Did a Corcoran Gallery memo in 1945 foretell the future?

When the board of trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art held its quarterly meeting on April 20, 1945, the members knew they had a problem. Item No. 15 on the agenda was titled rather blandly, given its implications: "Report, National Gallery -- department for contemporary American Art." C. Powell Minnigerode, the Corcoran's longtime director, and Jeremiah O'Connor, the veteran curator, would explain.