Amend for Arnold Campaign Launched

On 18/11/2004, a multimedia campaign titled “Amend for Arnold” was officially launched in California to promote a constitutional amendment that would allow naturalized U.S. citizens to run for President. The initiative specifically addressed the Constitution’s natural born citizen requirement, which prevents foreign born citizens from holding the presidency. The campaign referenced California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was born in Austria and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1983, as an example of a popular political figure affected by the restriction. The effort was spearheaded and financed by Lissa Morgenthaler Jones, a San Francisco Peninsula entrepreneur. Organizers aimed to build public support for amending Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution, which requires presidential candidates to be natural born citizens. The proposed change discussed during the campaign would have allowed naturalized citizens who had been U.S. citizens for a specified number of years to seek the presidency, though the campaign itself focused primarily on raising awareness and encouraging debate rather than advancing a specific amendment text through Congress. The launch included a 30 second television advertisement that aired in major California media markets, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Sacramento. The campaign also introduced a dedicated website, initially hosted at amendforarnold.com and later at amendus.org, which provided background information on the constitutional requirement, campaign messaging, and materials encouraging public discussion. The advertising featured references to immigration, citizenship, and the idea of expanding eligibility for the presidency to naturalized Americans. The “Amend for Arnold” campaign attracted national media coverage shortly after its launch, as it raised constitutional and political questions about presidential eligibility and immigration. At the time, Schwarzenegger publicly stated he had no plans to run for President but acknowledged interest in the broader debate about eligibility rules. The campaign itself functioned primarily as an advocacy effort aimed at influencing public opinion rather than a formal legislative initiative.