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A little thread on the past, the present, and the nature of historical judgement sparked by an argument that’s happening about NASA administrator Jim Webb.
There’s a lot of talk right now about “accountability” for people who aided and abetted the T$*^p administration, and for good reason. This is a live question concerning whether people who propagated terrible things have an opportunity to continue on their merry way.
It’s related to the broader discussion about both cancel culture and deplatforming. Under what circumstances can someone who has propagated harm once again be trusted with a position of authority and/or a megaphone?
We can disagree on whether anyone’s actually been “cancelled,” but there seems to be a fairly strong consensus that there is a path forward for people who acknowledge their actions and dedicate themselves to making amends.
And here historians (especially historians who traffic in public memory) have a problem. Dead people can’t apologize, and they can’t make amends.
The problem of public commemoration exacerbates this. Not only can a statue not apologize, but a statue (or commemorative naming) implies that the subject deserves active veneration. They are to be not only remembered, but admired, possibly emulated.
Which brings us back to Jim Webb. For those of you who do not follow the politics of astronomy, the basic question is: Should Jim Webb, NASA’s administrator for most of the Apollo years, have a telescope named after him, given his peripheral involvement with the Lavender Scare?
Background: Jim Webb served as Undersecretary of State under Truman. This was a policy role, more or less. Meanwhile, a different Undersecretary of State (for admin) began implementing deeply homophobic policies that came to be known as the Lavender Scare.
Several commentators, especially @ibjiyongi, have argued that—given this—we should rename the Webb Space Telescope, set for launch later this year. Here’s the summary of her take: https://twitter.com/IBJIYONGI/status/1353514240766857217?s=20
Another leading physicist, @hakeenOluseyi, claims that “there is zero evidence that Webb is guilty of the allegations against him.” https://hmoluseyi.medium.com/was-nasas-historic-leader-james-webb-a-bigot-131c821d5f12
Webb himself did not personally establish these homophobic policies. Webb himself did not assemble the lists of people to fire. But Webb *was*, effectively, the 2nd in command at the State Department. That’s complicity.
When it comes to the “largest, most powerful, and complex space telescope ever built,” shouldn’t we aim higher than naming it after someone who, at best, got out of the way while the organization he worked for ruined lives? https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/
And even if Jim Webb were, in fact, a “a hero of diversity and inclusion in American government,” does it really make sense to name a telescope that has the potential to inspire humanity after a Cold Warrior like Jim Webb?
It’s not a swipe at the Apollo program to point out that the United States’ primary goals were to a) beat the Soviet Union b) convince the rest of the world that the United States’ approach to managing technical systems surpassed the Soviet model.
(And also c) institute a massive public works program based on science & tech, but that’s a topic for a different thread. Back to Jim Webb.)
Jim Webb even wrote a book about this! It’s called SPACE AGE MANAGEMENT and it is simultaneously fascinating and extraordinarily dull! I highly recommend it!
At State, one of Webb’s accomplishments was to commit the United States to a program of psychological warfare, including in science and technology. I wrote a book about how that came to be and what happened next: https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/freedoms-laboratory
Was Jim Webb a talented administrator? No question. Do I want his name emblazoned on what is, by all accounts, an incredible tool for scientific discovery? No thank you.
We need better heroes. And we need to be honest about what the heroes of the past did. They can’t make amends, but we can. <fin>
Addendum, FWIW: There seems pretty good evidence that Webb *was* personally involved. https://twitter.com/adrianlucy/status/1353584770593263616?s=20
