Some of Romney's Wiki Bio:
In July 1966, Romney left for 30 months in France as a Mormon missionary, a traditional duty that his father and other relatives had done. [16] [30] [31] 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. [31] [10] Rules against drinking, smoking, and dating were strictly enforced. [10] Like most individual Mormon missionaries, he did not gain many converts, with the nominally Catholic but secular, wine-loving French people proving especially resistant to a religion that prohibits alcohol. [16] [31] [10] [29] He became demoralized, and later recalled it as the only time when "most of what I was trying to do was rejected." [31] In Nantes, Romney was bruised defending two female missionaries against a horde of local rugby players. [10] 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. [22] [10] 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. [31] [10] [32] In the Mission Home in Paris he enjoyed palace-like accommodations. [32] 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. [31] [10] He also witnessed the May 1968 general strike and student uprisings. [31]
In June 1968, an automobile Romney 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 5] Romney, who was not at fault in the accident, [nb 5] became co-acting president of a mission demoralized and disorganized by the May civil disturbances and by the car accident. [22] Romney 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. [22] By the end of his stint in December 1968, Romney was overseeing the work of 175 fellow members. [31] [33] Romney developed a lifelong affection for France and its people, and speaks French. [35] The experience in the country also changed him. It instilled in him a belief that life is fragile and that he needed seriousness of purpose. He gained organizational experience and a record of accomplishments that he had theretofore lacked. [16] [22] [10] [33] It also represented a crucible, after having been only a half-hearted Mormon growing up: "On a mission, your faith in Jesus Christ either evaporates or it becomes much deeper. For me it became much deeper." [31]
While he was away, Ann Davies had converted to the LDS Church, guided by George Romney, and had begun attending Brigham Young University (BYU). [16] [26] Romney 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. [36] [15] At their first meeting following Romney's return they reconnected, and decided to get married in two weeks but agreed to wait three months to appease their parents. [26] [37] At Ann's request, Romney began attending Brigham Young too, in February 1969. [36] [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. [37] [39] [40] The following day the couple flew to Utah for a wedding ceremony at the Salt Lake Temple. [37] [39]
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 war during his unsuccessful 1968 presidential campaign. [31] Regarding the military draft, Romney had initially received a student deferment, then like most other Mormon missionaries a ministerial deferment while in France, then another student deferment. [31] [41] When those ran out, his high number in the December 1969 draft lottery (300) ensured he would not be selected. [19] [31] [41] [42]
At culturally conservative BYU, Romney continued to be separated from much of the upheaval of the era, and did not join in those protests that did occur against the war or the LDS Church's policy at the time of denying full membership to blacks. [19] [31] [36] He became president of, and an innovative fundraiser for, the all-male Cougar Club and showed a new-found discipline in his studies. [31] [36] 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. [19] [37] He earned a Bachelor of Arts in English with highest honors in 1971, [36] and gave commencement addresses to both his own College of Humanities and to the whole university. [nb 6]
The Romneys' first son, Tagg, was born in 1970 [37] while the Romneys were undergraduates at Brigham Young [44] and living in a basement apartment. [31] [36] Ann subsequently gave birth to Matt (1971), Josh (1975), Ben (1978), and Craig (1981). [37] Ann Romney's work as a homemaker would enable her husband to pursue his career. [45]
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 that a law degree would be valuable. [46] [47] Thus Romney 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. [48]
Fellow students considered Romney guilelessly optimistic, noting his solid work ethic along with a buttoned-down demeanor and appearance. [48] [49] 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. [47] He had a different social experience from most of his classmates, since he lived in a Belmont, Massachusetts, house with Ann and two children; he was non-ideological and did not involve himself in the political or social issues of the day. [37] [47] 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. [43] [48]
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