Jim Webb Biography

Fast Facts

• Honored with a Navy Cross, Silver Star, two Purple Hearts and two Bronze Stars for his service in Vietnam
• Honored with the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Medal
• Recipient of the Patriot Award given by the Medal of Honor Society
• Following his service in the Marines, he would graduate from Georgetown University with a law degree in 1975
• Earned a Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarship to study at the University of Southern California, before eventually transfering to the U․S․ Naval Academy
• Entered the U․S․ Marine Corps as a second lieutenant, eventually going on to serve as a platoon commander in Vietnam
• Elected to the U․S․ Senate, representing the state of Virginia, in 2006
• Named Secretary of the Navy in 1987, but resigned a short time later after refusing to have the size of his fleet reduced
• After publishing several fictional novels beginning in the late '70s, he would publish his first nonfiction work, Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America, in 2004
• His first non-military position came in the late '70s as a staff member for the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, before being named the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs during the Reagan administration
• Following the marriage to his third wife Hong Le, he would become fluent in Vietnamese
• To honor military service members who fought overseas, he wore his son's Marine combat boots each day during his 2006 Senate campaign