Former Democratic Sen. and Navy Secretary Jim Webb announced Tuesday evening that he has declined to accept the Naval Academy Alumni Association’s Distinguished Graduate Award following a controversy stemming from a nearly 40-year-old essay in which he advocated against women attending service academies.
Webb, who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1968, singled out “a small but vociferous group of women” alumni who “wrongly characterized” what he wrote in a Washingtonian article in 1979, titled “Women Can’t Fight.”
In that essay, he wrote: “There is a place for women in our military, but not in combat. And their presence at institutions dedicated to the preparation of men for combat command is poisoning that preparation.”
Webb rebuffed this group of women, saying the policies he put into place as Navy secretary “greatly” benefited women, and in his statement he included supportive statements from women who have worked directly with Webb.
“From conversations with the Alumni Association, including information passed down from top Navy leadership in the Pentagon, it is clear that those protesting my receipt of this award now threaten to disrupt the ceremonies surrounding its issuance,” Webb said. “I am being told that my presence at the ceremony would likely mar the otherwise celebratory nature of that special day, and as a consequence I find it necessary to decline to accept the award.”
