So was the James Webb Space Telescope a top secret project or what?

[Dr.Strangelove]

And @Pigs_in_Space mentioning the NGST back in 2000:

Why no space stations on the moon?

I’ve been reading this board and as an aerospace engineer, thought I’d give you a “rocket jockey’s” opinion. If someone came to me at work and proposed a telescope on the moon, here’s what I’d say. There are a few problems with it. Getting it up there. You would have to have a couple of communications satellites orbiting the Moon to get info back and commands to it - remember, it’s on the far side of the Moon. Then, you’d have to build it, have it crash on the Moon, deploy, possibly more th…

But as @Stranger_On_A_Train 's link mentions, they’ve been at this since the 80s. Or even earlier if you count any telescope proposal (not just an HST replacement) that’s some variety of “big honking infrared space scope that sits at L2”.