TODAY in HISTORY (17 November): “The Terminator” becomes “The Governator” of California in 2003
On 17 November 2003, the former bodybuilder and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger was sworn in as the 38th governor of California in Sacramento. He defeated Gray Davis in a special recall election on 7 October 2003.
Gray Davis was the Governor of California from 1999 to 2003.
He started his service as Governor with a high approval rating. Unfortunately, the bursting of the dot-com bubble created a budget crisis for which he received the blame. Combined with the California electricity crisis his approval rating declined drastically.
It resulted in a sufficient number of citizens’ signatures for a recall election and a “Dump Davis” campaign with the goal to replace him.
In a special election on 7 October 2003, 55.4% of the votes were in favour of the recall, and Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected as Governor of California.
Schwarzenegger won his Mr Universe title at the age of 20 – the youngest person at that stage to received the title.
His goal was to become the greatest bodybuilder in the world, which means he had to win the Mr Olympia title which he achieved at the age of 23.
From bodybuilding Schwarzenegger wanted to move acting. His first chance was the role of Hercules in 1970's Hercules film in New York. Later on, he gained worldwide fame in the Conan the Barbarian movies and the science-fiction The Terminator films.
Schwarzenegger political career started with his appointment as chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports from 1990 to 1993. He also served as Chairman of the California Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.
On 6 August 2003, he announced his candidacy for the recall election for Governor of California on the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
His early victories were the repealing an unpopular increase in the vehicle registration fee and preventing driver's licenses being given out to illegal immigrants. A lot of his initiatives were countered by state unions who disagreed with him. He started to take on a more moderated position when he appointed a Democrat, Susan Kennedy, as his Chief of Staff. On 7 November 2006, he won re-election with 56% of the vote.
His approval rating at the start of tenure as governor was a record high (as high as 89% in December 2003), but when he left office in 2011, it was an unprecedented low of 23% - 1% higher than that of Gray Davis's in October 2003.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Schwarzenegger#Governor_of_California
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-terminator-becomes-the-governator-of-california
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_Davis