Valenzuela was born '' ' Arturo Arms Valenzuela Bowie ' '' in Concepción , Chile to American Methodist missionaries Raymond Arms Valenzuela and Dorothy Denell Bowie Marsh . He spent his childhood in Concepción where he attended primary school at the '' Lycée Charles de Gaulle '' , where he learned to speak French . In 1960 , after his school was destroyed by the Great Chilean earthquake , he was sent by his family for a year to the United States . During the next eight years , he went back to visit his family in Chile only once . He earned a B.A. summa cum laude in Political Science and Religion from Drew University and in 1971 he obtained a Doctorate and a master 's degree in Political Science from Columbia University
Great Chilean earthquake
1960 Valdivia earthquake
Arturo Valenzuela