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Childhood
Despite the ongoing debate between the primacy of nature and nurture, there is no denying the obvious effect of our childhood to our mental, emotional and physical development. Whether it was a good or a bad one, it will inevitably shape us into the kind of adult we eventually grow to be.
It is no different for the candidates. And like everything else, in order to understand something completely, we have to go back to the very beginning. So, put your Kevin Arnold helmets on and let’s travel back in time to look at their wonder years.
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Declared 2012 Republican Presidential Candidate
Former Speaker of the House
Newt Gingrich
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Gingrich Childhood
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Gingrich was born in Harrisburg, Dauphin County, in Pennsylvania on June 17, 1943. His mother, 16-year old Kathleen Daugherty and his father, 19-year old mechanic, Newton Searles McPherson, divorced three days after the arrival of baby Newt.
Daugherty remarried the following year to Robert Bruce Gingrich, a soon- to- be highly decorated Lieutenant-Colonel with the U.S Army, who officially adopted Newt and changed his last name to Gingrich after McPherson relinquished his custodial rights to the toddler.
The new family moved to nearby Hummelstown. Lt. Gingrich, a veteran of both the Korean and Vietnam War, moved several times over the next few years, including to the American army base in Stuttgart, Germany and Orleans, France.
The family returned to the United States in 1960 and stayed at the Fort Benning army post in Georgia. Newt enrolled in the Baker High School and graduated in 1961 before enrolling in Emory University the following year. Two significant events occurred during his high school years. The first was when he ran the successful campaign of his best friend, Jim Tilton, for the office of student body president. That gave him his first taste in politics. The second was when he fell in love with his geometry teacher, Jackie Battley, seven years his senior. He married Battley a year after high school and they were together for 18 years.
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Declared 2012 Republican Presidential Candidate
Political Consultant & Gay Rights Activist
Fred Karger
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Karger Childhood
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Karger was born in Glencoe, Illinois and spent most of his formative years there. His father owned a brokerage firm and headed the local Republican precinct, while his mother was an active volunteer in the community.
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Lane Childhood
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Lane’s childhood was strict and filled with abuse. Her mother was handicapped while her father abandoned the family when she was six years old. She was a welfare child but grew up to stand on her own two feet. Christmas presents consisted of underwear and socks, and food was powered milk, with hardly any meat or vegetables. Kathyern even ran away from home a few times - once taking all her younger siblings with her - but was always found and taken back to her home.
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Declared 2012 Republican Presidential Candidate
U.S. Representative from the State of Texas
Ron Paul
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Paul Childhood
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• He helped with the family’s dairy business as a child. His very first paying job was inspecting milk bottles loaded onto the conveyer belt by his uncle. He earned a penny for every dirty milk bottle he found.
• Ron Paul also had a paper route, mowed lawns and worked in the local drug store. He saved those earnings and used them be begin his college education. He also earned money as a part time painter and furniture mover.
• He and his five brothers all shared one bedroom. His siblings agree that he was an even-tempered but very stubborn young boy.
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Declared 2012 Republican Presidential Candidate
Former Governor of Massachusetts
Mitt Romney
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Romney Childhood
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 After the birth of her third child, Scott, Lenore LaFount Romney was devastated to learn that she could no longer carry a baby. The risks were too high, she was told, and future births could only be done through a Caesarean section. This probably explains the shock that accompanied the news of Willard Mitt Romney’s arrival on March 12, 1947.
The proud father, George Wilcken Romney, was bursting with joy and sent out telegrams and letters to family and friends from their home in Detroit, Michigan. In one of the letters, George declared, “Well, by now most of you have had the really big news, but for those who haven't, Willard Mitt Romney arrived at Ten AM March 12.”
It was a difficult birth, and the attending doctor remarked, as related by Tiger Vidmar in his book, ‘Behind the Mask: Mitt Romney’, “I don't see how she became pregnant, or how she carried the child.”
The parents named him in honor of George’s good friend, J. Willard Marriot (who would later stablish the Marriot chain of hotels) and cousin Milton ‘Mitt’ Romney, the former star quarterback for the Chicago Bears.
Romney’s arrival coincided with George’s rising fortune. The college dropout, who by then was already a highly rated executive after successful stints as General Manager of the Automobile Manufacturers Association, and later, as Managing Director of the Automotive Council for War Production, is widely credited as one of the architects in Detroit’s emergence as the Motor City of the nation.
He was poached by George Mason a year after Mitt was born and appointed as the Executive Vice President of Nash-Kelvinator, which effectively made him the number two men in the firm. Five years later, following the death of Mason, George became the President and Chairman of the firm. Within twelve months, George engineered a merger between Nash-Kelvinator and Hudson Motor Car Company, forming the American Motors Corporation (AMC).
Things were looking bleak at the time for the company. Two other smaller car manufacturers, Packard and Studebaker, folded the previous year in the face of the onslaught from the big three; General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. AMC was not expected to fare much better. But George rose to the challenge and introduced the first national branding campaign in the motor industry for the Rambler, aided by a host of Disney characters following the inking of a sponsorship agreement between AMC and Disneyland. Two straight years of record breaking sales followed, and the Rambler became the third highest selling car in the United States by the early 60’s. With the survival of AMC secured, George left the firm in late 1961 for a well deserve rest, and to begin a new chapter in his career: politics.
 George ran for Governor of Michigan in 1962, and against all odds, triumphed in what was considered a Democratic stronghold. He was reelected twice more after that, in 1964 and 1966. He was widely tipped to contest the 1968 Republican presidential nomination race. However, he withdrew after realizing that Richard Nixon was a shoe-in for the nomination. Nevertheless, President Nixon, fearing a renewed run from George in 1972, attempted to appease the man by appointing him to his 12-man cabinet, as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development., which also happened to be his last high profile position.
During the time George was latched securely on a supersonic career path, young Mitt grew under the tremendous shadow of his larger than life father. But instead of wilting under the glare, Mitt, protected by an adoring mother and the rest of his siblings, idolized his father and took every available opportunity to spend some time with his old man. The affection was mutual, as re-counted by Dick Milliman, the former Press Secretary for Romney Sr., “They would hug upon meeting, and not just any hug," he recalls. "He would give Mitt a big bear hug and a kiss.”
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Declared 2012 Republican Presidential Candidate
Former US Senator from Pennsylvania
Rick Santorum
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Santorum Childhood
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Santorum was born in Virginia, but grew up in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Both his parents (a clinical psychologist father and a nurse mother) worked for the Veteran Administration (VA) Hospital and were transferred a couple of times before finally settling in Butler Country in Pennsylvania.
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Declared 2012 Republican Presidential Candidate
Businessman
Vern Wuensche
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Wuensche Childhood
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• Both parents grew up on a farm and did some small farming all their life. Vern’s father was a handyman at Elgin Butler Brick Company. His mother was a laundry worker at Travis State School near Austin.
• Vern was disciplined as a boy. He loved track and baseball in high school. While training he one ran 27 quarter miles one after the other 90 seconds apart—without a coach. He regularly ran long distances before people even new marathons existed.
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