Of George and Mitt

I first heard of Mitt Romney when he announced his bid for the Republican nomination for President of the United States. As a son of a Michigan farmer, it was the name of George Romney that immediately came to mind. Of course, shortly thereafter I was to learn that Mitt is indeed the son of the former Governor of Michigan.

Upon that revelation, I came to the rational conclusion that “Mitt” is a nickname, you know, like the shape of the State of Michigan: the mitten? I thought it a little odd but it still made sense. I was actually a little disappointed that his full name is Willard Milton Romney and that “Mitt” is in reference to a relative who played for the Chicago Bears. I’ll stick with my original thought. Anyway, the idea makes for better conversation.

Aside from that misconception, thoughts came to mind as I recalled articles I had read in the Detroit Free Press during my junior and senior years at Dansville Agricultural High School, home of the Aggies. The country was going through a troublesome period, with racial tension, the Vietnam War, the introduction of the hippie culture and the use of “recreational” drugs, and the assassination of President Kennedy still haunting our conscience.

George Romney, the frontrunner for the 1968 presidential nomination, seemed a perfect fit for the White House through the summer of 1967. He had successfully transformed the American Motors Corporation into a debt-free, competitive automaker, with the line of 1961 Ramblers ranking third in domestic auto sales. His keen business acumen gave him a two-term governorship in Michigan beginning in 1962.

Gov. Romney was born in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. His parents were American citizens, returning to the U.S. when George was 20. During WWII, Romney headed the Automotive Council for War Production, which oversaw the production of automobiles for military use. George did not have inherited wealth; he made himself the man he became.

It was in the fall of 1967 that George Romney made the statement that he had been “brainwashed” by the military after a trip to South Vietnam in 1965. (Those pesky investigative reporters all the way back then were already doing a good job of brushing away dusty coverings.) Prior to this period, he had made statements in support of the Vietnam War. His viewpoint was well stated when he called the war “the most tragic foreign policy mistake in the nation’s history”. (Mitt, take a hint: you could very easily quote those same words in reference to the present war/conflict/occupation in Iraq and the overflow into Afghanistan and other points not yet identified by the current administrator.)

Unfortunately for George, this calamity denied him success as the Republican presidential candidate. He still made the announcement for his election bid in November 1967 but withdrew the following February. Although I wouldn’t be of voting age for another year beyond the 1968 election, I was still disappointed. I had always viewed the guy as something more than your basic politician. I saw him as being a man doing business before the legislature, and getting done what had to be.

Perhaps I am the only person to fully recollect another guffaw that occurred around the same time, but fresh in my mind are the words “swamp gas”. In a marshy area south of Ann Arbor there was a sighting of a moving light, steadily passing along the skyline, but not at an altitude that any Earthly aircraft should be traveling. As is typical with the Air Force and their handling of Project Bluebook (a government project hell-bent on placating the American public that UFOs were not spaceships controlled by toy-sized intergalactic humanoids), they issued the typical official statement that it was a natural phenomenon of terra firma. A weather balloon or planet Venus was often explanations of choice.

George gave his own thought that the phenomenon was of an earthly nature, the glow from a concentration of swamp gas. The statement garnered a few chuckles for a while but eventually he planted his feet back on earth and became Secretary of HUD under President Nixon.

I’m not suggesting Mitt follow in his dad’s footsteps but along the coast of Massachusetts there are some salt marshes. It may be a perfect breeding ground for more swamp gas. This could very well be an opportunity for the former Governor to lay claim to taking part in resolving our dependency on foreign oil.

Swamp gas is real. It is a biogas derived from an “aerobic environment” which means it formed from the fermentation of organic matter but lacking oxygen. If cleaned up sufficiently, it has the same characteristics as natural gas. This form of energy is cleaner than coal, emitting less carbon monoxide than other fossil fuels.

If Mitt were to send his aides to analyze the conditions in swampy Massachusetts, perhaps there could be a bonanza in providing a cache of biofuel to energize his campaign and upstage other contenders. Global warming is a hot topic, not easily ignored when voters judge each candidate’s worthiness. He could redeem the family name and make swamp gas work for him, in contrast how it worked against his dad.

Swamp gas or not, when discussing the politics of the presidential hopefuls for next year, to keep conversations at an interesting dialogue, I’ll talk about how Willard got the nickname “Mitt”.

You know... he was born in Michigan, his dad was Governor of Michigan and the mitten shape of the State of Michigan….


{This is not an endorsement for Mitt Romney’s presidential aspirations. This in memory of George Romney, the first Governor I was consciously aware of and the man whose vote was never mine to cast. Had I been of voting age in 1968, I would not have voted for Nixon or Humphrey. I felt Eugene McCarthy was the man for that time.}

PARCEL POST 2008 @ www.parcelpost08.blogspot.com A New Year. A New Blog.