Editing Arnold Schwarzenegger (section)

=== Early politics ===
[[File:Arnold-Cheney.jpg|thumb|Vice President [[Dick Cheney]] meets with Schwarzenegger for the first time at the [[White House]].]]
[[File:President Ronald Reagan with Arnold Schwarzenegger Retouched (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|right|Schwarzenegger with President [[Ronald Reagan]] in 1984]]
Schwarzenegger has been a registered [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] for many years. When he was an actor, his political views were always well known as they contrasted with those of many other prominent Hollywood stars, who are generally considered to be a left-wing and [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]-leaning community. At the [[2004 Republican National Convention]], Schwarzenegger gave a speech and explained that he was a Republican because he believed the Democrats of the 1960s sounded too much like [[Social Democratic Party of Austria|Austrian socialists]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 31, 2004 |title=Schwarzenegger: No country more welcoming than the USA |url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/08/31/gop.schwarzenegger.transcript/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080408110102/http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/08/31/gop.schwarzenegger.transcript/ |archive-date=April 8, 2008 |access-date=April 18, 2008 |publisher=CNN}}</ref>

{{blockquote|I finally arrived here in 1968. What a special day it was. I remember I arrived here with empty pockets but full of dreams, full of determination, full of desire. The [[1968 United States presidential election|presidential campaign]] was in full swing. I remember watching the [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]]–[[Hubert Humphrey|Humphrey]] presidential race on TV. A friend of mine who spoke German and English translated for me. I heard Humphrey saying things that sounded like socialism, which I had just left.

But then I heard Nixon speak. He was talking about free enterprise, getting the government off your back, lowering the taxes and strengthening the military. Listening to Nixon speak sounded more like a breath of fresh air. I said to my friend, I said, "What party is he?" My friend said, "He's a Republican." I said, "Then I am a Republican." And I have been a Republican ever since.}}

[[File:Arnold Schwarzenegger on Capitol Hill (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|Arnold Schwarzenegger on Capitol Hill in 1991 for an event related to the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports]]
In 1985, Schwarzenegger appeared in "[[Stop the Madness]]", an anti-drug music video sponsored by the [[Presidency of Ronald Reagan|Reagan administration]]. He first came to wide public notice as a Republican during the [[1988 United States presidential election|1988 presidential election]], accompanying then–Vice President [[George H. W. Bush]] at a campaign rally.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Noonan |first=Peggy |author-link=Peggy Noonan |title=What I Saw at the Revolution: A Political Life in the Reagan Era |date=October 14, 2003 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-0-8129-6989-4 |location=New York |page=384}}</ref>

Schwarzenegger famously introduced the first episode of the 1990 [[Milton Friedman]] hosted [[PBS]] series ''[[Free to Choose]]'' stating:

{{blockquote|I truly believe that the series has changed my life, and when you have such a powerful experience as that, I think you shouldn't keep it to yourself, so I wanted to share it with you. Being 'free to choose' for me means being free to make your own decisions, free to live your own life, pursue your own goals, chase your own rainbow without the government breathing down on your neck or standing on your shoes. For me that meant coming here to America, because I came from a socialistic country where the government controls the economy. It's a place where you can hear 18-year-old kids already talking about their pension. But me, I wanted more. I wanted to be the best. Individualism like that is incompatible with socialism. So I felt I had to come to America.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Foster |first=Peter |date=January 26, 2011 |title=Peter Foster: Whatever happened to muscular capitalism? |url=https://financialpost.com/opinion/peter-foster-whatever-happened-to-muscular-capitalism |access-date=November 15, 2022 |work=Financial Post}}</ref><ref name="Hoover Institution-1990">{{Cite web |last=Schwarzenegger |first=Arnold |title=A clip from episode Volume 1 of the 1990 Free to Choose television series |url=https://digitalcollections.hoover.org/objects/56646 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221115183645/https://digitalcollections.hoover.org/objects/56646 |archive-date=November 15, 2022 |access-date=November 15, 2022 |website=digitalcollections.hoover.org |publisher=Hoover Institution: Library & Archives}}</ref>}} Schwarzenegger goes on to tell of how he and his then wife Maria Shriver were in [[Palm Springs, California|Palm Springs]] preparing to play a game of [[mixed doubles]] when Milton Friedman's famous show came on the television. Schwarzenegger recalls that while watching Friedman's ''Free to Choose'', Schwarzenegger, "...recognized Friedman from the study of my own degree in economics, but I didn't know I was watching Free to Choose... it knocked me out. Dr. Friedman expressed, validated and explained everything I ever thought or experienced or observed about the way the economy works, and I guess I was really ready to hear it."<ref name="Hoover Institution-1990" /> Numerous critics state that Schwarzenegger strayed from much of Friedman's economic ways of thinking in later years, especially upon being elected Governor of California from 2003 through 2011.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Passantino |first=George |date=February 9, 2007 |title=Schwarzenegger Goes From Milton Friedman to Big Government |url=https://reason.org/commentary/schwarzenegger-goes-from-milto/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221115183648/https://reason.org/commentary/schwarzenegger-goes-from-milto/ |archive-date=November 15, 2022 |access-date=November 15, 2022 |website=Reason}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Meyerson |first=Harold |date=May 25, 2005 |title=Arnold Meets His Match |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2005/05/25/arnold-meets-his-match/6d87ac3e-eeed-441e-8cb0-393a85c368ae/ |access-date=November 15, 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>

Schwarzenegger's first political appointment was as chairman of the [[President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports]], on which he served from 1990 to 1993.<ref name="Schwarzenegger.com" /> He was nominated by the then-President Bush, who dubbed him "[[Conan the Barbarian|Conan]] the Republican". He later served as chairman for the California Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports under Governor [[Pete Wilson]].

Between 1993 and 1994, Schwarzenegger was a [[Red Cross]] ambassador (a ceremonial role fulfilled by celebrities), recording several television and radio [[public service announcement]]s to donate blood.

In an interview with ''[[Talk (magazine)|Talk]]'' magazine in late 1999, Schwarzenegger was asked if he thought of running for office. He replied, "I think about it many times. The possibility is there because I feel it inside." ''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]'' claimed shortly after that Schwarzenegger sought to end speculation that he might run for [[governor of California]]. Following his initial comments, Schwarzenegger said, "I'm in show business&nbsp;– I am in the middle of my career. Why would I go away from that and jump into something else?"<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 4, 1999 |title=Arnold cast as Governor? |url=http://www.schwarzenegger.com/news.asp?id=90 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080523203946/http://www.schwarzenegger.com/news.asp%3Fid%3D90 |archive-date=May 23, 2008 |access-date=April 18, 2008 |publisher=Schwarzenegger.com}}</ref>