Into this world, Mitt showed up with his dark blazers and narrow ties, his idiom peppered with "oh gosh" and "oh boy." Classmates remember him as the embodiment of the Young Republican the radicals would mock as a "square," the earnest product of the Chamber of Commerce culture that his family, and his faith, had embraced.

He was mindful of the strict LDS prohibitions against smoking, drinking and premarital sex. At Stanford, there were still plenty of clean-cut, traditional kids, and Mitt bonded with a few dorm-mates who shared his world view. That view was immediately challenged by one of their resident assistants, or "sponsors," a charismatic junior by the name of David Harris. A leader in the campus's small antiwar movement, Harris was determined to shake such freshmen as Mitt out of their blazer-and-tie orthodoxy.

Mitt embraced the preppy traditions that Harris saw as inane 1950s residue.

Stanford usually played its Big Game against Cal-Berkeley on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and the week leading up to the game was always filled with hijinks.

The winner from the previous year took possession of an ax, which students from the losing side would try to steal. When an upperclassman cheerleader enlisted Mitt in the effort to protect the ax from Berkeley marauders, he pounced. He mapped out a schedule of patrols, cruising the campus perimeter overnight in his Rambler and then loaning his car to other freshmen for their shifts.

When Mitt heard about a rally planned at Berkeley, he figured the ax might be discussed, so he decided to go undercover. He thought his normal attire might make him a target. So he turned to the one radical he knew — Harris — and asked to borrow his clothes. Dressed in Harris's faded Levis jeans, heavy wool work jacket and well-worn moccasins, Mitt headed over to Berkeley.

His friend Mike Roake accompanied him but opted to hang back as Mitt marched into the rally. "It sounds silly now," says Roake, "but it was the great crusade in that time of sweet innocence."

Throughout the year at Stanford University, Mitt talked endlessly about Ann. He once drove nonstop from California to Michigan, showing up at Ann's home a sweaty mess, diving into her pool fully clothed. During his second semester, Ann accompanied Mitt's parents on a visit to see him.

By then, George Romney was increasingly being talked about as a top Republican prospect for reclaiming the White House in 1968. Watching Mitt interact with his parents, Roake was struck by the warmth of the relationship. "It was especially interesting," he says, "because we were freshmen and therefore in the process of divorcing ourselves from our parents."