And I never forgot what he said, Bill Clinton. He looked at me, and he said, “You know, Leon, you can be the greatest OMB director in the history of the world, but nobody’s going to remember you if the White House has fallen apart!” I never forgot that.
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Leon Panetta
Attorney and politician; Director of the Office of Management and Budget, White House Chief of Staff, Director of the CIA and Secretary of Defense
United States · b. 1938
Politics and public life
About
In an era of bitter political partisanship, Leon Panetta is the rare public servant who enjoys unqualified respect from leaders of both parties. Born in Monterey, California to Italian immigrant parents who operated a restaurant, and later a farm of their own, he earned his law degree from Santa Clara University and served as an intelligence officer in the United States Army. In 1970, he was forced to resign his post as head of the Nixon administration’s Civil Rights Office when he would not yield to White House interference in his efforts to enforce the civil rights laws. A Republican, he eventually switched parties and won election to the U.S. Congress as a Democrat.
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