John Podesta

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John David Podesta
20th White House Chief of Staff
In office October 1998 – January 20, 2001
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Erskine Bowles
Succeeded by	Andrew Card
White House Deputy Chief of Staff
In office January 1997 – September 1998 Serving with Sylvia Mathews, Maria Echaveste
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Evelyn Lieberman
Succeeded by	Steve Ricchetti
Born	January 15, 1949 (1949-01-15) (age 60) Chicago, Illinois
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	Knox College Georgetown University Law Center

John David Podesta (born January 8, 1949 ^[1]) was the fourth and final White House Chief of Staff under President Bill Clinton from 1998 until 2001. He is currently President of the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank in Washington, D.C, and is also a Visiting Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center. Podesta was co-chairman of the Obama-Biden Transition Project.^[2]

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 The Clinton years 3 Recent years 4 Footnotes 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Early life

Podesta spent most of his early years in Chicago growing up in the neighborhood of Jefferson Park on the city's Northwest Side.^[3] His father was Italian-American and his mother Greek-American. In 1967, he graduated from Lane Technical High School located in Chicago. In 1971, Podesta graduated from Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. He attended and graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1976. Podesta worked as a trial attorney in the Department of Justice's Honors Program in the Land and Natural Resources Division (1976–1977), and as a Special Assistant to the Director of ACTION, the federal volunteer agency, (1978–1979).

On June 6, 1998, during his Knox College commencement address, Mr. Podesta spoke of his family's early life: "Let me close with a couple of thoughts. Permit me what my kids would refer to as an ethnic moment. One month ago I stood on the White House lawn, and I watched as President Clinton, the man I'm proud to work for, greeted the Italian Prime Minister, Romano Prodi. It caused me to think about my grandparents, who came to America from Italy at the turn of the century and struggled their whole lives, never attending school, living in a walkup tenement in downtown Chicago. My grandfather working as a stevedore. And I thought about my father who had to quit high school after one year to support his family, who worked in factories his whole life, but who kept pushing my brother and myself to get a good education. I realized that I couldn't have been on that lawn without the support -- quite literally the scholarship and financial support, but as importantly, the educational and emotional support that Knox College gave me."

[edit] Career

Podesta held a number of positions on Capitol Hill, including: Counselor to Democratic Leader Senator Thomas Daschle (1995–1996); Chief Counsel for the Senate Agriculture Committee (1987–1988); Chief Minority Counsel for the Senate Judiciary Subcommittees on Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks; Security and Terrorism; and Regulatory Reform; and Counsel on the Majority Staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee (1979–1981). In addition, in 1988, Podesta founded with his brother Tony, Podesta Associates, Inc., a Washington, D.C. "government relations and public affairs" lobbying firm. He also served as a member of the Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States, and the United States Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy.

[edit] The Clinton years

Podesta served as both an Assistant to the President and as Deputy Chief of Staff. Earlier, from January 1993 to 1995, he was Assistant to the President, Staff Secretary and a senior policy adviser on government information, privacy, telecommunications security and regulatory policy. In 1998 he became President Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff in the second Clinton Administration and executed the position until the end of Clinton's time in office in January 2001. He had a key role in introducing Executive Order 12958 which led to an unprecedented effort to declassify millions of pages from the U.S. diplomatic and national security history and also oversaw Clinton's pardons in the last days of his administration.

[edit] Recent years

John Podesta has supported efforts from the UFO research community to pressure the United States government to release files to the public that could bring light on the simmering allegations of conspiracies and cover-up of the issue. At a 2002 news conference organized by Coalition for Freedom of Information Podesta stated that, "It is time for the government to declassify records that are more than 25 years old and to provide scientists with data that will assist in determining the real nature of this phenomenon".^[4] When he worked for the Clinton White House Podesta was in charge of a project to declassify 800 million pages of intelligence documents.^[5][6]

Podesta became an Honorary Patron of the University Philosophical Society in March 2006. Podesta founded and is currently President of the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank in Washington, D.C. In addition to his work at American Progress, Podesta is currently a Visiting Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, where he has taught classes on Congressional investigations and technology law and policy. He is also a member of the Constitution Project's bipartisan Liberty and Security Committee.^[7]

In 2008, Podesta authored his book The Power of Progress: How America's Progressives Can (Once Again) Save Our Economy, Our Climate, and Our Country. In it, he articulates a vision of progressive values based on four core lessons: 1) Progressives stand with people, not privilege; 2) Progressives believe in the Common Good and a government that offers a hand up; 3) Progressives hold that all people are equal in the eyes of God and under the law; and 4) Progressives stand for universal human rights and cooperative global security.

In 2009, Podesta accompanied former President Clinton to North Korea for negotiations securing the release of two American journalists imprisoned on espionage charges. He can be seen in numerous widely circulated photographs of Clinton meeting with Kim Jong Il.

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

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

[edit] External links

• The Power of Progress Book Forum on Facebook
• June 6, 1998, Knox College Commencement Address

Political offices
Preceded by Erskine Bowles	White House Chief of Staff 1998–2001	Succeeded by Andrew Card

v • d • e White House Chiefs of Staff John R. Steelman • Sherman Adams • Wilton Persons • W. Marvin Watson • H. R. Haldeman • Alexander Haig • Donald Rumsfeld • Dick Cheney • Hamilton Jordan • Jack Watson • James Baker • Donald Regan • Howard Baker • Kenneth Duberstein • John H. Sununu • Samuel K. Skinner • James Baker • Mack McLarty • Leon Panetta • Erskine Bowles • John Podesta • Andrew Card • Joshua Bolten • Rahm Emanuel

v • d • e Cabinet of President Bill Clinton (1993 – 2001)   Cabinet Secretary of State Warren Christopher (1993 – 1997) • Madeleine Albright (1997 – 2001) Secretary of the Treasury Lloyd Bentsen (1993 – 1994) • Robert Rubin (1995 – 1999) • Lawrence Summers (1999 – 2001) Secretary of Defense Les Aspin (1993 – 1994) • William Perry (1994 – 1997) • William Cohen (1997 – 2001) Attorney General Janet Reno (1993 – 2001) Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt (1993 – 2001) Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy (1993 – 1994) • Dan Glickman (1994 – 2001) Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown (1993 – 1996) • Mickey Kantor (1996 – 1997) • William Daley (1997 – 2000) • Norman Mineta (2000 – 2001) Secretary of Labor Robert Reich (1993 – 1997) • Alexis Herman (1997 – 2001) Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala (1993 – 2001) Secretary of Education Richard Riley (1993 – 2001) Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros (1993 – 1997) • Andrew Cuomo (1997 – 2001) Secretary of Transportation Federico Peña (1993 – 1997) • Rodney Slater (1997 – 2001) Secretary of Energy Hazel O'Leary (1993 – 1997) • Federico Peña (1997 – 1998) • Bill Richardson (1998 – 2001) Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jesse Brown (1993 – 1997) • Togo West (1998 – 2000) • Hershel Gober (acting) (2000 – 2001)   Cabinet-level Vice President Al Gore (1993 – 2001) White House Chief of Staff Mack McLarty (1993 – 1994) • Leon Panetta (1994 – 1997) • Erskine Bowles (1997 – 1998) • John Podesta (1998 – 2001) Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Carol Browner (1993 – 2001) Ambassador to the United Nations Madeleine Korbel Albright (1993 – 1997) • Bill Richardson (1997 – 1998) • Richard Holbrooke (1999 – 2001) Director of the Office of Management and Budget Leon Panetta (1993 – 1994) • Alice Rivlin (1994 – 1996) • Franklin Raines (1996 – 1998) • Jacob Lew (1998 – 2001) Director of National Drug Control Policy Lee Brown (1993 – 1995) • Barry McCaffrey (1996 – 2001) Trade Representative Mickey Kantor (1993 – 1997) • Charlene Barshefsky (1997 – 2001) Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency James Lee Witt (1996 – 2001) Director of Central Intelligence John M. Deutch (1995 – 1996) • George Tenet (1997 - 2001) Administrator of the Small Business Administration Philip Lader (1994 – 1997) • Aída Álvarez (1997 - 2001)