The Arnold Files
Articles:
The Hush-Hush Deal that Made Arnold Schwarzenegger Governor
Los Angeles Magazine, Sept. 1, 2004
A careful examination of Schwarzenegger’s life—in this case more than 40 interviews with current and former colleagues, friends, and opponents—demonstrates that his path to the governor’s mansion has been anything but accidental.
Schwarzenegger’s unlikely ascension owes almost all to his boundless ambition and wily calculation, which culminated in an exquisitely engineered business deal. It would be a deal that neutralized his most formidable enemies and deprived his detractors of their most potent weapon. It enabled him to prevail in the recall election. And it allowed him to pursue the star turn he so long ago dreamed for himself: to be the Conan of American politics.
USC’s Arnold Schwarzenegger Problem
Los Angeles Magazine, April 24, 2019
Judy Muller, professor emerita at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and former star correspondent for ABC News, recalls the day in 2012 when the university announced it was giving Arnold Schwarzenegger not just a full professorship but his very own institute at the Price School of Public Policy. “The news was greeted with general mortification,” she says.
The controversial appointment was transacted during C.L. Max Nikias’s tenure as USC president, which set all-time varsity records for campus pay-to-play. In return for an academic perch to whitewash his raunchy reputation, Arnold pledged to deliver a check for $20 million, which USC says was paid in full in 2016.
Interviews and Features:
Interview with A.L. Bardach
California Politics Today, Aug. 27, 2004
A.L.B. describes how a secret deal helped make Arnold Schwarzenegger governor.
The History of Arnold's Love Child Rumor
The Atlantic, May 17, 2011
Reporter Eric Hayden details how A.L.B.’s 2004 L.A. Magazine piece pointed to evidence of a tabloid cover-up on Arnold’s love child.
Arnold Schwarzenegger's Battle to Keep His Private Affairs Private
The Daily Beast, May 18, 2011
Jacob Bernstein writes that the governor would mock Maria Shriver's weight and had a possible secret deal with the National Enquirer — with contributing reporting by A.L.B.
How Arnold Kept the Tabloids Quiet
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, May 20, 2011
MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell discusses the back-story of the Schwarzenegger scandal with A.L.B.
A.L.B. on Arnold’s Love Child
The Today Show, May 2011