In 1966, preppy son-of-a-governor Mitt Romney spent his free time picketing at pro-war rallies at Stanford University. Despite his support of interventionist foreign wars and forced service to the state, he did not volunteer for the cause, nor answer the call when drafted.
He was used college as means to defer the draft, and dropped out after 2 semesters. He then went to France to become a Mormon Missionary, where he lived in a "palace" for 3 years and again was able to defer the draft. After his Tour de Ferment, he came back to the States and again used college to defer the draft for the remainder of the war.
Mitt Romney went on to become a socialist 1-term governor, and then ran for president on a platform of more interventionist war and stripping Americans of their rights of due process.
I think the draft is among the most reviled things a government can do to its citizens. If you are going to be out campaigning for foreign wars while others die, and spend a career promoting more wars, your ass better not let a little thing like algebra class prevent you from going off to the jungle to fight the Vietcong. Mitt Romney, hypocrite statist.
"Draft me if you can!!"
He was used college as means to defer the draft, and dropped out after 2 semesters. He then went to France to become a Mormon Missionary, where he lived in a "palace" for 3 years and again was able to defer the draft. After his Tour de Ferment, he came back to the States and again used college to defer the draft for the remainder of the war.
Mitt Romney went on to become a socialist 1-term governor, and then ran for president on a platform of more interventionist war and stripping Americans of their rights of due process.
I think the draft is among the most reviled things a government can do to its citizens. If you are going to be out campaigning for foreign wars while others die, and spend a career promoting more wars, your ass better not let a little thing like algebra class prevent you from going off to the jungle to fight the Vietcong. Mitt Romney, hypocrite statist.
Mitt Romney, 19, demonstrated in favour of Vietnam War draft
Mr Romney will no doubt be proud of his younger self taking what was at the time a very unpopular stance.However, he might grimace at his clean-cut appearance and preppy wardrobe.
Taken at the height of the swinging Sixties, Mr Romney holds a sign declaring 'Speak Out, Don't Sit In' as, alongside like-minded individuals, he proclaims his support for Lyndon Johnson's ever-expanding draft.
Exclusive: Mitt Romney, Student Protester
Romney's moment at a '60s protest was reported in some newspapers the next day with a mention that the son of Michigan Governor George Romney -- who would later turn against the Vietnam War -- had been spotted at the event. The photo was also mentioned by the Boston Globe in 2008, with a partial image of the event clipped from a newspaper front page. The paper wrote in its definitive series on the former governor that, "Among the long hair and ragged clothes of his classmates, Romney stood out both for his smart appearance and his ardent support of the war."
Romney's draft deferments
Before joining college, Romney had received a deferment from the draft as a Mormon 'minister of religion' for the duration of his missionary work in France, which lasted two and a half years. At the time, there was an agreement of sorts between the church and the Selective Service allowing exemptions from the draft for missionaries. Before and after his missionary deferment, Romney also received nearly three years of deferments for his academic studies.
"Draft me if you can!!"
Strange But True: Mitt Romney Spent The Vietnam War In A French Palace
Like many hawkish politicians of his generation, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney managed to avoid serving in the Vietnam War through family connections. The young Romney could not use a student deferment from the draft -- having dropped out of Stanford University after only two semesters -- but avoided service anyway with the assistance of the Mormon elders.
The son of George Romney, then Michigan's governor, he was one of a limited number of Mormon youth chosen as missionaries -- a status that protected him from the draft between July 1966 and February 1969 as a "minister of religion or divinity student." Essentially, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints re-routed Romney from Vietnam to the south of France, where he served as missionary.
According to Romney, proselytizing in la belle France was no picnic. Romney recently rebutted suggestions that his immense wealth has left him out of touch with ordinary Americans by claiming he learned how the other 99 percent live through his service in France. According to Romney, his French quarters had no working bathroom -- "we had instead the little pads on the ground," and "there was a chain behind you with a bucket," Romney says -- and to shower, Romney claims that "if we were lucky, we actually bought a hose and we stuck it on the sink...and wash ourselves that way."
But Romney's gritty recollections contradict those of his fellow American missionaries, who told The Daily Telegraph that Romney lived in a "palace." Richard Anderson, the son of the mission president during Romney's stay, described it as "a house built by and for rich people," complete with stained glass windows (which scandalized the Mormon missionaries due to their depiction of a bare-breasted woman), chandeliers, massive bedrooms, a full-time chef, a houseboy, and yes -- a working bathroom.