Pete Hegseth Wanted a Historic 1930s Globe Used by General Dwight Eisenhower in World War II Moved Into His Pentagon Office Because He Found Its History "Attractive" — So His Staff, Skipping the Trained Curators Who Normally Handle Such Artifacts (and Who Were Furloughed in a Government Shutdown), Tried to Carry It Themselves and Dropped It, Gashing the Shell Several Inches Wide and Snapping It Off Its Rotating Mount; Critics Called It "a Perfect Metaphor" for His Pentagon
On October 22, 2026, the Washington Post's Dan Lamothe reported that earlier in the year, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's staff had broken a historic roughly 30-inch globe used by General Dwight D. Eisenhower during World War II while trying to move it into Hegseth's Pentagon office. Hegseth reportedly wanted the globe because he found its historical significance "attractive" — an Eisenhower totem for his own office. Moving such an artifact is normally a deliberate process handled by trained curators; according to Snopes, the attempt happened on February 3, during a government shutdown, when the historians who would ordinarily manage it were furloughed. A group dispatched by Hegseth's team tried to carry it themselves, and dropped it — gashing the shell several inches wide near Antarctica and detaching it from the metal mounting that lets it rotate, with small pieces left on the floor. One source attributed the damage to an "apparent lack of patience." The Army confirmed the damage and said the globe was ultimately not moved to Hegseth's office — the plan was abandoned after it broke; the Pentagon called the object a replica, said "accidents happen," that it was grateful no one was harmed, and that the globe was being repaired, and the Defense Department denied Post reporters' requests to inspect it. It is a small story with an unmissable shape: a vanity impulse to decorate the secretary's office with a piece of Eisenhower's legacy, executed by rushing past the experts, ending in the legacy itself lying broken on the floor. Historians and commentators called it "a perfect metaphor" for Hegseth's Pentagon.