Born in Detroit in 1947, Romney was the beloved youngest child and family “caboose,” spending more time with his father than his much-older siblings. He spent time with George at the offices of American Motors, where his father served as CEO, and had a front-row seat to the elder Romney’s political ascent. Despite his parents’ frugal tendency, Mitt was a child of wealth and privilege, carrying himself with “rich-kid carelessness,” Coppins writes; despite being arrested three times as a teenager, he never garnered a criminal record, “in part because he was white and wealthy and the son of a governor.”
But two life-changing events grounded the impish troublemaker in his young adulthood: beginning a relationship with his future wife, Ann, and his 30-month Mormon mission in Le Havre, France. As a missionary, Romney experienced hardship for the first time, residing in a series of shabby apartments and facing rejection from dismissive townspeople. He found meaning in these difficulties but was soon confronted with a significant trauma: He was driving several mission leaders when another car crashed into his, injuring Romney and killing the wife of France’s Mormon mission president. “Romney had become violently acquainted with the fact of his own mortality,” Coppins writes, a preoccupation with death that would follow him for the rest of his life. This newfound sense of existential hurry stoked his ambition as he completed his college education at Brigham Young University, attended Harvard Business School, and began a career as a management consultant, which led to a lucrative career at Bain Capital.
Romney’s deep commitment to his faith did not undermine his talent for rationalization. During his time at Bain Capital, he discovered “a remarkable ability to justify his choices to himself,” Coppins writes. He could rationalize the layoffs that came when Bain-owned companies shut down factories, leaving hundreds of workers adrift and the local economies in free fall. Although his conscience was “well developed and frankly rather pushy,” Coppins writes, Romney “found it could sometimes be appeased with sufficient effort.” It was a habit that Romney would hone during his time in politics.