James
E. Webb
James
E. Webb (1906-1992) was director of the Bureau of
the Budget when President Truman agreed that Herbert
Hoover should be the chair the of Commission for the
Reorganization of the Executive Branch of Government,
commonly known as the first Hoover Commission. Webb
saw this as a 'happy development' since Hoover's understanding
of the need for efficiency in large-scale organizations
and commitment to balanced budgets in the federal
government were consonant with Webb's own views. Hoover's
experience as President was also vital. Truman was
not as sanguine about Hoover's appointment, replying
to Webb's enthusiastic memo with two words: 'No commitments.'
Webb's career was balanced between public service
and the private sector. Prior to his July 1946 appointment
as director of the Bureau of the Budget, he worked
in the Bureau of Education and as assistant to Congressman
Edward Pou (D-NC). He also worked at a Washington
law firm and as assistant to the president of Sperry
Corporation. This broad experience served Webb well
in the Bureau of the Budget. He drafted the first
balanced federal budget since the Hoover administration
in 1930.
In 1949, Webb was appointed Undersecretary of State
under Dean Acheson. While Acheson tended to substantive
policy matters, Webb supervised the reorganization
of the State Department as recommended by the first
Hoover Commission. With the 1953 change of administration,
Webb returned to the private sector, working in the
oil industry and serving as an informal foreign policy
advisor to Senator Robert Kerr (D-OK).
Kerr supported Webb's appointment to head the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1961.
Webb took the reins of NASA just before it became
the centerpiece of the Kennedy-Johnson administration's
efforts to put a man on the moon. He oversaw NASA
as its budget quintupled to $5 billion by 1965, then
doubled again over the next three years. Sensing the
imminent election of Nixon, Webb resigned from NASA
in October 1968, and retired to write and lecture.
Webb died in 1992. For more information see: American
National Biography v. 14 pp. 848-850; and Dean Acheson's
Present at the Creation, pp. 184-185 and 312-314.
