Clare Boothe Luce reports that Latter-day Saint Michigan governor George Romney's endorsement of civil rights as contrary to the views of the Church.
Clare Boothe Luce, "Without Portfolio," McCall's Magazine, Volume 89, no. 9, June 1962, 24, 163, p. 63
Do you think George Romney has a chance of getting the Republican nomination for the presidency in 1964? Mr. Romney is a Mormon. It seems that the Mormon Church teaches that the Negroes have inferior souls. If this is so, a Mormon might have some difficulty in carrying the Negro vote in Michigan. But Mr. Romney's own views are known to differ in this respect from those of his church, just as President Kennedy's views on the constitutionality of aid to parochial schools differs from those of the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. If Mr. Romney wins his gubernatorial race in Michigan, his changes for the '64 G.O.P. Presidential nomination are good. Moreover, Mr. Rockefeller, Mr. Nixon, and Senator Goldwater do not seem overly eager to run against Mr. Kennedy. Possibly they think, as I do, that unless our economy suffers a bad setback, Mr. Kennedy will probably be elected for a second term.