came before that body, restored the full $600,000 item by amendment 78. The matter came before the House again on 10 June, when Representative Ross Collins of Mississippi urged acceptance of the Senate amendment, while Representative John Taber of New York opposed its adoption, taking the stand that there were more pressing military needs. The House supported Mr. Taber's view and "disagreed to the amendment of the Senate numbered 78." 19[1]
The bill, with its appropriation of $130,000 for getting on with the preliminaries of construction, passed and was approved on 13 June 1940— by coincidence, the day before the German armies entered Paris. 20[2]
Acting under the authority granted, the Secretary of War and The Surgeon General selected as architects for the building the New York firm of Eggers and Higgins, whose works included the National Gallery of Art, then nearing completion. Preliminary plans, submitted in February 1941, were gone over by a consulting board consisting of the incumbent Librarian, Col. Harold W. Jones, the incumbent Curator, Lieutenant Colonel Ash, a former Librarian, Col. James M. Phalen, a former Curator, Col. George R. Callender, and Lt. Col. John R. Hall of the Surgeon General's Office. Early difficulties as to the division of space between library and museum activities were ironed out and, at a meeting of the consulting board on 11 August 1941, the plans in general were approved. 21[3]
As plans were developed and costs were rising, it became obvious that the amount authorized in the 1938 legislation was inadequate. Consequently, H.R. 5146 to authorize the purchase of a site and to increase the total authorized expenditure from $3,750,000 to $4,750,000 was introduced in and passed the House, and was amended by and passed the Senate. On 15 September 1941, the amended bill was brought up for action in the House, under the sponsorship of the chairman of the Military Affairs Committee, Andrew J. May of Kentucky. Representative Robert F. Rich of Pennsylvania asked whether it was "absolutely necessary" to erect the building "now, when materials cost so
- ↑ 19 Congressional Record, 76th Congress, 3d session, volume 86, part 7, pp. 7895 ff.
- ↑ 20 U.S. Statutes at Large, 76th Congress, 2d and 3d sessions, volume 54, part I, chapter 343, p. 363, 13 June 1940.
- ↑ 21 (1) Letters, Robert P. Patterson, The Assistant Secretary of War, to Maj. Gen. James C. Magee, 2 December 1940; Colonel Birdseye, for The Quartermaster General, to Messrs. Eggers and Higgins, 12 December 1040; Daniel Paul Higgins to Colonel Birdseye, 16 December 1940: and drafts of letters to Eggers and Higgins, approved by The Surgeon General, 3 January 1941. All on file in Record Group 112. Surgeon General's Office file number 631. 1 (Army Medical Museum and Library), from the records of the National Archives. (2) Letters, Lt. Col. J. E. Ash to Col. H. W. Jones, 10 February 1941 and Lt. Col. J. E. Ash to Maj. J. C. Magee, 13 May 1941; Office Order 119, Surgeon General's Office, 21 May 1941: Report of Meeting of the Consulting Board, 11 August 1941. All on file in historical records of AFIP.
