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Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American actor,
Republican elected official, bodybuilder, and entrepreneur,
at present serving as the 38th Governor of California. Called
the Austrian Oak in his bodybuilding years, and lately
The Governator and Conan the Republican,
or just Ahhnold, Schwarzenegger as a young man got
widespread interest as a successful bodybuilder, and afterward
achieved international renown as a Hollywood action movie
superstar.
There cannot be a better illustration of the self-made man
than Arnold Schwarzenegger in all of Hollywood history. Born
on July 30, 1947 to Gustav and Aurelia Schwarzenegger in the
remote Austrian community of Thal, down by the Italian border,
he was exposed to severe discipline from an early age. It
worked.
Arnold became disenchanted with soccer at age 15, and describes
a sense of “power” when looking at bodybuilders,
a mental picture that moved him to start weight training.
In 1965 he won the Mr. Europe Jr. title.
As long as I live, I will never forget that day
21 years ago when I raised my hand and took the Oath
of Citizenship. Do you know how proud I was? I was
so proud that I walked around with an American flag
around my shoulders all day long.
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Schwarzenegger went to university in Munich from 1966, studying
marketing. In 1968, after winning the Pro Mr. Universe title
at age 20, he decamped to America at the invitation of bodybuilding
champion Joe Weilder, and sustained a career unmatched in
its success, adding Mr. World to his list of titles.
He won the Mr. Universe title five times and Mr. Olympia seven
times, at the same time making the sport of bodybuilding more
popular. And, as if this weren’t enough, this socially
liberal Republican wedded a Democrat from the Kennedy family,
Maria Shriver, a past news anchor and now mother of their
four children. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s career reads
like the American Dream, a dream that is realized day by day
by many individuals that come to the United States to create
a new life.
After some small parts in the movies, he appeared in the documentary
Pumping Iron (1977) and played a bodybuilder in the
film Stay Hungry (1976), and his innate charm led
to more movies and recognition. He starred in the hit movie
Conan the Barbarian in 1982 and became a movie star.
He had another big hit in 1984, starring in James Cameron’s
The Terminator. 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment
Day was even more successful than the first movie, and
Schwarzenegger became one of the highest paid actors in show
business.
The movie-star-turned California Governor disclosed in a TV
interview that as a young bodybuilder he used experimental
steroids on doctors’ advice, and he called for a youth
ban. Asked on the ABC News program if he had regrets about
using steroids, he responded: “No, I have no regrets
about it, because at that time, it was something new that
came on the market, and we went to the doctor and did it under
doctor’s supervision.”
And now, of course this is another thing I didn’t
count on, that now as the Governor of the State of
California, I am selling California worldwide. You
see that? Selling.
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On August 6, 2003, the audience attending the Tonight Show
received a direct view of a remarkable, jaw-dropping event:
the declaration of candidacy for the California governorship
by ex- bodybuilder and film idol Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Judging from Schwarzenegger’s ideological resume, he
and Ronald Reagan, another actor who ran for governor of California
with very little electoral experience, have little in common.
When Schwarzenegger ran for governor in 2003, the State of
California was running a $38 billion deficit. Despite being
a political novice, Schwarzenegger was confident that he could
handle it.
A year and a half later, Schwarzenegger has proven that the
various legislators and pundits who, not capable of moving
away from a cliché-ridden dismissal of a bodybuilder-movie-star-turned-governor,
had underrated his raw intelligence and sharp mind. Those
who know Schwarzenegger can bear out his complexity. The governor
spurred himself with the quest for championship when he was
young and a comparative nobody. Now he wants to become a champion
governor.
Schwarzenegger has shown himself to be a skilful politician,
to the surprise of a lot of Californians. The fact that he
has exploited this talent to a moderate agenda, and embraced
bipartisanship in a way that sets him, as a Republican, far
apart from the Bush Administration, as well as from the more
extreme elements in the California Republican Party, is vital
to his effectiveness.
On the downside, in early January, Schwarzenegger proposed
to radically curtail spending on education and social services
in place of taxing the wealthy in his boldly immoderate State
of the State Speech, blindsiding freethinking Californians
with his openly Republican program. According to Peter Byrne
of the Village News, the new governor, who had promised to
kick the “special interest” out of Sacramento,
has collected $26 million from individuals and companies caught
up in high finance, real estate, insurance, construction,
energy sales, prison corporations and major news media.
Schwarzenegger for president in 2008? California Rep. Dana
Rohrabacher recently made a proposal to permit anybody who’s
been a US citizen for more than 20 years to run for the nation’s
highest office. Schwarzenegger, who became a citizen in 1983,
has said he supports amending the Constitution so foreign-born
citizens can run for president. Rohrabacher said his true
aim is to open up the presidential process, though he said
in an interview that Schwarzenneger is doing a great job as
governor.
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