Lenore Romney

Lenore LaFount Romney (; She had three sisters, one older and two younger. The family belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Her father worked as a headphone manufacturer while her mother was prominent in local charities.

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

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 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. George returned from his missionary stint and soon followed her to Washington. She found the experience inspiring. She also appeared in films that starred Jean Harlow 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. where he worked for Alcoa as a lobbyist, earning $125 a month. George would later consider his successful seven-year courtship of her to be his greatest sales achievement. Their wedding reception in the Chi Omega house at the University of Utah was attended by about four hundred guests. George often called upon her to host short-notice parties. and Lenore became a stay-at-home mother. They rented a house in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, for two years, then bought one in the Palmer Woods section of Detroit. After the birth she required a hysterectomy. In 1953, Lenore suffered another health crisis when a blood transfusion of the wrong type put her life in danger, but she recovered. In 1954, George was named president and chairman of American Motors Corporation. The couple spent summers at a cottage on the Canadian shore of Lake Huron. 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. (Mitt himself would later show a more reserved, private, and controlled nature than George's, traits he got from Lenore. She played a productive role in the 1962 campaign, making speeches before groups of Republican women

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."

She proved popular as a First Lady. She was thus useful to his political career, just as she had been to his business one. Like her husband, she did not make public appearances on Sundays. Over time an impression grew among some in the public that she was smarter than he was. 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.

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. 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."

1970 U.S. Senate campaign

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 three 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." By then, the couple had 12 grandchildren. George Romney's name was mentioned as a possible candidate. However, George came up with the idea of Lenore running, and sprung it on Lenore and the children at the end of 1969. Such sentiments were exacerbated when George did not completely rule himself out of a possible race. 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. George successfully pressured Milliken to endorse her, but gained bad publicity when The Detroit News exposed his actions.

George A. Romero directed her campaign film, Lenore.

Riegle did not continue his run, but Huber did. In the ensuing primary contest, Romney's effort emphasized her sex, saying as a campaign theme, "Never before has the voice and understanding of a concerned woman been more needed." Billboards featuring her face were everywhere, captioned only as "Lenore" and omitting any reference to political party. 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. The conservative wing of the party, which had never trusted her husband, had the same reaction to her. 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.

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. Together, Lenore and Mitt visited all 83 Michigan counties. George was in Washington most of the time and did not publicly campaign for her until the campaign's final day.

In the November 3, 1970, general election, Hart handily won a third term with 67 percent of the vote to her 33 percent.

The campaign and loss left Lenore in emotional pain. 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. and as vice chair in 1972. She was also a main force behind the Urban Service Corps, which sought to apply volunteer efforts to the problems of large cities. She worked with the National Women's Political Caucus to promote the electoral candidacies of women, )

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.

After George Romney left the administration and politics in January 1973, In 1974, she became a commentator on the WJR radio show Point of View. 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. Regarding the prospective, much-discussed Equal Rights Amendment, she said in 1979 that she supported equal opportunity and equal pay for women, but she opposed the amendment because it was about "destroying love ... I object to the 'me' emphasis [of it] and not the family."

At age 85, Lenore Romney emerged to give interviews during her son Mitt's 1994 campaign for the U.S. Senate seat from Massachusetts. 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. They had been married for 64 years, and the press noted the strength of that marriage.

Lenore's health declined during her final years. But she was still doing fairly well when, at the age of 89, she suffered a stroke at her Bloomfield Hills home. Besides her four children, she was survived by 24 grandchildren and 41 great-grandchildren. She is interred in Fairview Cemetery in Brighton, Michigan, in the same family plot 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".

Awards and honors In 1969, Lenore Romney received the Woman of the Year Award from Brigham Young University. 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. (later retitled the George and Lenore Romney Citizen Volunteer Award).

Lenore Romney was awarded six honorary degrees. and from Gwynedd–Mercy College in 1971. She received an LL.D. from Central Michigan University in 1966. and from Detroit College of Business in 1970.