of former Michigan Governor George W...
. Romney had urged Mitt to enter the race and moved into his son's house for its duration, serving as an unofficial advisor. Romney was a vigorous surrogate for his son in public appearances and at fundraising events. When Kennedy's campaign sought to bring up the LDS Church's past policy on blacks, Romney interrupted Mitt's press conference and said loudly, "I think it is absolutely wrong to keep hammering on the religious issues. And what Ted is trying to do is bring it into the picture." The father counseled the son to be relaxed in appearance and to pay less attention to his political consultants and more to his own instincts, a change that the younger Romney made late in the ultimately losing campaign.
That same year, Ronna Romney
Ronna Romney
Ronna Romney née Ronna Eileen Stern, is a Michigan Republican politician and radio talk show host.-Biography:She has twice been a candidate for U.S. Senator...
, Romney's ex-daughter-in-law (formerly married to G. Scott Romney
G. Scott Romney
George Scott Romney is an American Republican politician and lawyer in the state of Michigan. He formerly sat on the Michigan State University Board of Trustees. A member of the Pratt-Romney family—a well-known political family in Michigan—he is the son of former Michigan Governor...
), decided to seek the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate from Michigan. While Mitt and G. Scott endorsed Ronna Romney, George Romney had endorsed her opponent and the eventual winner, Spencer Abraham
Spencer Abraham
Edmund Spencer Abraham is a former United States Senator from Michigan. He served as the tenth United States Secretary of Energy, serving under President George W. Bush. Abraham is one of the founders of the Federalist Society....
, during the previous year when Ronna was considering a run but had not yet announced. A family spokesperson said that George Romney had endorsed Abraham before knowing Ronna Romney would run and could not go back on his word, although he did refrain from personally campaigning on behalf of Abraham.
On July 26, 1995, Romney died of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
at the age of 88 while he was exercising on his treadmill
Treadmill
A treadmill is an exercise machine for running or walking while staying in one place. The word treadmill traditionally refers to a type of mill which was operated by a person or animal treading steps of a wheel to grind grain...
at his home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Bloomfield Hills is a city in Oakland County of the U.S. state of Michigan, northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 3,869...
; he was discovered by his wife Lenore but it was too late to save him. He was buried at the Fairview Cemetery in Brighton, Michigan
Brighton, Michigan
Brighton is a principal satellite city of Metro Detroit located in the southeast portion of Livingston County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 7,444. Brighton forms part of the South Lyon-Howell-Brighton Urban Area...
. In addition to his wife and children, Romney was survived by 23 grandchildren and 33 great-grandchildren.
The building housing the main offices of the Governor of Michigan in Lansing
Lansing, Michigan
Lansing is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located mostly in Ingham County, although small portions of the city extend into Eaton County. The 2010 Census places the city's population at 114,297, making it the fifth largest city in Michigan...
is known as the George W. Romney Building
George W. Romney Building
The George W. Romney Building - is the Governor of Michigan's main office, and houses other State of Michigan offices. The building is named after George W. Romney, the 43rd Governor and father of Mitt Romney...
following a 1997 renaming. The Governor George Romney Lifetime Achievement Award is given annually in Michigan, to recognize citizens who have demonstrated a commitment to community involvement and volunteer service throughout their lifetimes. The George W. Romney Institute of Public Management in the Marriott School of Management
Marriott School of Management
The Marriott School of Management is a business school located in Provo, Utah at Brigham Young University , a private university in the United States owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
at Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
, so named in 1998, honors the legacy left by Romney. Its mission is to develop people of high character who are committed to service, management, and leadership in the public sector and in non-profit organizations throughout the world. In 2010, Adrian College
Adrian College
Adrian College is a private, co-educational liberal arts college related to the United Methodist Church in the city of Adrian, Michigan.-Campus:The school is approximately a 45-minute drive from Ann Arbor and Toledo, Ohio, and 90 minutes from Detroit...
in Michigan announced the opening of its George Romney Institute for Law and Public Policy. Its purpose is to explore the interdisciplinary nature of law and public policy and encourage practitioners, academics, and students to work together on issues in this realm.