Thread: Mitt Romney CANNOT Run For POTUS: here we go again

Mitt Romney can bitch; whine; complain; stomp his feet; but he has no one to point the finger at but his grand parents / parents

George W. Romney

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Early life
See also: Pratt-Romney family

Romney's grandparents were polygamous Mormons who fled the United States with their children because of the federal government's opposition to polygamy.[1] 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).[2][3] 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.[4] Romney's parents were Gaskell Romney (1871–1955), who was not polygamous, and Anna Amelia Pratt; they married in 1895 in Mexico.[1][3] A more distant kinsman was George Romney (1734–1802), a noted portrait painter in Britain during the last quarter of the 18th century.[5]

George Wilcken Romney was thus born in Colonia Dublán, Galeana, in the Mexican state of Chihuahua – one of the Mormon colonies in Mexico – on July 8, 1907, to American parents.[1][6] George had three older brothers and would gain two more brothers and a sister.[7] Gaskell Romney was a successful carpenter, house builder, and farmer who headed the most prosperous family in the colony.[8][9]

The Mexican Revolution broke out in 1910 and the Mormon colonies were endangered in 1911–1912 by raids from marauders,[10] including "Red Flaggers" Pascual Orozco and José Inés Salazar.[11] Young George heard the sound of distant gunfire and saw rebels walking through the village streets.[11][12] The Romney family fled and returned to the United States in July 1912, leaving their home and almost all of their property behind.[1][13] Romney would later say, "We were the first displaced persons of the 20th century."[14]

From here on, George Romney grew up under humble circumstances.[15] 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 Gaskell Romney worked as a carpenter.[13][16] In kindergarten there, other children mocked Romney's national origin by calling him "Mex".[17][18] In 1913, the family moved to Oakley, Idaho, and bought a farm, where they grew and subsisted largely on Idaho potatoes.[19][20] The farm was not well located and failed when potato prices fell.[19] The family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1916, where Gaskell Romney resumed construction work but was generally poor.[19] In 1917, the family moved to Rexburg, Idaho and Gaskell became a successful home and commercial builder in an area growing because of high World War I commodities prices.[21] 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.[21] The Depression of 1920–21 brought a collapse in prices and local building was abandoned.[21] The family returned to Salt Lake in 1921, and while his father resumed construction, George became skilled at lath-and-plaster work.[22][23] The family was again prospering when the Great Depression hit in 1929 and ruined them.[16] George watched his parents fail financially in Idaho and Utah,[24] with their debts taking a dozen years to pay off;[25] seeing their struggles influenced his life and business career.[23]

In Salt Lake, Romney worked to support himself while attending Roosevelt Junior High School and, beginning in 1922, Latter-day Saints High School.[23][26] 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 letters in all three sports.[6][22][27] In his senior year, he and junior Lenore LaFount became high school sweethearts;[24][28] she was from a more well-assimilated Mormon family.[29][30] Academically, Romney was steady but undistinguished.[31] Romney graduated high school in 1925; his yearbook picture caption was "Serious, high minded, of noble nature—a real fellow."[22] Partly to stay near Lenore, whom he pursued singlemindedly,[17] Romney spent the next year as a junior college student at the colocated Latter-day Saints University, where he was elected student body president.[32] He was also president of the booster club and played on the basketball team that won the Utah–Idaho Junior College Tournament.[32]

[edit] Missionary work, marriage and family, early careerAfter becoming an elder, Romney earned enough money working to fund himself as a Mormon missionary.[33] In October 1926 he sailed to Great Britain and was first assigned to preach in a Glasgow, Scotland slum;[33] the abject poverty and hopelessness he saw there affected him greatly,[6] but he was ineffective in gaining converts and temporarily suffered a crisis of faith.[34] In February 1927 he was shifted to Edinburgh and in February 1928 to London,[35] where he kept track of mission finances.[36] 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.[6][36] Romney experienced British sights and culture and was introduced to members of the peerage and the Oxford Group.[37] In August 1928, Romney became president of the Scottish missionary district.[37] 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.[36][37] 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.[23][24][35] Three decades later, Romney said that his missionary time had meant more to him in his work than any other experience.[33]

Romney returned to the U.S. in late 1928 and studied briefly at the University of Utah and LDS Business College.[38] 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.[24][29][38] 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.[17][39] 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.[38] With one of his brothers, Romney opened a dairy bar in nearby Virginia during this time that soon failed during the Great Depression.[24][40] He also attended George Washington University at night.[6][23][39] Romney did not attend for long, or graduate from, any college in which he was enrolled, and has been described instead as an autodidact.[24]

Romney became an apprentice for Alcoa in Pittsburgh in 1930.[23] 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.[23] 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[41] where he worked for Alcoa and the Aluminum Wares Association as a lobbyist.[23] He would consider his wooing of her his greatest sales achievement.[41][42] The couple married on July 2, 1931, at Salt Lake City Temple.[43] They would have four children: Margo Lynn (born 1935), Jane LaFount (born 193, George Scott (born 1941), and Willard Mitt (born 1947).[44]

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.[45][46] In the early 1930s he helped get aluminum windows installed in the U.S. Department of Commerce Building,[46] at the time the largest office building in the world.[47] He joined the National Press Club and the Burning Tree and Congressional Country Clubs; one reporter watching Romney hurriedly play golf at the latter said, "There is a young man who knows where he is going."[48][49] Lenore's cultural refinement and hosting skills helped him in business, and the couple met the Hoovers, the Roosevelts, and other prominent Washington figures.[29][48] 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.[48] During 1937 and 1938, Romney was also president of the Washington Trade Association Executives.[23]

[edit] Automotive industry representativeAfter 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.[17][48] Pyke Johnson was vice president of the Automobile Manufacturers Association, which needed a manager for its new Detroit office.[50] Romney got the job and moved there with his wife and two daughters in 1939.[39][50] An association study found Americans using their cars more for short trips and convinced Romney that the trend was towards more functional, basic transportation.[17] In 1942 he was promoted to general manager of the association, a position he held until 1948.[23] Romney also served as president of the Detroit Trade Association in 1941.[23]

As World War II raged overseas, Romney (who was soon beyond draft age)[51] helped start the Automotive Committee for Air Defense in 1940, which coordinated planning between the automobile and aircraft industries.[52] 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.[52] This organization established a cooperative arrangement in which companies could share production improvements, thus maximizing the industry's contribution to the war production effort.[17] 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.[53] Romney appealed to the Federal Housing Administration and got housing made available to black workers near the Ford Willow Run plant.[54] He also served on the labor-management committee of the Detroit section of the War Manpower Commission.[23]

Romney became the chief spokesman of the automobile industry, often testifying before Congressional hearings about production, labor, and management issues;[23] he was mentioned or quoted in over 80 stories in The New York Times during this time.[55] 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.[56] 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.[57] Between a fifth and a quarter of all U.S. wartime production was accounted for by the automotive industry.[56][58]

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.[17] 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.[23] From 1946 to 1949, he served as a U.S. employer delegate to the Metal Trades Industry conference of the International Labor Office.[59] 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.[60] 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.[29]

[edit] American Motors Corporation CEOAs managing director of the Automobile Manufacturers Association, Romney became good friends with then-president George W. Mason. 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.[61] As Mason's protégé, Romney assumed executive assignment for the development of the Rambler.[62] 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).[63] It was the largest merger in the history of the industry, and Romney became an executive vice president of the new firm.[63] In October 1954,[41] Mason suddenly died of acute pancreatitis and pneumonia.[64] Romney was named AMC's Chairman and CEO.[41]

When Romney took over, he reorganized upper management, brought in younger executives, and pruned and rebuilt AMC's dealer network.[17] 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.[65] 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.[23] The Rambler brand was selected for development and promotion,[66] as AMC pursued an innovative strategy: manufacturing only compact cars. The company struggled badly at first, losing money in 1956, more in 1957, and experiencing defections from its dealer network.[17][65][67] Romney instituted company-wide savings and efficiency measures and he and other executives reduced their salaries by up to 35 percent.[68] AMC was on the verge of being taken over by corporate raider Louis Wolfson, but Romney was able to fend him off.[17] Then sales of the Rambler finally took off, leading to unexpected financial success for AMC.[17] 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.[23] In contrast with the Hudson's NASCAR racing success in the early 1950s,[69] the Ramblers were frequent winners in the coast-to-coast Mobil Economy Run, an annual event on U.S. highways.[70][71][72] Sales remained strong during 1960 and 1961, with the Rambler being America's third most popular car during both years.[73]

A believer in "competitive cooperative consumerism",[74] Romney was effective in his frequent appearances before Congress.[41] He discussed what he saw as the twin evils of “big laborâ€

George W. Romney

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

George Wilcken Romney


Romney in 1986

3rd United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
In office
January 22, 1969 – January 20, 1973
President Richard Nixon
Preceded by Robert Coldwell Wood
Succeeded by James Thomas Lynn

43rd Governor of Michigan
In office
January 1, 1963 – January 22, 1969
Preceded by John Swainson
Succeeded by William Milliken

Born July 8, 1907(1907-07-08 )
Galeana, Chihuahua, Mexico
Died July 26, 1995(1995-07-26) (aged 88 )
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Lenore Romney
Children Lynn Keenan, Jane Romney, G. Scott Romney, W. Mitt Romney

Profession

Automobile industrialist
Politician
Religion The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

George Wilcken Romney (July 8, 1907 – July 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.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Romney

I understand why people might say Mitt's dad can't run, but I don't see how Mitt can inherit any Mexicanness when his father was a citizen and Mitt was born here. I don't think anybody ever defined natural born citizen. This sets a dangerous precedent. How far back do we need to go?

Originally Posted by BetsyRoss

I understand why people might say Mitt's dad can't run, but I don't see how Mitt can inherit any Mexicanness when his father was a citizen and Mitt was born here. I don't think anybody ever defined natural born citizen. This sets a dangerous precedent. How far back do we need to go?

this is not a dangerous precedent as a matter of fact this is not even a new law; its how we determine who will be a POTUS

It follows the same line as Obama and look at the hell on earth he pushes on the world and the U.S. with his duel Alliegance that becomes clearer every day

Whats next; allowing Arnold Schwarzenegger to be POTUS as the lines are blurred even more

I understand Arnold can't be POTUS. But Mitt was born on American soil to parents who were both American citizens. What dual allegiance would he have? Salt Lake maybe...

Besides, Mormons who went to Mexico weren't giving up on being Americans. They were fleeing the anti-polygamy laws and building up church membership. They didn't renounce their citizenship and skeedaddled right back to the US when Pancho Villa drove them out. They went to Mexico to be Mormons, not Mexicans.

Originally Posted by BetsyRoss

I understand Arnold can't be POTUS. But Mitt was born on American soil to parents who were both American citizens. What dual allegiance would he have? Salt Lake maybe...

Mitts father I'll say it again was not born in America, therefore Mitt does not meet ALL of the Criteria to be POTUS

he can do anything; be anything in America but be POTUS

Originally Posted by BetsyRoss

Besides, Mormons who went to Mexico weren't giving up on being Americans. They were fleeing the anti-polygamy laws and building up church membership. They didn't renounce their citizenship and skeedaddled right back to the US when Pancho Villa drove them out. They went to Mexico to be Mormons, not Mexicans.

same thing as giving up Citizenship

What if it were Mitt's grandfather that had been born in Mexico, not his dad?