In my latest reading of The Real Romney, by Michael Kranish
and Scott Helman, a lot of ground was covered: Mitt Romney's experiences
as a Mormon missionary in France; Ann's dating of someone who reminded
her of Mitt while Mitt was away; the conversion of some of Ann's family
to Mormonism; and Mitt Romney's survival of a tragic automobile
accident, which changed his perspective on life. What I want to do in
this post, however, is focus on Mitt Romney and the Vietnam War.
I
said yesterday that Mitt Romney had problems with campus radicalism
when he was at Stanford. Mitt left Stanford to become a Mormon
missionary in France, right when campus radicalism was heating up.
David Harris, a prominent anti-war activist at Stanford whom I mentioned
yesterday, wondered if Romney would have swung to the left had he
stayed at Stanford, for Harris said that "There were plenty of people
who started to the right of Mitt Romney who ended up as full-scale
hippies" (Harris' words).
At first, Mitt was a supporter of the
Vietnam War, and he defended it in France when French people challenged
him about it. But Mitt changed his mind about the war when his father,
George, changed his mind. George sunk his race for the Presidency when
he said in an interview that he had been brainwashed by generals and
diplomats to support the Vietnam War, for that made him look susceptible
rather than strong. But Mitt agreed with his father. This article at the Daily Kos, however, disputes that Mitt became a total dove, for Mitt believed that Nixon's bombing of Cambodia was sincere.
Although
Romney retreated somewhat from his support for the Vietnam War, he
still preferred the more conservative atmosphere that he encountered as a
student of Brigham Young University to the counterculture and campus
radicalism at Stanford. Kranish and Helman say on pages 89-90 that BYU
"prohibited many rock-and-roll bands, liberal speakers and student
organizations, and even long hair on male students." They continue:
"During Romney's time at the school, the president of the university
enlisted students to spy on professors deemed to be liberals. Students
who displayed peace signs were told to take them down."