James E. Webb

ABOUT JAMES E. WEBB

American government official who is best known for being the appointed administrator of NASA from 1961 to 1968, where he oversaw the Gemini and Mercury projects. Following his work for NASA, President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969. He died from a heart attack at Georgetown University Hospital on March 27, 1992 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for his undergraduate degree and then studied at George Washington University Law School, where he earned a J.D. in 1936.

In 2002, NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe decided to name the agency's new telescope the James Webb Space Telescope.

In 1938, he married Patsy Douglas, and the couple had two children.

He was nominated to be the administrator of NASA by John F. Kennedy and continued to work in that capacity under the Johnson administration.