by Steve Vogel
Renshaw, to his disappointment Furman, author interview; Alan Renshaw, author interview; Renshaw biographical file, CEHO; Star, Jan. 1945.
Groves had his eye Furman, author interview; Norris, Racing for the Bomb, 287–91, 299–307.
For a while, Major Furman Furman, author interview.
We take ’em back
The end of April WP, 28 Apr. 1943; Star, 28 Apr. 1943.
“Pentagon’s Lucky 30,814” WP, 9 July 1943.
Even the Pentagon’s six War Department press release, 29 Apr. 1943, SDF, NARA RG 160; WP, 8 Apr. 1944.
The layers of dust War Department press release, 22 Dec. 1942, SDF, NARA RG 160; Jeffress, author interview; Dole, author interview.
Despite the Pentagon’s size The Pentagon: A Description of the World’s Largest Office Building, 4.
The road network War Department press release, 29 Apr. 1943, SDF, NARA RG 160; WP, 22 Mar. 1942; WP, 26 Apr. 1944.
Even the once-ugly courtyard Star, 30 May 1943; Washington Daily News, 23 July 1943.
Movie stars NYT, 28 Oct. 1943; WP, 28 Oct. 1943; Star, 23 Jan. 1943; WT-H, 16 June 1943; Drew Pearson, “Washington Merry-Go-Round,” 3 July 1943.
On the concourse War Department press release, 29 Apr. 1943, SDF, NARA RG 160; Publishers Weekly, 18 Sept. 1943; Isbell, memo about concessions, 19 Feb. 1944, SDF, NARA RG 160; Star, 2 June and 23 Aug. 1943; WP, 28 Apr. and 2 June 1943.
Tall and erect, General Henri Time, 2 July 1951.
Somervell’s Folly
In the spring of 1943 Engel letter to Somervell, 20 Apr. 1943, I, CEHO; Somervell letter to Engel, 28 Apr. 1943, I, CEHO; Hadden, memo to Renshaw, 30 Apr. 1943, entry 5, box 1, NARA RG 200.
Equally alarming Hugh Fulton letters to Julius H. Amberg, 16 June, 21 June, and 3 Aug. 1943, I, CEHO; Fulton letter to Amberg, 7 July 1943, NARA RG 107.
“I was watching you” Hauck memo to McShain, 13 Jan. 1950, VII, McShain papers, HML; Manning memo to McShain, 10 Jan. 1950, VII; McShain papers; McShain notes about 31 Dec. 1949 meeting with Truman, VII, McShain papers, HML.
On Capitol Hill telephone transcript, Renshaw and Col. Chapin, 8 Jan. 1944, I, CEHO; Renshaw memo to Hadden, 17 Jan. 1944, I, CEHO; Cong. Rec., 29 Feb. 1944, 2102–10; Star, 29 Feb. 1944.
Somervell telephoned Renshaw telephone transcript, Somervell and Renshaw, 29 Feb. 1944, I, CEHO; Somervell 1944 appointment book, 29 Feb. 1944, Somervell papers, MHI.
Engel nonetheless Cong Rec., 6 Mar. 1944, 2288–92; “Comments on Statements of Congressman Albert J. Engel on the Pentagon, 6 March 1944,” Office of the Chief of Engineers, 7 Apr. 1944, I, CEHO.
Once again, Engel’s attacks United Press, 29 Feb. 1944; Newsweek, 20 Mar. 1944.
Even the German press “Das Somervell-Narrenhaus in Washington,” 24 Feb. 1944, copy with translation in entry 18, Karl Detzer file, SDF, NARA RG 160.
Other congressmen United Press article in NYT, 7 Feb. 1944.
CHAPTER 16: WHAT TO DO WITH THE PENTAGON
I no longer consider the Pentagon a safe shelter
As the clock counted Groves, Now It Can Be Told, 295–6; Lawren, The General and the Bomb, 215–17; Groves memo to the secretary of war, 18 July 1945, appendix VIII, 436, Now It Can Be Told.
“If our gadget” F&R, The Corps of Engineers, 661.
Somervell was no more Groves, Now It Can Be Told, 70.
No one could be sure Groves, Now It Can Be Told, 291; Richard Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, 652.
“What the hell” Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, 666.
“During most of these hours” Groves memo to the secretary of war, 18 July 1945, appendix VIII, 438–9, Now It Can Be Told.
Accompanied by Vannevar Bush Ibid.; Groves, 438, 294–8.
“The war is over” Ibid., 298.
Groves boarded a plane Ibid., 302–4; Norris, Racing for the Bomb, 407.
In graphic and, for Groves Groves, memo to the secretary of war, 18 July 1945, appendix VIII, 433–4, Now It Can Be Told.
I just plum forgot
On the morning of August 6 Groves, Now It Can Be Told, 321–4.
Marshall wanted Groves Ibid., 324–30.
At 11 A.M., the announcement McCullough, Truman, 455.
Groves soon ran into Somervell Groves, oral history with Pogue, first interview.
How did you know Truman was going to be president?
Somervell waited Millett, The Army Service Forces, 419; Newsweek, 7 Dec. 1942.
In 1943, a little AP article in WP, 16 Mar. 1943; Matter, author interview. At Belcourt, Louise had been one of the girls eyeing the young West Point cadet when he was home on holidays. Louise Wartmann and her husband, Henry, a Florida citrus packing company owner, had befriended the Somervells in Ocala in 1935, when the Army engineer was building the soon-aborted Florida ship canal. Both widowed and each with three daughters, they were married in Ocala on March 15, 1943, with Fat Styer serving as the general’s best man. Roosevelt telegrammed Somervell with congratulations for the “good news from the South.”
Though only fifty-three Ohl, Supplying the Troops, 250; Handy, memo to Marshall, 5 Jan. 1944, box 65, folder 43, Marshall papers, GCM Lib.
At 7 P.M., the announcement Millett, The Army Service Forces, 419. The Services of Supply name was changed to Army Service Forces on Mar. 12, 1943.
The vast supply empire Janney, “The Man Behind the Invasion” NYT, 14 Feb. 1955; Eisenhower address at Pentagon, 10 June 1946, Somervell papers, MHI.
Somervell signed a second Millett, The Army Service Forces, 419; Somervell memo to Marshall, 18 Aug. 1945, Somervell papers, MHI.
Somervell “looked very sorrowful” Groves, oral history with Pogue, second interview.
In the Somervell family Brehon Somervell Griswold, author interview, 8 Mar. 2004.
Despite all the criticism WT-H, 25 Sept. 1943; Ohl, Supplying the Troops, 250; Robert E. Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate History, 758–62.
Two weeks after Pearson, “The Washington Merry-Go-Round,” WP, 27 Apr. 1945.
It was obvious by then Ohl, Supplying the Troops, 250; WP, 19 June 1945; Hart, Washington at War, 260–1; Stimson diary, 18 June 1945; McCloy diary, 18 June 1945.
“So strategist” Somervell speech, Army-Navy Staff College, 24 Feb. 1944, Somervell addresses, vol. V, MHI.
We can only leave with the greatest feeling of pride
On September 20 WP, 21 Sept. 1945; War Department press release, 21 Nov. 1945.
Henry Stimson was leaving Godfrey Hodgson, The Colonel: The Life and Wars of Henry Stimson, 350; McCloy, remarks at time of dedication of the Marshall Corridor in the Pentagon, 20 Apr. 1976, McCloy papers, Amherst College.
On his final morning Stimson diary, 21 Sept. 1945; Hodgson, The Colonel, 367.
The Pentagon bade farewell WP, 27 Nov. 1945; McCullough, Truman, 472; Time, 3 Jan. 1944; Stimson and Bundy, On Active Service, 441; Pogue, Organizer of Victory, 321, xi.
Somervell’s departure War Department press release, 21 Nov. 1945.
Marshall was disappointed Millett, The Army Service Forces, 419; Marshall, oral histories with Pogue, 13 Nov. 1956 and 14 Feb. 1957.
From Highhold Stimson, letter to Somervell, 13 Nov. 1945, Somervell papers, MHI; Millett, The Army Service Forces, 420.
There were rumors Newsweek, 1 Oct. 1945; Karl Detzer, undated anecdote, circa 1946, Somervell papers, MHI.
“[N]ow that the play” Katherine King, letter to Somervell, 7 June 1946, Somervell papers, MHI.
Hell in a handbasket
It was well into October Furman, author interview.
The Pentagon was put Star, 7 Sept. 1945 and 22 Mar. 1946.
Before long Star, 17 Feb. 1946.
The population of the building Goldberg, The Pentagon, 158, 185; War Department press release, 29 Apr. 1943, SDF, NARA RG 160; “Pentagon Telephone Conversations—Groves,” Renshaw and Matthias, 7 Aug. 1942; Inspector General’s Office report on space in Pentagon, 26 Aug. 1943, box 963, NARA RG 159.
Even Eise
nhower Eisenhower, At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends, 315–16.
What to do with the Pentagon
The question now Immen, “The Pentagon…Fact and Fancy” Joe McCarthy, “Our Miraculous Pentagon,” Holiday, Mar. 1952; Lauterbach, “The Pentagon Puzzle.”
Other suggestions WP, 20 Aug. 1944; Washington Daily News, 24 Oct. 1945; Star, 13 Mar. 1945.
Whatever the price Engel press release, 29 Feb. 1944, I, CEHO; Goldberg, The Pentagon, 112; “Estimate—Pentagon Building,” 8 Jan. 1943, entry 145, NARA RG 319; Defense Project Agency audit, 22 Aug. 1942, I, CEHO; “Comments on Statements of Congressman Albert J. Engel on the Pentagon, 29 February 1944,” Office of the Chief of Engineers, 7 Apr. 1944, I, CEHO.
“It is probable” Ibid.
Failure to tell Congress “Problems Related to Pentagon Project,” SDF, NARA RG 160.
The War Department produced several “The Pentagon Project-ASF” NARA RG 160; “Basic Data on the Pentagon,” SDF, NARA RG 160; memo to Somervell about “The Pentagon Project,” 28 July 1944, I, CEHO.
“Imagine what” “The Pentagon Saves Lives,” Lt. Col. Karl Detzer, draft, Jan. 1944, I, CEHO.
Still, the Pentagon had failed Goldberg, The Pentagon, 165; “The Pentagon,” Office of the Chief of Engineers, draft, 1 May 1944, I, CEHO.
The eighth wonder of the world
Little more than War Times, 31 Aug. 1945; Star, 2 Sept. 1945, WP, 2 Sept. 1945.
It was George Marshall King letter to Marshall, 26 May 1944; Nelson memo to McNarney, 7 June 1944; Marshall note, Nov. 1945; Patterson letter to secretary of state, 19 Nov. 1945; Forrestal letter to Patterson, 29 Nov. 1945, all in Otto L. Nelson Papers, GCM Lib.
If we get a decent peace
Franklin D. Roosevelt had also Roosevelt, memo to Smith, 8 Jan. 1945, OF 380, FDR Lib.
PART II
CHAPTER 17: NO DECENT PEACE
I want to take the oath
At 9:45 A.M. Steven L. Rearden, History of the Office of the Secretary of Defense: The Formative Years, 1947–1950, 1; Time, 29 Sept. 1947; WP, 18 Sept. 1947; NYT, 18 Sept. 1947.
President Harry Truman had hoped Rearden, The Formative Years, 1; Clark Clifford with Richard Holbrooke, Counsel to the President: A Memoir, 159; Allan R. Millett and Peter Maslowski, For the Common Defense: A Military History of the United States of America, 495.
Truman, alarmed James Forrestal, The Forrestal Diaries, 313.
Minutes before noon Time, 29 Sept. 1947; NYT, 18 Sept. 1947.
A broken nose C. W. Borklund, Men of the Pentagon: From Forrestal to McNamara, 12; Eisenhower, At Ease, 330; Jonathan Daniels, quoted in Time, 31 Jan. 1964.
Amid “an atmosphere” Clifford, Counsel to the President, 159; Rearden, The Formative Years, 1–2.
Forrestal crossed J. S. Davitt, memo to Wilfred J. McNeil, 22 July 1947, box 510 B, OSD HO; WP, 29 July 1947; Forrestal, The Forrestal Diaries, 295; Borklund, Men of the Pentagon, 45; Marx Leva, minutes of meeting, 1 Aug. 1947, 2 Aug. 1947, boxes 513/4, OSD HO.
A Navy band NYT, 24 Sept. 1947; WP, 24 Sept. 1947.
Forrestal’s advisers wanted Leva, minutes of meeting, 1 Aug. 1947, 2 Aug. 1947, boxes 513/4, OSD HO; minutes of meeting, 15 Aug. 1947, boxes 513/4, OSD HO.
“This is National Defense” WP, 22 Sept. 1947; Star, 23 and 28 Oct., 1947.
Most noteworthy Marx Leva, oral history, 1970, HST Lib.
The biggest cemetery for dead cats in the world
The New War Department Building Goldberg, The Pentagon, 4; Star, 20 June 1947.
The tenuous wartime alliance Rearden, The Formative Years, 3–4, 9; Millett and Maslowski, For the Common Defense, 496–7.
It was a sweeping Rearden, The Formative Years, 12; Forrestal, The Forrestal Diaries, 314.
The atmosphere lent urgency Townsend Hoopes and Douglas Brinkley, Driven Patriot: The Life and Times of James Forrestal, 321, 327; Clifford, Counsel to the President, 153, 146; Rearden, The Formative Years, 20.
“They have a propaganda” Clifford, Counsel to the President, 156.
The son of an immigrant Borklund, Men of the Pentagon, 12.
After seven years Clifford, Counsel to the President, 149–51; Clark M. Clifford, oral history, 19 Apr. 1971, HST Lib.; Hoopes and Brinkley, Driven Patriot, 334–5; Arnold A. Rogow, James Forrestal: A Study of Personality, Politics, and Policy, 223.
Truman may have been tempted Clifford, Counsel to the President, 153–55; Rearden, The Formative Years, 22; Clifford, oral history, 19 Apr. 1971, HST Lib.
Forrestal was not Truman’s first Forrestal, Forrestal Diaries, 295; Hoopes and Brinkley, Driven Patriot, 351; Rearden, The Formative Years, 4; Clifford, Counsel to the President, 158; Clifford, oral history, 23 Mar. 1971, HST Lib.
Forrestal, for his part Hoopes and Brinkley, Driven Patriot, 350; Cecilia Stiles Cornell, “James V. Forrestal and American National Security Policy, 1940–49,” 312; Hanson W. Baldwin, “Big Boss of the Pentagon,” NYT, 29 Aug. 1948; Borklund, Men of the Pentagon, 38.
Forrestal had his own Forrestal, Forrestal Diaries, 299.
When the soul’s life is gone
Forrestal brought forty-five Rearden, The Formative Years, 6; House hearings on H.R. 2319, 79th Cong. 2nd Sess., 1946, p. 109–110, excerpt in box 510, OSD HO.
It was immediately clear Borklund, Men of the Pentagon, 157; Rearden, The Formative Years, 32, 61; Hoopes and Brinkley, Driven Patriot, 356; Roger R. Trask and Alfred Goldberg, The Department of Defense, 1947–1997, 10.
“Well, have a nice” Borklund, Men of the Pentagon, 15.
Forrestal lacked authority Hoopes and Brinkley, Driven Patriot, 360–4.
Even getting the Navy Leva, minutes of meeting of Forrestal staff on 1 Aug. 1947, 2 Aug. 1947, boxes 513/4, OSD HO; Cramer, Washington Daily News, 4 Aug. 1947.
Forrestal saw the Navy’s absence Forrestal, “Report to the President from the Secretary of Defense,” 28 Feb. 1948, OSD HO; OSD press release, “Navy Top Level Officials Begin Move to Pentagon,” 11 Aug. 1948, OSD HO; National Military Establishment Office of Public Information press release, 24 Aug. 1948, OSD HO; NYT, 12 Aug. 1948; Goldberg, The Pentagon, 163.
Of all the military Ronald Schiller, “That Amazing Monster, The Pentagon,” Pageant, Dec. 1951; Gidget Fuentes, “Making Way for the Corps (at the Pentagon),” Marine Corps Times, 1 Jan. 1996; Otto Kreisher, “Marine Boss No Longer in Annex,” San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Jan. 1996; John Hamre, author interview, 27 Feb. 2006.
Getting the Navy Rearden, The Formative Years, 38–9.
As Forrestal’s frustration Clifford, Counsel to the President, 160; Hoopes and Brinkley, Driven Patriot, 422–4; Clifford, oral history, 19 Apr. 1971, HST Lib.
Forrestal’s anxiety McCullough, Truman, 736–8; Clifford, Counsel to the President, 173; Hoopes and Brinkley, Driven Patriot, 428–31, 437; Clifford, oral history, 19 Apr. 1971, HST Lib.
Shortly before his inauguration Hoopes and Brinkley, Driven Patriot, 438–9, 423, 443; Rearden, The Formative Years, 46.
“Ike, I simply can’t” Eisenhower, At Ease, 333.
Johnson was sworn in Keith D. McFarland and David L. Roll, Louis Johnson and the Arming of America: The Roosevelt and Truman Years, 151; NYT, 29 Mar. 1949; WP, 29 Mar. 1949; Clifford, Counsel to the President, 173; Leva, oral history, HST Lib.; Rogow, James Forrestal, 3–4.
Alarmed friends arranged Rogow, James Forrestal, 5–8; Hoopes and Brinkley, Driven Patriot, 450–54, 460.
On the night of May 21 Hoopes and Brinkley, Driven Patriot, 463–5; Rogow, James Forrestal, 17–18.
I want that office
Big, bluff, backslapping Borklund, Men of the Pentagon, 65–66; “Master of the Pentagon,” Time, 6 June 1949; McCullough, Truman, 742.
Moving into Forrestal’s office Louis H. Renfrow, oral history, 1971, 114–116, HST Lib.; McFarland and Roll, Louis Johnson, 149–150; Rearden, The Formative Years, 48; Leva, oral history, HST Lib.
The biggest desk Jack Raymond, Power at the Pentagon, 8; Goldberg memo with attached desk inventory, 13
Jan. 2005, OSD HO.
Renfrow informed Army Secretary Renfrow, oral history, 1971, 114–116, HST Lib.; WP, 10 Apr. 1949; Leva, oral history, HST Lib. Johnson’s suite in 3E-880 encompassed the suite that had been used by Stimson, which had been originally known as 3E-884 based on the number on one of several doors that led to that suite. For many years, the numbering style included a hyphen. In recent years, the hyphen has been dropped.
Johnson did not stop WP, 16 Apr. 1949; Star, 28 Sept. 1951; AP, 29 Mar. 1959; WP, 28 July 1957; OSD press release, 29 Mar. 1949, OSD HO; Renfrow, oral history, 119, HST Lib.; Time, 6 June 1949.
Disruptive as it all Time, 2 July 1951; NYT, 15 July 1951; Goldberg, “The Pentagon,” 164; OSD fact sheet about “The Tank,” June 1984, box 1303, OSD HO. The name “Tank” was carried over from its original location during World War II, when the combined chiefs met in the Public Health Building at Constitution Avenue and 19th Street. The entrance to the conference room was down a flight of stairs and through an arched portal, which gave the impression of entering a tank.
The most important command Time, 2 July 1951; WP, 23 July 1951.
The threat of a nuclear attack Millett and Maslowski, For the Common Defense, 499; Lawren, The General and the Bomb, 267; Norris, Racing for the Bomb, 674.
The news immediately rekindled WP, 28 Sept. 1949; WP, 25 Mar. 1951; “Army discloses data on sub-Pentagon,” ENR, 13 Nov. 1952. “Site R” is short for Raven Rock Mountain.
George Marshall Schiller, “That Amazing Monster, The Pentagon.”
