Lenore LaFount Romney (born Lenore LaFount [sometimes written Lafount], November 9, 1908 – July 7, 1998) was the wife of American businessman and politician George W. Romney and was First Lady of Michigan from 1963 to 1969. She was the Republican Party nominee for the U.S. Senate in 1970 from Michigan. Her youngest son, Mitt Romney, is the former Governor of Massachusetts as well as a U.S. presidential candidate in 2008 and again in 2012.

Lenore LaFount was born in Logan, Utah, and raised in Salt Lake City. She went to Latter-day Saints High School, where she developed an interest in drama and first met George Romney. She attended the University of Utah and George Washington University, graduating from the latter in 1929. She studied acting at the American Laboratory Theatre in New York, then went to Hollywood where she became a bit player who appeared in a number of films with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Turning down a contract offer with them, she married George Romney in 1931. The couple had four children together; she was a stay-at-home mother, eventually living in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, while he became a success in business and politics.

Lenore Romney was a popular First Lady of Michigan and was a frequent speaker at events and before civic groups. She was involved with many charitable, volunteer, and cultural organizations, including high positions with the Muscular Dystrophy Association, YWCA, and American Field Services, and also was active in the LDS Church that she was a life-long member of. She was an asset to her husband's 1968 presidential campaign. Although a traditionalist, she was an advocate for the greater involvement of women in business and politics.

In 1970, she was urged by her husband and state Republican Party officials to run against popular, two-term Democratic incumbent Senator Philip Hart. However, she struggled to establish herself as a serious candidate apart from her husband and failed to capture the support of conservatives within the party, only narrowly defeating State Senator Robert J. Huber in the party primary. Her difficulties continued in the general election and she lost to Hart by a two-to-one margin. She returned to volunteer activities during the 1970s, including stints on the boards of the National Center for Voluntary Action and the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and gave speeches to various organizations.

Early life and education[link]

Lenore LaFount was born in Logan, Utah, the daughter of Alma Luella (née Robison; 1882–1938) and Harold Arundel LaFount (1880–1952).^[1][2] Her father was born in Birmingham in England, and her mother, born in Montpelier, Idaho, was of colonial English ancestry (with more distant French roots).^[1] She had three sisters, one older and two younger.^[3][4] The family belonged to the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints;^[5] her father had converted to it in England and then come to the U.S., while her maternal grandmother, Rosetta Berry, had been one of the Mormon handcart pioneers.^[3] Her father worked as a headphone manufacturer.^[6]

Lenore was raised in Salt Lake City, in a house located at Fifteenth South and Ninth East.^[3] She attended Latter-day Saints High School, where she had a strong interest in drama.^[7] In 1924, during her junior year, she and senior George W. Romney became high-school sweethearts.^[8][9] She was from a more assimilated Mormon family than his, which had struggled with financial failure and debt.^[5][10][6] Although she was a "reach" for him in terms of social standing, he pursued her relentlessly from that point on,^[6][11] studying at a nearby junior college while she was a senior.^[12]

She graduated from high school in 1926 after only three years and attended the University of Utah for two years, while George went to England and Scotland to serve as a Mormon missionary^[13][4][14] (making her "promise never to kiss anybody" while he was away).^[6] At the university, she was a member of the Chi Omega sorority.^[15] In 1927, she was one of six attractive young women chosen to welcome Charles Lindbergh to Salt Lake City following his historic Spirit of St. Louis flight, and she was featured on the front page of the Salt Lake Telegram as a result.^[16] Later that year, on the strength of his friendship with U.S. Senator Reed Smoot, Harold LaFount was appointed by President Calvin Coolidge to serve on the new Federal Radio Commission.^[16] The LaFount family moved to Washington, D.C.,^[16] and Lenore transferred to George Washington University, where she graduated with an A.B. degree in English literature in June 1929 after again spending only three years total in college.^{[17][6][2][4]} George returned from his missionary stint and soon followed her to Washington.^[8]

Acting career[link]

Encouraged by an aunt, LaFount moved to New York and enrolled in the American Laboratory Theatre to study acting, where she was taught Stanislavski's system under school co-founder Maria Ouspenskaya.^[4][18] She found the experience inspiring.^[18] In student productions there, she starred in the Shakespearean roles of Ophelia and Portia and also appeared in roles from Ibsen and Chekhov plays.^[18] She received a performance award there in 1930.^[2] Talent scouts attending the productions were impressed, and she received an offer from the National Broadcasting Corporation to perform in a series of Shakespeare radio programs and from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to go to Hollywood under an apprentice actress contract.^[18][4] She decided on the latter, despite strenuous arguments against doing so from George,^[18] who had been visiting her on weekends.^[19] By then, he had a job with Alcoa, and arranged to be transferred to Los Angeles to be with her.^[20] In September 1930, the couple became engaged.^[18]

A 5-foot-6-inch (1.68 m) slender woman with porcelain skin and naturally curly chesnut colored hair,^[4][21][22] LaFount earned bit parts in Hollywood.^[15][19] These included appearing as a fashionable young French woman in a Greta Garbo film and as an ingenue in the William Haines film A Tailor Made Man.^[23] She also appears in films that starred Jean Harlow^[19] and Ramon Navarro^[15] and was a stand-in for Lili Damita.^[15] Her trained voice made her valuable during this dawn of the talking pictures era, and she worked as a voice actor in animated cartoons, sometimes doing the parts of speaking cats and dogs.^[15] She appeared in a promotional film clip with Buster, MGM's star dog.^[21] George's long-time jealousy about her being in contact with other men became even worse as she met stars like Clark Gable, and in reaction to his attempts to control her, she threatened to break off their engagement.^[21][15]

After a few months in Hollywood, she had the opportunity to sign a three-year contract with MGM that was worth $50,000 if all the options were picked up.^[15] However, she was dismayed by some of the seamier aspects of Hollywood and the studio's request that she pose for cheesecake photos.^[15][23] Romney finally convinced her to go ahead with marriage and return to Washington,^[24] where he worked for Alcoa and the Aluminum Wares Association as a lobbyist,^[20] earning $125 a month.^[4]

Although Lenore had been more independent than many women of the time, she later stated that she "never had any regrets about giving up movies."^[21] Another time she said that she had never had a choice of both marriage and an acting career: "In an acting career, I would have been upstaging him, and he couldn't stand that. It was never either and; it was always either or."^[25] George would later consider his successful seven-year courtship of her to be his greatest sales achievement.^[12][24]

Marriage and family[link]

Lenore LaFount married George Romney on July 2, 1931, at the Salt Lake Temple.^[15] Their wedding reception in the Chi Omega house at the University of Utah was attended by about four hundred guests.^[15]

Lenore with her husband George W. Romney in 1962

In Washington, Lenore's cultural refinement and hosting skills helped him in his business career, and the couple met the Hoovers, the Roosevelts, and other prominent Washington figures.^[5][26] He often called upon her to host short-notice parties.^[26] During 1933–1934, Lenore hosted a 15-minute weekly program, Poetical Hitchhiking, on Washington's famed radio station WRC where she selected and read the poems.^[2][26][4] (The staff announcer who introduced her was Arthur Godfrey.^[26]) She also directed student plays at George Washington University.^[26][4]

The couple's first child, Margo Lynn (known as Lynn) was born in 1935,^[27] and Lenore became a stay-at-home mother.^[6] A second daughter, Jane, followed in 1938.^[27] In 1939, the family moved to Detroit, Michigan, when George took a job with the Automobile Manufacturers Association.^[28] The couple's first son, George Scott (known as G. Scott), was born in 1941.^[27] The couple longed for another child, but doctors told them that Lenore's health would not permit it, and they began the process of adopting a child from Switzerland.^[29] However, Lenore became pregnant, and after a difficult pregnancy and delivery, Willard Mitt (known as Mitt) was born in 1947.^[29][27] After the birth she required major surgery.^[11] Lenore would subsequently refer to Mitt as her miracle baby.^[29]

The family moved to affluent Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, in the early 1950s.^[5] In 1953, Lenore suffered another health crisis when a blood transfusion of the wrong type put her life in danger, but she recovered.^[30] In 1954, George was named president and chairman of American Motors Corporation.^[24] She played golf until bad bursitis affected her, when she switched to swimming.^[4] The couple spent summers at a cottage on the Canadian shore of Lake Huron.^[4]

The couple's marriage reflected aspects of their personalities and courtship. George was devoted to Lenore, and tried to bring her a flower every day, often a single rose with a love note.^[31][32] George was also a strong, blunt personality used to winning arguments by force of will, but the more self-controlled Lenore was unintimidated and willing to push back against him.^[6][32] The couple quarreled often,^[11] so much that their grandchildren would later nickname them "the Bickersons".^[32] In the end, their closeness would allow them to settle arguments amicably, often by her finally accepting what he wanted.^[32][11] (Mitt would later show a more reserved, private, and controlled nature than George's, traits he got from Lenore.^[6][11])

First Lady of Michigan[link]

When her husband decided to enter electoral politics by running for Governor of Michigan in 1962, Lenore Romney said she and the family supported him: "I know it will be difficult – not easy. But we're all dedicated with him for better government."^[33] She played a productive role in the 1962 campaign, making speeches before groups of Republican women^[6] at a time when it was unusual for women to campaign separately from their husbands.^[11]

Following George's victory in November 1962, Lenore became the state's First Lady. About her new role, she said her goal was to make "a real breakthrough in human relations by bringing people together as people – just like George has enunciated. Women have a very interesting role in this, and I don't expect to be a society leader holding a series of meaningless teas."^[19]

She proved popular as a First Lady.^[6][34] She was a frequent speaker at events and before civic groups and became known for her eloquence.^[35] She was thus useful to his political career, just as she had been to his business one.^[36] Like her husband, she did not make public appearances on Sundays.^[11] He was re-elected in 1964 and 1966, and she campaigned frequently with him.^[35] Moreover, she played more of an active and partisan role within her party than any Michigan first lady before or after her.^[34]

Lenore was a traditionalist who decried the women's liberation movement as being one of "strident voices"^[6] and "burning bras and railing against male-chauvinistic pigs."^[11] She decried relaxed sexual mores and talk of a "New Morality", saying "the morality the discuss is the barnyard morality and it is as old as the hills."^[11] However, she was also an advocate for the involvement of women in business and politics.^[6] By 1966, she was telling audiences around the state, "Why should women have any less say than men about the great decisions facing our nation?"^[6] She added that women "represent a reservoir of public service which has hardly been tapped."^[35]

She explicitly criticized the counterculture phrase "Turn on, tune in, drop out", saying "What kind of a philosophy is that?"^[22] Instead she urged young people to "Think of something outside of yourselves. Have something in yourself that is greater than self."^[22] She told one high school audience, "You have the right to rebel, but make sure what you're rebelling for is greater than what you're rebelling against."^[37]

She was a devout and faithful Mormon who taught Sunday School lessons at her church for many years,^{[38][6][39][37]} including a stint during the early 1960s teaching 14-year-olds.^[4] Her views on many social issues were more liberal than most of the Republican Party, and she appeared on stage with Martin Luther King, Jr. at Michigan State University in March 1966.^[11] On the issue of the LDS Church policy of the time that did not allow black people in its lay clergy, she defended the church, saying, "If my church taught me anything other than that the Negro is equal to any other person, I could not accept it."^[39] She was a member of the Women's City Club in Detroit, but in 1967, said she would resign unless the club dropped a policy barring black guests from eating in its dining room.^[40]

During her husband's 1968 presidential campaign, Lenore continued to exert a calming influence on him and helped keep his sometimes problematic temper in check.^[36] She was adept at campaigning, appearing at ease and speaking in a lively, fluent manner without notes before audiences of various types.^[22][37] The Associated Press wrote that she was probably "the most indefatigable campaigner on the New Hampshire primary circuit, including the candidates".^[37] The New York Times wrote, "To see Mrs. George Romney in action is to watch an authentic, stand-up evangelist weave a spell. ... in the view of seasoned politicians, Lenore Romney is a far more effective speaker than the wife of any national candidate in recent memory. She may even be among the select group of political wives who win votes for their husbands through their own speeches and contacts."^[22] As the campaign went on, George fell far behind Republican rival Richard Nixon in polls and withdrew in February 1968 before the first primaries took place.

Lenore had undisclosed health difficulties by 1967, visiting medical centers around the country but unable to get a clear diagnosis.^[11] She suffered an injury outside her house around 1967 and another the next year when she fell and suffered a shoulder dislocation that turned into bursitis.^[11] During October 1968 she was hospitalized at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, seeing a bone and mineral specialist.^[11]

Lenore Romney worked on behalf of many volunteer organizations over a number of years.^[38] In 1963, she was co-chair of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Starting in 1965, she was a member of a special committee of the American Mothers Committee.^[2] By 1970, she was on the national board of directors of the YWCA and a member of the national advisory board to American Field Services.^{[41][42][43][2]} She had also held high positions with Goodwill Industries, United Community Services, Child Guidance Study, Association for Retarded Children, Michigan Association for Emotionally Disturbed Children, and the Michigan Historical Society.^[41] She worked with Project HOPE.^[2] She was chair of the Detroit Grand Opera Association^[14] and was active with the Women's Association for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.^[2]

1970 U.S. Senate campaign[link]

Lenore Romney with George Romney and Richard Nixon, January 22, 1969

1970 campaign button, illustrating the use of just the name "Lenore" in her campaign material

After the 1968 presidential election, George Romney was named the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the administration of the newly elected President Nixon. Lenore was not enthusiastic about leaving Michigan to return to Washington after five decades away, but said, "Any wife wants to be with her husband wherever he is, whether state or federal government, just so he can develop his creative ideas."^[44] By then, the couple had 12 grandchildren.^[44]

For the 1970 U.S. Senate election from Michigan, state Republicans were looking for someone to run against Democrat Philip Hart, a two-term incumbent. Hart was heavily favored to win re-election, but Republicans thought he might be vulnerable on ideological grounds (for being too liberal) and owing to an anti-war protest arrest involving his wife.^[45] George Romney's name was mentioned as a possible candidate.^[45] Indeed Nixon, who never had good relations with Romney either personally or on policy grounds, had by then decided he wanted Romney out of his administration but did not want to fire him, and hatched a plot to get Romney to run in the Senate race.^[46][47] However, George came up with the idea of Lenore running, and sprung it on Lenore and the children at the end of 1969.^[11] Lenore's name began being mentioned by other Republicans, even though she professed not to want to run unless no other candidate could be found.^[45][35] U.S. House Minority Leader Gerald Ford from Michigan thought she could unite the state party's different factions,^[35] but Governor William Milliken, who had succeeded George and was not eager to see more Romneys in power, opposed the notion.^[11] And while Lenore had achieved a good reputation for campaigning on her husband's behalf, there were some who suspected that her Senate candidacy was just a stalking horse for keeping George's options open.^[48] Such sentiments were exacerbated when George did not completely rule himself out of a possible race.^[49]

The state party had a system wherein there would be a series of meetings of its 355 leaders in order to declare a "consensus" candidate that the party would support in any primary election.^[49][50] During the initial February 21, 1970, meeting, Lenore Romney faced opposition from liberal U.S. Representative Donald W. Riegle, Jr. and conservative State Senator Robert J. Huber.^[48] The meeting became contentious, and with Milliken helping to block her, in three ballots she was unable to reach the three-fourths majority needed for the consensus nod.^[48][35][11] On February 23, she formally entered the contest for the Republican nomination for the Senate seat.^[51] George successfully pressured Milliken to endorse her, but gained bad publicity when The Detroit News exposed his actions.^[11] At the next party meeting, on March 7, she won 92 percent of the leaders and gained the consensus candidate position, and talk of George running ended.^[52]

Riegle did not continue his run, but Huber did. In the ensuing primary contest, Romney's effort emphasized her gender, saying as a campaign theme, "Never before has the voice and understanding of a concerned woman been more needed."^[53] Billboards featuring her face were everywhere, captioned only as "Lenore" and omitting any reference to political party.^[53] She was still photogenic, but so thin that she was sometimes described as "frail" or "waiflike",^[53][35][37] and her husband sometimes worried about her weight. She issued a half-hour campaign film that featured endorsements from many national and state party leaders as well as from celebrities Bob Hope and Art Linkletter, and showcased her family role and her concern for disadvantaged people.^[53][35] Huber, in contrast, emphasized his edge in political experience, derided her "motherly concern", and criticized the "bossism" that he said was trying to force another Romney into statewide office.^[53]

Regarding the Vietnam War, Romney called for the withdrawal of all American troops by the end of 1971, and characterized the war as "disastrous".^[54] She was troubled by the ongoing Cambodian Incursion and said that if elected she would vote to cut off its funds if Nixon did not abide by his pledge to withdraw from there by the end of the month.^[54] On other issues, she sometimes took overly broad stances that appeared to come down on multiple sides.^[55] The conservative wing of the party, which had never trusted her husband, had the same reaction to her.^[6] The largely male press corps tended to deal with her in a paternalistic way, and she was often identified as "Mrs. George Romney" in stories and photo captions.^[35][56] Initially heavily favored over Huber, her campaign failed to gain momentum and polls showed a close race; in response, she shifted her ads to focus more on her stands on issues.^[53] In the August 4, 1970, primary, Lenore Romney won a narrow victory, with 52 percent of the vote compared to Huber's 48 percent.^[57][55]

In the general election, with lost prestige, a divided party, and with her campaign resources partly drained by the primary fight, Romney was behind incumbent Democrat Hart from the beginning.^[55][35][38] Romney issued position papers and emphasized the themes of dealing with crime and social permissiveness;^[38] she also advocated a national healthcare plan and increased attention to environmental damage caused by industry.^[11] She never made any personal attacks against Hart.^[38] The only woman running for the U.S. Senate that year,^[41] she was a tireless campaigner, traveling around the state in a chartered Cessna and making as many as twelve stops a day.^[35] Nevertheless, the perception grew that she did not have any vision for what she would do as a senator and was only in the race because she was George Romney's wife.^[35] In response, she said at one point, "I'm not a stand-in or a substitute for anyone".^[6][35] Her campaign material continued to just refer to "Lenore".^[35] She also was negatively impacted, in both the primary and general election, by fallout from her husband's effort as HUD Secretary to enforce housing integration in Warren, Michigan.^[53][58][46] Consistently far ahead in polls, Hart staged a low-key campaign with few public appearances; he mostly ignored her and sometimes acted condescendingly towards her in private.^[58][35][11]

The Romney children campaigned for her, including Mitt, who took student leave to work as a driver and advance man at schools and county fairs during the summer.^[59][35] Together, Lenore and Mitt visited all 83 Michigan counties.^[11] George was in Washington most of the time and did not publicly campaign for her until the campaign's final day.^[35][58]

In the November 3, 1970, general election, Hart handily won a third term with 67 percent of the vote to her 33 percent.^[35] Romney made an unusual election-night visit to congratulate Hart in person, and in saying "I hope all good things will be his," gave what the victor termed "the most graceful and really moving concession speech I've ever heard."^[38]

The campaign and loss left Lenore in emotional pain.^[6] In her election night remarks she had said, "I thought [running as a woman] would be an asset. It was disappointing to find that many people closed their minds just because I was a woman."^[38] She extrapolated upon this in an article she published the following year in Look magazine, describing the openly dismissive reaction she had gotten from both men and women.^[6][35] She wrote that, "In factories, I encountered men in small groups, laughing, shouting, 'Get in the kitchen. George needs you there. What do you know about politics?'"^[6] To a friend she wrote, "[I had no idea] how open and bare and wide my own vulnerability would be ... the body wounds are deep."^[6] She told one of her children that she wished she had not run, and concluded that "It's the most humiliating thing I know of to run for office."^[11]

Later years[link]

Following the campaign, Lenore Romney returned to Washington and to being a cabinet wife.^[35] George, who had also long been interested in volunteerism, had helped found the National Center for Voluntary Action in 1970, and Lenore was made a member of its executive committee.^[60] By late 1971, she assumed some of First Lady Pat Nixon's role as a public advocate for volunteerism, visiting regional volunteer centers with other cabinet and administration wives.^[60] She was on the board of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, serving as brotherhood chair during 1970–1971^[42] and as vice chair in 1972.^[61] She was also a main force behind the Urban Service Corps, which sought to apply volunteer efforts to the problems of large cities.^[62] She worked with the National Women's Political Caucus to promote the electoral candidacies of women.^[61] She gave some speeches at colleges, and came out as explicitly pro-life on the issue of abortion, after having previously been ambivalent about it.^[6][63]

In the 1972 U.S. presidential election, Lenore Romney worked in the women's surrogate program for the Committee for the Re-Election of the President.^[61] Nevertheless, her husband's relationship with Nixon and the administration became even worse and, in August 1972, she wrote a fruitless letter to presidential aide John Ehrlichman urging a change in the "low regard" and poor treatment that the administration showed him.^[46][64]

After George Romney left the administration and politics in January 1973,^[46] Lenore continued with volunteerism, as vice president of the National Center for Voluntary Action.^[65] In 1974, she became a commentator on the WJR radio show Point of View.^[2] Subsequently she receded from the public political eye,^[66] but still remained active. She gave speeches to various local religious and civic organizations in the Midwest, focusing on her faith, the potential of "people power", and the role of women.^[67][43]

At age 85, Lenore Romney emerged to give interviews during her son Mitt's 1994 campaign for the U.S. Senate seat from Massachusetts.^[68] She contrasted Mitt to his opponent, long-time incumbent Senator Ted Kennedy; while Kennedy had been much in the news for his drinking and sexual escapades, Lenore noted that Mitt and wife Ann Romney had waited until marriage to have sex.^[68] Mitt lost the race to Kennedy.

On July 26, 1995, George Romney died of a heart attack at the age of 88 while he was exercising on his treadmill at the couple's home in Bloomfield Hills; he was discovered by Lenore (after she went looking for him, not having found her rose for the day), but it was too late to save him.^[69][70] They had been married for 64 years, and the press noted the strength of that marriage.^[34]

Lenore's health declined during her final years.^[71] But she was still doing fairly well when, at the age of 89, she suffered a stroke at her Bloomfield Hills home.^[31][71] She died several days later at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, on July 7, 1998.^[71][72][34] Besides her four children, she was survived by 24 grandchildren and 41 great-grandchildren.^[14] She is interred in Fairview Cemetery in Brighton, Michigan, in the same grave as her husband.

Following her death, many state political figures paid tribute to her, including Governor John Engler and his wife Michelle, who called her "Michigan's rose", and Lieutenant Governor Connie Binsfeld, who characterized her as a "beloved role model for our state".^[31]

Awards and honors[link]

In 1969, Lenore Romney received the Woman of the Year Award from Brigham Young University.^[41] She was named one of the National Top Ten Women News Makers for 1970.^[73] She was given the Salvation Army's Humanitarian Award, Michigan State University's Distinguished Citizen Award, and also received recognition from Hadassah and the International Platform Association.^[14][73]

For many years beginning in 1987, the successor organizations to the National Center for Voluntary Action (VOLUNTEER: The National Center, National Volunteer Center, Points of Light Foundation, and Points of Light Foundation & the National Network of Volunteer Centers) have given out an annual Lenore and George W. Romney Citizen Volunteer Award^[74] (later retitled the George and Lenore Romney Citizen Volunteer Award).

Lenore Romney was awarded six honorary degrees.^[43][41] She received an L.H.D. from Hillsdale College in 1964,^[2] from Hope College in 1967,^[75] and from Gwynedd–Mercy College in 1971.^[2] She received an LL.D. from Central Michigan University in 1966.^[2] She received a Doctor of Humanities degree from Eastern Michigan University in 1968^[76] and from Detroit College of Business in 1970.^[2]

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Candee, Marjorie Dent (ed.) (1958). Current Biography Yearbook 1958. New York: H. W. Wilson Company. OCLC 145427784. 
• Harris, T. George (1967). Romney's Way: A Man and an Idea. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. OCLC 437793. 
• Kotlowski, Dean J. (2001). Nixon's Civil Rights: Politics, Principle, and Policy. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-00623-2. 
• Kranish, Michael; Helman, Scott (2012). The Real Romney. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-212327-0. 
• Mahoney, Tom (1960). The Story of George Romney: Builder, Salesman, Crusader. New York: Harper & Brothers. OCLC 236830. 
• Who's Who of American Women (9th ed.). Marquis Who's Who. 1976. ISBN 0-8379-0409-9. 

External links[link]

• "Lenore", the half-hour film from the 1970 U.S. Senate campaign
• Finding Aid for Lenore LaFount Romney Papers, 1960–1974 at Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan

v t e Mitt Romney Politics Governor of Massachusetts · Massachusetts health care reform · 1994 senatorial election · 2002 gubernatorial election · 2008 presidential campaign · 2012 presidential campaign · Political positions · Public image · Electoral history Olympics 2002 Winter Olympics (Salt Lake Organizing Committee) Business Bain & Company · Bain Capital Books Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games · No Apology: The Case for American Greatness Family Family tree · George W. Romney (father) · Lenore Romney (mother) · Ann Romney (spouse) · G. Scott Romney (brother)

Mitt Romney
70th Governor of Massachusetts
In office January 2, 2003 – January 4, 2007
Lieutenant	Kerry Healey
Preceded by	Jane Swift (Acting)
Succeeded by	Deval Patrick
Personal details
Born	Willard Mitt Romney (1947-03-12) March 12, 1947 (age 65) Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Ann Romney (m. 1969) «start: (1969)»"Marriage: Ann Romney to Mitt Romney" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Mitt_Romney)
Children	Taggart (b. 1970) Matthew (b. 1971) Joshua (b. 1975) Benjamin (b. 1978) Craig (b. 1981)
Residence	Belmont, Massachusetts Wolfeboro, New Hampshire San Diego, California
Alma mater	Brigham Young University (BA) Harvard University (MBA, JD)
Religion	The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon)
Positions	Co-founder, Bain Capital (1984–1999) CEO, Bain & Company (1991–1992) CEO, 2002 Winter Olympics Organizing Committee (1999–2002)
Signature
Website	MittRomney.com

	This article is part of a series about Mitt Romney	Mitt Romney
2012 Presidential campaign 2008 Presidential campaign Governor of Massachusetts, 2003–2007 1994 U.S. Senate election Political positions · Electoral history Public image

Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party for President of the United States in the 2012 election. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts (2003–07).

The son of Lenore and George W. Romney (Governor of Michigan, 1963–69), he was raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. In 1966, after one year at Stanford University, he left the United States to spend thirty months in France as a Mormon missionary. In 1969, he married Ann Davies, and the couple had five children together. In 1971, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Brigham Young University and, in 1975, a joint Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration from Harvard University as a Baker Scholar. He entered the management consulting industry, which in 1977, led to a position at Bain & Company. Later serving as Chief Executive Officer, he helped bring the company out of financial crisis. In 1984, he co-founded the spin-off Bain Capital, a private equity investment firm that became highly profitable and one of the largest such firms in the nation. His net worth is estimated at $190–250 million, wealth that has helped fund his political campaigns. Active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he served as Ward Bishop and later Stake President in his area near Boston. He ran as the Republican candidate in the 1994 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts, losing to long-time incumbent Ted Kennedy. In 1999, he was hired as President and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics and Paralympics; and he helped turn the fiscally troubled games into a success.

He was elected Governor of Massachusetts in 2002 but did not seek re-election in 2006. During his term he presided over a series of spending cuts and increases in fees that eliminated a projected $1.5 billion deficit. He also signed into law the Massachusetts health care reform legislation, the first of its kind in the nation, which provided near-universal health insurance access via state-level subsidies and individual mandates.

Romney ran for the Republican nomination in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, winning several primaries and caucuses but losing the nomination to John McCain. In the following years, he gave speeches and raised campaign funds on behalf of his fellow Republicans. In June 2011, he announced that he would seek the 2012 Republican presidential nomination; as of May 2012, he has won enough caucuses and primaries to become the party's presumptive nominee.

Early life and education[link]

Heritage and youth[link]

Willard Mitt Romney^[1] was born at Harper Hospital in Detroit, Michigan,^[2] the youngest child of George W. Romney, a self-made man who by 1948 had become an automobile executive, and Lenore Romney (née LaFount), an aspiring actress turned homemaker.^[3][4][5] His mother was a native of Logan, Utah, and his father was born in a Mormon colony in Chihuahua, Mexico, to American parents.^[6][7] He is of primarily English descent, and also has more distant Scottish and German ancestry.^[8][9][10] He is a fifth-generation member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).^[11][12] A great-great-grandfather, Miles Romney, converted to the faith in its first decade, and another great-great-grandfather, Parley P. Pratt, was an early leader in the church during the same time.^[13]

He was preceded in birth by three siblings: Margo Lynn, Jane LaFount, and G. Scott. Mitt followed after a gap of nearly six years. He was named after family friend, hotel magnate J. Willard Marriott, and his father's cousin Milton "Mitt" Romney, a former quarterback for the Chicago Bears.^{[14][nb 1]} In 1953, the family moved from Detroit to the affluent suburb of Bloomfield Hills.^[16] In 1954, his father became the chairmen and CEO of American Motors, a company he helped avoid bankruptcy, and return to profitability.^[16] By the time Mitt was twelve, his father had become a nationally known figure in print and on television,^[17] and Mitt idolized him.^[18]

Mitt Romney began attending Cranbrook School in the seventh grade.

He attended public elementary schools^[15] until the seventh grade, when he began commuting to Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, a traditional private boys' preparatory school where he was one of only a few Mormons and where many students came from backgrounds even more privileged than he.^[19][20] He was not particularly athletic and at first did not excel academically.^[18] During his sophomore year he participated in the 1962 campaign in which his father was elected Governor of Michigan.^{[nb 2]} When his parents moved to the state capitol as part of George Romney taking office, Mitt took up residence at Cranbrook's Stevens Hall.^[19] George Romney was re-elected twice; Mitt worked for him as an intern in the governor's office, and was present at the 1964 Republican National Convention when his moderate father battled conservative party nominee Barry Goldwater over issues of civil rights and ideological extremism.^[18][22] During these years, Romney had a steady set of chores and summer jobs, including working as a security guard at a Chrysler plant.^[23]

At Cranbrook he was a manager for the ice hockey team and a member of the pep squad,^[19] and during his final year joined the cross country running team.^[15] He belonged to eleven school organizations and school clubs, and started the Blue Key Club boosters group.^[19] During his final year at Cranbook, Romney improved academically, but was still not a star pupil.^[18][20] He won an award for those "whose contributions to school life are often not fully recognized through already existing channels".^[20] Romney was involved in many pranks.^{[nb 3]}

In March of his senior year, he began dating Ann Davies, two years his younger, whom he had first met in elementary school; she attended the private Kingswood School, the sister school to Cranbrook.^[27][20] The two informally agreed to marriage around the time of his June 1965 graduation.^[18]

University, France mission, marriage and children: 1965–1975[link]

Romney attended Stanford University for a year,^{[18][nb 4]} where he worked as a night security guard in order to pay for trips home to see Ann.^[28] Although the campus was becoming radicalized with the beginnings of 1960s social and political movements, he kept a well-groomed appearance and participated in pre-Big Game actions designed to protect the Stanford Axe.^[18] In May 1966, he was part of a counter-protest against a group staging a sit-in in the university administration building in opposition to draft status tests.^[18][29]

In July 1966, he left for a thirty-month stay in France as a Mormon missionary,^[18][31] a traditional rite of passage that his father and many other relatives had volunteered for.^{[nb 5]} He arrived in Le Havre with ideas about how to change and promote the French Mission, while facing physical and economic deprivation in their cramped quarters.^[33][13] Rules against drinking, smoking, and dating were strictly enforced.^[13] Most individual Mormon missionaries do not gain many converts,^[35] and Romney was no exception:^[33] he later estimated ten to twenty for his entire mission.^[36] The nominally Catholic but secular, wine-loving French people were especially resistant to a religion that prohibits alcohol.^[18][13][30] He became demoralized, and later recalled it as the only time when "most of what I was trying to do was rejected."^[33] In Nantes, he suffered a bruised jaw while defending two female missionaries who were being bothered by a group of local rugby players.^[13] He continued to work hard; having grown up in Michigan rather than the more insular Utah world, Romney was better able to interact with the French than other missionaries.^[37][13] He was promoted to zone leader in Bordeaux in early 1968, then in the spring of that year became assistant to the mission president in Paris, the highest position for a missionary.^[33][13][38] In the Mission Home in Paris he enjoyed palace-like accommodations.^[38] Romney's support for the U.S. role in the Vietnam War was only reinforced when the French greeted him with hostility over the matter and he debated them in return.^[13][33] He witnessed the May 1968 general strike and student uprisings and was upset by the breakdown in social order.^[39]

In June 1968, an automobile he was driving in southern France was hit by another vehicle, seriously injuring him and killing one of his passengers, the wife of the mission president.^{[nb 6]} Romney, who was not at fault in the accident,^{[nb 6]} became co-acting president of a mission demoralized and disorganized by the May civil disturbances and by the car accident.^[37] He rallied and motivated the others and they met an ambitious goal of 200 baptisms for the year, the most for the mission in a decade.^[37] By the end of his stint in December 1968, he was overseeing the work of 175 fellow members.^[33][40] Romney developed a lifelong affection for France and its people, and speaks French.^[42] The experience in the country instilled in him a belief that life is fragile and that he needed seriousness of purpose.^[18][37][13] It also represented a crucible, after having been an indifferent Mormon growing up: "On a mission, your faith in Jesus Christ either evaporates or it becomes much deeper ... For me it became much deeper."^[33]

While he was away, Ann Davies had converted to the Mormon faith, guided by George Romney, and had begun attending Brigham Young University (BYU).^[18] Mitt was nervous that she had been wooed by others while he was away, and she had indeed started dating popular campus figure Kim S. Cameron and had sent Romney in France a "Dear John letter", greatly upsetting him; he wrote to her to in an attempt to win her back.^[43][15] At their first meeting following Romney's return they reconnected, and decided to get married immediately but agreed to wait three months to appease their parents.^[44] At Ann's request, Romney began attending Brigham Young too, in February 1969.^{[43][nb 4]} The couple were married on March 21, 1969, in a civil ceremony at Ann's family's home in Bloomfield Hills that was presided over by a church elder.^[46][47][48] The following day, the couple flew to Utah for a wedding ceremony at the Salt Lake Temple.^[46][47]

While Mitt attended Harvard, his father George W. Romney (pictured here with Richard M. Nixon) served as United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Romney had missed much of the tumultuous American anti-Vietnam War movement while away, and was surprised to learn that his father had turned against the effort during his unsuccessful 1968 presidential campaign.^[33] Regarding the military draft, Romney had initially received a student deferment, then, like most Mormon missionaries, a ministerial deferment while in France, and then a student deferment.^[33][49] When those ran out, his high number in the December 1969 draft lottery (300) ensured he would not be selected.^[33][49][50]

At culturally conservative BYU, he remained isolated from much of the upheaval of the era, and did not join in protests against the war, or the LDS Church's policy at the time of denying full membership to blacks.^[24][33][43] He became president of, and an innovative fundraiser for, the all-male Cougar Club booster organization and showed a new-found discipline in his studies.^[33][43] In his senior year, he took leave to work as driver and advance man for his mother Lenore Romney's eventually unsuccessful 1970 campaign for U.S. Senator from Michigan.^[24][46] He earned a Bachelor of Arts in English with highest honors in 1971,^[43] and gave commencement addresses to both the College of Humanities and to the whole of BYU.^{[nb 7]}

The Romneys' first son, Taggart, was born in 1970^[46] while they were undergraduates at Brigham Young^[52] and living in a basement apartment.^[33][43] Ann subsequently gave birth to Matt (1971), Josh (1975), Ben (1978), and Craig (1981).^[46] Her work as a homemaker would enable her husband to pursue his career.^[53]

Romney still wanted to pursue a business path, but his father, by now serving in President Richard Nixon's cabinet as U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, advised him that a law degree would be valuable to his career.^[54][55] Thus he became one of only fifteen students to enroll at the recently created joint Juris Doctor/Master of Business Administration four-year program coordinated between Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School.^[56] Fellow students considered him guilelessly optimistic, noting his solid work ethic and buttoned-down demeanor and appearance.^[56][57] He readily adapted to the business school's pragmatic, data-driven case study method of teaching, participated in class well, and led a study group whom he pushed to get all A's.^[55] He had a different social experience from most of his classmates, since he lived in a Belmont, Massachusetts, house with Ann and two children.^[46][55] He was non-ideological and did not involve himself in the political or social issues of the day.^[46][55] He graduated in 1975 cum laude from the law school, in the top third of that class, and was named a Baker Scholar for graduating in the top five percent of his business school class.^[51][56]

Business career[link]

Management consulting[link]

Romney was recruited by several firms and chose to remain in Massachusetts to work for Boston Consulting Group (BCG), reasoning that working as a management consultant to a variety of companies would better prepare him for a future position as a chief executive.^{[54][58][nb 8]} He was part of a 1970s wave of top graduates who chose to go into consulting rather than join a major company directly.^[60] His legal and business education proved useful in his job^[54] while he applied BCG principles such as the growth-share matrix.^[61] He was viewed as having a bright future there.^[54][62]

In 1977, he was hired away by Bain & Company, a management consulting firm in Boston that had been formed a few years earlier by Bill Bain and other former BCG employees.^[61][54][63] Bain would later say of the thirty-year-old Romney, "He had the appearance of confidence of a guy who was maybe ten years older."^[64] With Bain & Company, Romney learned what writers and business analysts have dubbed the "Bain way",^[54][63][65] which consisted of immersing the firm in each client's business,^[54][64] and not just issuing recommendations but staying with the company until changes were put into place.^[61][63][66] Romney became a vice president of the firm in 1978,^[15] and worked with clients such as the Monsanto Company, Outboard Marine Corporation, Burlington Industries, and Corning Incorporated.^[58] Within a few years, he was one of Bain & Company's best consultants and was sought after by clients over more senior partners.^[54][67]

Private equity[link]

Romney was restless for a company of his own to run, and in 1983, Bill Bain offered him the chance to head a new venture that would buy into companies, have them benefit from Bain techniques, and then reap higher rewards than consulting fees.^[54][61] He initially refrained from accepting the offer, and Bain re-arranged the terms in a complicated partnership structure so that there was no financial or professional risk to Romney.^[54][64][68] Thus, in 1984, Romney left Bain & Company to co-found the spin-off private equity investment firm, Bain Capital.^[66] In the face of skepticism from potential investors, Bain and Romney spent a year raising the $37 million in funds needed to start the new operation, which had fewer than ten employees.^[58][64][69] As general partner of the new firm, Romney spent little money on costs such as office appearance, and saw weak spots in so many potential deals that by 1986, few had been done.^[54] At first, Bain Capital focused on venture capital opportunities.^[54] Their first big success was a 1986 investment to help start Staples Inc., after founder Thomas G. Stemberg convinced Romney of the market size for office supplies and Romney convinced others; Bain Capital eventually reaped a nearly sevenfold return on its investment, and Romney sat on the Staples board of directors for over a decade.^[54][69][70]

Romney soon switched Bain Capital's focus from startups to the relatively new business of leveraged buyouts: buying existing firms with money mostly borrowed against their assets, partnering with existing management to apply the "Bain way" to their operations (rather than the hostile takeovers practiced in other leverage buyout scenarios), and selling them off in a few years.^[54][64] Existing CEOs were offered large equity stakes in the process, owing to Bain Capital's belief in the emerging agency theory that CEOs should be bound to maximizing shareholder value rather than other goals.^[70] Bain Capital lost most of its money in many of its early leveraged buyouts, but then started finding deals that made large returns.^[54] The firm invested in or acquired Accuride, Brookstone, Domino's Pizza, Sealy Corporation, Sports Authority, and Artisan Entertainment, as well as lesser-known companies in the industrial and medical sectors.^[54][64][71] He ran Bain Capital for fourteen years, during which time the firm's average annual internal rate of return on realized investments was 113 percent.^[58] Much of this profit was earned from a relatively small number of deals; Bain Capital's overall success–to–failure ratio was about even.^{[nb 9]}

Less an entrepreneur than an executive running an investment operation,^[67][72] Romney was skilled at presenting and selling the deals the company made.^[68] The firm initially gave a cut of its profits to Bain & Company, but Romney persuaded Bain to give that up.^[68] Within Bain Capital, Romney spread profits from deals widely within the firm to keep people motivated, often keeping less than ten percent for himself.^[73] Viewed as a fair manager, he received considerable loyalty from the firm's members.^[70] Romney's wary instincts were still in force at times, and he was generally data-driven and averse to risk.^[54][70] He wanted to drop a Bain Capital hedge fund that initially lost money, but other partners prevailed and it eventually gained billions.^[54] He also personally opted out of the Artisan Entertainment deal, not wanting to profit from a studio that produced R-rated films.^[54] Romney was on the board of directors of Damon Corporation, a medical testing company later found guilty of defrauding the government; Bain Capital tripled its investment before selling off the company, and the fraud was discovered by the new owners (Romney was never implicated).^[54] In some cases, Romney had little involvement with a company once acquired.^[69]

Bain Capital's leveraged buyouts sometimes led to layoffs, either soon after acquisition or later after the firm had left.^[61][68][69] How jobs added compared to those lost due to these investments and buyouts is unknown, due to a lack of records and Bain Capital's penchant for privacy on behalf of itself and its investors.^[74][75][76] In any case, maximizing the value of acquired companies and the return to Bain's investors, not job creation, was the firm's fundamental goal, as it was for most private equity operations.^[69][77] Bain Capital's acquisition of Ampad exemplified a deal where it profited handsomely from early payments and management fees, even though the subject company itself ended up going into bankruptcy.^[54][70][77] Dade Behring was another case where Bain Capital received an eightfold return on its investment, but the company itself was saddled with debt and laid off over a thousand employees before Bain Capital exited (the company subsequently went into bankruptcy, with more layoffs, before recovering and prospering).^[74] Bain was among the private equity firms that took the most fees in such cases.^[64][70]