Another topic Romney rarely addresses is the automobile accident that occurred during his French mission — in which he was at the wheel. Romney was driving in southern France in when a drunken priest crashed into his car, injuring the young Romney and killing passenger Leola Anderson, the wife of the US Mormon mission leader in France. That leader soon left the country and Romney was named co-president of the mission — only to find himself faced with a gravely demoralised group of Mormon volunteers.
He displayed tremendous leadership. Adding to the sense of tumult that summer was the social revolution that had started sweeping through France in May As students set cars on fire, occupied buildings, and clashed with police, and strikes brought services to a halt, Romney had a front-row seat to French history in the making. He was not cheering it on. Seeing all that unfold in France steered him away from the Socialist-Democratic style of government.
Bacharan, who is French-American herself, was only a child when her parents had Romney over to their home in France several times. But the American missionary made a vivid impression — and one that differs dramatically from his present-day image as a rather stiff, stuffy politician.
Bacharan says she has been disappointed by what she has seen since. He made an immense fortune in the business world. He is more responsible than anyone for the financial success of the winter games.
And he was elected Republican governor of traditionally liberal Massachusetts in Despite all that, there is suspicion that is reminiscent of when Catholic John F. Kennedy was constantly asked if directives from the Vatican would influence his policies. How would revelations or directives from the President of the Mormon Church who is considered a living prophet affect Romney if he became president of the United States? Romney has said religion will not interfere with his presidency.
But many voters aren't so sure. Of those voters, many have reasonable questions for Romney. Others are just downright prejudiced. During a campaign stop with a news camera present, Romney went up to a man and asked, "How are you? In a rare interview with Elder Russell Ballard, an Apostle of the church and one its 15 top leaders, Ballard said that faithful Mormons are obliged to follow the tenets of any revelation.
But major revelations are "infrequent today because the foundation of the Church is solidly in place. When asked if he thinks its proper for a politician to spread the word of the Church the same way they did while on their missions, Ballard replied, "No. I think that would be terribly misunderstood. While campaigning in Michigan last week, Romney said that he doesn't "think Americans care about the particular brand of faith, so much as whether we share values.
And, in fact, polls show that is true for most voters. Romney was that person. Elder Howard W. McBride said the book was about developing success and teamwork. Riots in France at the time also made missionary work hard. Instead of lowering the goals even more, Romney decided to do just the opposite. In an attempt to encourage the other missionaries, Romney helped organize a missionary-wide talent show around Christmastime at zone conference.
McBride said this was a very memorable event that involved many of the missionaries. McBride, Romney and a few other missionaries got together and sang 15 made-up songs, mostly relating to jokes within the mission. They were the only missionaries in that city. We made up a song about that to the tune of We Three Kings, and everyone had a good laugh.
When I was visiting with Mitt before the South Carolina primary, I asked him if he remembered those songs, and he broke into that particular song. We got everybody laughing that night. It showed that Mitt would do what it took to raise the morale.
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