by Steve Vogel
TITLE PAGE
DEDICATION
EPIGRAPH
MAPS / ILLUSTRATIONS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
CAST OF CHARACTERS
PRELUDE
PART I
THE MAKING OF THE PENTAGON
1 DYNAMITE IN A TIFFANY BOX
2 THE SOMERVELL BLITZ
3 DREAM BUILDING
4 CARRYING L’ENFANT’S BANNER
5 A FIRST-CLASS BATTLE
6 HELL’S BOTTOM
7 UNDER WAY
8 THE VIEW FROM HIGH AND LOW
9 THEY WOULDN’T DARE ATTACK PEARL HARBOR
10 THE BIG PUSH
11 THE PLANK WALKERS
12 HELL-AN-GONE
13 ONE OF THE WORST BLUNDERS OF THE WAR
PHOTO INSERT I
14 THE RACE TO MOVE IN THE HIGH COMMAND
15 HEADQUARTERS FOR THE WAR
16 WHAT TO DO WITH THE PENTAGON
PART II
THE REMAKING OF THE PENTAGON
17 NO DECENT PEACE
18 THE BATTLE OF THE PENTAGON
19 THE REMAKING OF THE PENTAGON
20 SEPTEMBER 11, 2001
PHOTO INSERT II
21 THE PHOENIX PROJECT
EPILOGUE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
NOTES
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PRAISE FOR THE PENTAGON
COPYRIGHT
TO MY PARENTS,
DONALD AND JOAN VOGEL
GO SIR, GALLOP, AND DON’T FORGET THAT THE WORLD WAS MADE IN SIX DAYS. YOU CAN ASK ME FOR ANYTHING YOU LIKE, EXCEPT TIME.
—NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
Map by Laris Karklis & Brenna Maloney
Map showing Washington, D.C., Arlington County, Virginia, and environs in the summer of 1941.
Map by Laris Karklis & Brenna Maloney
Front Matter The Pentagon and environs, December 1942, U.S. Army map (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Office of History)
Front Matter Map of Washington, D.C., in 1941 by Laris Karklis and Brenna Maloney
Front Matter Pentagon timeline by Laris Karklis and Brenna Maloney
Front Matter Irregular Pentagon sketch for early plot plan (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Office of History)
Part 1 Photo of Somervell in 1941 by Harris & Ewing (The Washington Post photo archives)
Chapter 1 Somervell as bricklayer cartoon © 1941 by The Washington Post, reprinted by permission
Chapter 2 Stathes aerial perspective drawing (National Archives)
Chapter 3 Original site map (National Archives)
Chapter 4 FDR heaven cartoon © 1941 by The Washington Post, reprinted by permission
Chapter 5 Pentagon overlay on 1878–79 map. Original map: G. M. Hopkins, Griffith Morgan. Philadelphia: G. M. Hopkins, 1879, c. 1878 (Library of Congress). Overlay: Daniel Koski-Karell, Technical Report: Historical and Archaeological Background Research of the GSA Pentagon Complex Project Area, 1986. (Office of the Secretary of Defense, Washington Historical Office)
Chapter 6 Architects rendering, October 1941 (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Office of History)
Chapter 7 Aerial photo with blimp. U.S. Army photo (Office of the Secretary of Defense, Washington Historical Office)
Chapter 8 Aerial photo by Harry Goodwin, showing the Pentagon construction site right before Pearl Harbor © 1941 by The Washington Post, reprinted by permission
Chapter 9 Field progress report, May 1942 (National Archives)
Chapter 10 Soldiers in hallway, U.S. Army photo (Pentagon Library)
Chapter 11 Popular Science schematic (Office of the Secretary of Defense, Washington Historical Office)
Chapter 12 Capitol from Popular Mechanics © 1943 by The Hearst Corporation, reprinted by permission
Chapter 13 Somervell and Stimson cartoon © 1944 by The Washington Post, reprinted by permission
Chapter 14 Empire State Building graphic (Office of the Secretary of Defense, Washington Historical Office)
Chapter 15 Pentagon tower drawing, U.S. Army (The Washington Post photo archives)
Part 2 Rendering of Pentagon memorial (Pentagon Memorial Fund)
Part 2 Officer in concourse showing Brazilian visitors model of the Pentagon, 1946 U.S. Army photo (The Washington Post photo archives)
Chapter 17 Photo of marchers in front of Pentagon (The Washington Post photo archives)
Chapter 18 Map of the march on the Pentagon by Mike Jenkins, Peter Jenkins, and Brad Goodwin
Chapter 18 Pentagon renovation logo, the Pentagon Renovation and Construction program (PENREN)
Chapter 19 The damaged Pentagon on September 11, 2001 (Department of Defense)
Chapter 20 The plane’s path on 9/11, adapted by Michael Keegan from an original 2002 graphic by Doug Stevens and Brenna Maloney in The Washington Post, reprinted by permission
Chapter 20 Aerial photo showing the Phoenix Project, Pentagon Renovation and Construction program (PENREN)
Chapter 21 Rendering of Pentagon memorial (Pentagon Memorial Fund)
PART I
(Ranks and titles are primarily as of 1941)
The Builders—Army
Brigadier General Brehon B. Somervell, chief of the Army’s Construction Division, later commander of Army Services of Supply
Colonel Leslie R. Groves, chief of operations and later deputy chief of Construction Division, later head of the Manhattan Project
Lieutenant Colonel Hugh “Pat” Casey, chief of design for Construction Division
Captain Clarence Renshaw, constructing quartermaster/engineer for the Pentagon project
Lieutenant Robert Furman, executive officer for the Pentagon project
The Builders—Contractors and Architects
John McShain, chief contractor for the Pentagon project
J. Paul Hauck, job superintendent for the Pentagon project
G. Edwin Bergstrom, chief architect for the War Department
David Witmer, chief assistant to Bergstrom, later his replacement
Luther Leisenring, chief of the architects’ specifications section
Ides van der Gracht, chief of production for the Pentagon design team
Socrates Thomas “Red” Stathes, a draftsman
Larry Lemmon, a draftsman
The White House
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Harry Hopkins, special adviser to FDR and former head of the Works Projects Administration
Major General Edwin “Pa” Watson, the president’s military aide
Harold Smith, director of the White House budget office
Harold Ickes, secretary of the interior
The War Department
Henry L. Stimson, secretary of war
General George C. Marshall, Army chief of staff
Robert Patterson, under secretary of war
John J. McCloy, assistant secretary of war
Robert Lovett, assistant secretary of war for air
William Hastie, civilian aide to Stimson
Members of Congress
Senator Harry S. Truman, Democrat of Missouri, chairman of Senate special committee investigating national defense; in April 1945 succeeded FDR as president
Representative Clifton Woodrum, Democrat of Virginia, member of House Appropriations Committee
Representative Merlin Hull, Progressive of Wisconsin
Senator Carter Glass, Democrat of Virginia, chairman of Senate Appropriations Committee
Representative Albert Engel, Republican of Michigan, member of House Military Appropriations subcommittee
Civilian Commissioners and Staff
Gilmore Clarke, chairman of the Commission of Fine Arts
Frederic Delano, chai
rman of the National Capital Park and Planning Commission and uncle to the president
William Delano, member of planning commission; friend of Somervell’s and distant cousin to Frederic Delano
Hans Paul Caemmerer, secretary of the fine arts commission
Jay Downer, highway consultant, associate of Clarke and Delano
Paul Phillipe Cret, architect and member of fine arts commission
Army Officers and Staff
Colonel Ernest Graves, Corps of Engineers officer, mentor to Somervell and Groves
Brigadier General Charles “Baldy” Hartman, Somervell’s predecessor as chief of construction
Brigadier General Eugene Reybold, chief of supply, later chief engineer
Major General Edmund Gregory, quartermaster general
Major Garrison “Gar” Davidson, an aide to Groves and the former West Point football coach
George Holmes, Somervell’s public relations man
Captain Donald Antes, an aide to Groves
Brigadier General Wilhelm B. “Fat” Styer, deputy to Somervell
Brigadier General Alexander D. Surles, chief of the Bureau of Public Relations
Colonel Thomas F. Farrell, executive officer to Groves
Brigadier General Thomas M. Robins, Somervell’s replacement as chief of construction
Brigadier General Dwight D. Eisenhower, chief of war plans; later Allied commander for landings in North Africa and Europe; Marshall’s successor as Army chief of staff
Lieutenant General Henry H. (Hap) Arnold, commander of Army Air Forces
Major Franklin Matthias, an aide to Groves
Navy Department
Henry Knox, secretary of the Navy
Admiral Ernest King, commander in chief of the United States Fleet
Workers
Stanley “Joe” Nance Allan, a carpenter
Donald Walker, a steelworker
Hank Neighbors, a payroll witness
The First Pentagon Employees (“The Plank Walkers”)
Helen McShane Bailey, administrative assistant, Office of the Chief of Staff
Marjorie Hanshaw, secretary, Ordnance Department supply section
Opal Sheets, “Miss 10,000,” administrative assistant, Services of Supply
Marian Bailey, a telephone operator and later supervisor
Lucille Ramale, file clerk, Transportation Corps
Henry Bennett, clerk, Ordnance Department
Jimmy Harold, assistant engineer, Ordnance Department field service
PART II
The Early Cold War Years
James Forrestal, secretary of defense,1947–49
Louis Johnson, secretary of defense, 1949–50
George C. Marshall, secretary of defense, 1950–51
Clark Clifford, aide and later special counsel to President Harry Truman 1946–50; secretary of defense, 1968–1969
Marx Leva, aide to Forrestal, Johnson and Marshall, 1947–51
The Vietnam Years
Robert McNamara, secretary of defense, 1961–1968
General Harold K. Johnson, Army chief of staff, 1964–1968
David McGiffert, under secretary of the Army, 1966–69
Lieutenant Colonel Ernest Graves Jr., son of Ernest Graves and aide to the secretary of the Army, 1967–68
Captain Phil Entrekin, commander of C Troop, 1st Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment at the Pentagon, 1967
Abbie Hoffman, marcher at the Pentagon, cofounder of Youth International Party (Yippies)
Norman Mailer, marcher at the Pentagon, author of The Armies of the Night
Bill Ayers, marcher at the Pentagon, later member of Weather Underground
Rita Campbell, custodial foreman for Pentagon’s fourth floor cleaning crew
The Post-Vietnam Years
Donald Rumsfeld, secretary of defense, 1975–77, 2001–2006
Colin Powell, military assistant to secretary of defense Caspar Weinberger, 1983–86; chairman of the Joint Chiefs, 1989–93; secretary of state, 2001–05
John Hamre, Department of Defense comptroller, 1993–97; deputy secretary of defense, 1997–99
Paul Wolfowitz, deputy secretary of defense, 2001–2005
Pentagon Management
David O. “Doc” Cooke, the “Mayor of the Pentagon”
Steve Carter, building engineer; assistant building manager on 9/11
John Jester, chief of Pentagon police force
The Pentagon Renovation and Phoenix Project
Lee Evey, chief of the Pentagon Renovation Program, 1997–2002
Frank Probst, a communications contractor
Les Hunkele, a renovation project manager
Allyn Kilsheimer, structural engineer in charge of demolition and redesign for the Phoenix Project
Stephen Ludden, a Phoenix Project construction foreman
Inside the Pentagon on 9/11
Lieutenant Kevin Shaeffer, action officer in the Navy Command Center
Colonel Phil McNair, executive officer to the Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel
Paul Gonzales, office supervisor, Defense Intelligence Agency comptroller’s office
Peter Murphy, counsel for the commandant of the Marine Corps
Rescuers
Alan Wallace, Pentagon heliport firefighter
Lieutenant Colonel Paul “Ted” Anderson, Army congressional liaison office
Captain Mike Smith, Arlington County Fire Department
Assistant Chief Jim Schwartz, Arlington County Fire Department incident commander
Early plot plan for a new War Department headquarters at Arlington Farm.
A pentagon
On a warm and rainy Thursday evening in July 1941, inside a War Department office in Washington, a small group of Army officers hastily assembled for a meeting and listened in disbelief to the secret plan outlined by their commander.
The general spoke in the velvety southern accent of his native Arkansas, but at a cadence far too rapid to be called a drawl. He was not in uniform—Army policy kept officers in civilian clothes so as to disguise from Congress the burgeoning military population in Washington—but he cut an immaculate figure, with his trim build, combed-back graying hair, and neatly groomed mustache. Over the past eight months, the officers of the Army’s Construction Division had grown accustomed to bold and quick action from their chief. At age forty-nine, Brigadier General Brehon Burke Somervell had earned a reputation as a tough and “ruthless expediter.” Somervell, it was said, could spot red tape before it even turned pink. Now he turned his eyes—“the keenest, shrewdest, most piercing eyes one is likely to meet,” in the words of one observer—toward his chief of design, Lieutenant Colonel Hugh “Pat” Casey.
“Pat, we’re going to build a new War Department Building, and we’re not going to build it in Washington,” Somervell said. “It’s going to be built over in Virginia.”
The building Somervell wanted to create was too big to fit in Washington and would have to go across the Potomac River in Arlington. It would be far larger than all the great structures of the city, including the U.S. Capitol. It would surpass any office building in the world. Somervell wanted a headquarters big enough to hold forty thousand people, with parking for ten thousand cars. It would contain four million square feet of office space—twice as much as the Empire State Building. Yet it must be no more than four stories high—a tall building would obstruct views of Washington and require too much steel, which was urgently needed for battleships and weapons.
The War Department would occupy the new headquarters within half a year, Somervell instructed. “We want 500,000 square feet ready in six months, and the whole thing ready in a year,” the general said.
The War Department’s chief architect would immediately assemble the people and equipment needed for the job, Somervell said. “Now, don’t question his requirements,” the general told his staff. “That isn’t your job.” Somervell gave no written instructions. The project was moving too fast, and its details wer
e too sensitive. He ended the meeting with orders to have the general layout, basic design plans, and architectural perspectives for the building on his desk by 9 a.m. Monday.
“That,” Casey later said, “was a big order.” Somervell’s engineers and architects were in for a long weekend.
Washington was consumed by war anxiety. Three weeks earlier, Adolf Hitler, already in control of much of Europe, had launched a surprise attack on the Soviet Union. The German army was already halfway to Moscow and had 300,000 Russian soldiers encircled around Smolensk. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, alarmed by Nazi gains, had declared a national emergency on May 27, triggering furious military preparations. The War Department in Washington was growing at an explosive rate, its 24,000 workers scattered in seventeen buildings around the area, including apartment buildings, warehouses, private homes, and several rented garages. Somervell’s own headquarters was nestled in a new five-story federal office building on Capitol Hill known as the Railroad Retirement Building; he and other Army commanders spent hours every day traveling from office to office.
The dispersion of the War Department, inconvenient during peacetime, was unacceptable in a national emergency. General George C. Marshall, the Army chief of staff, racing to prepare the military for a conflict he believed the country could not avoid, needed a quick solution, and turned to Somervell, the Army’s chief of construction. Marshall pictured a complex of temporary buildings on one site. Somervell took the concept further, envisioning a single, huge headquarters to house the entire War Department. A powerful Virginia congressman signaled interest on July 17 in finding a solution to the War Department’s problem. Somervell launched the project that evening.
Working around the clock over the weekend, Somervell’s staff brainstormed on a design. The restrictions were confounding, given the space they needed. The easiest solution, constructing a tall building, was out. They would have to spread out horizontally. But how? Pat Casey visualized a city of 40,000 people, not traveling by car, but instead moving by foot through one vast building. Casey and chief architect Edwin Bergstrom, working with harried assistants, toyed with different layouts. A square building that size—with the enormous interior distances to be covered—was too unwieldy, as was a rectangle. An octagon seemed too awkward. Finally, guided by the odd shape of the plot of land on which they hoped to build, they sketched a five-sided ring, curiously reminiscent of an old fortress: a pentagon.
