On June 9, Six and Twenty met at Charlie’s Place for a discussion of “My Travels with Mrs. Kennedy,” by Clint Hill.

Hill was a Secret Service agent serving under five Presidents: Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford. He was assigned to Mrs. Kennedy when she became first lady, and stayed with her months after Kennedy was assassinated. Clint Hill was the agent that climbed onto the back of the car and laid on top of the President and Mrs. Kennedy on the way to the hospital in Dallas.

Hill writes a very informative, witty, and emotional account of his years with Mrs. Kennedy and her family. Caroline and John valued his friendship so much that, after 30 years, they invited him to stand with the family at Mrs. Kennedy’s graveside.

A small leap in topic took Six and Twenty from the Kennedy era to the topic of the day: What has over 6,500,000 square feet of total floor space which includes 284 restrooms and sits on 280 acres with 8,770 parking spaces? The Pentagon!

Program leader Beverly Drapalik told about her impressions of this low-rise office building, the largest in the world. It houses the Defense Department and has six zip codes. The Pentagon is not only an office building, but it is also a museum of art and displays.

The original plans for the Pentagon included a five-sided building because the site was bordered by roads on five sides. President Roosevelt decided the site would not work because the view from Arlington to Washington D.C. would be obstructed. So, George Bergstrom’s plans remained, and the United States has a five-sided building.

The Pentagon was the only desegregated building in Virginia for many years. Virginia law allowed for segregation, but President Roosevelt signed an executive order forbidding discrimination against government workers. Because the building was in Virginia, it was designed with “twice as many bathrooms as needed for a desegregated building of its size.”

Interesting to note is that the groundbreaking for the Pentagon was Sept. 11, 1941—exactly 60 years before 9/11. When construction began, no one knew about Pearl Harbor, less than three months away. Construction was hurried and went around the clock 24 hours a day (seven days/week). The Pentagon was completed in just 16 months, using sand from the Potomac River.

The Pentagon is its own city, with a florist, three banks, dry cleaner, hair salon, CVS, post office, vision center, and much more. It has over 20 restaurants—its Subway is the busiest in the nation. Inhabitants never have to leave the building during the day. A standing joke is that “the banks are the safest in America.”

The 9/11 Memorial outside the building can be accessed 24 hours a day. Each bench and water feature denotes a victim of the attack on the Pentagon. It is a visual spectacle at night. Each bench has a name inscribed: When a viewer looks at a name of a victim from Flight 77, he is looking toward the sky; when a viewer looks at a name from a victim in the building, he looks toward the building. Also, a wall is inscribed with ages of all the victims, ages 3 to 71. Inside the Pentagon is a Memorial Room next to the Pentagon’s Chapel. (If not for the renovation of Wedge 3, at the crash site of the Pentagon, many more people would have been killed on 9/11.)

After questions, the club was adjourned to a beautiful tea table provided by hostess Bobbi Jo Schlaegel. She made sugar cookies with Tiffany Blue icing, brownie bites with white icing dollops, and yogurt cups with blueberries, strawberries, and a choice of Grape Nuts. Tables were adorned with white daisies, white mini carnations, and baby’s breath.