The most powerful space telescope will not change its name.
There were calls for the observatory to be renamed after it was launched. The observatory was named after a government official who was in charge of NASA during the 1960's. Proponents of the name argue that people who are suspected of being in the LGBTQ+ community were treated unfairly. The agency decided to leave his name on the $10 billion telescope after concluding an investigation into his role in the Lavender Scare.
According to the report, there is no evidence to link the firing of individuals for their sexual orientation to the actions of the person in question. The agency does not plan to change the name of the telescope, according to the statement.
The James Webb Space Telescope has its first photos in the gallery.
By September, a petition was gathering signatures to change the name of the observatory. Bill Nelson said at the end of September that the agency wouldn't be changing its name. The debate was revived in March of this year when documents about the investigation obtained through freedom of information policies and released by the journal Nature were made public. NASA officials said in April that their investigations were continuing, but since then they have focused on the science the observatory is already conducting.
In a statement released Friday, NASA officials apologized for the actions of the federal government during the "Lavender Scare" and the "Red Scare" of communists in the 1950's. There was a surge in discrimination against government employees who were suspected of being gay, according to the report.
Discrimination against LGBTQI+ federal employees was promoted by federal policies. Following World War II, the Lavender Scare was a painful part of America's story.
Half of the 87-page report is filled with images of historical documents called "key evidence." An executive summary states that, as part of the investigation, NASA Chief Historian Brian Odom consulted "thousands of documents" while an unidentified outside historian contracted to the project "surveyed over 50,000 pages covering the period from 1949- 1969."
As NASA worked to execute the Apollo program and land astronauts on the moon, it was led by the man who was the agency's second administrator. He spent a few years with the Treasury before joining the Department of State as an undersecretary in 1949.
Proponents of the observatory's name argue that he was involved in the Lavender Scare. The investigation seemed to have narrowed the scope of the investigation. The central purpose of the investigation was to find any evidence that could indicate whether James Webb acted as a leader of or proponent for firing LGBTQ+ employees from the federal workforce.
According to the report, the investigation focused on a pair of meetings, one in 1950 and the other in 1963.
As the government began to pursue perceived security risks in its ranks, leaders at the time viewed sexual orientation as a risk factor, in part because of concerns about blackmail. In June, he attended two important meetings, one with Truman and another with Hoey.
John Peurifoy, the deputy undersecretary of state for administration, was the third-ranking job in the department, according to his New York Times obituary.
The department's internal security program was led by Peurifoy and another official. He was the department's representative to the committee that was dedicated to investigating the employment of homosexuals and other sex deviants in government.
According to the report, Peurifoy was a leader in the anti-LGBTQ+ activities of the department until his departure in August 1950.
According to the report, the investigation didn't find any documents that tied Webb to the committee, but it is a hunch that he played little role in the matter beyond the June 28, 1950 meeting with Hoey.
According to the June 28 meeting report, the main involvement was in trying to limit Congressional access to the personnel records of the Department of State. Senator Hoey was given some material on the subject of homosexuality which was prepared by the State. There were no links found between the discussion and the actions that emerged from it.
According to the report, the meeting allowed Truman and Webb to discuss how to respond to the committee without giving up power from the White House.
The firing of NASA budget analyst CliffordNorton is the last incident analyzed in the report. The report states that the D.C. is a city. A man drove to the parking lot separately fromNorton. The other man said thatNorton invited him to his apartment.
Norton denied making advances on the other man. The NASA Security Chief questionedNorton again and was fired by the head of the Moral Squad. The court found inNorton's favor after he was terminated.
According to the report, the action againstNorton was a custom within the agency at the time he was fired. The National Archives and NASA History archival collections have turned over no evidence that Webb knew anything aboutNorton's firing, as the action taken againstNorton was consistent with civil service policy.
The report ends with a description of the archives and pictures of some of the documents included.
The 1950 meetings and theNorton case have been presented by those opposed to honoring the man. The memos he passed to Hoey fed the Lavender Scare and Puerifoy wouldn't have acted as he did had his superiors objected.
When it comes to an honor like having a world-class observatory named for a historical figure, that person should meet a higher standard than there isn't any evidence to condemn him.
Some people don't agree about how much responsibility the man bears. According to David Johnson, who wrote a book about the Lavender Scare, 5,000 to 10,000 federal employees were fired over the course of the campaign.
It was a normal government policy. He told Space.com in the spring that there was no way that he could have stopped the firing of the gay employee. "They weren't standing up and saying gay people should have equal rights, because nobody was saying that in 1950, including gay people," he stated.
He said that NASA's Johnson and Kennedy space centers would have to be changed if they were to be blamed for the lavender scare. The people were not particularly active in persecuting homosexuals, but they were there when the policy was in effect.
The same dilemma was pointed out in an email written in March of this year. At this point, don't change the name. He said to stop naming things after people.
If you want to get in touch with me, email me at mbartels@space.com We encourage you to follow us on social media
All Rights Reserved © 2024
