World

Arnie - an American for 25 Years

by LotusFlower | September 15, 2008 at 10:41 pm

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Love him or loath him Arnold Schwarzenegger's story is something of an American dream and it's 25 years to the day that the 'Governator' became an American citizen.

From arriving in America in 1968 with very little English but huge ambition and pectorals to go with it he became a US citizen on 16th September 1983 and now holds sway as Governor of Calfornia.

Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (German IPA: [ˌaɐnɔlt aloʏs ˈʃvaɐtsənɛɡɐ]; born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian-American bodybuilder, actor, businessman, and politician, currently serving as the 38th Governor of the state of California.

Schwarzenegger gained worldwide fame as a Hollywood action film icon. He was nicknamed "The Austrian Oak" and "The Styrian Oak" in his bodybuilding days, "Arnold Strong" and "Arnie" during his acting career, and more recently "The Governator" (a portmanteau of Governor and Terminator, one of his film roles).[1]

As a Republican, he was first elected on October 7, 2003, in a special recall election to replace then-Governor Gray Davis. Schwarzenegger was sworn in on November 17, 2003, to serve the remainder of Davis's term. Schwarzenegger was then re-elected on November 7, 2006, in California's 2006 gubernatorial election, to serve a full term as governor, defeating Democrat Phil Angelides, who was California State Treasurer at the time. Schwarzenegger was sworn in for a second term on January 5, 2007.[2] In May 2004 and 2007, he was named as one of the Time 100 people who help shape the world.[3][4]

Schwarzenegger is married to Maria Shriver and has four children.