is indeed a cause for general mourning and redicated effort by everyone to eliminate racial prejudice in all of its ugly and repressive forms." The King assassination riots affected many cities across the United States over the next few days. There was some rioting in Detroit and Romney ordered the National Guard deployed and imposed a curfew; but the situation was calmer there than in the worst-affected cities and much less violent than the 1967 riots had been. Romney and his wife Lenore attended the funeral of King on April 9. Romney greatly expanded the size of state government while governor. His first state budget, for fiscal year 1963, was $550 million, a $20 million increase over that of his predecessor Swainson. Romney had also inherited an $85 million budget deficit, but left office with a surplus. In the following fiscal years, the state budget increased to $684 million for 1964, $820 million for 1965, $1 billion for 1966, $1.1 billion for 1967, and was proposed as $1.3 billion for 1968. Romney led the way for a large increase in state spending on education, and Michigan began to develop one of the nation's most comprehensive systems of higher education. There was a significant increase in funding support for local governments and there were generous benefits for the poor and unemployed. Romney's spending was enabled by the post–World War II economic expansion that generated continued government surpluses and by a consensus of both parties in Michigan to maintain extensive state bureaucracies and expand public sector services. The bipartisan coalitions that Romney worked with in the state legislature enabled him to reach most of his legislative goals. His record as governor continued his reputation for having, as White said, "a knack for getting things done". Noted University of Michigan historian Sidney Fine assessed him as "a highly successful governor". 1968 presidential campaign Romney's wide margin of re-election as governor in November 1966 thrust him to the forefront of national Republicans. In addition to his political record, the tall, square-jawed, handsome, graying Romney matched what the public thought a president should look like. Republican governors were determined not to let a Goldwater-sized loss recur, and neither Rockefeller nor Scranton wanted to run again; the governors quickly settled on Romney as their favorite for the Republican presidential nomination in the 1968 U.S. presidential election. Former Congressman and Republican National Committee chair Leonard W. Hall