The Sixteenth Street mansion was dedicated in 1906, its first owner being Mrs. Mary Foote Henderson. From that date to the present, picturesque events have occurred that have enriched its history, such as, for example, that it was used by the administration of President Roosevelt; and occupied by the Straus family who worked in this government. When the Straus left the cabinet and the “Pink Palace,” as The Mansion on 16th Street was then called, it was subsequently occupied by another personality from the Government Cabinet until 1910. Subsequently, this residence was uninhabited for approximately two years. . During this period, architect George Oakley Totten, Jr, designed and built, by order of its owners, the northern extension, maintaining the original style of the mansion. Mrs. Field lived at the Pink Palace until the age of 84. When he died in 1937, the house was inherited by his niece Catherine Spencer Hedí Beveridge, widow of Indiana Senator Mr. Albert Beveridge.
Mrs. Beveridge sold the property to the District of Columbia Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star in 1939.
This order, seven years later, sold the Pink Palace in January 1946, to Mrs. Loraine Boley Ingersoll, wife of Dr. William Ingersoll, a Washington dentist. Mrs. Ingersoll rented the mansion to the Belgian Economic Commission for two years and then to private interests.
In the 1980s the mansion was renovated, structural repairs were made, an annex was built and the pink exterior was changed to an ivory façade that remains to this day. Since then, it has been the headquarters of the IADB and was called “Casa del Soldado”, as it is known to this day.
In the Casa del Soldado, four of the five bodies of the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB) carry out their work. Only the Inter-American Defense College (CID) carries out its activities outside of this building, specifically at Fort Lesley McNair, of the United States Army.
The Inter-American Defense Board was created by bodies that constitute the direct antecedents of the political bodies of the current Organization. Its creation was carried out as part of the nascent collective security system within the framework of World War II. In this context, the Board is charged with acting as a preparatory body for collective legitimate defense. The States also believe that the Board is a useful organization for the exchange of opinions and points of view on military matters and for promoting close collaboration between the armed forces of the States of the Hemisphere.
In this context, in 1939 the 1st was celebrated. Consultation Meeting of Foreign Ministers of Panama to discuss issues related to the defense of the hemisphere.
In 1940 the need to develop the 2nd was seen. Consultation Meeting of Foreign Ministers in Havana, after the invasion by Germany of the Netherlands and France, which caused the concern of the American States regarding the eventuality of a German claim on the colonies in America of the invaded countries. This situation gave rise to Declaration “inviolability of the territory, sovereignty or political independence of an American State would be considered an act of aggression against everyone.”
Two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941), the government of Chile, through a cable from its Minister of Foreign Affairs addressed to the President of the Board of Directors of the Pan American Union, requested a consultation with the other governments. on “the convenience of urgently convening a Third Meeting of Consultation of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics to consider the situation that has occurred and adopt the most appropriate measures that demand the solidarity of our peoples and the defense of the hemisphere.”
The government of the United States, for its part, on December 10, 1941, made known to the Pan American Union the memorandum presented to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics in a sense similar to that of the Chilean proposal: “In view of this situation , which constitutes a threat to the peace, security, and future independence of the Western Hemisphere, an urgent consultation between the Ministers of Foreign Affairs seems very convenient. The communication to the Pan American Union included a proposal for said meeting to take place in Rio de Janeiro in the first week of January and an annex with an Agenda.
A Special Commission in Charge of Preparations for the Third Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics studied the proposed references as well as other suggestions presented by the governments of Chile, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Venezuela. On December 16, 1941, it was proposed to the Directing Council to approve the proposals made by the United States government and that the inaugural session of the Meeting take place on January 13, 1942.
The Directing Council approved the recommendations of said Commission (17-XII-41) with which the program for the II Consultation Meeting was on the following topics: I. Protection of the Western Hemisphere and II. Economic Solidarity. This is when the proposal for the creation of the Inter-American Defense Board by the Department of State of the United States of America was born and appeared on the Agenda of the Delegation of said Republic for the Third Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs at held in Rio de Janeiro in 1942.
At the end of December 1941 and the beginning of January of the following year, senior officials of the Secretary of State and the Departments of War and the Navy held a series of meetings in order to determine the aforementioned Agenda.
On December 27, 1941, the State Department made known to the Army a copy of that project. In summary it contained: First, the invocation of the declaration adopted at the Havana Conference in July 1940, entitled Cooperation and Reciprocal Assistance for the Defense of the Nations of the Americas; second, the establishment of an Inter-American Defense Board, made up of representatives of the Armed Forces of each of the American Republics to meet in Washington for the purpose of defining and coordinating essential protection and defense measures; and third, the establishment of regional Defense Boards, similar to the existing US-Canada Joint Defense Board and the projected US-Mexico Joint Defense Commission.
On January 3, 1942, for their part, the Army and Navy, through General Marshall and Admiral Stark, made Mr. Summer Welles, Undersecretary of State and Head of the American Delegation, known to the meeting in Rio de Janeiro, the objectives of their respective departments. In this sense, the request of the Chief of the General Staff was:
- Declaration of war by all American Republics to all members of the Axis.
- If this is not possible, diplomatic relations with the Axis powers will be broken.
- Conformity to allow the movement of the US Air Force through the territory of each of the American Republics with prior communication as long as it was practicable, but without this being an imperative requirement.
- Agreement by each of the American Republics that has not already agreed, to allow the entry into or through its territory and the stationing within it of the essential base, maintenance, communications, and meteorological detachments with their own equipment and elements essential security premises for the logistical support of operating aircraft.
- Agreement by each of the American Republics to cede to United States forces entering or passing through their respective territories in accordance with the above-mentioned agreements, and during the course of operations in defense of this hemisphere, the use of all the facilities that said forces require.
The Navy, for its part, in addition to agreeing on the first two points, requested in relation to its own needs, among other things:
- Defined naval security collaborated by Latin American countries to protect their own waters.
- Unrestricted use of port facilities for US naval operations.
The War and Navy Departments objected to the creation of the Inter-American Defense Board and the respective Secretaries (Stimson and Knox) thought they had managed to persuade President Roosevelt to eliminate that item from the Agenda. The Army's objections were numerous. It would be too large a body to handle to achieve effective action; Latin American military affairs demanded immediate action and the establishment of the Junta would consume a lot of time; It would not be possible to discuss secret plans before such a large body; the members of the Board would lack authority to execute the measures adopted; The Board would absorb the time of high caliber men who were urgently needed for more pressing duties. Perhaps most of all the War Department feared that Latin Americans would try to use the Junta as a means of imposing their demands for US munitions.
The War Department also opposed the creation of the Regional Commissions. Instead, the Army wanted to invoke the 1940 General Staff agreements, revise them, and expand them as necessary in bilateral negotiations. Bilateral agreements, maintained General Marshall and his advisors, constitute the best means of obtaining cooperation that is not yet in force. The bilateral agreements that already exist are reasonably satisfactory if the necessary steps are taken to put them into effect, without delay, as soon as the need arises.
Despite the objections and the conviction of Stimson and Knox of having persuaded President Roosevelt, Sumner Welles, shortly before his departure, insisted to the President on the convenience of creating the IADB, achieving his favorable decision. As a result, the creation of the aforementioned organization was definitively included in the Agenda.
Welles also had to assure the War and Navy Departments before and after the Rio de Janeiro meeting that the proposed Board would have no executive functions or responsibilities in the defense of the Hemisphere and that its work would not interfere with the continuity of agreements. bilateral relations in military affairs between the US and its southern neighbors. For the State Department it was important, from a political point of view, to provide a channel through which all American Republics, large and small, would provide their views and recommendations.
