▲ Dwight D. Eisenhower touching a globe during his presidency
It was belatedly revealed that US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth dropped and damaged the "Eisenhower Globe," a World War II relic, while attempting to move it into his office.
The globe was used by Dwight D. Eisenhower, one of America's most revered military figures and US president from 1953 to 1961. It is a large, 30-inch (approx. 76 cm) standing globe reportedly manufactured in the 1930s.
Eisenhower was famously fond of globes.
Eisenhower, the commander of the D-Day landings that turned the tide of World War II, used two large globes while serving as an army general, and these globes were later moved to the Department of Defense's artifact storage facility.
It was in February of this year that an "accident" occurred after Secretary Hegseth ordered one of them to be relocated to his office.
Staff members trying to move the globe dropped it due to clumsy handling, tearing the Antarctic portion of the globe and leaving a large hole.
Originally, such military historical relics are supposed to be handled by professional personnel, but when Secretary Hegseth ordered the "globe relocation operation," the US administration was ironically facing a partial government shutdown.
Because of this, the relevant personnel within the Army were on furlough.
The partial shutdown ended on the very day the globe was dropped.
It was a task that could have waited a little longer to be entrusted to professional hands, but a haphazard operation was pushed through due to Secretary Hegseth's "apparent lack of patience," according to an anonymous source familiar with the situation.
The Pentagon tried to keep the accident quiet, but rumors spread. The Department acknowledged to the Washington Post (WP) that "the globe's spherical part became detached from the metal stand that allows it to rotate" and stated that it is "currently being repaired."
Ty Seidule, a retired brigadier general who taught history at the US Military Academy at West Point, said, "Hegseth wants an Eisenhower totem to be like Ike, who excelled in both war and peace," adding, "That globe is not going to bring him the humility, intelligence, and judgment that Ike possessed."
(Photo: Library of Congress, Yonhap News)
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