Leon Panetta urges Santa Clara University grads to work for the public good
Source: San Jose Mercury News
Drawing cheers and a few guffaws as he delivered the commencement address Saturday at his alma mater, former CIA director and U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta urged Santa Clara University graduates not to despair about the country's troubles or conclude they have little chance of fixing them.
"Take it from me, you really can make a difference," he said. "The state of the nation, whether you like it or not, largely will depend on you."
A Monterey native who will turn 75 on June 28, Panetta earned a bachelor's degree and a law degree from the university in the 1960s and went on to spend most of his life in the federal government. Aside from his defense and intelligence agency jobs, he served as a Central Coast congressman and was director of the Office for Civil Rights and of the Office of Management and Budget.
Since leaving the Pentagon in February, he has returned to the Panetta Institute for Public Policy, which he and his wife, Sylvia, founded in 1997. And on Saturday, he implored the 1,000-plus graduates to work for the public good.
Read more: http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_23468872/former-cia-chief-and-defense-secretary-leon-panetta
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