Jim Webb, our Thursday, February 11, Council speaker, is a public figure with a multitude of interests and accomplishments.
A Democrat, he served Virginia as a senator (2007-2013). A U.S. Marine Vietnam War combat veteran and medal recipient, he served as Secretary of the Navy (1987-88) under President Ronald Reagan.
Outside of the public service arena, he is also an Emmy-winning journalist, a film producer/writer and author of 10 books.
In 2015, he announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States and suspended the campaign in October but did not rule out an independent candidacy for the White House.
During Webb's time in the U.S. Senate he served on several committees including the Foreign Relations Committee and the Joint Economic Committee. He also was Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committees Asia-Pacific Subcommittee and, in 2009, reopened dialogue between the United States and Burma (Myanmar) after a 10-year silence.
Webb also was a counsel to the House Committee on Veterans Affairs (1977-81) and was appointed Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs in 1984.
In 1983, he won an Emmy for his special report on U.S. Marines in Beirut for the MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour on PBS. He also reported from Afghanistan in 2004 when he was embedded with the U.S. military.
He was a writer and executive producer for the hit 2000 film Rules of Engagement starring Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson. He is also the author of 10 books including Fields of Fire, regarded by many as "the classic novel of the Vietnam War."
Webb, a 1968 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, was a Marine rifle platoon leader and company commander in Vietnam -- he was awarded the Navy Cross, Silver Star, two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts.
Webb is a 1975 graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center. He has six children and lives in Northern Virginia with his wife, Hong Le Webb. He speaks Vietnamese and does pro bono work with the Vietnamese community.