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WASHINGTON, May 29 (Reuters) - Finally, there is definitive proof:The presidential candidate was born in the United States, and hisfather was not. Yes, Republican Mitt Romney appears eligible to be president,according to a copy of Romney s birth certificate released toReuters by his campaign. Willard Mitt Romney, the certificate says,was born in Detroit on March 12, 1947. His mother, Lenore, was born in Utah and his father, formerMichigan governor and one-time Republican presidential candidateGeorge Romney, was born in Mexico. So on a day when real estate and media mogul Donald Trump wastrying to help Mitt Romney by stirring up a new round of questionsabout whether Democratic President Barack Obama was born in theUnited States, Romney s own birth record became a reminder that inthe 1968 presidential campaign, his father had faced his own birther controversy. Back then, George Romney - who died in 1995 - was a moderate whowas challenging eventual President Richard Nixon in the Republicanprimaries. Records in a George Romney archive at the University of Michigandescribe how questions about his eligibility to be presidentsurfaced almost as soon as he began his short-lived campaign. In many ways, they appear to echo today s complaints that Trumpand some other conservative birthers have made about Obamawhile questioning whether Obama - whose father was from Kenya andmother was from Kansas - was born in Hawaii. In George Romney s case, most of the questions were raisedinitially by Democrats who cited the Constitution s requirementthat only a natural born citizen can be president. As early asFebruary 1967 - a year before the first 1968 presidential primary -some newspapers were raising questions as to whether GeorgeRomney s place of birth disqualified him from the presidency. By May 1967, U.S. congressman Emmanuel Celler, a Democrat whochaired the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, wasexpressing serious doubts about George Romney s eligibility. The next month, another Democratic congressman inserted a lengthytreatise into the Congressional Record in which a government lawyer- writing in a personal capacity - argued that George Romneywas ineligible for the White House because he was born outside U.S.territory. DEJA VU In what today might seem like deja vu, eminent legal authoritiessoon were queuing up to argue in favor of George Romney seligibility. The New York Law Journal published a lengthy argument by a seniorpartner from Sullivan & Cromwell, one of Manhattan s elite lawfirms, arguing that the fact that both of George Romney s parentswere U.S. citizens clearly established him as a natural borncitizen who was eligible to be president. George Romney himself was unequivocal. I am a natural born citizen. My parents were American citizens. Iwas a citizen at birth, he said, according to a typewrittenstatement found in his archives. At one point, the Congressional Research Service - an arm of theLibrary of Congress that is supposed to provide authoritative butimpartial research for elected members - advised that its analystsagreed with George Romney, according to a congressional source. In a paper in November aimed at clarifying presidentialeligibility, the Congressional Research Service declared that thepractical, legal meaning of natural born citizen would mostlikely include not only anyone born on U.S. soil but anyone bornoverseas of at least one parent who was a U.S. citizen. ROMNEY S DANCE WITH TRUMP Mitt Romney has tried to avoid getting caught up in Trump s focuson Obama s birthplace. Governor Romney has said repeatedly that he believes PresidentObama was born in the United States, said Eric Fehrnstrom, asenior adviser to Romney. However, the presumed Republican nominee has not distanced himselffrom Trump, creating what some analysts said seems to be a quietendorsement of Trump s efforts to raise questions about Obamaamong voters. Michael Cohen, special counsel to Trump, said that Trump and Romneynever talk about issues Trump has raised elsewhere regardingObama s birth certificate. Instead they talk about jobs, theeconomy and other matters of public policy. Asked whether Trump sees any double standard in going after Obamawhen Romney s father faced similar questions about hispresidential eligibility, Cohen told Reuters: I don t think(Trump) has ever thought about Mitt Romney s father s birthcertificate. Cohen said Trump recently revived the issue of Obama s birthplacebecause journalists asked him about the issue after a right-wingwebsite published an old blurb for an Obama book that suggestedthat Obama was born in Kenya. The literary agent who wrote theblurb subsequently said it was written in error. Cohen said Trump believes the president of the United Statesshould be the single most transparent human being on this planet.This president lacks that transparency. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Portable Car Vacuum Cleaner Manufacturer , Car Cigarette Socket Adapter, and more. For more , please visit 12 Volt Car Battery Chargers today!
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