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Famed architect Eero Saarinen is applauded worldwide for his notable works, including the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight Center at New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
But he also had a crucial hand in unexpected projects: war weapons for the government.
When design and technology blog Gizmodo recently requested official government documents about Saarinen under the Freedom of Information Act, the files that returned confirmed the Finnish-American architect worked for the Office of Strategic Services (which would later become the Central Intelligence Agency) in the 1940s.
Saarinen's job was to work on models of buildings and weaponry during a time when the organization was responsible for foreign espionage operations in World War II, reports Dezeen.
Though Saarinen was best known for creating many architectural and design icons of the 1960s, his role for the government was described as "irreplaceable" by the files. According to the documents, Saarinen's work included "design, construction, and equipping situation rooms and military schools, the development of special display equipment for conferences, pilot models of new weapons and devices," among other tasks, such as creating props for target studies.
The file doesn't go much further into detail, but Gizmodo points out that "devices" could mean a wide variety of things, since the OSS was responsible for counterespionage and sabotage.
It wasn't exactly an anomaly for the United States government to hire a notable public figure. Mental Floss reports that Julia Child was also hired by the CIA to cook up a repellent for man-eating sharks during World War II. Meanwhile, Harry Houdini was an operative for the U.S. Secret Service (he used his magical skills to sneak into police stations in foreign countries and gather information).
After working for the OSS, Saarinen would go on to be the mastermind behind architecutre that pushed the boundaries of experimentation in American design. Apparently, genius is genius, regardless of the assignment.
h/t: Dezeen
