Get to Know Mitt Romney

Dec. 20, 2007— -- Driven by what he calls a "service gene," Mitt Romney's career has taken him to the Massachusetts governor's mansion, to the top of the Salt Lake City Olympic Committee and, he hopes, to the White House.

ABC's Charles Gibson spoke with Romney as part of a series called "Who Is," which features one interview a week with a presidential candidate, with the focus on their private lives.

Early Life

Willard Mitt Romney was born into a wealthy family in Detroit in 1947. His childhood was one of privilege; his father was an automobile executive.

Watch the full interview tonight on "World News With Charles Gibson" at 6:30 ET

It was his father, George Romney, who inspired Mitt Romney to run for public office. The elder Romney was born to American parents in a Mormon colony in Mexico, moved back to the United States, climbed his way up the corporate ladder to head American Motors, and then became governor of Michigan.

"It was really precedent-setting, and had he not done it, it probably wouldn't have entered my mind. ... I'd thought, 'Gee, just stay in business the rest of your life.' But I saw him make a real difference. I saw the sense of wanting to improve the lives of other people, help our country. It came, I guess, as part of a heritage on my part," Romney told Gibson about his father's tenure as governor.

As a boy, Romney wanted to follow his father's footsteps into the family business. "I loved cars. I used to go with him to the headquarters of American Motors and look at the clay mockups, upcoming models, and criticize them. And he'd smile and act like he was listening to me. I loved cars and business. I never thought I'd get involved in politics."

That is, until the late 1960s.

After spending about a year at Stanford University, where the young conservative organized a demonstration to counter his classmates' anti-war protest, Romney went to France to serve his church as a missionary. The experience changed the way he saw the world.

"We lived on $100 a month, and that included housing and transportation and everything we did, food, clothing. And I learned for instance, that not everybody has a toilet in their bathroom. We had apartments that had, if you will, the inevitable hole in the floor, which was shared with other apartments down the hall.

"I thought gosh, this is a different way to live. I learned that Americans and particularly an American who grew up as the son of an industrialist was living a very different life," Romney said.

"I think you see other people, you watch TV. You go into different parts of the city and understand that people don't live like you do. But it's one thing to see it on TV, it's another thing to actually live in a place for an extended period of time where you don't have the same means you were used to."

It was not just the living situation that shaped Romney into who he is; a bad car accident changed the way he looked at life.

"The automobile accident had taught me very quickly that I'm not invulnerable, that in fact life is fragile, that there are things I want to do in life and at any time, they could be taken away."

He lost a friend in the accident. When he returned to the United States, it was with a realization that life is fragile.

His Father's Footsteps

Romney's life follows an incredibly similar track to that of his father. When Mitt Romney was 15 years old, his father ran for governor of Michigan and won. His 1968 bid for the presidency was more ill-fated. Still, the younger Romney learned from his father's forays into politics.

"I worked in his campaigns, actually all three of his gubernatorial campaigns I worked in. But when he ran for president, I was off serving my church and so my presidential campaign experience came from letters. And he would write lengthy, single-spaced, typed letters that he would send to me about what was going on, what he was thinking."

Personal Life

Before leaving for Stanford, Romney met his future wife, Anne Davies. She was just 15 years old and a sophomore in high school. He was two years older.

"I was intoxicated when I saw her, if you will. We don't drink but just looking at her was enough to knock me on my heels. But that had happened before. There were a lot of beautiful young women in her class at high school that I was just bowled over when I saw them. And yet with Ann it went on, it didn't stop. And I'm intoxicated with her to this day."

It was love at first sight. Even at that young age, the couple knew they wanted to be together.

"I think it was at the junior prom," Romney recalled. "I said gosh, we're both in love with each other. I guess we ought to get married. Do you want to marry me? And she said 'Yeah, let's get married.' It was just a given that we'd be married. Of course, what did we know at that point? But it sure felt like we knew a lot. It was not a formal proposal. That came later. But we were talking about marriage at the junior prom."

In 1998, Anne was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. "That's probably the most challenging time in Ann's and my life," Romney said of hearing about the diagnosis. "I love Ann more than any other person, any other thing in my life. And when she's suffering, we're both suffering."

But he tries to put it in an optimistic light.

"Almost everyone carries a bag of rocks behind them, you just don't see it. They've got their problems, they've got their worries, they've got their reversals in their life and it weighs them down, and they learn to live with it. They get stronger and they deal with those things. But I don't believe that the Creator has stepped in to try to take the bag of rocks off of everyone's back. I think it's instead, he helps make us stronger."