WE Blog

Mitt Romney likes to describe to audiences how his parents read to him from Irving Stone’s “Men to Match My Mountains,” and how “a fellow” or “homeowner” once told him the book’s title came from a four-line poem by 19th-century poet Sam Walter Foss. Last week Romney went further, reported the Washington Post: “I was actually at the home of Bill Koch (in photo), who you may also have heard of, and I mentioned a book I’d read, called ‘Men to Match My Mountains.’ And he said, ‘You know, the title of that book comes from a poem.’ And then he proceeded to recite it, which I thought after, I don’t know, 60 years since high school, was a pretty impressive thing. And I’ve now learned it myself.” Koch, whose brothers Charles and David of Wichita-based Koch Industries are high-profile backers of Romney’s bid, is also invested in the election, the Post reported. Bill Koch and his company have donated at least $2 million to a pro-Romney super political action committee, and he recently hosted a Romney fundraiser on Cape Cod. The Foss poem goes like this: “Bring me men to match my mountains,/Bring me men to match my plains./Men with empires in their purpose,/And new eras in their brains.”