The Pentagon: A History

by Steve Vogel

  Marshall wanted to use Marshall to Secretary of War, 17 Sept. 1940, GCM papers, box 84, folder 2, GCM Lib. The experimental farm was relocated north of Washington to Beltsville, Maryland, where it remains.

  In approving the site House hearing, 22 July 1941; “The Pentagon Project—EHD,” 3, CEHO.

  Bergstrom gets to work

  A formal man Socrates Thomas Stathes, author interview, 21 Aug. 2004; Bob Furman, author interviews, 2004–06.

  Bergstrom—known George Edwin Bergstrom membership file, AIA; Bergstrom biographical sketch, I, box 16, CEHO; Christina J. Hammond, “Chapter III, The Architect, George Edwin Bergstrom,” from “The Italian-style Garden at Kimberly Crest” manuscript, Baldwin Memorial Files, AIA. Among many others Parkinson and Bergstrom designed in the Los Angeles area were the original California Club, the Crocker Bank Building, the Mason Opera House, and the Alexandria Hotel.

  In the same vein, Somervell F&R, The Corps of Engineers, 266–67; Somervell, Army Navy Journal, 23 Aug. 1941, Somervell addresses, vol. I, MHI. Groves comments, 52, CEHO; Dreyer, F&R interview, CEHO; Luther Leisenring, F&R interview, 1957, VII, box 32, CEHO.

  Bergstrom, at least “AIA Convention,” Architectural Record, June 1941; F&R, The Corps of Engineers, 347; Colglazier, oral history, MHI; “The Pentagon,” 4, Witmer collection, OSD History Office.

  It fit

  The Arlington Farm “The Arlington Office Building,” Witmer notebook, Witmer Collection, OSD HO; “New War Department Building,” undated report circa 1942, Witmer papers, OSD HO; architects’ historical memo, NARA RG 200.

  Stathes was known Stathes, author interview.

  Despite the layout Engineer Memoirs—Casey, 137–39; “The Pentagon Project-EHD,” 3–4, CEHO; Groves, “Notes on the Pentagon,” June 1969, entry 5, box 1, NARA RG 200; “Personnel principally responsible for design and construction,” Oct. 1943, Hadden notebook, I, CEHO.

  There were many problems Maj. William Frierson, Office of the Chief of Military History, The Pentagon, 10, 1944, box 1311, OSD HO (hereafter Frierson, The Pentagon); Stathes, author interview.

  It should not ever come to pieces

  The whole idea Stimson diary, 22 July 1941; U.S. Senate, Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, 77th Congress, 1st sess., Hearings on the First Supplemental National Defense Appropriations Bill for 1942, 31 July 1941, 60 (hereafter Senate hearing 31 July 1941); House hearing, 22 July 1941, 505–511.

  At the suggestion of Moore F&R, The Corps of Engineers, 415; Ohl, Supplying the Troops, 47.

  At the hearing House hearing, 22 July 1941, 500–13.

  The War Department building as proposed “The Pentagon Project-EHD,” 7, CEHO; 22 July 1941 memorandum for the Secretary of War, NARA RG 107.

  Stimson decided Edwin Watson memorandum for the president, 24 July 1941, Papers as President, Official File (OF) 25, War Department files, FDR Lib.

  Earlier that month the president James MacGregor Burns, The Soldier of Freedom, 1940–1945, 105.

  When the proposal was raised Stimson diary, 24 July 1941; Stimson letter to Woodrum, 24 July 1941, I, CEHO.

  Lebensraum

  On July 24, 1941 Cong. Rec., 24 July 1941, 6303–04, 6322–23; architects’ historical memo, NARA RG 200.

  The cat was now “War Building ‘Blitz’ Leaves Capital Stunned and Confused,” Star, 13 Aug. 1941; War Department press release, 24 July 1941, entry 5, box 1, NARA RG 200; Star, 24 and 25 July 1941; WP, 25 and 26 July 1941; Washington Daily News, 26 July 1941.

  On Friday morning, Woodrum Cong. Rec. 28 July 1941, 6363–6375; Minutes of the Special Meeting of the National Capital Park and Planning Commission, 29 July 1941, 4, RG 328, NARA DC (hereafter NCPPC minutes, 29 July 1941); architects’ historical memo, NARA RG 200.

  Sensitive to appearances Senate hearing, 8 Aug. 1941, 234; Harold L. Ickes diary, Personal Papers, Manuscript Division, LOC, 5840–41 (hereafter Ickes diary); NCPPC minutes, 29 July 1941, 6.

  A grand fellow

  Across the Potomac Carl M. Brauer, The Man Who Built Washington, 63.

  Viewing the progress Mary McShain letter to President George H.W. Bush, 6 Dec. 1989, series VII, personal papers, subseries 2, Papers of John McShain, HML (hereafter McShain papers); Adm. J. J. Manning, memo to McShain, 10 Jan. 1950, personal papers, McShain papers, HML.

  Roosevelt was a greater admirer Rhoads, “Franklin D. Roosevelt and Washington Architecture” WT-H, 4 July 1943; WP, 10 Dec. 1943; John McShain, “Hyde Park Diary 1939–1940,” chapter 3, 3, series VII, subseries 1, McShain papers, HML (hereafter McShain, “Hyde Park diary”).

  McShain stood only J. Lacey Reynolds, “John McShain, Builder,” undated draft of article circa 1949 in VII, subseries 1, McShain papers, HML; Brauer, The Man Who Built Washington, 50, 184; L. Stuart Ditzen, “Billion Dollar Builder—Philadelphia’s John McShain,” Philadelphia Bulletin, 8 Aug. 1976.

  McShain’s parents Sister Pauline “Polly” McShain, author interview, 8 Mar., 2004; Brauer, The Man Who Built Washington, 1–23; McShain autobiographical notes, 1970s–1980s, VII, subseries 1, McShain papers, HML.

  What set McShain apart John Gerrity, “He Changed the Face of Washington,” Nation’s Business, Jan. 1952; Brauer, The Man Who Built Washington, 40–1; McShain autobiographical notes, “The Pentagon,” VII, subseries 1, McShain papers, HML.

  It was glory Time, 14 Nov. 1949; Polly McShain, author interview; McShain comments in 1984 video, courtesy Polly McShain; Brauer, The Man Who Built Washington, 61–2.

  McShain was just a few months McShain, “Hyde Park diary,” chapter 1, 1–4; Cynthia M. Koch and Lynn A. Bassanese, “Roosevelt and His Library,” Prologue, Summer 2001.

  McShain’s Republican leanings Polly McShain, author interview; Gerrity, “He Changed the Face of Washington” McShain, interview with Harold Wiegand, 1979, VII, McShain papers, HML.

  Roosevelt treated McShain McShain, “Hyde Park diary,” chapters 3–4; NYT, 5 July 1940.

  “After viewing the Library” McShain letter to FDR, 8 July 1941; Roosevelt letter to McShain, 12 July 1941, VII, subseries 1, McShain Papers, HML; Roosevelt, The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1941 vol., 361.

  As work commenced FDR: Day by Day—The Pare Lorentz Chronology, 24–25, July 1941, FDR Lib.; McShain autobiographical notes, 12, VII, McShain papers, HML. The conversation most likely took place July 25, 1941.

  No greater worlds to conquer

  Somervell had started Styer memo to Construction Advisory Committee, 22 July 1941, I, CEHO.

  McShain, well plugged McShain autobiographical notes, 12, VII, 1, McShain papers, HML.

  “The board was in Somervell’s way” Ferdinand J.C. Dresser, F&R interview, VII, box 32, CEHO; F&R, The Corps of Engineers, 184, 188.

  On July 24 F&R, The Corps of Engineers, 433; Benjamin Forgey, “The Master Builder; John McShain’s Monumental Legacy to Washington,” WP, 15 Feb. 1997. McShain autobiographical notes, 17, VII, 1, McShain papers, HML.

  Somervell heartily endorsed Somervell memo to Under Secretary of War, 25 July 1941, I, CEHO; Dresser, F&R interview, CEHO.

  As to why Somervell chose McShain autobiographical notes, 13, VII, 1, McShain papers, HML; Groves, F&R interview, 1956, CEHO; Richard Groves, author interview; architects’ historical memo, NARA RG 200; McShain, memo to Groves, 2 Oct. 1942, I, CEHO; McShain autobiographical notes, “The Pentagon,” 1, VII, 1, McShain papers; Brauer, The Man Who Built Washington, 78; Thomas Munyan, author interview, 24 Mar. 2004.

  CHAPTER 4: CARRYING L’ENFANT’S BANNER

  The resurrection of Pierre L’Enfant

  The men digging WP, 23 and 29 Apr. 1909; Cowdrey, A City for the Nation, 1–10, 35; National Capital Planning Commission, Worthy of the Nation, 13–36, 133–146.

  Arlington Cemetery by then Author tour and interviews with Arlington House site manager Kendell Thompson and Arlington Cemetery historian Tom Sherlock, 26 Jan. 2005; Philip Bigler, In Honored Glory, 20–35, C. B. Rose, Jr., Arlington County, Virginia: A History, 99,
108–9; National Park Service Web site, http://www.nps.gov/archive/arho/tour/history.html

  So many thousands WP, 12 Nov. 1921 and 5 June 2002; Cowdrey, A City for the Nation, 48–9.

  L’Enfant rolls in his grave

  In July 1941 Clarke, letter to Senate, 2 Aug. 1941, Records of the Commission of Fine Arts, NARA DC RG 66; Senate hearing, 8 Aug. 1941, 139; Sue A. Kohler, The Commission of Fine Arts: A Brief History; Constance McLaughlin Green, Washington: A History of the Capital, 1800–1950, vol. II, 140–2.

  Clarke, a New York City Moore, letter to FDR, 9 Apr. 1936, NARA DC RG 66; Clarke oral history, 42, 182–84, 282; NYT, Clarke obituary, 10 Aug. 1982; WP, Clarke obituary, 11 Aug. 1982; Rhoads, “Franklin Roosevelt and Washington Architecture” Clarke would not be reappointed to the commission by Harry Truman in 1949 after objecting that a balcony the president added to the White House did not fit the design.

  But Somervell had not bothered House hearing, 22 July 1941, 504; Senate hearing, 8 Aug. 1941, 186; Clarke, letter to Senate, 2 Aug 1941, NARA DC RG 66.

  If Hitler would postpone his war

  Somervell had also ignored Senate hearing, 8 Aug. 1941; House hearing, 22 July 1941.

  Delano, younger brother NYT, Delano obituary, 29 Mar. 1953; WP, Delano obituary, 29 Mar. 1953; Worthy of the Nation, 161, 186.

  When the meeting began NCPPC minutes, 29 July 1941.

  My God, what will that boy do next?

  In 1938, the Navy Clarke oral history, 126–130, CU; Rhoads, “Franklin D. Roosevelt and Washington Architecture” WP, 7 May 1982; M. A. LeHand to Henry K. Toombs, 17 Nov. 1939, OF 1380, FDR Lib.; Richard Guy Wilson, author interview, Aug. 2004. The neoclassical look of the Jefferson memorial was the same favored by Hitler, the chief architect, Albert Speer, later noted.

  Roosevelt had been itching Rhoads, “Franklin D. Roosevelt and Washington Architecture” author visit to National Naval Medical Center, 2 Feb. 2005; WP, 12 Nov. 1940.

  Uncle Fred goes to bat

  At 3 P.M. Wednesday Conferences with the President, 1941, Harold Smith papers, FDR Lib.; NCPPC minutes, 31 July–1 Aug. 1941; Lee Carson, International News Service, 14 Feb. 1943; Pare Lorentz Chronology, 24–30 July 1941, FDR Lib.; WP, 31 July 1941. Delano, who served with the Army in France during World War I, was wiser than Smith on this score, understanding instinctively that the military was not going to shrink once it had such a building. “Well one thing, the Army will be, on a permanent basis, much larger than it has ever been before and that will mean larger headquarters staff and everything else that goes with it,” he told his commission colleagues.

  Delano sent the Senate Delano, letter to Committee on Appropriations, 31 July 1941, OF 25, FDR Lib.; Clarke, memorandum for the press, 1 Aug. 1941, NARA DC RG 66; NCPPC minutes, 1 Aug. 1941.

  Roosevelt’s fishing expedition

  Two days later Theodore Wilson, The First Summit: Roosevelt and Churchill at Placentia Bay, 1941, 1–6.

  Before leaving town FDR letter to Senator Adams, 1 Aug. 1941, OF 25, FDR Lib.; Conferences with the President, 1941, Harold Smith papers, FDR Lib.

  With all final business Wilson, The First Summit, 4.

  Somervell confidently Somervell memo to Donald Nelson, 2 Aug. 1941, I, CEHO; “The Pentagon Project-EHD,” 17, CEHO; Stimson diary, 14 Aug. 1941; U.S. Senate Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, 77th Congress, 1st sess., Hearings on the First Supplemental National Defense Appropriations Bill for 1942, 8 Aug. 1941, 60–64; Ickes diary, 27 Aug. 1941, 5841.

  Clarke, the fine arts Clarke letter to Senate, 2 Aug. 1941, NARA DC RG 66; Somervell, letter to Clarke, 5 Aug. 1941, I, CEHO.

  The newspapers had indeed Star, 5, 6, and 7 Aug. 1941; NYT, 8 Aug. 1941; Leo Sheridan letter to Clarke, 7 Aug. 1941, NARA DC RG 66; Senate hearing, 31 July 1941.

  Barely noticed Caemmerer letter to Clarke, 6 Aug. 1941, NARA DC RG 66; Senate hearing, 8 Aug. 1941, 150–1; Delano, telegram to A. E. Demaray, 7 Aug. 1941, NARA DC RG 66; NYT, 8 Aug. 1941; Ohl, Supplying the Troops, draft, 74, box 1310, OSD HO.

  CHAPTER 5: A FIRST-CLASS BATTLE

  A hell of a mess with Congress

  Brigadier General Brehon Senate hearing, 8 Aug. 1941, 135–203; Star, 8 Aug. 1941; Ickes diary, 27 Aug. 1941, 5842; Clarke, oral history, 147, CU; WP, 9 and 12 Aug. 1941.

  But the only opinion WP, 13 Aug. 1942 and 29 May 1946; Ickes diary, 27 Aug. 1941, 5842; Star, 13 and 14 Aug. 1941.

  On top of that WP, 13 Aug. 1941; Ickes, letter to Stimson, 12 Aug. 1941, I, CEHO; Stimson, letter to Ickes, 19 Aug. 1941, I, CEHO; Frank C. Waldrop, WT H, 23 Aug. 1941.

  Most shockingly extravagant proposal

  The Reverend Barney T. Phillips Cong. Rec., 14 Aug. 1941, 7111–13, 7132–45; Star, 15 Aug. 1941.

  Harold Ickes held Ickes diary, 27 Aug. 1941, 5841; WP, 16 Aug. 1941; Star, 15 Aug. 1941.

  Clarke ceded battle Clarke letter to Caemmerer, 15 Aug. 1941, NARA DC RG 66.

  You’ve got to build it in a hurry

  “You’ve got to” Paul Caraway, oral history, 1971, 10, MHI.

  Somervell had not waited Minutes of staff conference, 15 Aug. 1941, box 700, NARA RG 92.

  Paul Hauck “The Pentagon Project—EHD,” 25, CEHO; Groves diary, 25 July 1941, entry 7530G, NARA RG 200.

  Bergstrom and his team Colglazier, oral history, 37, MHI; architects’ historical memo, NARA RG 200; Witmer biographical sketch, Witmer membership file, AIA; Los Angeles Times, Witmer obituary, 8 May 1973; Robert Farquhar membership file, AIA.

  Groves would oversee Groves memo to Army Headquarters Commandant, 28 June 1946, Leslie R. Groves Collection, GCM Lib.

  Renshaw, from Alan Renshaw, author interview, 6 Feb. 2004; Assembly, March 1981; Clarence Renshaw, F&R interview, VII, box 33, CEHO; F&R, The Corps of Engineers, 51; author visit, Wright Brothers National Memorial, 16 Aug. 2004.

  Assigned to the Washington F&R, The Corps of Engineers, 280; Karen Byrne Kinsey, “Battling For Arlington House: To Lee or Not to Lee?” Arlington Historical Magazine, Oct. 2003.

  Renshaw had developed Pagan, F&R interview, CEHO; Richard Groves, author interview; Furman, author interview.

  “I wasn’t so sure” Clarence Renshaw, F&R interview, CEHO.

  This rape of Washington

  Bronzed and refreshed Wilson, The First Summit, 201, 204–205; Roosevelt, The Public Papers of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1941 vol., 319; Jon Meacham, Franklin and Winston, 122.

  His secretary of the interior Ickes diary, 27 Aug. 1941, 5842; Delano telegram to Harold Smith, 16 Aug. 1941, OF 25, FDR Lib.; Delano letter to FDR, 17 Aug. 1941, OF 25, FDR Lib.

  The newspapers Washington Sunday Star, 17 Aug. 1941.

  Roosevelt already felt Rhoads, “Franklin Roosevelt and Washington Architecture.”

  On Monday, August 18 FDR, memo to Harold Smith, 18 Aug. 1941, OF 25, FDR Lib.

  Smith was only Smith memorandum to the President, 19 Aug. 1941, Conferences with the President: 1941, Harold Smith papers, FDR Lib.

  A mere formality

  The mood was euphoric F&R, The Corps of Engineers, 435; Ohl, Supplying the Troops, 50; construction authorization, 19 Aug. 1941, I, CEHO; “The Pentagon Project—EHD,” 17, CEHO.

  Groves and Renshaw were there “Conference on New War Department Building,” 19 Aug. 1941, I, CEHO.

  I should be kept out of Heaven

  Across town at the White House WP, 20 Aug. 1941; Roosevelt, The Public Papers of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1941 vol., 325–33.

  News bulletins hit Watson, memorandum for the president, 19 Aug. 1941, OF 25, FDR Lib.

  Gilmore Clarke read the news Clarke letter to FDR, 20 Aug. 1941, NARA DC RG 66; WP, 21 Aug. 1941; NYT, 22 Aug. 1941; New York Herald-Tribune, 21 Aug. 1941.

  Indeed, Roosevelt NYT, 20 Aug. 1941; WP, 20 Aug. 1941; Memorandums to the President, 20 and 25 Aug. 1941, OF 25, FDR Lib.

  Somervell scrambled McCloy, interview with Eric Sevareid, 1975, John J. McCloy Papers, Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College Library; Stimson, On Active Service, 343.

&nb
sp; Somervell and McCloy reported Somervell, memorandum to the Secretary of War, 20 Aug. 1941, NARA RG 107.

  “Put three shifts” Star, 20 Aug. 1941.

  Emerging from the conference Star, 21 Aug. 1941; summary of minutes of Quartermaster staff conference, 22 Aug. 1941, I, CEHO; WP, 22 Aug. 1941.

  “We are proceeding” Somervell, memorandum to the Secretary of War, 20 Aug. 1941, NARA RG 107.

  That was news to McCloy McCloy, memorandum for General Somervell, 26 Aug. 1941, NARA RG 107, McCloy papers, entry 182.

  Returning to Washington Smith, memorandum to the president, 25 Aug. 1941, OF 25, FDR Lib.; Star, 25 Aug. 1941, WP, 26 Aug. 1941.

  The following afternoon Franklin D. Roosevelt, Complete Presidential Press Conferences of Franklin D. Roosevelt, vol. 17–18, 113–116.

  The whole thing is all up in the air

  No one could imagine Star, 27 Aug. 1941, WP, 28 Aug. 1941; Caemmerer, letter to Francis P. Sullivan, Chairman, Committee on the National Capital, 26 Aug. 1941, NARA DC RG 66.

  That was not the lesson Watson, memorandum to the President, 26 Aug. 1941, OF 25, FDR Lib.; WP, 28 Aug. 1941. Star, 27 Aug. 1941.

  Delano drafted an agreement NCPPC minutes, 18 Sept. 1941, 65; NCPPC minutes, 17 Oct. 1941, 114; Delano, letter to Somervell, 11 Oct. 1941, I, CEHO.

  Consulting with McCloy McCloy diary, 28 Aug. 1941, John J. McCloy Papers, Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College Library (hereafter McCloy diary); “Memorandum for the President: Subject: War Department Building,” 28 Aug. 1941, OF 25, FDR Lib.

  “It is a compromise” Star, 29 Aug. 1941.