WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday voted to confirm James H. Webb as the new secretary of the Navy, despite criticism of an article he wrote in 1979 saying women in the armed service academies were poisoning the atmosphere there.
By voice vote, the full Senate approved the nomination of Webb, who will replace John F. Lehman Jr. Webb was the assistant secretary of defense for reserve affairs until he was nominated by President Reagan to succeed Lehman, who resigned to return to private business.
