Pentagon how long to build

Its massive bulk—6. Many wondered what to do with the Pentagon after the war ended, as the common view was that the War Department would have no need for a building so large in peacetime. Some said it should be converted into a hospital, a university or headquarters for the Veterans Administration, but the Army had no intention of giving it up. In September , Congress passed the National Security Act , ushering in the single biggest military reorganization in American history. To provide a strong center for the military establishment, President Harry Truman wanted the Navy, Army and Air Force all to be headquartered in the Pentagon.

After Truman replaced him with Louis Johnson in January , Forrestal suffered a nervous breakdown; four months later, he committed suicide. Despite this inauspicious start, the defense establishment continued to solidify itself, especially after August , when the Soviet Union exploded an atomic bomb in Siberia.

On August 10, Truman signed a law giving the secretary of defense total power over the armed forces and renaming the National Military Establishment the Department of Defense. By the time the Korean War ended, the building had become a tourist attraction, with people strolling its grounds and inner courtyard, and gawking at its massive size.

Meanwhile, more than 2, federal troops gathered inside the building, armed with tear gas. One of the protesters, Norman Mailer , chronicled the march in his classic book The Armies of the Night.

When the crowd surged toward the building, soldiers met them with bayonets fixed to their rifles. However, the incident only worsened relations between antiwar protesters and the government. It exploded at 1 a. By that time, it had become increasingly apparent that the aging infrastructure of the Pentagon—proclaimed a National Historic Landmark in —was in need of a sweeping renovation to meet the challenges of a new age.

As before, the renovation went far beyond its original timeline and way over budget, especially after security precautions were stepped up after U. By September 11, , the renovations were in their final stages. Traveling miles per hour at the time of the impact, the hijacked Boeing made a gash 30 yards wide and 10 yards deep, puncturing the three outer rings of the building.

The resulting fire raged for 36 hours, and by the time it was extinguished, people were dead: Pentagon workers and 64 people on the plane including the five hijackers. Its leader, Lee Evey, publicly declared on October 5 that the goal was to have repairs completed by September 11, In March , designs were revealed for a September 11 memorial, including illuminated benches, one for each victim, set above a series of illuminated pools.

Ground for the memorial project was broken in June , and it was opened to the public on September 11, But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. As the Vietnam War dragged on, with more than , U.

On July 17, Somervell met with architect George Bergstrom, giving him just three days to come up with a design that would accommodate 40, employees and 10, cars. It owes its unique shape to a different planned location. Several sites were considered for the new military complex.

The original choice was a sprawling stretch of land just to the east of Arlington Cemetery, on land that once belonged to Confederate General Robert E. At the time, the tract was managed by the Department of Agriculture, which ran an experimental farm on the land. Arlington Farms was bound by access roads, forming a slightly irregular pentagon shape. As it was too late to start a new design process, the pentagon shape remained, though its five sides were straightened and smoothed to the more standard form we know today.

There are a few reasons the building is so short. This was due, in part, to concerns over disrupting the scenic views to and from the Virginia site and Washington, D.

There was also a more practical reason—the steel shortage already underway in a nation girding for war. Instead of steel, the building was built primarily of reinforced concrete, , cubic yards of it. Much of the filler for this concrete was dredged from the grounds around the Pentagon itself, including the Potomac River. Concrete was also used to build a series of ramps throughout the complex, which eliminated the need for steel-enforced elevators.

Additional concessions to the war included the lack of bronze doors, plaques and any other touches that were deemed purely decorative. A courtyard would sit at the center of the complex. But after a pitched battle with conservationists, who were concerned the building would block the sweeping vistas of Washington from the cemetery, President Franklin D. Roosevelt decided the new headquarters should instead be erected on the current site, which is at the foot of the Virginia side of the 14th Street bridge over the Potomac.

The government eventually evicted the occupants to make way for the Pentagon. Mahan, chief historian in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. General Somervell wanted a headquarters with office space for 40, people. So as not to obstruct views of the city across the Potomac River, the structure could not be more than four stories high.

He also wanted something that would require very little steel in the construction, according to Vogel, because that precious material was needed for weapons and ships.

The pentagonal shape could meet all those demands in the most efficient manner possible. But the five-sided plan still had its detractors, especially from members of the U. Commission of Fine Arts , a quasi-governmental body that weighed in on design throughout the capital city.

A member of the Commission argued to Roosevelt that not only was the building ugly, but that it would make a huge bombing target.

In the end, the President said he preferred the shape for its uniqueness, and gave it the go-ahead. In January of , after 17 months of construction, the Pentagon was completed. With about 6. It has shrunk considerably since the end of the Cold War, she says.