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On Nov. 18, 1967, 49 years ago, Michigan Gov. George Romney announced his intention to run for president of the United States.
Standing at a podium, at the Veterans War Memorial on W. Jefferson Avenue in downtown Detroit, Romney said he "decided to fight for and win the Republican nomination and election to the Presidency of the United States."
On Aug. 31 of that year, before he formally announced his candidacy, he made a controversial statement In a taped interview with Lou Gordon of WKBD-TV in Detroit about his tour of Vietnam in 1965 with other governors.
"When I came back from Viet Nam , I'd just had the greatest brainwashing that anybody can get," he told Lou Gordon. He went on to say he had changed his stance on the war and remarked: "I no longer believe that it was necessary for us to get involved in South Vietnam to stop Communist aggression in Southeast Asia."
That "brainwashing" comment came to haunt him in the campaign, which had other problems as well. He dropped out of the race on Feb. 28, 1968.
And as well all know, Richard M. Nixon went on to win the race.
