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Leon Panetta

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71
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2024-06-06
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2024-06-06
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  1. “I did lose my job. And it's an interesting story. The Washington Post appeared on the front steps of our house, and there was a story that said Panetta resigns as director of the Office for Civil Rights. I hadn't resigned, but there was the story. So I remember going and talking to Bob Finch, who was the Secretary of HEW, and saying to him, look, I haven't resigned. There is this story. I'm denying it, of course. And he said, no, no, just keep denying it. It's one of these rumors that goes into the newspapers. But then... Ron Ziggler was asked the question at the presidential briefing. Press conference, and he was asked the question What about this story that Panetta has resigned? And Ziegler, without Blinken and I, said, yeah, it's true. He has resigned. So I finally figured out the message.”

    2024-06-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 582 - Leon Panetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “I was in my 20s, late 20s, 26, 27. And I kind of made that kind of fundamental decision that I often tell the students at our institute, you're going to face a decision between whether or not you're going to do something to improve your career or whether you're going to do what you think is right. You'll face that kind of decision somewhere along your ways. And I face that decision. And I remember telling Sylvia, my wife, I said, you know, I said, if I keep doing what I'm doing, if I keep enforcing the law, I'm likely to lose my job. And she said, you have to do what's right. Thank God, it really kind of gave me the courage to kind of keep going forward.”

    2024-06-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 582 - Leon Panetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “With the Southern Democratic president. And when I was, when Keekl got defeated, I was offered a job at what was then HEW as director of the Office for Civil Rights. And the primary responsibility of that office was to enforce equal education requirements and deal largely with a dual school system in the South following on Brown versus the Board of Education. And it was a challenging job, but I really felt that it was an important effort to try to promote equal education for all kids. And it was in the Nixon administration, and little did I know that Nixon had made a deal with Strom Thurman to basically back off of civil rights enforcement. And I kept getting pressure, obviously. To try to back off a little bit. And I just decided having”

    2024-06-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 582 - Leon Panetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “Obviously, as the son of immigrants, you know, you recognize elements of discrimination. And I really developed a real interest in promoting civil rights. And as a legislative assistant to Tom Keekel, I actually worked on the historic civil rights bills at that time. And that was totally bipartisans, Republicans and Democrats working together.”

    2024-06-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 582 - Leon Panetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “He became speaker, went up, worked his way up. And there were Republicans who were basically the same. And the system worked well. And what Ginrich was really striving poor had nothing to do with trying to solve problems in the country. It was purely about power and the ability to gain power.”

    2024-06-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 582 - Leon Panetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “Yeah, no, it changed dramatically. But there were also people like Tom Foley, you know, from Washington who just real sense of a responsibility to govern.”

    2024-06-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 582 - Leon Panetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “And they too believed that even though they had their differences, that both Democrats and Republicans should work together on the big issues facing this country.”

    2024-06-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 582 - Leon Panetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “Education and a lot of other issues. And so when I went back to Washington, Keekel was actually the minority whip. And the reason he was the minority whip is because there were a large number of moderate and progressive Republicans. And my experience in those days was that they were working very closely with Democratic statesmen like Humphrey and Jackson. And that was the tradition I was raised with is that you have a responsibility to work together to solve issues. Yes, you've got politics. Yes, you're going to fight each other in elections, but you're there to try to solve problems. And that, frankly, when I got elected to Congress, Tip O'Neill was the Speaker and head of great relationship with Bob Michael, who was the minority leader from Illinois.”

    2024-06-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 582 - Leon Panetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “I got out of the army. I was in the Army for two years, and I got out. I was able to get a job with Senator Tom Keele, who was a Republican from California. But he was a Republican in what we call the Hiram Johnson tradition. Hiram Johnson was a Republican who was very progressive and believed in civil rights and labor rights.”

    2024-06-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 582 - Leon Panetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “And we can't, we worked it out. It took a long time. We cut deals, but we passed immigration reform on a bipartisan vote. We passed social security reform on a bipartisan vote. We passed tax reform on a bipartisan vote. We were able to work together to be able to deal with the problems facing our democracy. And today, we know the immigration system is broken. We know it has to be repaired. It should be done comprehensively. We've even seen a bipartisan effort to come up with a reform bill that basically went nowhere. Nowhere because there was a decision that the issue is more important.”

    2024-06-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 582 - Leon Panetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “Yeah, no, what really disturbs me is that When we elect people to Washington, We elect them to come back to Washington to govern, not to fight each other, not to try to attack the institutions of our democracy. And fortunately, I often say in my over 50 years of public life, but I've seen Washington at its best and Washington at its worst. The good news is I saw Washington work. I saw Republicans and Democrats willing to work together on big issues facing this country. And it was during the Reagan administration, frankly, when Democrats and Republicans came together to, and I was part of that negotiation on a comprehensive immigration reform.”

    2024-06-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 582 - Leon Panetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “To work hard and to achieve the American dream, and it's made us stronger as a country because of that. And, you know, I just find it very difficult when there are people who are now attacking immigrants who are trying to come to achieve that American dream because frankly the statue of liberty is really a statement to the world about this country and what we're about. and in many ways when you attack immigration you're attacking the statue of liberty and all the things we stand for”

    2024-06-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 582 - Leon Panetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “David, I remember asking my parents why did you come all that distance to this country? They came from a poor area in Italy, but they had the comfort of family and friends. Why would you leave all of that to come thousands of miles to a country you had no idea where you were going or what was going to happen? Why would you do that? And I never forgot my father's response, which was that my mother and he believed they could give a better life to their children in this country. And I believe that to be the American dream. And I've had the chance to live that dream. But more importantly, I think that's what America is all about. America has been built because of those willing to come to this country.”

    2024-06-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 582 - Leon Panetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “And then it was about two or three years into the war that the order came down that if you're an Italian alien, you have to move away from the coast. And even at that time, I was familiar with what happened to the Japanese, but I never expected that it would happen to Italians as well. But it did. We had to move him to a home in San Jose. And as a young boy, I really, I was struggling to try to understand why that was happening and that my non-new was not around.”

    2024-06-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 582 - Leon Panetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “It was very painful because I was a young boy. My grandfather, my nonu, as we call him in Italian, came to visit my mother in 1938 and was here visiting when the war broke out and they would not allow him to return back to Italy. And so thank God he was around because he basically babysat for me while my parents were working in the restaurant and I got very close to my grandfather who didn't speak very much English. I had to learn Italian very quickly in order to be able to eat. I got very close to him.”

    2024-06-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 582 - Leon Panetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “When I was secretary, would go to the battlefields both in Iraq and Afghanistan and then always meet with the troops and always either pass out coins or talk to each one of them. And I looked at these young men and women. who so many of them reminded me of our own sons and thought to myself they're willing they're here they're willing to fight and die for our country and i used to ask myself you know maybe maybe if elected leaders had a little bit of that courage to make the tough decisions that are made our democracy would be a lot better off”

    2024-06-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 582 - Leon Panetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “And they are fighting and dying for our country. And when you go to Dover and greet those caskets and meet the families, it is a very Very sobering experience because it really does remind you of the kind of sacrifice that made this country what it is.”

    2024-06-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 582 - Leon Panetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “Yeah, no, you know, We sometimes spend so much time on just the issues and the paperwork and responsibilities you have to deal with that. You sometimes don't realize that these are young men and women who put their lives on the line for the country.”

    2024-06-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 582 - Leon Panetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “Absolutely. When I became Secretary of Defense, I remembered my parents inviting some of those young men to our house for the holidays. And I was thinking to myself, they're here for the holidays, but they're soon going to be at war. And I never forgot that because probably the toughest responsibility I had as Secretary of Defense is to deploy forces into harm's way. And I never forgot the sight of those young men who are going into the battlefields of World War II.”

    2024-06-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 582 - Leon Panetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “Well, actually, I think Steinbeck was around in those days Cannery Rowe was jumping because of the sardines. But we also had Ford Ord, a military reservation. That was training young men for the battlefields of World War II and Monterey was their last stop with civilization before going to war. So you can imagine what kind of action was taking place in downtown Montreal.”

    2024-06-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 582 - Leon Panetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “And raised a son of immigrants, Italian immigrants who thank God managed to make their way to Monterey, actually ran a restaurant downtown Monterey during the war years. My earliest recollections were washing glasses in the back of that restaurant. My parents believed child labor was a requirement in our family.”

    2024-06-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 582 - Leon Panetta · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source