The name of Iran derives immediately from Middle Persian , Pahlavi ''ʼyrʼn'', first attested in this form in the inscription that accompanies the investiture relief of Ardashir I at Naqsh-e Rustam. In this inscription, the king's Middle Persian appellation is ''ardašīr šāhān šāh ērān'' (''lit.'' "Ardeshir, king of kings of Eran") corresponding to the passage ''ardašīr šāhān šāh aryān'' (''lit.'' Ardashir, king of kings of Aryans) in the Parthian inscription accompanying the Middle Persian one. Though in English the name ''Persia'' was once the norm, ''Iran'' is today the preferred name.

Etymology

The gentilic ''ēr-'' and ''ary-'' (in e.g. ''ērān''/''aryān'') in the Middle Iranian languages of Persian and Parthian derives from Old Iranian ''*arya-'' (in e.g. Old Persian: ''ariya-'', Avestan: ''airiia-'', etc.), meaning "Aryan," in the sense of "of the Iranians." This word (i.e. ''*arya-'') is attested as an ethnic designator in Achaemenid inscriptions and in Zoroastrianism's Avesta tradition, and in Middle Iranian era (ca. 400 BCE - 700 CE) it seems "very likely" that the word ''ērān'' in Ardashir's inscription still retained the same meaning as in the Old era, i.e. denoting the people rather than the empire while the empire was properly named as ''ērānšahr''.

Notwithstanding this inscriptional use of ''ērān'' to refer to the Iranian peoples, the use of ''ērān'' to refer to the empire (and the antonymic ''anērān'' to refer to the Roman territories) is also attested by the early Sassanid period. Both ''ērān'' and ''anērān'' appear in 3rd century calendrical text written by Mani. In an inscription of Ardashir's son and immediate successor, Shapur I "apparently includes in ''Ērān'' regions such as Armenia and the Caucasus which were not inhabited predominantly by Iranians." In Kartir's inscriptions (written thirty years after Shapur's), the high priest includes the same regions (together with Georgia, Albania, Syria and the Pontus) in his list of provinces of the antonymic ''Anērān''. ''Ērān'' also features in the names of the towns founded by Sassanid dynasts, for instance in ''Ērān-xwarrah-šābuhr'' "Glory of Ērān (of) Shapur". It also appears in the titles of government officers, such as in ''Ērān-āmārgar'' "Accountant-General (of) Ērān" or ''Ērān-dibirbed'' "Chief Scribe (of) Ērān".

Shapur's trilingual inscription at Ka'ba-i Zartosht also introduces the term ''ērānšahr'' (75px), "kingdom of the Iranians", that is however not attested in any other texts of this period other than in royal inscriptions (it is however preserved in post-Sassanid-era Zoroastrian texts|group="n"}}). Because an equivalent of ''ērānšahr'' does not appear in Old Iranian (where it would have been ''*aryānām xšaθra-'' or in Old Persian ''*- xšaça-'', "rule, reign, sovereignty"), the term is presumed to have been a Sassanid-era development. In the Greek portion of Shapur's trilingual inscription the word ''šahr'' "kingdom" appears as ''ethnous'' "nation". For speakers of Greek, the idea of an Iranian ''ethnous'' was not new: In the 1st century BCE, Strabo had noted a relationship between the various Iranian peoples and their languages: "[From] beyond the Indus [...] Ariana is extended so as to include some part of Persia, Media, and the north of Bactria and Sogdiana; for these nations speak nearly the same language." (''Geography'', 15.2.1-15.2.8).

Usage in the medieval Islamic period

The name "Aria"(etymologically equivalent to Iran) is also attest in this period. Hamza Isfahani (894-970) in his book "history of the Prophets and Saints" mentions:''Arian which is the same as Persia is situation in the middle of these six countries and these six countries form its borders. Its SE is China, its North is bordered by the lands of Turk, Its Southern Middle borders India, Its Northern Middle borders Byzantium, its SW borders Africa and its NW is in the hand of Berbers''.

Hakim Meysari (born 935 A.D.) has written an important Persian treaty on medicine in verse. In the beginning of the book he writes: {{blockquote| جو بر پیوستنش بر دل نهادم

فراوان رایها بر دل گشادم

که چون گویمش من تا دیر نماند

وُ هرکس دانش او بداند

بگویم تازی ار نه پارسی نغز

ز هر در بگویم من مایه و مغز

وُ پس گفتم زمین ماست ایران

که بیش از مردمانش پارسیدان

وُگر تازی کنم نیکو نباشد

که هر کس را از او نیرو نباشد

دری گویمش تا هرکس بداند

وُ هرکس برزبانش بر براند

Translation: When I decided to compose works, many thoughts ran through my mind. I wanted everyone to understand the knowledge I am writing. I was undecided to write in Persian or Arabic Then I told myself that our country is Iran, and the majority of its people speak Persian, thus if I write in Arabic it is not right, because not every may benefit from that language, Thus I will compose it in Dari (Persian) So that people can understand it and recite it }}

The name was also used for inhabitants. For example Safi al-Din al-Urmawi, a famous Iranian musician is referred to by Qutb al-Din Shirazi ((1236–1311)) as the wise sage of Iran. According to the Encyclopedia of Islam on Safi al-Din al-Urmawi:.

Modern usage

During the Safavid era, most of the territory of the Sassanid empire regained its political unity, and Safavid kings were assuming the title of "''Šāhanšāh-e Irān''" (Iran's king of kings). An example is Mofid Bafqi (d. 1679) who makes numerous references to Iran, describing its border and nostalgia of Iranians that had migrated to India in that era. Even Ottoman sultans, when addressing the Āq Quyunlu and Safavid kings, used such titles as the “king of Iranian lands” or the “sultan of the lands of Iran” or “the king of kings of Iran, the lord of the Persians”. This title, as well as the title of "''Šāh-e Irān''", was later used by Nader Shah Afshar and Qajar and Pahlavi kings. Since 1935, the name "''Iran''" also has replaced other names of Iran in the western world. Jean Chardin who travelled to Persian between 1673 to 1677 has observed that both Iran and Fars were used concurrently:

Since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the official name of the country is "Islamic Republic of Iran."

See also

Iran naming convention

Greater Iran

Notes

References

External links

IRANIAN IDENTITY - ii. PRE-ISLAMIC PERIOD, Encyclopedia Iranica

Iran, Etymology of Category:Etymologies Category:History of Iran Category:Persian words and phrases

fa:ایرانشهر (ساسانیان) hr:Terminologija Irana i Perzije#Naziv „Iran“ sv:Iran (ord) tr:İran kelimesinin etimolojisi

name	Ravi Shankar
alt	An old man sits on a platform and holds a long-necked lute while looking to the side.
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury
birth date	April 07, 1920
birth place	Varanasi, United Provinces, Indian Empire
instrument	''sitar''
genre	Hindustani classical music
occupation	composer, musician
years active	1939–present
website	RaviShankar.org
associated acts	Uday Shankar, Allauddin Khan, Ali Akbar Khan, Lakshmi Shankar, Yehudi Menuhin, Chatur Lal, Alla Rakha, George Harrison, Anoushka Shankar }}

Ravi Shankar born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury on 7 April 1920), often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument ''sitar''. He has been described as the most known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in ''Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart''.

Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent his youth touring Europe and India with the dance group of his brother Uday Shankar. He gave up dancing in 1938 to study ''sitar'' playing under court musician Allauddin Khan. After finishing his studies in 1944, Shankar worked as a composer, creating the music for the ''Apu Trilogy'' by Satyajit Ray, and was music director of All India Radio, New Delhi, from 1949 to 1956.

In 1956, he began to tour Europe and America playing Indian classical music and increased its popularity there in the 1960s through teaching, performance, and his association with violinist Yehudi Menuhin and George Harrison of The Beatles. Shankar engaged Western music by writing concerti for ''sitar'' and orchestra and toured the world in the 1970s and 1980s. From 1986 to 1992 he served as a nominated member of the upper chamber of the Parliament of India. Shankar was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1999, and received three Grammy Awards. He continues to perform in the 2000s, often with his daughter Anoushka.

Early life

Shankar was born 7 April 1920 in Varanasi to a Brahmin family of Bengalis as the youngest of seven brothers. Shankar's Bengali birth name was Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury. His father, Shyam Shankar, an administrator for the Maharaja of Jhalawar, used the Sanskrit spelling of the family name and removed its last part. Shyam was married to Shankar's mother Hemangini Devi, but later worked as a lawyer in London. There he married a second time while Devi raised Shankar in Varanasi, and did not meet his son until he was eight years old. Shankar shortened the Sanskrit version of his first name, Ravindra, to Ravi, for "sun".

At the age of ten, after spending his first decade in Varanasi, Shankar went to Paris with the dance group of his brother, choreographer Uday Shankar. By the age of 13 he had become a member of the group, accompanied its members on tour and learned to dance and play various Indian instruments. Uday's dance group toured Europe and America in the early to mid-1930s and Shankar learned French, discovered Western classical music, jazz, and cinema, and became acquainted with Western customs. Shankar heard the lead musician for the Maihar court, Allauddin Khan, in December 1934 at a music conference in Kolkata and Uday convinced the Maharaja of Maihar in 1935 to allow Khan to become his group's soloist for a tour of Europe. Shankar was sporadically trained by Khan on tour, and Khan offered Shankar training to become a serious musician under the condition that he abandon touring and come to Maihar.

Career

Training and work in India

Shankar's parents had died by the time he returned from the European tour, and touring the West had become difficult due to political conflicts that would lead to World War II. Shankar gave up his dancing career in 1938 to go to Maihar and study Indian classical music as Khan's pupil, living with his family in the traditional ''gurukul'' system. Khan was a rigorous teacher and Shankar had training on ''sitar'' and ''surbahar'', learned ''ragas'' and the musical styles ''dhrupad'', ''dhamar'', and ''khyal'', and was taught the techniques of the instruments ''rudra veena'', ''rubab'', and ''sursingar''. He often studied with Khan's children Ali Akbar Khan and Annapurna Devi. Shankar began to perform publicly on ''sitar'' in December 1939 and his debut performance was a ''jugalbandi'' (duet) with Ali Akbar Khan, who played the string instrument ''sarod''.

Shankar completed his training in 1944. Following his training, he moved to Mumbai and joined the Indian People's Theatre Association, for whom he composed music for ballets in 1945 and 1946. Shankar recomposed the music for the popular song "Sare Jahan Se Achcha" at the age of 25. He began to record music for HMV India and worked as a music director for All India Radio (AIR), New Delhi, from February 1949 to January 1956. Shankar founded the Indian National Orchestra at AIR and composed for it; his compositions experimented with a combination of Western instruments and classical Indian instrumentation. Beginning in the mid-1950s he composed the music for the ''Apu Trilogy'' by Satyajit Ray, which became internationally acclaimed.

International career 1956–1969

V. K. Narayana Menon, director of AIR Delhi, introduced the Western violinist Yehudi Menuhin to Shankar during Menuhin's first visit to India in 1952. Shankar had performed as part of a cultural delegation in the Soviet Union in 1954 and Menuhin invited Shankar in 1955 to perform in New York City for a demonstration of Indian classical music, sponsored by the Ford Foundation. Shankar declined to attend due to problems in his marriage, but recommended Ali Akbar Khan to play instead. Khan reluctantly accepted and performed with ''tabla'' (percussion) player Chatur Lal in the Museum of Modern Art, and he later became the first Indian classical musician to perform on American television and record a full ''raga'' performance, for Angel Records.

Shankar heard about the positive response Khan received and resigned from AIR in 1956 to tour the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States. He played for smaller audiences and educated them about Indian music, incorporating ''ragas'' from the South Indian Carnatic music in his performances, and recorded his first LP album ''Three Ragas'' in London, released in 1956. In 1958, Shankar participated in the celebrations of the tenth anniversary of the United Nations and UNESCO music festival in Paris. From 1961, he toured Europe, the United States, and Australia, and became the first Indian to compose music for non-Indian films. Chatur Lal accompanied Shankar on ''tabla'' until 1962, when Alla Rakha assumed the role. Shankar founded the Kinnara School of Music in Mumbai in 1962.

Shankar befriended Richard Bock, founder of World Pacific Records, on his first American tour and recorded most of his albums in the 1950s and 1960s for Bock's label. The Byrds recorded at the same studio and heard Shankar's music, which led them to incorporate some of its elements in theirs, introducing the genre to their friend George Harrison of The Beatles. Harrison became interested in Indian classical music, bought a ''sitar'' and used it to record the song "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)". This led to Indian music being used by other musicians and created the raga rock trend.

Harrison met Shankar in London in 1966 and visited India for six weeks to study ''sitar'' under Shankar in Srinagar. During the visit, a documentary film about Shankar named ''Raga'' was shot by Howard Worth, and released in 1971. Shankar's association with Harrison greatly increased Shankar's popularity and Ken Hunt of Allmusic would state that Shankar had become "the most famous Indian musician on the planet" by 1966. In 1967, he performed at the Monterey Pop Festival and won a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance for ''West Meets East'', a collaboration with Yehudi Menuhin. The same year, the Beatles won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year for ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' which included "Within You Without You" by Harrison, a song that was influenced by Indian classical music. Shankar opened a Western branch of the Kinnara School of Music in Los Angeles, California, in May 1967, and published an autobiography, ''My Music, My Life'', in 1968. He performed at the Woodstock Festival in August 1969, and found he disliked the venue. In the 1970s Shankar distanced himself from the hippie movement.

International career 1970–present

In October 1970 Shankar became chair of the department of Indian music of the California Institute of the Arts after previously teaching at the City College of New York, the University of California, Los Angeles, and being guest lecturer at other colleges and universities, including the Ali Akbar College of Music. In late 1970, the London Symphony Orchestra invited Shankar to compose a concerto with ''sitar''; ''Concerto for Sitar and Orchestra'' was performed with André Previn as conductor and Shankar playing the ''sitar''. Hans Neuhoff of ''Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'' has criticized the usage of the orchestra in this concert as "amateurish". George Harrison organized the charity Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971, in which Shankar participated. Interest in Indian music had decreased in the early 1970s, but the concert album became one of the best-selling recordings featuring it and won Shankar a second Grammy Award.

During the 1970s, Shankar and Harrison worked together again, recording ''Shankar Family & Friends'' in 1973 and touring North America the following year to a mixed response after Shankar had toured Europe with the Harrison-sponsored Music Festival from India. The demanding schedule weakened Shankar, and he suffered a heart attack in Chicago in November 1974, causing him to miss a portion of the tour. In his absence, Shankar's sister-in-law, singer Lakshmi Shankar, conducted the touring orchestra. The touring band visited the White House on invitation of John Gardner Ford, son of U.S. President Gerald Ford. Shankar toured and taught for the remainder of the 1970s and the 1980s and released his second concerto, ''Raga Mala'', conducted by Zubin Mehta, in 1981. Shankar was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Music Score for his work on the 1982 movie ''Gandhi'', but lost to John Williams' ''E.T.'' He served as a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper chamber of the Parliament of India, from 12 May 1986 to 11 May 1992, after being nominated by Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Shankar composed the dance drama ''Ghanashyam'' in 1989. His liberal views on musical cooperation led him to collaboration with contemporary composer Philip Glass, with whom he released an album, ''Passages'', in 1990.

Shankar underwent an angioplasty in 1992 due to heart problems, after which George Harrison involved himself in several of Shankar's projects. Because of the positive response to Shankar's 1996 career compilation ''In Celebration'', Shankar wrote a second autobiography, ''Raga Mala'', with Harrison as editor. He performed in between 25 and 40 concerts every year during the late 1990s. Shankar taught his daughter Anoushka Shankar to play ''sitar'' and in 1997 became a Regent's Lecturer at University of California, San Diego. In the 2000s, he won a Grammy Award for Best World Music Album for ''Full Circle: Carnegie Hall 2000'' and toured with Anoushka, who released a book about her father, ''Bapi: Love of My Life'', in 2002. Anoushka performed a composition by Shankar for the 2002 Harrison memorial Concert for George and Shankar wrote a third concerto for ''sitar'' and orchestra for Anoushka and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. In June 2008, Shankar played what was billed as his last European concert, but his 2011 tour includes dates in the United Kingdom.

Style and contributions

Shankar developed a style distinct from that of his contemporaries and incorporated influences from rhythm practices of Carnatic music. His performances begin with solo ''alap'', ''jor'', and ''jhala'' (introduction and performances with pulse and rapid pulse) influenced by the slow and serious ''dhrupad'' genre, followed by a section with ''tabla'' accompaniment featuring compositions associated with the prevalent ''khyal'' style. Shankar often closes his performances with a piece inspired by the light-classical ''thumri'' genre.

Shankar has been considered one of the top ''sitar'' players of the second half of the 20th century. He popularized performing on the bass octave of the ''sitar'' for the ''alap'' section and became known for a distinctive playing style in the middle and high registers that uses quick and short deviations of the playing string and his sound creation through stops and strikes on the main playing string. Narayana Menon of ''The New Grove Dictionary'' noted Shankar's liking for rhythmic novelties, among them the use of unconventional rhythmic cycles. Hans Neuhoff of ''Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'' has argued that Shankar's playing style was not widely adopted and that he was surpassed by other ''sitar'' players in the performance of melodic passages. Shankar's interplay with Alla Rakha improved appreciation for ''tabla'' playing in Hindustani classical music. Shankar promoted the ''jugalbandi'' duet concert style and introduced new ''ragas'', including ''Tilak Shyam'', ''Nat Bhairav'' and ''Bairagi''.

Recognition

Shankar won the Silver Bear Extraordinary Prize of the Jury at the 1957 Berlin International Film Festival for composing the music for the movie ''Kabuliwala''. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 1962, and was named a Fellow of the academy for 1975. Shankar was awarded the three highest national civil honors of India: Padma Bhushan, in 1967, Padma Vibhushan, in 1981, and Bharat Ratna, in 1999. He received the music award of the UNESCO International Music Council in 1975, three Grammy Awards, and was nominated for an Academy Award. Shankar was awarded honorary degrees from universities in India and the United States. He received the Kalidas Samman from the Government of Madhya Pradesh for 1987–88, the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in 1991, the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1992, and the Polar Music Prize in 1998. In 2001, Shankar was made an Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Elizabeth II for his "services to music". Shankar is an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and in 1997 received the Praemium Imperiale for music from the Japan Art Association. The American jazz saxophonist John Coltrane named his son Ravi Coltrane after Shankar.

Personal life and family

Shankar married Allauddin Khan's daughter Annapurna Devi in 1941 and a son, Shubhendra Shankar, was born in 1942. Shankar separated from Devi during the 1940s and had a relationship with Kamala Shastri, a dancer, beginning in the late 1940s. An affair with Sue Jones, a New York concert producer, led to the birth of Norah Jones in 1979. In 1981, Anoushka Shankar was born to Shankar and Sukanya Rajan, whom Shankar had known since the 1970s. After separating from Kamala Shastri in 1981, Shankar lived with Sue Jones until 1986. He married Sukanya Rajan in 1989.

Shubhendra "Shubho" Shankar often accompanied his father on tours. He could play the ''sitar'' and ''surbahar'', but elected not to pursue a solo career and died in 1992. Norah Jones became a successful musician in the 2000s, winning eight Grammy Awards in 2003. Anoushka Shankar was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best World Music Album in 2003. Anoushka hopes to perform again with her father soon. "We just did a show together in Bangalore," she adds. "He’s doing a few shows in the U.S. now, but it’s when I’m touring separately. But I do hope we get more opportunities to play together."

Shankar is a Hindu and a vegetarian. He lives with Sukanya in Encinitas, California.

Discography

Bibliography

Notes

References

External links

{{navboxes |title=Navigation boxes related to Ravi Shankar |state=collapsed |list1= }}

Category:1920 births Category:Apple Records artists Category:Artists from Varanasi Category:Composers awarded knighthoods Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Hindustani instrumentalists Category:Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:Indian composers Category:Indian film score composers Category:Indian Hindus Category:Indian vegetarians Category:Living people Category:Maihar gharana Category:Musicians awarded knighthoods Category:Nominated members of the Rajya Sabha Category:People of Bengali descent Category:Ramon Magsaysay Award winners Category:Recipients of the Bharat Ratna Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan Category:Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship Category:Sitar players

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Birthname	Leon Edward Panetta
Name	Leon Panetta
Office	23rd United States Secretary of Defense
President	Barack Obama
Deputy	William Lynn Ashton Carter
Term start	July 1, 2011
Predecessor	Robert Gates
Office2	Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
President2	Barack Obama
Deputy2	Stephen KappesMichael Morell
Term start2	February 13, 2009
Term end2	June 30, 2011
Predecessor2	Michael Hayden
Successor2	Michael Morell (Acting) David Petraeus
Office3	18th White House Chief of Staff
President3	Bill Clinton
Term start3	July 17, 1994
Term end3	January 20, 1997
Predecessor3	Mack McLarty
Successor3	Erskine Bowles
Office4	29th Director of the Office of Management and Budget
President4	Bill Clinton
Term start4	January 21, 1993
Term end4	July 17, 1994
Predecessor4	Richard Darman
Successor4	Alice Rivlin
Office5	Chairman of the House Committee on the Budget
Term start5	January 3, 1989
Term end5	January 21, 1993
Predecessor5	William Gray
Successor5	Martin Sabo
State6	California
District6	17th
Term start6	January 3, 1993
Term end6	January 21, 1993
Predecessor6	Burt Talcott
Succeeded6	Sam Farr
State7	California
District7	16th
Term start7	January 3, 1977
Term end7	January 3, 1993
Predecessor7	Burt Talcott
Succeeded7	Don Edwards
Birth date	June 28, 1938
Birth place
Party	Democratic Party (1971–present)
Otherparty	Republican Party (Before 1971)
Alma mater	Santa Clara University
Spouse	Sylvia
Profession	LawyerProfessorPoliticianStatesman
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Branch	United States Army
Serviceyears	1964–1966
Rank
Awards	Army Commendation Medal }}

Leon Edward Panetta (born June 28, 1938) is the 23rd and current United States Secretary of Defense, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama since 2011. Prior to taking office, he served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. An Italian-American Democratic politician, lawyer, and professor, Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997, Director of the Office of Management and Budget from 1993–1994, and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993. He is the founder of the Panetta Institute for Public Policy, served as Distinguished Scholar to Chancellor Charles B. Reed of the California State University System and professor of public policy at Santa Clara University.

In January 2009, President Obama nominated Panetta for the post of CIA Director. Panetta was confirmed by the full Senate in February 2009. As director of the CIA, Panetta oversaw President Obama's operation that led to Osama bin Laden's death.

On April 28, 2011, Obama announced the nomination of Panetta as Defense Secretary when Robert Gates retired. In June the Senate confirmed Panetta unanimously as Secretary of Defense. He assumed the office on July 1. David Petraeus took over as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on September 6.

Early life, education, and military service

Leon Panetta was born in Monterey, California, the son of Carmelina Maria and Carmelo Frank Panetta, Italian immigrants from Siderno in Calabria who owned a restaurant in Monterey. He was raised in the Monterey area, and attended Catholic schools San Carlos Grammar School and Carmel Mission School. He continued his education at Monterey High School, a public school where he became involved in student politics, and was a JSA member. As a junior he was Vice President of the Student Body, and became President of the Student Body as a senior.

In 1956, he entered Santa Clara University, and in 1960 he graduated ''magna cum laude'' with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. He also received a Juris Doctor in 1963 from the Santa Clara University School of Law. In 1964, he joined the United States Army as a Second Lieutenant, where he served as an officer in Army Military Intelligence. There he received the Army Commendation Medal, and was discharged in 1966 as a First Lieutenant.

Political career

Panetta started in politics in 1966 as a legislative assistant to Republican Senator Thomas Kuchel, the United States Senate Minority Whip from California, whom Panetta has called "a tremendous role model".

In 1969 he became the assistant to Robert H. Finch, Secretary of the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare under the Nixon administration. Soon thereafter he was appointed Director of the Office for Civil Rights.

Panetta chose to enforce civil rights and equal education laws. Secretary Robert Finch and Assistant Secretary John Veneman refused to fire Panetta, threatening to resign if forced to do so. A few weeks later in 1970, Panetta resigned and left Washington to work as Executive Assistant for John Lindsay, the Republican Mayor of New York City. He wrote about this experience in his 1971 book ''Bring Us Together."

He moved back to Monterey to practice law at Panetta, Thompson & Panetta from 1971 through to 1976.

Congressional work

Panetta switched to the Democratic Party in 1971, because he thought that the Republican Party was moving away from the political center. In 1976, Panetta was elected to the U.S. Congress to represent California's 16th congressional district, unseating incumbent Republican Burt Talcott with 53% of the vote (the 17th district after the 1990 census), and was reelected for nine terms.

During his time in Congress, his work concentrated mostly on budget issues, civil rights, education, healthcare. agriculture, immigration, and environmental issues, particularly preventing oil drilling off the California coast. He wrote the Hunger Prevention Act (Public Law 100-435) of 1988 and the Fair Employment Practices Resolution. He was the author of legislation establishing the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, and legislation providing Medicare coverage for hospice service.

His positions included:

Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on the Budget

Chairman of the Agriculture Committee's Subcommittee on Domestic Marketing, Consumer Relations, and Nutrition

Chairman of the Administration Committee's Subcommittee on Personnel and Police

Chairman of the Task Force on Domestic Hunger created by the U.S. House Select Committee on Hunger

Vice Chairman of the Caucus of Vietnam-Era Veterans in Congress

Member of the President's Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies.

Budget work

A member of the U.S. House Committee on the Budget from 1979 to 1985 — and its chairman from 1989 to 1993 — he played a key role in the 1990 Budget Summit.

Though elected to a ninth term, he left the House in 1993 after President Bill Clinton selected him to be Director of the United States Office of Management and Budget. He is credited with developing the budget package that would eventually result in the balanced budget of 1998. On July 17, 1994, he was appointed White House Chief of Staff by Clinton, a position he held until January 20, 1997. He was an important negotiator of the 1996 budget, which was another important step towards balancing the budget.

Nomination as CIA Director

President Barack Obama nominated him to the post of Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on January 5, 2009.

After his selection, journalists and politicians raised concerns about his lack of intelligence experience.

''Washington Post'' columnist David Ignatius said that Panetta did have tangential exposure to intelligence operations as Director of the OMB and as Chief of Staff for President Clinton, where he "sat in on the daily intelligence briefings as chief of staff, and he reviewed the nation's most secret intelligence-collection and covert-action programs in his previous post as director of the Office of Management and Budget". Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democratic chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, wasn't happy with the Leon Panetta selection:

:“I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA Director. I know nothing about this, other than what I’ve read. My position has consistently been that I believe the Agency is best-served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time.”

Former CIA officer Ishmael Jones stated, that Panetta was a wise choice because of his close personal connection to the President and lack of exposure to the CIA bureaucracy.

On February 12, 2009, Panetta was confirmed in the full Senate by voice vote.

Director of the CIA

On February 19, 2009, Leon Panetta was sworn in as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency by Vice President Joe Biden before an audience of CIA employees. Panetta reportedly received a "rock star welcome" from his new subordinates.

In March 2009, Panetta visited India to discuss a host of issues including common strategy on dealing with Islamic extremism and Taliban. This was his first international visit since he assumed office.

Panetta supported U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, which he identified as the "most effective weapon" against senior Al-Qaeda leadership. These attacks increased significantly under Panetta, with as many as 50 suspected Al-Qaeda militants being killed in May 2009 alone.

As Director of the CIA, Panetta presided over the operations that led to Osama bin Laden's death on May 1, 2011.

Secretary of Defense

On April 28, 2011, President Obama announced the nomination of Panetta as United States Secretary of Defense as a replacement for retiring Secretary Robert Gates. On June 21, 2011, the United States Senate confirmed Panetta in a 100-0 vote. He was sworn in on July 1, 2011. One of Panetta's first major acts as Defense Secretary was to jointly certify with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that the military was prepared to repeal "don't ask, don't tell", triggering final repeal after 60 days.

In August 2011 Panetta said that deeper cuts in the defense budget risked hollowing out the military and would hamper Pentagon efforts to deal with rising powers such as China, North Korea and Iran. It was the second day in a row that Panetta issued a public warning to Congress not to go beyond the roughly $400 billion in defense cuts required over the next decade under the debt reduction bill signed by President Obama. "You cannot deal with the size deficits the country is confronting by simply cutting the discretionary side of the budget," he said, referring to defense and other portions of the budget that Congress appropriates annually. "You have got to look at the mandatory side of the budget, which is two-thirds of the federal budget, and you also have to look at revenue."

Like Gates before him, Panetta has fielded questions from the troops about their entitlements. He has said that future soldiers may see changes in retirement benefits and that healthcare may need reforms to protect care while reining in costs.

When the supercommittee did not approve a deficit reduction plan Panetta said “The failure of the congressional supercommittee to reach an agreement on deficit reduction is a setback for the country's efforts to achieve fiscal responsibility while protecting our national security”. He added that “If Congress fails to act over the next year, the Department of Defense will face devastating, automatic, across-the-board cuts that will tear a seam in the nation's defense”.

In January 2012 Panetta, speaking to soldiers at Fort Bliss in Texas, said that the United States is keeping all its options on the table, including military ones with regard to Iran. “Clearly there are those areas that for us are red lines,” Panetta said. “Number one, we cannot allow them to develop a nuclear weapon. That’s a red line. Number two, we cannot tolerate Iran blocking the Straits of Hormuz.”

Activities outside politics

Panetta and his wife founded the Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy in December 1998, where they serve as the Institute's directors. The Institute is located at California State University, Monterey Bay. Panetta was instrumental in creating CSU Monterey Bay by converting Fort Ord, where he was chief of operations and planning of the intelligence section when he was in the army, into the university. Panetta served as Distinguished Scholar to the Chancellor of California State University and as Presidential Professor at Santa Clara University. He was urged to consider running for Governor of California during the recall election in 2003, but declined in part because of the short time available to raise money.

Panetta has long been an advocate for the health of the world's oceans. As a member of Congress from California’s 16th District, he wrote numerous successful acts of Congress to protect the California coast, including legislation creating the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. In 2003, Panetta was named chairman and commissioner of the Pew Oceans Commission, which in 2005 combined with the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy to establish the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative. Panetta now co-chairs the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative with Admiral James D. Watkins, U.S. Navy (Ret.). Panetta continues to pursue his commitment to ocean and marine life issues, serving as a resource for legislators and the media, advocating for ocean reform on behalf of the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative as well as other ocean organizations, including the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

In 2006 he was part of the Iraq Study Group, also known as the Baker Commission.

In 2009 Panetta delivered the commencement speech to the graduating class at The University of Maryland at College Park, emphasising the importance of public service and leadership.

Responsibilities

Joint Ocean Commission Initiative Commissioner and Co-Chair Pew Oceans Commission Commissioner Bread for the World

Board of Directors

National Marine Sanctuary Foundation Member of the Board of Directors National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management

Board of Directors, 2004–2009

New York Stock Exchange

Co-chairman of the Corporate Accountability and Listing Standards Committee

Board of Directors since 1997

Close Up Foundation

Board of Directors, Member since 1999

Connetics Investor Relations Board of Directors since March 2000 Fleishman-Hillard

Co-chairman of the Corporate Accountability and Listing Standards Committee

Co-chairman of the Corporate Credibility Advisory practice

Member of the International Advisory Board

Junior Statesmen Foundation Inc.

Trustee since 2004

Public Policy Institute of California Board of Directors since 2007

In June 2002, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops appointed Panetta to their National Review Board, which was created to look into the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandal. This created controversy because of Panetta's pro-choice stands on abortion and other views seen as conflicting with those of the Church.

Personal life

Panetta married Sylvia Marie Varni, who administered his home district offices during his terms in Congress.

He and his wife live on his family's twelve-acre (49,000 m²) walnut farm in Carmel Valley, California. They have three sons and three grandchildren.

Awards

1966 – Army Commendation Medal

1969 – Abraham Lincoln Award, National Education Association

1984 – A. Philip Randolph Award

1988 – Golden Plow Award, American Farm Bureau Federation

1991 – President's Award, American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages

1991 – Coastal and Ocean Management Award, Coastal Zone Foundation

1993 – Peter Burnett Award for Distinguished Public Service

1995 – Distinguished Public Service Medal, Center for the Study of the Presidency

1997 – Special Achievement Award for Public Service, National Italian American Foundation

2001 – John H. Chafee Coastal Stewardship Award, Coastal America

2002 – Law Alumni Special Achievement Award, Santa Clara University School of Law Alumni Association

2003 – Julius A. Stratton "Champion of the Coast" Award for Coastal Leadership

2005 – Received an honorary Doctorate from University of Wisconsin–Parkside

2005 – Received an honorary Doctorate of Public Service from Northeastern University

2006 – Paul Peck Award

References

Further reading

Clinton, Bill (2005). ''My Life''. Vintage. ISBN 1-4000-3003-X.

External links

Office of the Secretary of Defense

Biography of the Central Intelligence Agency (archived)

Biography of Panetta, Hartnell University

Conversations with History – Interview with Leon Panetta, UC Berkeley Institute of International Studies

The Panetta Institute for Public Policy

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Category:1938 births Category:American people of Italian descent Category:People of Calabrian descent Category:American Roman Catholics Category:Clinton Administration personnel Category:Directors of the Central Intelligence Agency Category:Directors of the Office of Management and Budget Category:Living people Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from California Category:Obama Administration cabinet members Category:People from Monterey County, California Category:Santa Clara University alumni Category:Santa Clara University School of Law alumni Category:United States Army officers Category:United States Secretaries of Defense Category:White House Chiefs of Staff Category:Recipients of the Army Commendation Medal

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