James E. Webb | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 1966 | |
| 2nd Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration | |
| In office February 14, 1961 – October 7, 1968 | |
| President | |
| Deputy | |
| Preceded by | T. Keith Glennan |
| Succeeded by | Thomas O. Paine |
| 16thUnited States Under Secretary of State | |
| In office January 28, 1949 – February 29, 1952 | |
| President | Harry S. Truman |
| Preceded by | Robert A. Lovett |
| Succeeded by | David Bruce |
| 7th Director of theBureau of the Budget | |
| In office July 13, 1946 – January 27, 1949 | |
| President | Harry S. Truman |
| Preceded by | Harold D. Smith |
| Succeeded by | Frank Pace |
| Personal details | |
| Born | James Edwin Webb (1906-10-07)October 7, 1906 Tally Ho, North Carolina, U.S. (now Stem) |
| Died | March 27, 1992(1992-03-27) (aged 85) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch/service | United States Marine Corps |
| Years of service |
|
| Rank | Lieutenant colonel[1] |
James Edwin Webb (October 7, 1906 – March 27, 1992) was an American government official who served asUndersecretary of State from 1949 to 1952. He was the secondadministrator ofNASA from February 14, 1961, to October 7, 1968. Webb led NASA from the beginning of theKennedy administration through the end of theJohnson administration, thus overseeing each of the critical first crewed missions throughout theMercury andGemini programs until days before the launch of the first Apollo mission. He also dealt with theApollo 1 fire. He helped found theNational Academy of Public Administration, a key locus for governmental reform studies.[2]
In 2002, the Next Generation Space Telescope was renamed theJames Webb Space Telescope as a tribute to Webb.
Webb was born in 1906 in Tally Ho inGranville County, North Carolina. His father, John Frederick Webb, was superintendent of Granville County's segregated public schools.[3] Sarah Gorham Webb was his mother.[4] He completed his college education at theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Education in 1928. He was a member of theAcacia fraternity. Webb became asecond lieutenant in theUnited States Marine Corps, and he served as a Marine Corps pilot on active duty from 1930 to 1932. Webb then studied law atThe George Washington University Law School, where he received aJ.D. degree in 1936. In the same year, he was admitted to theBar of theDistrict of Columbia.
Webb married Patsy Aiken Douglas in 1938, and they had two children. He was aFreemason.[5]
Webb began his long career in public service in Washington, D.C., by serving as secretary to U.S. RepresentativeEdward W. Pou ofNorth Carolina from 1932 to 1934. Pou was chairman of theRules Committee andDean of the House. With Webb's assistance, Pou was influential in pushing through the first legislation ofFranklin D. Roosevelt'sNew Deal during thefirst hundred days of Roosevelt's term. In addition to his secretarial duties, Webb provided physical assistance to the aging and ailing Pou.[6]
Webb next served as an assistant in the office ofOliver Max Gardner, an attorney, former governor of North Carolina and friend of President Roosevelt, from 1934 to 1936. Gardner supported Webb in finishing law school.[7]
During theAir Mail scandal of 1934, the government halted the carrying of airmail by private airline companies. A group of airline executives, led by Thomas Morgan, the President of theSperry Gyroscope Company inBrooklyn, hired Gardner's firm to represent them. The successful resolution resulted in the resumption of contracts with private airlines.
As a result of their interactions,Sperry Gyroscope hired Webb as the personnel director and assistant to Thomas Morgan, the president of Sperry. Between 1936 and 1944, Webb became the secretary-treasurer and later the vice president of Sperry. During his tenure, Sperry expanded from 800 employees to more than 33,000 and became a major supplier of navigation equipment andairborne radar systems duringWorld War II.[8]
Although he wished to re-enlist in the Marines at the start of the war, Webb was deferred because of the importance of his work at Sperry to the war effort. He reentered the Marine Corps on February 1, 1944[9] and soon became the commanding officer ofMarine Air Warning Group One,9th Marine Aircraft Wing, first as a captain and later as a major. Webb's brother, Henry Gorham Webb, was also a Marine Corps officer who was at that time a prisoner of war in Japan, having served withVMF-211 during theBattle of Wake Island, and then subsequently captured.[9]
He was put in charge of a radar program for the invasion of the Japanese mainland. He had orders to leave for Japan on August 14, 1945, but his orders were delayed, and theSurrender of Japan on September 2, 1945, meant that he did not see combat.[10]
After World War II, Webb returned to Washington, DC and served as executive assistant toGardner, now theUndersecretary of the Treasury, for a short while before he was named as the director of theBureau of the Budget in theOffice of the President of the United States, a position that he held until 1949. Webb was recommended for the appointment toHarry S. Truman by Gardner and Treasury SecretaryJohn Snyder. Because of Webb's association with the Treasury Department, his appointment was seen as subordinating the BoB to the Treasury. His appointment surprised Webb, who had not been told of the final decision to appoint him.[11]
The Bureau of the Budget prepared the President's proposed budget each year for presentation to Congress. Truman's objective for the budget was to bring it to balance after the large expenditures of World War II.[12]
President Truman next nominated Webb to serve as anundersecretary of state in theU.S. Department of State, which he began in January 1949. Webb's first assignment from SecretaryDean Acheson was to reorganize the department, adding 12 new presidential appointees and reducing the power of subordinate officers. Webb also consolidated the flow offoreign policy information and intelligence through the secretariat. When President Truman signed the bill codifying the reorganization on May 26, 1949, the department, which had been losing power and influence to the military, strengthened its ties to the President.[13][14]
A question facing the Department of State at the time was whether theSoviet Union could be contained through only diplomatic means or whether the military would be needed.Paul Nitze, asDirector of Policy Planning, wrote a classified memo,NSC 68, arguing for a military build-up ofNATO forces. AlthoughSecretary of DefenseLouis A. Johnson opposed an increase in the Defense budget, Webb got Truman to convince him to support the recommendations of NSC 68.[15]
On June 25, 1950, theNorth Korean Army invadedSouth Korea. Webb andSecretary Acheson devised three recommendations: involve the United Nations, send the NavyPacific Fleet into theYellow Sea, and authorize anAir Force strike on the Korean tanks.[16] Truman implemented the first two recommendations immediately but delayed the use of force by several days. The Defense Department was blamed for the lack of U.S. preparedness, and Johnson tried to blame Acheson. Webb worked with his contacts in Congress and others to convince Truman to replace Johnson, andGeorge Marshall was called out of retirement to become the new Secretary of Defense.
In 1950, Webb established an alliance with university scientists,Project Troy, to bolster the United States'psychological warfare capabilities, in particular studying how to circumvent Soviet attempts to jamVoice of America broadcasts.[17]
With the attention of the department focused on the Korean War, Webb's influence weakened.[citation needed] As the author of NSC 68, State DepartmentDirector of Policy PlanningPaul Nitze became the principal advisor to Secretary Acheson, and a misunderstanding between Webb and Nitze led to Nitze outwardly calling for Webb's resignation, but the rift eventually blew over.[citation needed] Webb started suffering frommigraines and resigned in 1952.[18]
Webb left Washington for a position in theKerr-McGee Oil Corp. inOklahoma City, but he was still active in government circles, for instance in serving on theDraper Committee in 1958.[19]
On February 14, 1961, Webb accepted PresidentJohn F. Kennedy's appointment asadministrator of NASA, taking the reins from interim director, Deputy AdministratorHugh L. Dryden. Webb directed NASA's undertaking of the goal set by Kennedy of landing an American on the Moon before the end of the 1960s through theApollo program.For seven years after Kennedy's announcement on May 25, 1961, of the goal of a crewed lunar landing, Webb lobbied for support for NASA in Congress, until he left NASA in October 1968. As a longtime Washington insider and with the backing of PresidentLyndon B. Johnson, he was able to produce continued support and resources for Apollo.
During Webb's administration, NASA developed from a loose collection of research centers to a coordinated organization. He had a key role in creating the Manned Spacecraft Center, later theJohnson Space Center, inHouston. Despite the pressures to focus on the Apollo program, Webb ensured that NASA carried out a program of planetary exploration with theMariner andPioneer space programs. Webb was an early champion of space telescopes,[20] like theone that would later bear his name.
Encouraged by Kennedy and Johnson, Webb made racial integration a priority for the agency. NASA publicly supported theCivil Rights Act of 1964[21] and initiated a series of innovative programs aimed at increasing black participation[22] including specifically targeting black colleges and schools with recruitment programs.[23] On one occasion Webb and Wernher von Braun famously confronted and lectured segregationist Alabama GovernorGeorge Wallace on racial integration in front of the press.[23] NASA had the worst black representation of any government agency in 1961, but by the time Webb stepped down, it was the best and considered the model for other government agencies on racial integration.[23][21]
After theApollo 1 accident in 1967, Webb told the media, "We've always known that something like this was going to happen sooner or later... Who would have thought that the first tragedy would be on the ground?" Webb went to Johnson and asked for NASA to be allowed to handle the accident investigation and to direct its recovery, according to a procedure that was established following the in-flight accident onGemini 8 (1966). He promised to be truthful in assessing blame regarding Apollo 1, even to himself and NASA management, as appropriate. The agency set out to discover the details of the tragedy, to correct problems, and to continue progress toward theApollo 11 lunar landing.Webb reported the investigation board's findings to various congressional committees and took personal blame at nearly every meeting. Whether by happenstance or by design, Webb managed to deflect some of the backlash over the accident away from both NASA as an agency and from theJohnson administration. As a result, NASA's image and popular support were largely undamaged.[24]
Webb was informed byCIA sources in 1968 that the Soviet Union was developing its own heavyN1 rocket for a crewed lunar mission, and he directed NASA to prepareApollo 8 for a possible lunar orbital mission that year. At the time, Webb's assertions about the Soviet Union's abilities were doubted by some people, and the N-1 was dubbed "Webb's Giant".[25]However, after thecollapse of the Soviet Union, revelations about theSoviet Moonshot have given support to Webb's conclusion.
Webb was aDemocrat tied closely to Johnson, and since Johnson chose not to run for reelection, Webb decided to step down as administrator to allow the next president, RepublicanRichard Nixon, to choose his own administrator. Webb left NASA on October 7, 1968, his sixty-second birthday, just before the first crewed flight in the Apollo program.[26]
Drawing on his NASA experience, Webb publishedSpace Age Management: The Large-Scale Approach (1969), in which he presented the space program as a model of successful administration that could be broadened to address major societal problems.[27]
In 1969, Johnson presented Webb with thePresidential Medal of Freedom. Webb is also a 1976 recipient of theLangley Gold Medal from theSmithsonian Institution.
After retiring from NASA, Webb remained in Washington, DC, serving on several advisory boards, including serving as a regent of the Smithsonian Institution. In 1981, he was awarded theSylvanus Thayer Award by theU.S. Military Academy atWest Point for his dedication to his country.
Webb died from a heart attack atGeorgetown University Hospital in Washington on March 27, 1992, at age 85.[28] He was buried inArlington National Cemetery.[24]
Webb was played byDan Lauria in the 1998 miniseriesFrom the Earth to the Moon,[29] and by Ken Strunk in the 2016 filmHidden Figures.[30]
NASA'sJames Webb Space Telescope (JWST), originally known as the Next Generation Space Telescope, was renamed after Webb in 2002. Launched on December 25, 2021, it is considered the successor to theHubble Space Telescope.[31]
In March 2021, a commentary inScientific American urged NASA to rename the James Webb Space Telescope, accusing Webb of complicity in the State Department's purge of homosexuals from the federal workforce in the 1940s and 1950s, known as the "lavender scare".[32] This controversy was reported in the press.[33][34][35] The scientists who proposed renaming the telescope pointed to the case of NASA budget analyst Clifford Norton, who was fired after an arrest for making a "homosexual advance." While Webb was head of the agency at the time of Norton's firing, he was not involved with the decision.[36]
Personnel matters fell under the purview of theDeputy Administrator of NASARobert Seamans; there is no direct evidence that Webb had any knowledge of Norton's firing.[37] Such firings have been claimed to be a "custom within the agency" in that era.[38] HistorianDavid K. Johnson, author of 2004 bookThe Lavender Scare,[39] has stated that there is no evidence Webb led or instigated any persecution, nor played "any sort of leadership role in the lavender scare".[34] According to astrophysicistHakeem Oluseyi, the initial accusations that Webb was part of the lavender scare were based on a quote fromJohn Peurifoy (who, like Webb, had the rank of "Undersecretary of State") which was wrongly attributed to Webb.[40][37]
On September 30, 2021, NASA announced that it would keep the JWST name after running an investigation and finding "no evidence at this time that warrants changing the name".[41][42]
Former administratorSean O'Keefe, who made the decision to name the telescope after administrator Webb, stated that to suggest that Webb should "be held accountable for that activity when there's no evidence to even hint [that he participated in it] is an injustice".[41]
On October 24, 2022, theRoyal Astronomical Society released a statement on the matter, in which they indicated the editorial policy of their journals would be to not spell out Webb's name when referring to the telescope until such time as an investigation was completed and a report made public.[43] Less than a month later, NASA released the report of their investigation and accompanying evidence.[44] The report, based on an examination of more than 50,000 documents, found there was no evidence of wrongdoing by Webb either in his time in the State Department or at NASA.[45] In regard to his time at State, the report mirrors Johnson's earlier findings – Webb played no role in helping the Hoey committee or their agents. With regard to Norton's firing at NASA, the report indicates Webb probably was not told of the incident; it also notes that the policy under which Norton was fired was not a NASA policy but an Executive Order applying to all government agencies, that was not enforced by NASA, but rather theCivil Service Commission, over which Webb had no influence. This led to the Royal Astronomical Society reversing its position.[46]
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| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Director of theBureau of the Budget 1946–1949 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States Under Secretary of State 1949–1952 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 1961–1968 | Succeeded by |
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