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:For the Canadian figure, see Jim Webb (Canada). James Henry "Jim" Webb, Jr. (born February 9, 1946) is a veteran Marine, author and politician from the Commonwealth of Virginia. Now a Democrat, Webb served in the Republican administration of Ronald Reagan. Webb graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and was a member of the Marine Corps until 1972. Webb was an infantry officer and is highly decorated for his service in the Vietnam War. During his four years with the Reagan administration, Webb served as the nation's first Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs and as Secretary of the Navy. Webb entered the 2006 Virginia Senate race, and defeated Harris Miller in the primary to win the Democratic nomination. Webb is running against incumbent Republican George Allen.
Early life and education Webb was born in Saint Joseph, Missouri, to a military family. He is the descendant of Scots-Irish Americans who emigrated to the United States from northern Ireland in the 1700s during the colonial era and are now scattered across the United States. Webb's 2004 book Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America details his own family history, including relatives who fought in every major American war. Webb's father, a career officer in the U.S. Air Force, served as a bomber pilot in World War II (flying B-17s and B-29s), dropped cargo during the Berlin Airlift, and was involved in missile programs. Webb's father is buried at the Arlington National Cemetery. Because of his father's military career, Webb grew up on the move, attending more than a dozen schools across the U.S. and in England. Webb graduated from high school in Bellevue, Nebraska. After high school, Webb attended the University of Southern California (where he was a member of Delta Chi) on a Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarship from 1963-1964. Webb was accepted to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland in 1964. At Annapolis, Webb was a member of the Brigade Honor Committee. He graduated in 1968, in the same class with Dennis Blair and Oliver North. (Webb and several other graduates, including North and Senator John McCain, are the subject of Robert Timberg's book The Nightingale's Song.) Other distinguished members of Webb's Naval Academy Class of 1968 include the current Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Michael G. Mullen, and the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Michael W. Hagee. Another classmate, retired Admiral Jay L. Johnson, also served as Chief of Naval Operations--the U.S. Navy's senior ranking officer. Military career After graduating from Annapolis, Webb was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. He served in the Vietnam War as a first lieutenant rifle platoon leader in Company D in the 1st Battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment, as part of the Fleet Marine Force. Webb earned a Navy Cross, the second highest decoration in the Navy and Marine Corps for heroism in Vietnam. Webb also earned the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, and two Purple Hearts. Webb received the Navy Cross for actions on July 10, 1969. The citation read: Post-military career Webb attended Georgetown Law School from 1972 to 1975, graduating with a law degree. While at Georgetown, Webb wrote his first book, Micronesia and U.S. Pacific Strategy.• After graduation, Webb worked on the House Committee on Veterans Affairs from 1977 to 1981, and also represented veterans pro-bono during that period. Webb served as the nation's first Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs from 1984 to 1987 and then was promoted to Secretary of the Navy and served from 1987 to 1988 during the Reagan Administration. He resigned as Secretary of the Navy after refusing to agree to reduce the size of the Navy. It is believed by many that Reagan regretted • Webb's resignation and that the dispute was between Reagan's Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci and Webb. During his time as Assistant Secretary, Webb was largely responsible for the reorganization of the entire Marine Corps. Webb was distraught at the disarray the Marines had fallen into post-Vietnam; the Oliver North scandal and Webb's perception of Corps members' drug use, racial infighting, and low morale made him feel it was no longer America's premier fighting force. Webb hired Al Gray as commandant of the Marine Corps with the hope that Gray could reshape the Corps into the elite unit it once was. Today, the Marine Corps looks at Webb as a surrogate father who relaunched the Corps and bettered the force.• After resigning as Secretary of the Navy, Webb worked primarily as a writer. Among Webb's awards for community service and professional excellence are the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Medal, the Medal of Honor Society's Patriot Award, the American Legion National Commander's Public Service Award, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Media Service Award, the Marine Corps League's Military Order of the Iron Mike Award, the John H. Russell Leadership Award, and the Robert L. Denig Distinguished Service Award During the 2004 presidential campaign, Webb wrote an op-ed piece for USA Today in which he considered the candidacies of John Kerry and George W. Bush from the perspective of military veterans. He criticized Kerry for his activism against the Vietnam War in the 1970s while affiliated with the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and accused Bush of using his father's connections to avoid service in Vietnam and also said Bush had "committed the greatest strategic blunder in modern memory" with the 2003 invasion of Iraq.• 2006 Senate campaign In late 2005, an Internet campaign began to draft Webb to run for the Senate. On February 7, 2006, he announced that he would seek the Democratic nomination for the 2006 Senate race against incumbent Virginia Senator George Allen• and Gail Parker, the Independent Green Party nominee. In the Democratic primary on June 13, 2006, Webb faced longtime businessman and lobbyist Harris Miller. Webb won in a low-turnout race, with 53.5% of the vote.• Allen had been expected to have a relatively easy race, preparing him for a possible candidacy in the 2008 Presidential campaign. But Webb's entry into the race, and primary victory, changed the political landscape. Political analyst Larry Sabato said in May that "Jim Webb is George Allen's worst nightmare: a war hero and a Reagan appointee who holds moderate positions…. Allen tries to project a Reagan aura, but Webb already has it."• In September, Bloomberg.com's Catherine Dodge wrote an article highlighting Webb and the Senate race, and said "Webb isn't a typical Democrat. His family hails from the rural southern part of the state. He's pro-gun ownership, and he takes a harder line on illegal immigration than many Senate Republicans." • On October 29, three of four national polls put Webb an average of 2.2% ahead of Allen.• Controversies On September 7, 2006, Webb released his first television advertisement.• It featured footage of a 1985 speech by Ronald Reagan praising Webb at the secretary's alma mater, the United States Naval Academy in 1985. The next day, an official working for the Reagan Presidential Foundation faxed a letter to Webb's campaign on behalf of former first lady Nancy Reagan, urging them not to air the advertisement.• Five female graduates of the United States Naval Academy held a press conference decrying an article written by Webb in 1979, entitled "Women Can't Fight". The women said Webb's article contributed to an air of hostility and harassment towards women at the academy. Webb later received an endorsement from nine military women who state that Webb is a "man of integrity" who "recognizes the crucial role that women have in the military today".• On October 26, 2006, the Allen campaign issued a press release that cited several passages from Webb's novels that contained sexual scenes, including graphic references to female anatomy, pedophilia, homosexuality and incest. The press release said that the passages showed a "continued pattern of demeaning women".• Allen's campaign refused to tell a local radio news station, WTOP-FM, whether it in fact had issued a news release on the matter.• Webb's name is displayed on Virginia electronic voting machines as "James H. 'Jim' Webb." In three Virginia cities, "James H. 'Jim'" is all that is displayed, eliminating his last name. Whether or not this will cause confusion in the election is left to be seen.• Books Webb's successful first novel, 1978's Fields of Fire, drew from personal experience to tell the story of a platoon of US Marines in Vietnam in the late 1960s. Reviewers hailed its pull-no-punches descriptions of infantry life and combat.• He followed that with five other novels, then wrote a work of non-fiction, Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America. The book traces the role of the people of Scots-Irish ancestry in the development of American history and culture. Webb argues that, far from the "cracker" and "redneck" stereotypes often applied to the Scots-Irish, many of whom settled in Appalachia, the American Midwest and the American South, the Scots-Irish were central to defining American working class values and culture. He cites the fiercely independent streak and individualism of the Scots-Irish as laudable values, and their political pragmatism as explaining their role as swing voters in elections, in recent decades as Reagan Democrats, and as Ross Perot and Reform Party voters. Movies Webb wrote the story and was the executive producer for the 2000 movie Rules of Engagement, which starred Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson. Warner Brothers acquired Webb's script for Whiskey River. Currently in production, the movie is directed and produced by Rob Reiner. The story is about a fictional American soldier injured in Iraq. In October 2006, while commenting on the need to break away from stereotypical movie villains, Webb stated, "every movie needs a villain. Towel-heads and rednecks -- of which I am one. If you write that word, please say that. I mean, I don't use that pejoratively, I use it defensively. Towel-heads and rednecks became the easy villains in so many movies out there." • Personal life Webb is married to a lawyer, Hong Le Webb, an immigrant born in Vietnam who grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana. According to his wife, Jim speaks excellent Vietnamese for a non-native speaker. He has four children from previous marriages to Anne Arundel County Council member Barbara Samorajczyk and health-care lobbyist Jo Ann Krukar Webb: Amy, Sarah, Jimmy, and Julia. Jimmy, his only son, is an enlisted infantry U.S. Marine Lance Corporal whose unit based out of Camp Lejeune, and is currently serving in Iraq. • Trivia See also Official Articles Comparisons | ||||||||
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