What Schwarzenegger Knows About George Washington

The Atlantic

07-07-2025

On July 4, Arnold Schwarzenegger made his first pilgrimage to Mount Vernon. The former California governor was there to congratulate 100 individuals from nearly as many countries, ranging from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, as they became American citizens. In doing so, he joined a long line of distinguished individuals who have come to pay homage to a man whose leadership was defined not by how he wielded power, but by how he gave it up.
That ideal of voluntary restraint inspired a much earlier visitor, the Marquis de Lafayette. In 1784, less than a year after the end of the Revolutionary War, Lafayette journeyed from France to the banks of the Potomac River in Virginia, and from there to Mount Vernon. The nobleman and Continental Army general was the first foreigner to visit George Washington after he gave up power. Writing to his wife, the marquis declared, 'In retirement, General Washington is even greater than he was during the Revolution.'
Lafayette understood greatness to lie in what one chooses not to do. Washington's decision in 1783 to relinquish command of the Continental Army shocked the world. His further refusal to seek a third presidential term solidified his status as a latter-day Cincinnatus, the Roman leader who returned to his farm rather than cling to power. King George III, upon hearing that Washington intended to resign, said that his decision would make him 'the greatest man in the world.' Lafayette also believed that Washington wasn't the father of just his country, calling him the 'patriarch' of liberty. In 1790, after the storming of the Bastille announced the advent of the French Revolution, Lafayette sent Washington the key to the notorious prison, which still hangs at Mount Vernon.
Would-be Washingtons like the Hungarian Lajos Kossuth, foreign royalty such as Prince Albert (later King Edward VII), and fellow cigar smokers including Winston Churchill and Fidel Castro—a steady parade of visitors have made their way to Mount Vernon. When Prince Albert visited, in 1860, a London newspaper noted the irony of royalty paying tribute to someone who had refused a crown: 'Without royal state, royalty contemplated the last abode of one who, though once pronounced a rebel and a traitor by the very ancestors of the prince, now ranks above all kings.'
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In 1969, Washington caught the attention of a recent Austrian immigrant. Schwarzenegger, who was a fan of Richard Nixon, was given a book incorrectly listing the first president as a member of the Republican Party. He was led to believe that the Founding Father, who was famous for having no political party, was 'where it all began' for the GOP. Schwarzenegger still has the book in his office, but his appreciation of Washington has gained a sounder historical footing over time.
Like many other leaders, Schwarzenegger is particularly fascinated by Washington's willingness to step aside. 'When he was offered the ultimate power, he refused it,' he told me. 'He could have run another five times, but he didn't. He went back to farming. To me, that is the ultimate of great.' After two terms as governor, Schwarzenegger didn't retire to agricultural pursuits—unless you count his miniature pony, miniature donkey, pig, and two dogs. 'Instead of going back to a farm, I went back to blowing things up on movie sets,' he wrote in 2021.
Yet there is a certain parallel, evident in the way that Washington's legacy speaks to those who conceive of leadership not as wielding power, but as civic stewardship. And the annual naturalization ceremony at Mount Vernon proves that this vision still matters. It matters to the 100hundred new citizens who took their oath. It matters to an immigrant who became governor. And it matters to a country constantly negotiating what it means to be American and what it means to be great.
'Not in my wildest dreams,' Schwarzenegger said, 'did I think that one day this immigrant would be asked to lay a wreath at George Washington's tomb.'