Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower's globes have been described as priceless, as slices of history that must be meticulously preserved.
But one of the few wood-mounted World War II-era artifacts was damaged during an "attempted move" in early February under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, U.S. military officials acknowledged.
"The spherical portion of the globe was detached from the metal mounting that allows it to rotate," and the bottom part of the item was damaged, Christopher Surridge, a U.S. Army spokesperson, told The Washington Post, which reported the incident on Thursday.
One of two 30-inch floor globes said to be used by the five-star general more than 80 years ago and now housed in the Pentagon was moved toward Hegseth's office by a team that the defense secretary's staff commissioned, the Post reported.
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Rather than task specialist movers with the job during the partial government shutdown at the time, they dropped the globe and a several-inch hole opened in its shell close to the depiction of Antarctica, according to the Post. It was not successfully relocated, and U.S. officials did not confirm who was responsible for moving the item.
One image published by the Post showed chunks from what appeared to be the lower part of the globe strewn on the carpet of an unidentified area. Newsweek could not independently verify the photo and has reached out to the Pentagon for comment.
A Pentagon official told the Post that "accidents happen" and no one was injured. The globe is undergoing repairs, they said.
Other outlets cited comments from the Pentagon claiming that the globe was a replica. NBC News reported it had verified damage to the original globe via an image and three anonymous officials.
Hegseth has stunned some current and former officials with his crusade to remold the Pentagon and the U.S. military with what he has termed a "warrior" ethos. He has removed top military leaders, sliced the number of senior commander restrictions, torn away diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and slapped restrictions on reporters working in the building.
The Pentagon chief has also rebranded himself the secretary of war, heading the Department of War—harking back to the names used by the U.S. government during Eisenhower's time as supreme allied commander during World War II when he oversaw the allied invasion of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944.
The change from Department of Defense has not been approved by Congress, making those titles referred to by the U.S. government secondary.
What Is the Significance of the Globe?
The 34th president was known for his affinity for globes, as well as being what experts describe as a gifted military planner.
Eisenhower suggested to then-U.S. Army Chief of Staff George Marshall in late 1942 that he should gift two large globes to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, according to congressional research.
The globes were used for judging distance across bodies of water and making shipping decisions during World War II, researchers said.
Ty Seidule, a retired U.S. Army brigadier general and a history professor at Hamilton College, told NPR that the damaged globe was made in the mid-1930s by a British company. This type of item is usually moved "very carefully," Seidule said. "There's a whole team of people that do this."
The damaged globe had annotations marked by Eisenhower, NBC News reported. The artifact had been kept in an Army office in the Pentagon, the officials told the outlet.
In 2022, a different 4-foot-high globe linked to Eisenhower was transferred across Alabama by specially trained removal experts. Craters & Freighters, the movers tasked with transporting the item from the U.S. Army's Center of Military History facility in Anniston to Huntsville, said "handling something owned by a president like Eisenhower was very extraordinary, to say the least."
"We were genuinely honored to be trusted with such an iconic item," a top company official said at the time.
Hegseth has been criticized by former officials, Democrats and some Republicans for his handling of the Pentagon, heightened by the strain that the U.S.-led war against Iran has put on U.S. forces and stockpiles. Efforts to reach a peace deal with Tehran have stalled, further dragging out the conflict despite assurance from President Donald Trump that the conflict was "pretty much" finished in early March.
Hegseth is "the exact opposite of Eisenhower, who was this great planner," Seidule said.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Rebecca Flood and Dave Siminoff.