ROMNEY’S STAND

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31501, 16 October 1967, Page 13

ROMNEY’S STAND

Citizenship Argument (N.Z.P.A. -Reuter —Copyright) DETROIT, Oct. 15. Mr George Romney, the Governor of Michigan, yesterday rejected an argument that his birth in Mexico made him constitutionally ineligible to become President of the United States. The . 60-year-oid Governor who is a leading potential candidate for the Republican nomination in 1968, was replying to an argument advanced in an article that will appear in the “New York Law Journal” next week which will maintain that he was barred from the presidency because he was born in Mexico. “I am an American citizen by natural processes,” the Governor told reporters. “1 did not have to do anything to become an American citizen.”

Mr Romney was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, on July 8, 1907. His Mormon parents had been driven from Arizona territory in the 1890 s and formed a religious colony there. They were American citizens and the Governor became an American citizen at birth.

Th legal argument over his eligibility revolves around the Section 4 of Article 2 of the United States Constitution, which states in part: “No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President.”