by Steve Vogel
Part II—Ted Anderson; Bill Ayers; Julie Beckman; Ken Blackshaw; Debra Burlingame; Aubrey Butts; Rita Campbell; Martha Carden; Steve Carter; Ken Catlow; Will Colston; Stacie Condrell; Aaron Cooper; John Deutch (e-mail); Lisa Dolan; Brian Dziekonski; Phil Entrekin; Lee Evey; Kris Fisher; Georgine Glatz; Paul Gonzales; John Hamre; Paul Haselbush; Tom Heidenberger; Dan Hooton; J. B. Hudson; Les Hunkele; James T. Jackson; John Jester; Douglas Johnson; Reis Kash; Allyn Kilsheimer; Dave Lanagan; Jim Laychak; Stephen Ludden; Brian Maguire; Carl Mahnken; Paul Mlakar; Bobby McCloud; Phil McNair; Nancy McNair; Robert McNamara; Peter Murphy; Frank Naughton; David Osterhout; Patty Pague; Heather Penney; Colin Powell; Frank Probst; Pat Riley; Donald Rumsfeld; Marc Sasseville; Reimund Schuster; Jim Schwartz; Abraham Scott; Kevin Shaeffer (e-mail); Brad Smith; Michael Sullivan; Walter Teague; William Wertz; David F. Wherley, Jr.; Richard Guy Wilson. (Note: Some interviews for Part II were conducted on behalf of The Washington Post.)
Margaret Roth interviews: Mike Baker; Fred Calvert; Richard Cox; Don Fortunato; Bruce Hackert; Louise and Mike Kurtz; Jim McKay; Ed Monarez; Mike Smith; Alan Wallace; Payam Zeraat.
Charles W. Hall interview for The Washington Post: Walt Freeman.
INTERVIEW SUMMARIES AND ORAL HISTORY TRANSCRIPTS
Amherst College Library, Archives and Special Collections: John J. McCloy, interview by Eric Sevareid.
Architect of the Capitol: Ides van der Gracht, interview by George M. White.
Arlington Central Library, Arlington County Oral History Project: Rayfield Barber; J. Elwood Clements; Louise Gray; Ruth Jones; Everett Norton; Ellen Puterbaugh; Katherine Ross; George Vollin; Perry West.
Columbia University Oral History Research Office: Horace M. Albright; Gilmore Clarke.
George C. Marshall Library: Interviews by Forrest Pogue: Leslie Groves; T. T. Handy; Merrill Pasco; William T. Sexton; George C. Marshall; Joseph McNarney; Maxwell Taylor; Cora Thomas. Other: Mona Nason.
Hagley Museum and Library: John McShain, interview by Harold Wiegand.
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum: Roswell L. Gilpatric.
U.S. Army Military History Institute: Paul Caraway; Lucius Clay; Robert Colglazier.
Office of the Secretary of Defense Historical Office: John J. McCloy; John Connell; David O. Cooke; William Haynes; Allyn Kilsheimer; Donald Rumsfeld; Mike Sullivan; Paul Wolfowitz.
Smithsonian Archives of American Art: Florence Kerr.
Harry S. Truman Presidential Museum and Library: Clark Clifford; Matthew Connelly; William Hastie; Donald Dawson; Marx Leva; Louis H. Renfrow; Stuart Symington.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Office of History: Interviews by Lenore Fine and Jesse Remington: Donald Antes; James Burns; Winnie Cox; W. A. Danielson; F.J.C. Dresser; Christian Dreyer; Edmund Gregory; Leslie Groves; John Hardin; Charles Hartman (letter); John Hogan; Luther Leisenring; Michael Madigan; John J. McCloy (memo); Mary Pagan; Clarence Renshaw; Eugene Reybold; Julian Schley; August Sperl; Wilhelm Styer (letter); E. G. Thomas; Harry S. Truman; Rigby Valliant; Stephen Voorhees. Other: Hugh Casey (letter); Garrison Davidson; Gavin Hadden (letter); Franklin Matthias; Richard C. Moore (letter); Kenneth Nichols; Carl Strock; Frederick Strong.
PHOTO © TIFFANY AYERS
STEVE VOGEL is a veteran military reporter for The Washington Post who covered the U.S. war in Iraq as an embedded journalist with an Army airborne brigade. His coverage of the U.S. war in Afghanistan was part of a package of Washington Post stories selected as a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize. Vogel covered the September 11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon and subsequently reported in depth on the victims of the attack and the building’s reconstruction.
Based overseas from 1989 through 1994 and reporting for the Post and Army Times, he covered the fall of the Berlin Wall and the first Gulf War, as well as military operations in Somalia, Rwanda, and the Balkans. His reporting has won journalism awards and resulted in many memorable stories, including Washington Post Magazine cover stories on military test pilots, police 911 operators, and emergency workers in a Washington, D.C., hospital. A 1982 graduate of the College of William and Mary, he received a master’s degree in international public policy from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in 1998. Vogel lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and two young children.
Praise for The Pentagon
“This concrete behemoth—the largest office building in the world—is also the product of considerable human ingenuity and resourcefulness, as Steve Vogel amply demonstrates in his interesting account…. This is not, of course, the first account of the [9/11] attack, but with its Clan-cyesque action and firsthand detail…it is surely the most vivid.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“The saga of the construction of the Pentagon, skillfully recounted by Steve Vogel…is as enthralling as it is improbable…. It was one of the greatest engineering feats of the twentieth century—driven by the intelligence and willpower of larger-than-life figures prepared to cut corners and demand the impossible. Mr. Vogel has brought to our notice a thrilling achievement.”
—The Economist
“Engrossing and revealing…Vogel’s account shines…. [He] provides a first-rate account of the transformation of a dilapidated Arlington neighborhood into what Norman Mailer called ‘the true and high church of the military industrial complex.’”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“[Vogel] puts on display his superlative skills as a journalist with capturing human detail. Above all, he reminds us that history is made by living people, and he has a biographer’s fascination with the details of dozens of personalities who made the Pentagon what it is today.”
—The New York Sun
“Vogel vividly depicts the horror of those inside the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 and then skillfully describes the rebirth of the Pentagon through the Phoenix Project. His intimate knowledge of the construction process and his years of research energize these pages…. There is simply no better book on the massive construction—and then restoration—of the building itself.”
—The Christian Science Monitor
“Steve Vogel’s marvelous work recounts the construction of one of the world’s most iconic buildings—the Pentagon. But more compelling by far, he relates the human stories underlying this huge construction effort…. All this would of itself be enough to warrant a book but Vogel plunges on to an appropriate second story: the terrorist assault of 9/11 and the Pentagon’s subsequent resurrection. This section of the book, due perhaps to the proximity of the event, is all the more compelling.”
—New York Post
“Every building of any size and complexity has a story; few of them are this compelling.”
—The Hartford Courant
“A thrilling biography of a building.”
—GQ (essential reading selection)
“Among books dealing with seemingly impossible engineering feats, this easily ranks with David McCullough’s The Great Bridge and The Path Between the Seas, as well as Ross King’s Brunelleschi’s Dome.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“A brilliant and illuminating study of this singular (and, in many ways, sacred) American space.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Steve Vogel has provided two excellent books in one: an interesting account of the frenetic effort to build the world’s largest office building in order to support the U.S. entry into World War II, and an equally fascinating study of how the building survived and was reborn in the renovation effort so rudely interrupted on Sept. 11, 2001….Vogel has done a great service to a historic structure and its people.”
—The Virginian-Pilot
“A fascinating story, told in lively style.”
—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Vogel’s writing coupled with the dynamic, conflict-strewn history of the Pentagon provides for a fascinating and comfortable read while giving new insight into an old Washington landmark.”
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br /> —Roll Call
“Vogel’s book starts off like a runaway freight train, with the rush to construct the Pentagon amid the turmoil of World War II…. The Pentagoncan easily be recommended to anyone—the history buff, the political layman or anyone with an ear for an interesting account.”
—Winston-Salem Journal
“An amazing story, expertly researched and beautifully told. Part history, part adventure yarn, The Pentagon is above all else the biography of an American icon.”
—RICK ATKINSON, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning An Army at Dawn
“Superb! Not only the best biography of a building ever written, but a fascinating look at the human architecture behind the Pentagon—the saints and scoundrels of our national defense. With his decades of experience covering the military and a web of insider connections, Steve Vogel has produced a book that’s not only timely and a treat to read, but a stellar example of how to write history in the twenty-first century.”
—RALPH PETERS, author of Never Quit The Fight
“This book, like the Pentagon itself, is a stunning and monumental achievement.”
—ANDREW CARROLL, editor of The New York Times bestsellers War Letters and Behind the Lines
“Students, writers and historians will use The Pentagon as a reference book for years to come. Vogel has created an admirable, timely and immensely readable book. It is a must read for anyone who has ever worked in the building.”
—Pentagram
2008 Random House Trade Paperback Edition
Copyright © 2007 by Steve Vogel
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Random House Trade Paperbacks, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
RANDOM HOUSE TRADE PAPERBACKS and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Random House, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., in 2007.
Credits for photos and illustrations are located beginning on Frontmatter: CAST OF CHARACTERS.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Vogel, Steve.
Pentagon : the untold story behind the creation of the symbol of American might / Steve Vogel.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
eISBN: 978-1-58836-701-3
1. Pentagon (Va.)—History. 2. Public buildings—United States—Design and construction—History—20th century. 3. Buildings—Repair and reconstruction—History. 4. United States—Dept. of Defense—Procurement—History. I. Title.
UA26.A745V64 2007
355.60973—dc22 2006050873
www.atrandom.com
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