She was involved with many charitable, volunteer, and cultural organizations, including high positions with the Muscular Dystrophy Association, YWCA, and American Field Services, and also was active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which she was a life-long member.

In 1970, she was urged by her husband and state Republican Party officials to run against popular, two-term Democratic incumbent Senator Philip Hart.

[4][5] The family belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints;[6] her father had converted to it in England and then came to the U.S., while her maternal grandmother, Rosetta Berry, had been one of the Mormon handcart pioneers.

[5] LaFount thus moved to New York and enrolled in the American Laboratory Theatre to study acting, where she was taught Stanislavski's system under school co-founder Maria Ouspenskaya.

[3] Talent scouts attending the productions were impressed, and she received an offer from the National Broadcasting Company to perform in a series of Shakespeare radio programs and from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to go to Hollywood under an apprentice actress contract.

[21] A 5-foot-6-inch (1.68 m) slender woman with porcelain skin and naturally curly chesnut colored hair,[5][24][25] LaFount earned bit parts in Hollywood.

[24] George's long-time jealousy about her being in contact with other men became even worse as she met stars like Clark Gable, and in reaction to his attempts to control her, she threatened to break off their engagement.

[42] She knew his policy positions at least as well as any of his official aides, went with him on almost all of his out-of-state trips, and gave his speeches for him if sudden events made him unable to attend.

Lenore was not enthusiastic about leaving Michigan to return to Washington after three decades away, but said, "Any wife wants to be with her husband wherever he is, whether state or federal government, just so he can develop his creative ideas.

Hart was heavily favored to win re-election, but Republicans thought he might be vulnerable on ideological grounds (for being too liberal) and owing to an anti-war protest arrest involving his wife.

[43][55] U.S. House Minority Leader Gerald Ford from Michigan thought she could unite the state party's different factions,[43] but Governor William Milliken, who had succeeded George and was not eager to see more Romneys in power, opposed the notion.

[14] And while Lenore had achieved a good reputation for campaigning on her husband's behalf, there were some who suspected that her Senate candidacy was just a stalking horse for keeping George's options open.

[59][60] During the initial February 21, 1970, meeting, Lenore Romney faced opposition from liberal U.S. Representative Donald W. Riegle, Jr. and conservative State Senator Robert J.

[14] At the next party meeting, on March 7, she won 92 percent of the leaders and gained the consensus candidate position, and talk of George running ended.

In the ensuing primary contest, Romney's effort emphasized her sex, saying as a campaign theme, "Never before has the voice and understanding of a concerned woman been more needed.

She issued a half-hour campaign film that featured endorsements from many national and state party leaders as well as from celebrities Bob Hope and Art Linkletter, and showcased her family role and her concern for disadvantaged people.

[43][63] Huber, in contrast, emphasized his edge in political experience, derided her "motherly concern", and criticized the "bossism" that he said was trying to force another Romney into statewide office.

[64] She was troubled by the ongoing Cambodian Incursion and said that if elected she would vote to cut off its funds if Nixon did not abide by his pledge to withdraw from there by the end of the month.

[43][66] Initially heavily favored over Huber, her campaign failed to gain momentum and polls showed a close race; in response, she shifted her ads to focus more on her stands on issues.

[65][67] In the general election, with lost prestige, a divided party, and with her campaign resources partly drained by the primary fight, Romney was behind incumbent Democrat Hart from the beginning.

[43][47][65] Romney issued position papers and emphasized the themes of dealing with crime and social permissiveness;[47] she also advocated a national healthcare plan and increased attention to environmental damage caused by industry.

[47] The only woman running for the U.S. Senate that year,[50] she was a tireless campaigner, traveling around the state in a chartered Cessna and making as many as twelve stops a day.

[43] She also was negatively impacted, in both the primary and general election, by fallout from her husband's effort as HUD Secretary to enforce housing integration in Warren, Michigan.

[14][43][68] The Romney children campaigned for her, including Mitt, who took student leave to work as a driver and advance man at schools and county fairs during the summer.

[43] Romney made an unusual election-night visit to congratulate Hart in person, and in saying "I hope all good things will be his," gave what the victor termed "the most graceful and really moving concession speech I've ever heard.

[43] George, who had also long been interested in volunteerism, had helped found the National Center for Voluntary Action in 1970, and Lenore was made a member of its executive committee.

[70] By late 1971, she assumed some of First Lady Pat Nixon's role as a public advocate for volunteerism, visiting regional volunteer centers with other cabinet and administration wives.

[7] (Abortion was illegal in Michigan in this pre-Roe v. Wade era, and she had previously been ambivalent about expanding legal access to it; in any case, it had not been an issue in the 1970 Senate campaign.

[56][74] After George Romney left the administration and politics in January 1973,[56] Lenore continued with volunteerism, as vice president of the National Center for Voluntary Action.

On July 26, 1995, George Romney died of a heart attack at the age of 88 while he was exercising on his treadmill at the couple's home in Bloomfield Hills; he was discovered by Lenore (after she went looking for him, not having found her rose for the day), but it was too late to save him.