Q&A on the News

Q: George Romney, Mitt Romney’s father, made a run for president in 1968. Donald Trump and others have spent money and time attempting to prove that President Barack Obama wasn’t born in the U.S. Was there any concern about George Romney’s birthplace of Mexico when he attempted his run?

—Ralph Newcom, Atlanta

A: There were initial issues with George Romney's eligibility to be president, starting in February 1967, more than one year before the first Republican primary, according to published reports. Several newspapers and U.S. Rep. Emanuel Celler (D-N.Y.) began doubting Romney's eligibility because he was born in Mexico in 1907. Attorneys argued that since both of George Romney's parents were U.S. citizens, he was a natural born citizen. "I am a natural born citizen. My parents were American citizens. I was a citizen at birth," Romney wrote in his archives, reported by Reuters in May. The Congressional Research Service wrote in November 1967 that the "practical, legal meaning of 'natural born citizen' would 'most likely include' not only anyone born on U.S. soil but anyone born overseas of at least one parent who was a U.S. citizen," Reuters wrote. Faced with declining numbers, Romney pulled out of the race on Feb. 28, 1968, two weeks before the New Hampshire primary. Richard Nixon won the Republican nomination and defeated Democrat Hubert Humphrey and American Independent candidate George Wallace for president in 1968. Nixon appointed Romney as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, a position in which he served until resigning in Nov. 1972.