Both men served two-year Mormon missions in Europe before marrying their high school sweethearts. Both found success and wealth in business before stepping into civic leadership roles, then politics. Both became governors at age 55. And, 40 years apart, both launched presidential campaigns at age 60, with the nation embroiled in increasingly unpopular wars.
But that's where past and present diverge.
Mitt Romney is an unwavering backer of the war in Iraq. But his father's then-high-flying presidential bid ended after he wryly told a Detroit television interviewer in August 1967 that his transformation from Vietnam hawk to dove came once he realized he had endured "brainwashing" by U.S. military leaders and diplomats.
It was a throwaway line within a broader comment about lack of truthfulness about the war, but within days Romney, then the Republican front-runner, became a national punch line. His political support disappeared and he dropped out before the New Hampshire primary -- all of it playing out while Mitt was in France serving his mission.
"I sense in him a father-son competition thing going on, sort of like old George Bush and young George Bush," said Maxwell, the boyhood friend. "Mitt's not going to make the same mistake George [Romney] did about Vietnam. . . . What he gets from George is this incredible sense of discipline, and the work ethic."
And he learned an indelible lesson: Beware the unguarded word. Though the son doesn't tie his own campaign demeanor directly to his father's political fate, Mitt Romney has adopted the cautious candidate's habit of controlled speech and actions. Still, the son has not been immune to his own occasional gaffes, though none has risen to the "brainwashing" level.
"Mitt Romney is much more flexible, and a much more careful guy, with much better instincts than his father had," said William Johnson, 77, who ran George Romney's campaign in New Hampshire and who, as a state judge, has watched the son's political evolution in neighboring Massachusetts. "Mitt is a much more astute politician."
And less volatile.
"He was more confrontational than I am," Romney said, recounting the time his father, in the heat of an argument, ripped the lapel of a Michigan legislator's suit. "I've had some heated exchanges with legislators from time to time, but I don't recall ever literally grabbing their clothing and ripping it. He was just that much more intense in confronting other folks."
