Marcophiles: Mitt Romney – What would mom and Ronald Reagan do?

We found some old audio cassettes in a closet the other day that turn out to be especially appropriate to hear now, as Republicans are about to gather in Tampa for their nominating convention.

On the tape, part of my (Don's) coverage for ABC News of a Young Republicans Convention in Omaha in 1967, were speeches by Lenore Romney, the mother of current GOP candidate Mitt Romney, and by then California Governor Ronald Reagan.

I think the candidate, who speaks to the nation Thursday night, might benefit by hearing some of what his mom had to say 45 years ago, when he was just 20 years old, about America's place in the world. She said: "I believe that unless we can make a concrete example of our principles here at home we're not going to have any prestige abroad. We're not going to have people considering our way of life if we equate ourselves with the Communists and their philosophy.

"The one thing we must stress more is that we're not only concerned about the core of a city, but the core of the individual, that we not only concerned about eliminating physical poverty but we're concerned also about poverty of mind and heart and spirit, poverty of integrity, of morals, of commitment, poverty of truth.

"These are the things that must come through with the Republican Party, that we are concerned about the whole human and the image he is making, not only to himself and his family, but to our country and to the people of the world."

The applause for Mrs. Romney was loud and long.

Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon and George Romney also addressed the Young Republicans on that day, June 23, 1967.

Gov. Reagan used his remarks to quote from Daniel Webster. Said Reagan: "I've been protesting the growth of government for years, expressing a concern that government would become so complex as to become unmanageable and grow beyond the control of the people.

"Daniel Webster pointed out that government always justifies its usurpation of power with a plea of good intentions. The intention always is to better serve the people's welfare, but Webster warned that, in every generation there are those who want to rule well, but they mean to rule.

"They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters. Government tends to grow because there's always so much to be done for the people.

"It's always so easy for a dedicated public servant to see how much he could accomplish if only he had a little more authority and a little more money to back that authority."

As it was for Mrs. Romney's remarks, the applause for Gov. Reagan was thunderous.

So was the laughter, well it seemed that way to me, when reporters covering the event had a chance to ask questions of the Republican bigwigs.

I asked Gov. Reagan, "You have consistently said you are not a candidate. So, to what do you ascribe the great support there's been shown for you, here at this Young Republican convention and in other parts of the country?"

I suppose that at the time I thought that was a semi-interesting matter to bring up. At least I expected that Gov. Reagan's answer would be longer than my question. I was wrong. Gov. Reagan wrinkled his brow, smiled a little and said, deadpan, "The Late Late Show Maybe?"

Chris Curle is a former news anchor for CNN and for ABC-TV stations in Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Houston. E-mail chris@chriscurle.com. Don is a former ABC News correspondent and bureau chief and a former news anchor for CNN and ABC-TV, in Atlanta. His Farmer File column appears Fridays in the Naples Daily News. E-mail: don@donfarmer.com.