Panetta, Leon Edward

Panetta, Leon Edward,

1938–, U.S. politician and government official, b. Monterey, Calif., grad. Univ. of Santa Clara, Calif. (B.A., 1960), Santa Clara Law School (1963). After serving in the army (1963–65) and working in several government posts, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1976 and reelected eight times. From 1989 to 1993 he chaired the House budget committee, and he subsequently served as director (1933–94) of the Office of Management and Budget and as chief of staff (1994–96) in the White House under President Bill ClintonClinton, Bill
(William Jefferson Clinton), 1946–, 42d President of the United States (1993–2001), b. Hope, Ark. His father died before he was born, and he was originally named William Jefferson Blythe 4th, but after his mother remarried, he assumed the surname of his
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. An advocate of public service and ocean policy reform after leaving government and a member of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group (2006) under President George W. BushBush, George Walker,
1946–, 43d President of the United States (2001–9), b. New Haven, Conn. The eldest son of President George H. W. Bush, he was was raised in Texas and, like his father, attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., and Yale, graduating in 1968.
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, Panetta was named head of the Central Intelligence Agency in 2009 under President Barack ObamaObama, Barack
(Barack Hussein Obama 2d), , 1961–, 44th president of the United States (2009–17), b. Honolulu, grad. Columbia (B.A. 1983), Harvard Law School (J.D. 1991).
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; from 2011 to 2013 he was secretary of defense.

Bibliography

See his memoir, Worthy Fights (with J. Newton, 2014).