Pete Hegseth staff damaged Eisenhower’s WWII globe
Staff members working for Pete Hegseth accidentally damaged a 1930s historical globe used by General Dwight D. Eisenhower during World War II while attempting to move it into the minister’s Pentagon office on February 3, 2026, according to a report broken by the Washington Post.
Pentagon staff move Eisenhower globe without professional curators
The historical world globe, which dates back to the 1930s and served as a tactical planning tool for Eisenhower during the Second World War, was already located within the Pentagon building when Hegseth requested it be relocated to his personal office. Rather than hiring specialized artifact handlers or professional art shipping companies, members of the minister’s immediate staff took on the task themselves.
That choice diverged sharply from previous government protocols for moving similar historical artifacts. As the Washington Post reported, when another large globe belonging to Eisenhower was transported years prior from an Alabama storage facility to a nearby military installation, officials hired a specialized art-transit firm, Crater and Freighters, to ensure the object remained completely undamaged during transit.
Consider this a story in global affairs.Early this year, there was an effort afoot to find Secretary Hegseth an iconic globe for his office suite.Historians could make the move. But his team did not appear to want to wait. https://t.co/TRRumN7THB
Moving accident destroys Antarctica on heavy globe
During the move, the improvisational moving team lost control of the heavy artifact. The globe slipped and broke free from the metallic ring mounting that allowed it to spin on its axis. As it crashed down, the heavy metal stand’s base smashed directly into the lower portion of the sphere.
The impact punched a large, visible hole through the bottom of the globe, completely destroying the region representing Antarctica. A photograph published by the Washington Post captured the severe structural damage, showing a gaping void where the southern polar continent once stood.
An Army spokesperson officially downplayed the severity of the incident to the Washington Post while conceding that the damage happened during the unauthorized transport attempt, adding simply that the artifact is currently undergoing professional restoration.
Eisenhower collections and historical ambitions inside the war ministry
The damaged globe is just one of several historical items linked to the former general and 34th US President. Eisenhower possessed a noted fascination with geographical globes. Aside from the damaged piece and a second globe inside the Pentagon featuring handwritten notes penned by Eisenhower himself, a fourth historical globe was gifted by Eisenhower to his predecessor in the White House, Harry S. Truman. That specific artifact now rests permanently in Missouri at the presidential library dedicated to Truman.
For Hegseth, acquiring the wartime globe was part of a broader effort to align his tenure with historical military precedents. Displaying Eisenhower's operational planning globe in his private office was intended to visually anchor his administration to that legacy, prior to the moving mishap that left the southern hemisphere fractured.
Questions remain regarding the total cost of the restoration process, whether the globe can be fully repaired, and if internal Pentagon transport protocols will be officially addressed following the February accident to prevent further damage to federal historical collections.