Inside the Pentagon

When terrorists targeted the Pentagon, they assaulted a legendary symbol of U.S. military might. For nearly 60 years, the headquarters of the Department of Defense has been a place of intrigue, power, and mystery. What goes on inside its walls?

Why was the Pentagon built?

Just before World War II, the U.S. Department of War was in disarray. Its 24,000 personnel were dispersed in 17 buildings in and around Washington, D.C. With war looming, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress for authority to construct new buildings to consolidate the department. But the department’s chief of construction, Brig. Gen. Brehon Somervell, went one step further: On Thursday, July 17, 1941, he ordered that by 9 a.m. Monday he be given a basic plan for a single structure to accommodate 40,000 people. Somervell’s architects feverishly scratched out a design that weekend, and construction began on Sept. 11, 1941.

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