The Pentagon: A History (71 page)

I will just move

The officers of the Army’s
“Conference on the Organization of the Construction Division,” 22 Feb. 1941, Otto L. Nelson Papers, box 6, folder 6, GCM Lib.

Since taking command
F&R,
The Corps of Engineers,
265.

The new construction chief
Christian Dreyer, F&R interview, 1959, VII, box 32, CEHO; F&R,
The Corps of Engineers,
265.

The Somervell Blitz
Brehon Somervell, “The Engineer and Defense Construction,”
Engineer Society Magazine,
2 Feb. 1942, Somervell addresses, MHI; Gar Davidson, “Grandpa Gar—The Saga of One Soldier as told to his Grandchildren,” 1974, CEHO (hereafter Grandpa Gar).

The first battle
Somervell, “The Engineer and Defense Construction,” MHI; F&R,
The Corps of Engineers,
293–94; Brehon Somervell, “Housing an Army Overnight,”
Army and Navy Journal,
28 June 1941, Somervell addresses, MHI.

A new story emerged
F&R,
The Corps of Engineers,
373–74; Somervell memo to Construction Division, 14 Jan. 1941, Office of the Quartermaster General, entry 2102, boxes 1–4, NARA RG 92.

Somervell handled
Clarence Renshaw, F&R interview, 1959, VII, box 33, CEHO; Voorhees interview, CEHO; Gregory interview, CEHO.

For Somervell, it was
“Conference on the Organization of the Construction Division,” GCM Lib.; Ohl,
Supplying the Troops,
41;
WT-H,
4 July 1941.

Truman considered
Harry S. Truman, F&R interview, 1958, VII, CEHO; Ohl,
Supplying the Troops,
46–47.

Somervell did despise
Somervell letter to Groves, 24 July 1952, Papers of Lt. Gen. Leslie R. Groves, box 9, NARA RG 200; W. D. Styer letter to Somervell, 26 July 1952, Somervell papers, Correspondence S-Z, MHI. Leslie R. Groves, oral history with Forrest C. Pogue, second interview, 14 May 1970, GCM Lib.; Truman declined to discuss the matter in his 1958 interview with Fine and Remington.

“Mr. Senator,”
Garrison H. Davidson, oral history, 17–19 Nov. 1980, 151–52, CEHO; “Grandpa Gar,” 71, CEHO.

The committee was established
David McCullough,
Truman,
261–2; Ohl,
Supplying the Troops,
46;
WP,
15 Aug. 1941.

Truman’s slings
Henry L. Stimson and McGeorge Bundy,
On Active Service in Peace and War,
452;
WP,
15 Aug. 1941.

Who is this stinker?

Groves was bemused
Groves, F&R interview, 1956, CEHO.

Beneath his thick
Robert S. Norris,
Racing for the Bomb,
347; Stephane Groueff,
Manhattan Project,
3; War Department press release, background information on Major General Leslie R. Groves, 6 Aug. 1945, NARA RG 200.

Somervell “was a gentleman”
Engineer Memoirs—Hardin,
107; Norris, “Racing for the Bomb,” 150.

“When you looked at”
Ibid.,
135.

Captain Donald Antes
Donald Antes, F&R interview, 1958, VII, box 32, CEHO.

Hartman had been forced
Leslie Groves, F&R interview, 1956, VII, CEHO; Groves, oral history with Forrest C. Pogue, first interview, 7 May 1970, GCM Lib.

Groves could not
Groves comments, 108, CEHO; Groves, oral history with Pogue, second interview, GCM Lib.

Groves, know as Dick
Vincent C. Jones,
Manhattan: The Army and the Atomic Bomb,
73; Norris,
Racing for the Bomb,
41, 57–59, 79, 83, 97.

They shared a mentor
Ibid., 117–120; Richard Groves, author interview, 9 Feb. 2004.

Graves’s protégés
Engineer Memoirs—Casey,
97; Groves, assessment of Somervell, entry 7530, Comments, Interviews and Reviews, 1949–1970, box 5, NARA RG 200; Groves memo to file, “Somervell,” 30 Mar. 1967, Groves collection, USMA (Copies courtesy Stan Norris).

He had no complaints
Groves comments, 51–52, CEHO; Groves dictation on Manhattan Project associates, 19 Nov. 1958, Groves collection, USMA; Groves, F&R interview, 1956, CEHO; Norris,
Racing for the Bomb,
601; Groves, Somervell assessment, NARA RG 200.

A new headquarters

Henry Stimson was not
Goldberg,
The Pentagon,
9–10; David Brinkley,
Washington Goes to War,
70.

Through much of the 1930s
Malin Craig memo to Secretary of War, 1 Feb. 1938, NARA RG 107.

“That is a small office”
Gilmore Clarke, “Reminiscences of Gilmore David Clarke,” 1960, 162–3, CU (hereafter Clarke oral history);
NYT,
23 June 1946; William B. Rhoads, “Franklin Roosevelt and Washington Architecture,”
Records of the Columbia Historical Society of Washington, D.C.

“It is a most wasteful building”
Stimson diary, 25 Apr. 1941.

The 24,30 War Department workers
“The Pentagon Project—ASF,” 1, NARA RG 160; Norris,
Racing for the Bomb,
155.

It was a far cry
War Times,
31 Dec. 1943; Chalmer M. Roberts,
Washington,
Past and Present
138–140;
St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
21 Jan. 1993; Goldberg,
The Pentagon,
4–9; White House Web site,
www.whitehouse.gov/history/eeobtour/historicalview-1800.html
; John Clagett Proctor, “When War Department Had 18 Employees,”
Star,
24 Aug. 1941.

When World War II
Goldberg,
The Pentagon,
5; Marshall to General Malin Craig, 21 Aug. 1939, and speech to the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, 29 Apr. 1941,
The Papers of George Catlett Marshall,
vol. 2, 37, 489.

“The matter of office space”
Patterson to Secretary of War, 29 Nov. 1940, NARA RG 107; Marshall to Adm. Harold R. Stark, 10 Sept. 1940,
The Papers of George Catlett Marshall,
vol. 2, 301–2.

Even with the New
U.S. House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Deficiencies, 77th Congress, 1st sess., Hearings on the First Supplemental National Defense Appropriations Bill for 1942, 17 July 1941, 488 (hereafter House hearing 17 July 1941); Stimson diary, 22 July 1941; Col. E. H. Householder to Under Secretary of War, 6 May 1941, NARA RG 107.

To help house
Goldberg,
The Pentagon,
14;
WP,
16 March 1941 and 5 June 1941;
The Papers of George Catlett Marshall,
vol. 2, 531–2.

The overall solution

Woodrum, a powerful
James E. Sargent, “Clifton A. Woodrum of Virginia,”
The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography,
July 1981.

The proposal before
Historical background of Pentagon prepared by architects, entry 5, Groves files and correspondence related to Pentagon, box 1, NARA RG 200 (hereafter architects’ historical memo); House hearing 17 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, 8 Aug. 1941, 181 (hereafter Senate hearing 8 Aug. 1941); “The Pentagon Project—EHD,” 1–3, CEHO.

The bespectacled Reybold
WP,
21 May 1943;
Current Biography,
June 1945.

With typical brio
Ohl,
Supplying the Troops,
47; Goldberg,
The Pentagon,
12–14.

Incidentally, the largest office building in the world

The first problem
Casey letter to Matheson, CEHO;
Engineer Memoirs—Casey,
vii–viii, 137–140; House hearing, 17 July 1941, 491; U.S. House Committee on Ap propriations, Subcommittee on Deficiencies, 77th Congress, 1st sess., Hearings on the First Supplemental National Defense Appropriations Bill for 1942, 22 July 1941, 500 (hereafter House hearing, 22 July 1941).

But the foundation
Minutes of staff conference, Construction Division, July 1941, NARA RG 92; House hearing, 22 July 1941, 500.
Engineer Memoirs—Casey,
138–39.

Like the adjacent cemetery
Arlington County Visitors Center exhibit, author’s visit; Tom Sherlock, “Arlington National Cemetery, Historic Background Southern Portion,” Arlington Cemetery historian’s office.

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.