New life for a useless OAS building: The Trump Annex to the White House
If the OAS no longer serves the national interests, the US should annex its buildings
Next to the White House ellipse sits a grand architectural masterpiece with no purpose.
Built more than a century ago with a grant from the great capitalist Andrew Carnegie to promote solidarity among the new republics of the New World, the triple-arched edifice resembles an Ancient Greek temple with a Spanish colonial twist.
The perfect Trump Annex to the White House.
It’s the old Pan-American Union Building complex, the ceremonial headquarters of an increasingly useless and anti-American international body called the Organization of American States (OAS).
The Trump administration, as Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau told the OAS General Assembly earlier this week, is considering whether or not the U.S. should withdraw as a member.
That would make the OAS headquarters a target of federal eminent domain.
The gem is part of Washington, DC’s monumental core. It is being wasted. A coalition of Marxist governments and bureaucrats, some covertly funded by China, runs the place. The American taxpayer funds half of its operations and upkeep, yet has no control over what happens there.
And what happens there is being used against our country.
From its broad stairways and bronze gates to its roofs of red Ludowici tile, the main building is among the most gracious in the nation’s capital. Inside is a grand hall, 65 by 100 feet and flanked by imposing Corinthian columns, and a Spanish colonial-inspired courtyard faintly reminiscent of Mar-a-Lago.
This palace of the Americas fits perfectly with President Trump’s vision of federal buildings of classical design. Such fine buildings of chiseled marble are not built any more.
Why it would make the perfect White House annex
Visiting the White House, especially for public events, is a security nightmare. As it must be, given that the complex houses the presidential residence and offices, much of the National Security Council staff, the Situation Room, and other of the nation’s most sensitive facilities.
The White House needs a large ceremonial annex to accommodate visitors and hold public events away from those extreme high-security places, yet immediate enough for the president and his aides to attend quickly and easily.
The Pan-American Union complex is perfect.
Right now, many White House visitor events are housed in the South Court Auditorium. Built as a temporary prefab during Eisenhower Executive Office Building renovations more than two decades ago, the auditorium is a cheap embarrassment, a defacement of White House dignity.
Adding to the symbolism of annexing the Pan-American Union Building complex to the White House, during the 250th anniversary of American independence, is, among other things, the immediate proximity on the north to DAR Constitution Hall, headquarters of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
The Pan-American Union complex sits at the corner of 17th Street and Constitution Avenue NW, facing the White House Ellipse across 17th, and the Washington Monument to the southeast across Constitution. To the west, a large sunken reflecting pool and formal garden form the building’s back yard, adjoining museum-quality buildings of similar design within the complex.
See map below. Existing White House complex is in blue. Trump Annex is in red.
Inside are warrens of offices, some showing their original dignity. Meeting rooms of various sizes can accommodate from dozens to hundreds of people.
A shabby underground tunnel, with peeling paint and exposed insulation, links international bureaucrats to poorly maintained, increasingly useless offices staffed by foreign nationals who hate America and what it stands for.
Hence the need to re-purpose the property for America’s own interests. In the Pan-American Building itself, a Spanish colonial-style courtyard provides year-round serenity. It’s other-worldly, but still something to be found in old Florida and the old Southwest. A retractable glass roof floods the space with natural light to support a botanical garden of tropical plants: Coffee, fig, banana, exotic flowers.
The courtyard’s focal point is an octagonal pink marble fountain, with American Indian motifs and serpents spouting water, designed by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney.
Handmade red and black tiles with designs inspired from Inca and Mayan ruins, cover the floor. Nearby grows the famous Peace Tree, which President William Howard Taft planted in 1910.
The Peace Tree. Imagine that.
On the second floor, heavily borrowing from old Spanish American plaza design, a stately arcade overlooks the courtyard.
Withdrawal from OAS would justify eminent domain
If the president determines that membership in the OAS is no longer in America’s interest, America can withdraw. That would mean de-recognizing the diplomatic credentials of all foreign OAS diplomats and staff.
The U.S., citing the national interest at the heart of the nation’s capital, would then take over the OAS property by eminent domain. Since the American taxpayer already forks out money for half the OAS budget, acquisition would not be expensive.
The OAS has been selling off other properties because other member states have not been paying their dues, and using the money to maintain what remains. Despite recent cleanup, OAS has been a poor steward.
Security and efficiency considerations
The OAS leadership and bureaucrats are now a security problem. This has been true for years. Chinese diplomats and spies work them constantly, and pay more than a few.
Many OAS bureaucrats seethe with hatred of the United States and openly sympathize with state sponsors of terrorism like the regimes of Cuba and Venezuela. Most are patronage positions by, for the most part, foreign Marxist governments, including Communist China, which is not even an OAS member.
Many are in the U.S. on United Nations-style OAS passports. Some have OAS diplomatic passports that give the bearers diplomatic immunity. Their diplomatic status allows them to earn salaries - half of which comes from American taxpayers - without paying any state or federal taxes.
OAS Secretary General Albert Ramdin is a Chinese proxy. Assistant Secretary General Laura Gil is a Marxist-Leninist from Colombia. The head of “multidimensional security” is a designee of the infamous Lula of Brazil. The top official responsible for hemispheric electoral security is a professor of Marxism-Leninism from Chile.
Even many OAS bureaucrats, worse than ever under Ramdin, seethe with contempt and hatred of the U.S.
These security threats must be removed from the White House perimeter.
As an annex to the White House, the property can be a security improvement.
From a practical security and efficiency standpoint, a new 200-yard tunnel, with electric vehicles, can shuttle the president, White House personnel, and other officials between the complex and the White House itself in seconds. Safe from everything from weather to terrorists.
Congress has had a similar tunnel setup from office buildings to the Capitol for more than a century.
If President Trump chooses to withdraw the U.S. from the OAS and exercise eminent domain to make the Pan-American Union complex American property, he should have no trouble coaxing private donors to fund the tunnel system and other upgrades.
This property, as part of the White House, will add beauty to Trump’s historic legacy.
This is a brilliant idea. I hope someone shares this with Trump.