Get to Know Mitt Romney
Charles Gibson's private look at the presidential hopefuls
Dec. 20, 2007— -- Driven by what he calls a "service gene," Mitt Romney's career has taken him to the Massachusetts governor's mansion, to the top of the Salt Lake City Olympic Committee and, he hopes, to the White House.
ABC's Charles Gibson spoke with Romney as part of a series called "Who Is," which features one interview a week with a presidential candidate, with the focus on their private lives.
Willard Mitt Romney was born into a wealthy family in Detroit in 1947. His childhood was one of privilege; his father was an automobile executive.
Watch the full interview tonight on "World News With Charles Gibson" at 6:30 ET
It was his father, George Romney, who inspired Mitt Romney to run for public office. The elder Romney was born to American parents in a Mormon colony in Mexico, moved back to the United States, climbed his way up the corporate ladder to head American Motors, and then became governor of Michigan.
"It was really precedent-setting, and had he not done it, it probably wouldn't have entered my mind. ... I'd thought, 'Gee, just stay in business the rest of your life.' But I saw him make a real difference. I saw the sense of wanting to improve the lives of other people, help our country. It came, I guess, as part of a heritage on my part," Romney told Gibson about his father's tenure as governor.
As a boy, Romney wanted to follow his father's footsteps into the family business. "I loved cars. I used to go with him to the headquarters of American Motors and look at the clay mockups, upcoming models, and criticize them. And he'd smile and act like he was listening to me. I loved cars and business. I never thought I'd get involved in politics."
That is, until the late 1960s.
After spending about a year at Stanford University, where the young conservative organized a demonstration to counter his classmates' anti-war protest, Romney went to France to serve his church as a missionary. The experience changed the way he saw the world.
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