By custom, the governor of the Commonwealth hangs in his office a portrait of a former governor for whom he has great respect. Former governor Michael Dukakis honored American Revolution leader Samuel Adams, a governor known for his simple tastes. Edward King also selected a Revolutionary figure, John Hancock. (Unlike Samuel Adams, however, Hancock’s tastes were decidedly upscale and gourmet.) William Weld picked the revered rascal James Michael Curley, and his successor, Paul Cellucci, unveiled the likeness of the Commonwealth’s first Republican Italian-American chief executive, John Volpe. Jane Swift chose Winthrop Crane, who, like Swift, hailed from the western part of the state. By their choices, governors reveal something about their heroes and their own values.

So what are we to make of Romney’s decision to follow Cellucci and put Volpe back up on the wall? Romney says his choice was based on the fact that his father served in President Richard Nixon’s cabinet with Volpe. Certainly Volpe was a distinguished leader of the Commonwealth, but Romney’s criterion for selecting this portrait seems a bit strained. At a time when the governor needs to provide strong leadership, he might have looked back in Massachusetts history to two different Republican governors, both of whom by their courage and integrity led the Commonwealth in times of great crisis — John A. Andrew and Leverett Saltonstall.

An outspoken reformer and antislavery advocate, Andrew was one of the founders of the Republican Party in Massachusetts. He supported Abraham Lincoln’s presidential nomination, and after his own election as governor, in 1860, he and the president became staunch allies in the war to preserve the Union. Unlike Lincoln, however, Andrew was deeply committed to the rights of black Americans. Andrew pressed Lincoln to recruit black soldiers to fight for freedom, and the president finally consented. Andrew called for black volunteers, and he raised Massachusetts’s famous 54th Regiment. Before leaving for war and their fateful encounter at Battery Wagner, the regiment, commanded by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, marched up Beacon Street to salute Andrew as he stood on the stairs of the State House. It was a historic and emotional moment later frozen in bronze by Augustus Saint-Gaudens as the Shaw Memorial.

Saltonstall also led the Commonwealth in a time of war. Elected in 1938, he served until 1944 when he was elected to the US Senate. During those war years, Saltonstall worked tirelessly to rally the spirits of Massachusetts citizens. He understood only too well the burden of the war. In August 1944, his second son, Peter, was killed on Guam. The day after receiving the dreadful news, Saltonstall appeared on Boston Common to honor a young Marine who was missing in action and to present to his mother her son’s decorations. A staunch Republican, he had an independent spirit and a deep belief in civil liberties. In 1954, Saltonstall was the only Republican leader in the Senate who voted to censure Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin. Although he could have easily won re-election in 1966, Saltonstall stepped aside to support the candidacy of the Commonwealth’s attorney general, Edward Brooke, who went on to be elected the first black senator since the days of Reconstruction. After 40 years in Massachusetts politics, Saltonstall retired with virtually no political enemies.