Eisenhower's WWII Globe Damaged by Hegseth Staff at Pentagon

A historic floor globe used by General Dwight D. Eisenhower during World War II now has a hole in it, several inches wide, near Antarctica. The culprit, according to The Washington Post: staff working for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The incident occurred when Hegseth ordered the globe moved into his own office so he could admire it privately, the Post reported on October 22, 2026. The relocation did not go to plan.

"Ordinarily, moving historical items within the building is a deliberate process overseen by trained curators," the Post reported. "Instead, Hegseth's staff dispatched its own team to relocate an Eisenhower globe. They lost control of the artifact and dropped it, sending the globe crashing onto its base and impaling the fragile shell near Antarctica, according to those familiar with the incident. The resulting gash appears to be several inches wide."

What exactly was damaged?

The globe dates to the 1930s. The Pentagon declined to make it available for inspection, but the Post obtained photographs showing extensive damage beyond the gash.

Pentagon spokesman Christopher Surridge told the Post that "the spherical portion of the globe was detached from the metal mounting that allows it to rotate." So the object is both punctured and partly dismantled — a double insult for an artifact of its vintage.

How has the Pentagon responded?

After the Post published its report, the Defense Department issued an unattributed statement. "'Accidents happen,' it says, 'we are grateful no one was harmed, and the globe is being repaired.'"

The statement, as the Post noted, does not say how much the repairs are expected to cost, nor when they would be complete.

The episode has drawn comparisons to Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb — a film about vanity and nuclear-age hubris at the highest levels of command. The parallel is not entirely flattering.

The globe's repair timeline, and whether Hegseth still gets to keep it in his office, remain open questions.