Gray Davis Biography

Gray Davis is a retired American politician and attorney who served as the 37th Governor of California from 1999 to 2003. A member of the Democratic Party, only a few months into his second term, in 2003 Davis was recalled and removed from office, the second state governor successfully recalled in U.S. history. Prior to serving as governor, Davis was chief of staff to Governor Jerry Brown (1975–81), a California State Assemblyman (1983–87), California State Controller (1987–95) and the 44th Lieutenant Governor of California (1995–99). Davis holds a B.A. in history from Stanford University and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. He was awarded a Bronze Star for his service as a Captain in the Vietnam War.

During his time as governor, Davis made education his top priority and California spent eight billion dollars more than was required under Proposition 98 during his first term. Under Davis, California standardized test scores increased for five straight years. Davis signed the nation's first state law requiring automakers to limit auto emissions. Davis supported laws to ban assault weapons and he is also credited with improving relations between California and Mexico. Davis began his tenure as governor with strong approval ratings.

On October 7, 2003, Davis was recalled in the second of three such elections in U.S. history, which include the removal of Lynn Frazier of North Dakota in 1921 and the unsuccessful recall of Scott Walker of Wisconsin in 2012. He was succeeded in office on November 17, 2003 by actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who won the recall replacement election. Davis spent 1,778 days as governor and signed 5,132 bills out of 6,244, vetoing 1,112 bills. Since being recalled, Davis has worked as a lecturer at the UCLA School of Public Affairs, as an attorney at Loeb & Loeb and sat on the Board of Directors of the animation company DiC Entertainment.

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