Amid a campaign of American exceptionalism, reminders of Romney’s international past

On specially arranged Monday viewings at the Louvre, he took in the depictions of Christ by the old masters with George Keele and other missionaries but avoided the Impressionists for their lack of religious iconography and preference for nudes.

Romney arrived in July 1966, learning the language in a Normandy class that emphasized the memorization of French along with proselytizing conversation and reciting of Joseph Smith’s 13 Articles of Faith (“10: Zion (the new Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent . . .”). He was both immersed in and separate from French culture, trying to draw in French converts with USA nights, according to “The Real Romney,” a biography by two Boston Globe reporters. But the bonds among his fellow missionaries grew strong.

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In Bayonne, he awoke in the middle of the night covered in fleas and told Keele the infestation reminded him of the crowded religious meetings in Salt Lake City: “ ‘It was like somebody called general conference in my navel!’ ”

His faith strengthened, too. “You are thrust into this situation where you are saying, ‘Gee, I’m standing out on people’s doorsteps and telling them this is true. Do I really know this is true? Or is that I heard my parents say this is true?’ ” said Dane McBride, now a doctor in Virginia, who met Romney at language training in Normandy. He said that he and Romney had pensive discussions about Mormon scripture and fortified their faith through the pursuit of new believers. “The more you do that, the more it enforces itself.”

By the end of his mission, Romney had become a leader. At meetings Romney spoke, Keele said, in a voice trembling with emotion about “the work and about his love for the people of France, his love for the Lord.”

When the Paris strikes in the spring of 1968 brought down phone lines, the church’s French mission prepared for evacuation, informing missionaries that a telegram reading “pack books” meant to gather their belongings. During that tense period, the mission president called on Romney, his newly promoted assistant, to drive to France’s southern border. With the home numbers of fellow missionaries in hand, he crossed into Spain and found a working phone line.

“This is Elder Romney,” the 21-year-old told thankful parents, according to Keele, the fellow missionary. “I just thought I’d call and give you an assurance that the missionaries are all fine.”

Romney was to endure much worse in France — notably a horrific auto accident in which the car he was driving was struck head-on, killing one of his passengers, his mission president’s wife. But he still came away proud of his time abroad and would mock his American-stationed counterparts by singing, to the tune of Petula Clark’s “Downtown”:

When you’re alone

And life is making you lonely,

You can always go

Stateside.

‘The world is our campus’

Romney’s foreign experience deepened his reverence for the stability provided by his country, family and faith. It was a worldview he solidified at Brigham Young University, where signs at the entrance declare: “The world is our campus.”