Mr. George W. Romney - Former President of American Motors Corporation

Mr. George W. Romney was born in Chihuahua, Mexico on July 8, 1907. In 1920s, he attended Latter Day Saint University and in 1929 George Washington University. In July 1931, he married Lenore La Fount and had four children named Mitt, Lynn, Jane, Scout Romney. His son, Mitt Romney, is currently running for as president of the United States for 2012.




As a youngster, George Romney moved with his family throughout the southwest and went to England as a young Mormon missionary. In 1939, he became a local manager for the Automobile Manufacturers Association in Detroit. In 1948, Romney joined Nash-Kelvinator Corporation as assistant to the President and soon became Executive Vice President in 1953. Romney served as President to American Motors from1956-1958. He took the corporation from a money-losing operation into prosperity. He also was a strong advocate for smaller compact cars.


As President in the 1950's for American Motors, Romney fought very hard for public acceptance of smaller vehicles for the buying public. In 1958, many industries laid off workers within the auto industry with a quarter of a million workers becoming unemployed. However, the American Motors plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin hired numerous people to keep up with demand for smaller models. In 1958, American Motors was the only car company that was in the black and when Romney was testifying before a senate sub-committee, he poked fun at big car makers by asking, "Who wants a dinosaur in his garage?"


On April 20, 1958, American Motors had a total sale of 71,264 units, an increase of 70 percent over the same period in 1957. In 1962, Romney became governor and served many years in office. He defeated incumbent Governor John Swainson, ending a 14 year Democratic hold on Michigan's governor’s office and ushering in a 20 year stretch of GOP governors. Romney gave up the governor's office in 1969 to take the HUD job in Nixon's cabinet, but later quit during 1972 to return to private sector. In his later years, Romney continued to be active in Republican politics, endorsing candidates and meeting with the party's nominees between primary and general elections. Although George W. Romney, the man who helped saved American Motors, passed away on July 26, 1995, his contributions will be remembered forever.


A special thanks to Robert Tate, Automotive Historian and Researcher, for donating his story to the MotorCities Story of the Week program. Photographs courtesy of the National Automotive History Collection. Please do not use any photographs without the permission of MotorCities/Robert Tate.

For further information contact Robert Tate at btate@motorcities.org
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