--- title: Mitt Romney: Photos From His Early Years description: Photos offering a glimpse into what it was sometimes like — when reporters and photographers were around, at least — "growing up Romney." canonical: https://time.com/3672067/growing-up-romney-mitts-early-world/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2012-10-05T17:28:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:06:10.183Z og:title: Mitt Romney: Photos From His Early Years og:description: Photos offering a glimpse into what it was sometimes like — when reporters and photographers were around, at least — "growing up Romney." og:url: https://time.com/3672067/growing-up-romney-mitts-early-world/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3a168cdf80f21a0/69877a71cd1bba7e776f4b29/150116-mitt-romney-10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: Mitt Romney and family, 1962 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mitt Romney: Photos From His Early Years twitter:description: Photos offering a glimpse into what it was sometimes like — when reporters and photographers were around, at least — "growing up Romney." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3a168cdf80f21a0/69877a71cd1bba7e776f4b29/150116-mitt-romney-10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Growing Up Romney: Mitt's Early World > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Oct 5, 2012 5:28 PM UTC  Caption from LIFE. After Sunday services the Romneys crowd onto a sofa in living room. Son Mitt and married daughters Jane and Lynn are at the rear. From left, grandchildren are Gregory (held by Lenore), Douglas, Susan, Brett and Jody. Another son, Scott, is in England with a mission group. Caption from LIFE. After Sunday services the Romneys crowd onto a sofa in living room. Son Mitt and married daughters Jane and Lynn are at the rear. From left, grandchildren are Gregory (held by Lenore), Douglas, Susan, Brett and Jody. Another son, Scott, is in England with a mission group. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Oct 5, 2012 5:28 PM UTC The childhood narratives that inform the public’s perception of so many political figures —Abe Lincoln’s log cabin; [George Washington’s cherry tree](http://www.howstuffworks.com/george-washington-and-the-cherry-tree-story.htm); JFK’s privileged youth—often assume the shape of myth, with the occasional, grudging nod to hard facts. But then, there’s no reason at all why a candidate’s younger days should _not_ be of interest to pundits and to the electorate. As Wordsworth long ago observed: “The child is father of the man.” Even if we wanted to escape our earlier selves, we can’t; consciously or unconsciously, for better or worse, our earliest days inform our later years. In other words: Wherever we go, it’s often where we come from that really matters. In the 1950s and ’60s, LIFE magazine spent a lot of time with the parents and the kids—and, occasionally, the grandkids—of a well-known American family, the Romneys of Michigan. [George W. Romney](http://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/27/obituaries/george-romney-dies-at-88-a-leading-gop-figure.html) (1907 – 1995), was for eight years the president of American Motors Corporation and, from 1963 to 1969, served as the Republican governor of Michigan. In the early ’60s he feuded, both privately and publicly, with GOP right-wingers like Barry Goldwater, whose deeply conservative views on pressing issues like the civil rights movement struck the moderate Romney as out of step with the times, and counter to what he saw as the party’s traditions. [\[See all of TIME.com’s Mitt Romney coverage here\]](http://topics.time.com/mitt-romney/) George Romney’s second son, [Willard Mitt Romney](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitt%5FRomney), has followed the same path taken by the children of countless eminent families in the United States. Kennedy, Bush, Cuomo, Daley, Roosevelt—the list of family names associated with the presidency, Congress, governorships and mayoral seats around the country is long, with hardly anyone ever blinking an eye when a young man or woman decides to follow a family tradition and step into the political ring. That Mitt Romney did just that is no surprise; that he has met with such success in that arena—especially in light of his Mormon faith, which for many Americans remains something of a mystery—says as much about Romney’s ambition and his confidence as it does about his upbringing. Finally, that he has [emerged as a player in the 2014 mid-term elections](http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2014/0531/Why-Mitt-Romney-is-back-campaigning-in-Iowa), campaigning for GOP candidates, says a good deal about his desire to continue wielding whatever power or influence he might still have within the party. The photographs in this gallery, meanwhile—most of which never ran in LIFE magazine—are hardly meant to convey the essence of the Romney family as a whole. (Many of the pictures focus not on Mitt, but on his father, mother and other family members.) After all, the man’s own statements and actions as a public figure over the past two decades provide more than enough informational grist, while a few dozen pictures can never come close to distilling the full character of a large, complex, accomplished family. Ultimately, these pictures offer one, small window through which to view the world in which Mitt Romney was raised. His father (“lean, hard George Romney,” as LIFE put characterized the AMC chairman in 1958) is here, as are his mom and his siblings. Some of the pictures feel rather stagey; others seem genuinely informal and, as it were, intimate; all of them suggest a close-knit family defined, in large part, by its faith and by the pursuits of its dynamic patriarch. Taken as a whole, they comprise not an exhaustive portrait, but a glimpse into what it was sometimes like—at least when reporters and photographers were around—growing up Romney. ![With 'Mitt,' 10, youngest of Romney children, \[George Romney\] inspects house at Bloomfield Hills which he and his wife designed.](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1f077da60f0b2f0/69877a6e0b72e3c5e16dd2ec/150116-mitt-romney-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp) Caption from LIFE. With 'Mitt,' 10, youngest of Romney children, \[George Romney\] inspects house at Bloomfield Hills which he and his wife designed. Grey Villet—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  George Romney with his son, Mitt, 1958. Grey Villet—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  George Romney with his son, Mitt, playing with electric trains, 1958. Grey Villet—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  George Romney with his son, Mitt, on a frosty golf course, 1958. Grey Villet—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  George Romney with his son, Mitt, on a frosty golf course, 1958. Grey Villet—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. From airport to Milwaukee \[auto\] body plant Romney takes catnap in Rambler station wagon built-in bed, with briefcase as pillow. Grey Villet—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Romney family: Mitt, wife Lenore, son Scott, 16, and daughter Jane, 19, at piano, join together in a hymn. 'The biggest sale I ever made,' Romney said, 'was convincing Lenore to marry me. During our courtship she was offered $50,000 by Paramount to sign a five-year movie contract." Grey Villet—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. On desk George Romney keeps prehistoric animals to remind him of favorite 'big-car' analogy. 'Some dinosaurs had a 70-foot wheelbase and huge fuel consumption. The principal factor in their extinction was the fact that they got so big they were unable to live.' Grey Villet—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  George and Lenore Romney, 1962 Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. After Sunday services the Romneys crowd onto a sofa in living room. Son Mitt and married daughters Jane and Lynn are at the rear. From left, grandchildren are Gregory (held by Lenore), Douglas, Susan, Brett and Jody. Another son, Scott, is in England with a mission group. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  George Romney and grandchildren, 1962 Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  George Romney and grandchildren, 1962 Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. A Detroit Mormon leader of the church in Michigan area, Romney sits behind the pulpit with fellow dignitaries in church in Bloomfield Hills at Sunday services at which he officiates. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  George Romney officiates during a Mormon service, Michigan, 1962. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. At end of a long day on the new state constitution -- and after a quick change to pajamas -- Romney falls asleep on fold-back seat of his car as the chauffeur begins the trip back to Bloomfield Hills. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Michigan governor George Romney on the golf course, 1963. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Michigan governor George Romney and wife Lenore (right), November 1963. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Lenore Romney, wife of Michigan governor George Romney, East Lansing, Mich., 1963. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Michigan governor George Romney (center) and family, November 1963\. Mitt Romney is seated, on the left. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Michigan governor George Romney (left) and family, November 1963. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Michigan governor George Romney at home, 1963. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Mitt Romney places a birthday cake before his mother, Lenore, in November 1963. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Michigan governor George Romney (seated on couch at right) with family, November 1963\. Mitt Romney is seated at left. 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