Read The Pentagon: A History Online
Authors: Steve Vogel
James Forrestal leaving his office on September 22, 1947, the day the first secretary of defense moved into the Pentagon. “He has the bearing given to goodhearted gangsters in the movies,” one observer wrote. “There is the suggestion of the possibility of violence and the surface of perfectly constrained restraint.” (H&E)
With Forrestal looking over his shoulder, Robert McNamara welcomes his successor, Clark Clifford, to the secretary’s office in February 1968. “We mustn’t have another Forrestal,” LBJ said before ousting McNamara. (Washington Post, Wally McNamee)
The view of the Pentagon Mall plaza from the roof as marchers congregate on October 21, 1967. (CMH)
Military police try to hold back protesters during the chaos on the Mall plaza. “The situation became extremely fluid,” an Army report said. (Washington Post, Wally McNamee)
The Pentagon in the minutes after it was struck by a hijacked jet at 9:30
A.M.
on September 11, 2001, before the building collapsed. (PENREN)
The fire surged after the collapse. (DoD)
Patty Pague, one of the Defense Intelligence Agency workers who escaped from the comptroller’s office by following Paul Gonzales, is treated at the scene. (Washington Post, Juana Arias)
Lt. Col. Ted Anderson, who pulled victims from the building before being restrained by firefighters, at the Pentagon River entrance. (Washington Post, Michael Williamson)
An enormous cloud of smoke rose over the building, seen from the opposite side of the Pentagon. (PENREN)
Firefighters on the roof investigate the collapse zone on September 11. (Washington Post, Michael Lutzky)
Firefighters and soldiers unfurl an American flag from the roof of the Pentagon on September 12, 2001. (DoD)
Lee Evey, head of the Pentagon renovation, tours the damage on September 21, cataloging the work that lay ahead. Evey knew nothing about construction but was a master of human nature and motivation. (Washington Post, Bill O’Leary)
Col. Phil McNair led colleagues from a burning office bay on September 11 and then pulled others out of the wreckage. (Washington Post, Michael Williamson)
Allyn Kilsheimer, with pink hard hat. “You make it happen at the construction site,” Evey told him. (Washington Post, Michael Williamson)
Doc Cooke, Director of Administration and Management for the Secretary of Defense, during the Phoenix Project reconstruction. “His power was formidable, this Godfather of the Pentagon.” (PENREN)
A Phoenix Project worker prepares a column in February 2002. (Washington Post, Carol Guzy)
The “T-Rex” excavator, on the right, joined by other demolition equipment, tears down destroyed portions of the Pentagon on October 25, 2001. (PENREN)