The Pentagon: A History (79 page)

“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 Eisenhower
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.

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.”

Pentagonians—as employees
C. B. Overman, “I Run the World’s Biggest Building,”
American Magazine,
June 1951; Harry Gabbett, “Gen. Somervell’s ‘Folly’ Proves Itself Despite Jeers of Critics,”
WP,
18 Aug. 1954;
WP,
8 June 1994; DoD press release, 9 Sept. 1997.

We weren’t ready to fight

Louis Johnson
Borklund,
Men of the Pentagon,
65–88; McCullough,
Truman,
741.

In Omar Bradley’s view
Omar N. Bradley and Clay Blair,
A General’s Life: An Autobiography by General of the Army Omar N. Bradley,
503.

Taking the opposite approach
Time,
6 June 1949; Millett and Maslowski,
For the Common Defense,
504–505; Rearden,
The Formative Years,
47–65.

Poorly trained
Brad Smith, author interview, June 2000; Steve Vogel, “Unprepared to Fight,”
WP,
19 June 2000.

The pathetic state
Trask and Goldberg,
The Department of Defense,
63; McCullough,
Truman,
742.

George C. Marshall had been vacationing
Forrest C. Pogue,
George C. Marshall: Statesman,
420; Borklund,
Men of the Pentagon,
89.

On September 21
Ibid.
101; Mark A. Stoler,
George C. Marshall: Soldier-Statesman of the American Century,
183.

Marshall went to work
Borklund,
Men of the Pentagon,
6, 89, 112;
WP,
1 Oct. 1950; Trask and Goldberg,
The Department of Defense,
63.

Inside the Pentagon
Goldberg,
The Pentagon,
165;
NYT,
17 Sept. 1950;
NYT,
14 Feb. 1954.

He served America magnificently

Truman, through an intermediary
Truman letter to Somervell, 23 Apr. 1951; Somervell letter to Marshall, undated copy, circa 1951, Somervell letter to Truman, 25 Apr. 1951, all in Somervell papers, MHI; Ohl,
Supplying the Troops,
250.

After his retirement
Ohl,
Supplying the Troops,
252, 257–9.

Somervell, belying
Somervell letter to Maj. Gen. W. A. Wood, Jr., 2 June 1952, Somervell papers, MHI.

Somervell did take
Matter, author interview; Gabbett, “Gen. Somervell’s ‘Folly’ Proves Itself”
Star,
9 Sept. 1951; Maj. Robert B. McBane, “The Pentagon Makes Sense,” Army Information Digest, Jan. 1947, copy in McShain papers, HML; Somervell letter to Marshall McNeil, 16 Jan. 1947, Somervell papers, MHI.

To an artist
Somervell letter to Orland Campbell, 27 Aug. 1954, Somervell papers, MHI.