The Pentagon keeps two 30-inch floor globes said to have been used by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Second World War — 1930s globes, held under Army custodianship, one of them marked with Eisenhower’s own green-pen notations in Europe. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s staff, drawn by the artifact’s significance, asked that one become the new furnishing of his office suite, the Washington Post reports in an exclusive.
Artifacts like that are ordinarily moved by curators. On February 3, the secretary’s staff sent their own team instead. In the Post’s words, they “lost control of the artifact and dropped it, sending the globe crashing onto its base and impaling the fragile shell near Antarctica” — a gash several inches wide, the globe knocked off its metal mounting. One person familiar with the episode called the cause an “apparent lack of patience.” The Post published photographs of the damage, which it obtained from sources outside the Pentagon.
The Pentagon confirmed an accident on Thursday and is repairing the globe — but calls it “a replica” of the Eisenhower globe and the story “another inconsequential non-story”; it gave no repair cost or timeline. NBC News reports that it verified with three U.S. officials, and a photograph, that the globe dropped was the original.
The Facts
- The globes: two 30-inch WWII-era floor globes used by Eisenhower, Army Center of Military History custodianship; one carries his green-pen notations (the Post; NBC).
- The drop: February 3, by the secretary’s own staff rather than curators; the shell was gashed near Antarctica and detached from its mount.
- The dispute: the Pentagon says the globe was a replica and is being repaired; NBC verified with three U.S. officials that it was the original.
- The Pentagon’s words: “Accidents happen” — and “another inconsequential non-story.”
Sources: The Washington Post; NBC News; USA Today.
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