One of the items Jim Webb brought up in the debate was his support of the filibuster for Justice Alito. He told the audience that he thought Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee deserved more information on Alito before they voted. At the time, Alito was being questioned for his membership in "Concerned Alumni for Princeton," a group that was opposed to women attending Princeton. An odd answer from someone who had
this come up in his own Senate confirmation hearing:
The Senate voted today to confirm James H. Webb as Secretary of the Navy,despite criticism of an article he wrote in 1979 saying that women in the armed service academies were poisoning the atmosphere there.
Mr. Webb, who won approval on a voice vote, was the Assistant Secretary of Defense for reserve affairs until President Reagan nominated him to succeed Secretary John L. Lehman Jr., who resigned to return to private business.
The nominee came under fire this week for the magazine article, in which he wrote that ''by attempting to sterlize the Naval Academy environment in the name of equality, this country has sterilized the whole process of combat leadership training, and our military services are doomed to suffer the consequences.''
On Monday, Mr. Webb told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he accepted legal changes allowing women into the service schools, including his alma mater the Naval Academy, but that he believed the institutions were no longer effective in training men for combat and that women should not serve in combat.
