After former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright died on Wednesday, ex-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said she will always be remembered as a tough diplomat and the first woman to lead the U.S. Department of State.
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Panetta said in an interview that "straight-talking diplomat." He said Albright was a strong voice for the U.S. leadership and the world.
"I thought when the issues came up of who should be Secretary of State, I thought without question that should be the strongest candidate to be in that position, and (President Bill Clinton) agreed and she became the first woman Secretary of State," Panetta, who also served as CIA Director in the Obama administration, explained in an interview with KCBS Radio on Wednesday afternoon.
Albright was born in what was Czechoslovakia, with Panetta recalling to KCBS Radio that she and her family escaped to America from Stalin and Hitler. He recalls the first time he worked with her was when she got involved with the Clinton administration as an ambassador to the U.N. Panetta said she knew the threat Russia posed because of her experience growing up.
"She promoted NATO expansion, she promoted NATO intervention in Kosovo, she was someone who was extremely active in foreign policy and believed, frankly, that the key to a strong diplomacy is a strong defense," he said.
Her upbringing taught her a lot about fascism and communism, according to Panetta. He said she believed if we didn’t stand up to the threat of fascism and communism that "ultimately democracy would fade."
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