Romney’s MLK Defense December 21, 2007
Posted by Paul Edwards in Civil Rights, Jr., Martin Luther King, Mitt Romney, Romney, Romney for President.trackback
The media has forced Romney to personally address the question of whether or not his father actually “marched with Martin Luther King” as he asserted in his “Faith in America” speech at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library, a claim which he also reiterated on Meet the Press with Tim Russert. A Detroit Free Press article says there is no evidence that George Romney, the former governor of Michigan EVER “marched with Martin Luther King.”
Frank Lockwood at the Arkansas-Democrat Gazette reports that Romney told the Boston Globe in 1978, “My father and I marched with Martin Luther King Jr. through the streets of Detroit.” It never happened according to long time Detroit civil rights activist Arthur Johnson who was with King at the Detroit March in 1963.
Romney’s defense against this misrepresentation is to parse the word “saw,” meaning he didn’t actually “see” his father march with MLK; rather he “saw him in the sense of being aware of his (George Romney’s) participation in that great effort.”
But this just digs the hole deeper. Romney chooses to make the story about what he did or didn’t actually see, as if what he claims to have seen actually did take place. The real story is that what Romney claims to have seen, which he now claims not to have actually seen with his eyes, could not have been seen because it NEVER took place.
Susan Englander, assistant editor of the Martin Luther King Jr. Papers Project at Stanford University, who is editing the King papers from that era, told the Globe yesterday: “I researched this question, and indeed it is untrue that George Romney marched with Martin Luther King.”
While meeting with reporters on Thursday Romney chalked his misrepresentation up to “a missed word” and getting the story “slightly wrong.” Sleight of hand is more like it.
Similar to ~~~ “I did not inhale”.
Anybody need a car, or some land?
You guys are all wet on this one. Nothing is harder to prove than a negative. Susan Englander’s research skills (or maybe her ethics?) are questionable at best. MLK Papers Project? Right. Here’s the proof,thanks to Mark Halperin — Romney critics read and weep — that Romney did march with King and was cheered by black civil rights leaders in Atlanta:
In Their 1967 Book, Stephen Hess And David Broder Wrote That George Romney “Marched With Martin Luther King Through The Exclusive Grosse Point Suburb Of Detroit.” “He has marched with Martin Luther King through the exclusive Grosse Pointe suburb of Detroit and he is on record in support of full-coverage Federal open-housing legislation.” (Stephen Hess And David Broder, The Republican Establishment: The Present And Future Of The G.O.P., 1967, p. 107)
In 1967, George Romney Was Praised At A National Civil Rights Rally For His Leadership. “Michigan Gov. George Romney walked into a Negro Civil Rights rally in the heart of Atlanta to the chants of ‘We Want Romney’ and to hear protests from Negroes about city schools. ‘They had invited me to come and I was interested in hearing things that would give me an insight into Atlanta,’ the Michigan Republican said. Led by Hosea Williams, a top aide to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the all-Negro rally broke into shouts and song when Romney arrived. ‘We’re tired of Lyndon Baines Johnson,’ Williams said from a pulpit in the Flipper Temple AME Church as Romney sat in a front row pew. ‘Johnson is sending black boys to Vietnam to die for a freedom that never existed,’ Williams said. Pointing to Romney, Williams brought the crowd of 200 to its feet when he said, ‘He may be the fella with a little backbone.’ Williams said Romney could be ‘the next President if he acts right.’ The potential GOP presidential nominee left the rally before it ended.” (”Romney Praised At Civil Rights Rally In Atlanta,” The Chicago Defender, 9/30/67)
He who laughs last laughs best. Read the full scoop at:
http://thepage.time.com/romney-campaign-on-george-romney-and-dr-martin-luther-king-jr/
jedijd,
Why do you insist on defending something the Romney campaign has already admitted DIDN’T happen:
USA Today: Romney campaign backpedels on MLK march claim:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2007-12-20-romney-mlk_N.htm
Detroit Free Press: George Romney was at march, King wasn’t:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071220/NEWS06/71220047/1008
And what about eyewitness accounts? Arthur Johnson, a longtime Detroit civil rights actvist who was present at the Grosse Pointe, MI march says George Romney wasn’t present.
Hess and Broder have admitted they cannot recall their source for stating in their book that George Romney marched with King. They admit that it probably never happened.
I am laughing best right now.
Paul -
How carefully did you read those two articles? Neither of them supports your assertions. The first article, in USA Today, ends with
a. (Romney spokesman) Fehrnstrom calling “the Romney brothers’ recollection and the historical materials a ‘pretty convincing case that George Romney did march with Dr. Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders in Michigan,’” and
b. the news that “Mitt Romney’s campaign planned . . . to further research George Romney’s papers for evidence of his march with King.”
Where’s the admission that G Romney didn’t march with MLK? It doesn’t exist.
As to the second article, in the Free Press, the headline (”George Romney was at march, King wasn’t, activist says”) is basically a lie if we are to believe a key quote in the body of the article which you apparently overlooked:
“There may have been a meeting” between George Romney and King,” [Johnson] said. “I don’t recall it. But I’m not prepared to say that (Mitt Romney) made a false claim.”
You also failed to mention to your readers that Johnson was very complimentary of George Romney, regardless of his inability to recall for sure whether he saw George marching with MLK.
As to Hess and Broder, you’ve provided no evidence that either author admits “it probably never happened.” Hess’s mere inability — decades after the fact — to recall his source is pretty flimsy justification for calling Romney’s recollection into question. Who’s more likely to remember whether Romney’s father marched with King — Hess or Romney himself?
Paul, I want to take you seriously, but for that to happen, you really need to be more careful with your facts. I’m not laughing. I wish you and all of our countrymen well. I’m hoping to find in you and your readers a sense of honor and candor as you think and talk about politics and religion, especially my religion and yours.
I should say here that I am not endorsing Romney, yet. But I sure as heck-fire won’t stand by while others dishonestly use him as a voodoo doll to badmouth the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We’re good people. We’ve done enormous good in the world. We deserve more respect and kindness than you have demonstrated here.
Best wishes and Happy New Year!
jedijd,
Your alligience to your Church has fueled you with an inability to see anything at all negative about Mitt Romney. Why do you believe it is the CHurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints that is being “badmouthed” simply because some are rightly pointing out that Mitt Romney doesn’t have his facts straight on his father’s relationship to MLK? I swear this is the strategy with you people: if anyone questions anything about what Mitt Romney says or does, accuse them of being bigotted against your Church. That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.
I was born and raised in Michigan. I was here when George Romney was our governor. I recall his active support for the civil rights movement. I am not calling that into question.
Mitt also claimed that HE marched with Martin Luther King in Detroit. Impossible because he was a Mormon Missionary in France at the time. But you will accuse me of badmouthing your Church because I pointed out that Mitt couldn’t have marched with MLK because he was a Mormon Missionary. You people are beyond reasoning with.
Paul -
I have no problem with you or anyone else pointing out inconsistencies in Mitt’s rhetoric where those inconsistencies really exist. I think you are fundamentally a good person and want to do the right thing. However, your repeated use of the term “you people” (a phrase also often applied to blacks as a group) suggests that you carry in your mind a stereotype of the Latter-Day Saints that obscures the real complexity of the LDS political and intellectual landscape.
The pattern that I have observed on your blog is that, often, criticisms of Mitt are accompanied by snide jabs at Mormons generally or at LDS doctrines only half understood by those doing the jabbing. Mitt is not a surrogate for the Church. You can be sure many Church members will decide to vote for someone other than Mitt — some will find him too far right, others too far left. The Church is far more politically diverse than most outsiders realize. Hence, it is both unfair and rhetorically unwise to conflate Mitt and the Church.
Until this point in this thread (as far as I can tell) you’ve said nothing about Mitt’s marching with MLK when he was in France as a missionary. Maybe in another thread somewhere you’ve said something about France. Your focus (again, as far as I can tell) has been Mitt’s claim that his father marched with MLK. Contrary to what you and others have written on your blog, the available evidence strongly supports Mitt’s claim that his father did so. If Mitt claimed that Mitt actually marched with MLK when Mitt was in France, that would be a different matter entitled to separate analysis.
What is missing from too many newspapers and blogs is a careful, detailed analysis of the facts. I’m happy to hear and respond to fact-based commentary on Mitt or anyone else. I don’t think this is too much to ask from others who, like me, claim to be followers of Jesus Christ.
Kind regards,
OK, I take it back. My apologies for not reading your post with sufficient care.
You wrote:
“Frank Lockwood at the Arkansas-Democrat Gazette reports that Romney told the Boston Globe in 1978, “My father and I marched with Martin Luther King Jr. through the streets of Detroit.” It never happened according to long time Detroit civil rights activist Arthur Johnson who was with King at the Detroit March in 1963.”
I guess, in this context, I would want to know what Frank Lockwood bases his story on. How sure are you, knowing what we all know about the unreliability of the press (especially the Arkansas press) that Lockwood has it right or that the Boston Globe quoted Romney correctly.
Romney wasn’t in France in 1963, according to Wikepedia. Here’s the detail:
Mitt Romney graduated from the Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 1965. After attending Stanford University for two quarters, Romney served in France for 30 months as a missionary for LDS Church.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitt_Romney#Early_life_and_education
Apparently, in ‘63, Mitt would still be in high school. What led you to believe that Mitt couldn’t have marched with King in ‘63 because he was in France at the time?
From KUTV2, the CBS affiliate in Utah:
“However, the historical society said King did visit (as opposed to an actual march) Grosse Pointe in March 1968 but that did not happen until after Broder’s book was published. Furthermore, Romney was not even there when King spoke at Grosse Pointe High School.
The newspaper also disputes the claim that Romney actually “saw” his father march with Dr. King, since he would have been overseas in France serving an LDS mission between 1966 and 1968.”
Read the full story here:
http://www.kutv.com/content/news/topnews/story.aspx?content_id=82030298-42d5-4ba9-9adc-6a1a4c53b79a
Paul —
I’m trying to imagine what weight an objective jury would give to the different witnesses and pieces of evidence that you’ve pointed to in support of the theory that Mitt “doesn’t have his facts straight on his father’s relationship to MLK” (your phrase, above). I just checked the Gross Pointe Historical Society’s (used as an authority by the KUTV piece). It looks like a nice organization, but I’m not convinced that they would know one way or the other. I don’t think they’d carry much weight in the courtroom.
Overall, I think the most relevant and powerful comments in the materials that you’ve presented are these from the Free Press article:
“Hess and Johnson both said they don’t think the question [whether Mitt did or didn't see with the event with his actual eyes] has any real salience to either George Romney’s legacy or Mitt Romney’s candidacy.
“George Romney was “clear, unequivocal on civil rights. He was a real leader,” Johnson said.
“There may have been a meeting” between George Romney and King,” he said. “I don’t recall it. But I’m not prepared to say that (Mitt Romney) made a false claim.”
“Free Press archives showed there were two civil rights marches in the same week in late June 1963. . . [In the second], Romney walked at the head of a march in Grosse Pointe with civil rights leaders raising concerns about housing bias in the Grosse Pointes.”
I think it’s fair to say, figuratively speaking, that if G or M Romney walked in any civil rights march with any civil rights leaders between 1963 and 1968, he “walked with MLK.” Heck, I know plenty of people here in Atlanta who use this kind of figurative language today to show their solidarity with Dr. King even though he’s been dead 40 years — “We walk today with Dr. King!” You know what I’m talking about, I think.
I just think y’all should spend your anti-Romney time on easier, higher-yield targets than the MLK connection. Mitt’s Dad was, arguably, a civil rights hero and Mitt can legitimately claim some of that mojo. Fundamentally, that’s all that Mitt was trying to say to begin with.
However, since you mentioned some sources, I understand that Harper’s Magazine reported, in 1967, that G Romney marched with MLK. You can read about this article and some other pretty convincing eye witness who say emphatically “yes, he did,” at this website:
http://blog.electromneyin2008.com/category/martin-luther-king-jr/
Best & Happy New Year!
Kurt
http://iperceive.net/