by Jason Fagone
a plot Ibid.
a congressional committee ESF autobiography, 41–42.
caught the eye Ibid.
130 notes scrawled with code Ibid.
refused to pay him ESF autobiography, 43.
she wore it around her neck “. . . the one-of-a-kind Evalyn Walsh McLean,” PBS Treasures of the World, http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/hope/hlevel_1/h3_ewm.html.
an anti-Semitic weekly newspaper “The International Jew: The World’s Problem,” Dearborn Indepdendent (Dearborn, Michigan), May 22, 1920.
intelligence reports about Jewish activities Joseph W. Bendersky, The Jewish Threat: Anti-Semitic Politics of the U.S. Army (New York: Basic Books, 2000), xiii–xiv.
130 “When they couldn’t get him” ESF interview with Marshall staff, Tape #5, June 6, 1974, 8.
“second-hand” ESF interview with Clark.
“Sad for me” ESF interview with Marshall staff, Tape #5, June 6, 1974, 8.
131 “I didn’t want to work for the Navy” ESF interview with Pogue, 41–42.
She took Driscoll’s place Ibid.
left the navy after five months Ibid.
suppressing her own desires “Sopha was a shadowy figure, her life obviously deeply and exclusively involved in her anatomical destiny, that of bearing ten children over an eighteen year period.” Lyle, “Divine Fire,” 165.
“Often I feel” WFF to ESF, July 31, 1918, box 2, file 14, ESF Collection.
“Sometimes I wish” Ibid.
“a queer sensation” Ibid.
“we could help her” George Fabyan to WFF, February 24, 1924, Item 734, WFF Collection.
132 she would be all right WFF to George Fabyan, February 25, 1924, Item 734, WFF Collection.
black woman named Cassie ESF autobiography, 63.
constantly perplexed ESF copy of George Fabyan’s What I Know About the Future of Cotton and Domestic Goods, 2nd ed. (Chicago, 1900), containing diary entries about Barbara and John Ramsay, box 21, folder 1, ESF Collection.
shared her dolls with Krypto Ibid.
his mirth excited Ibid.
top volume on the Victrola Ibid.
a doctrine of no doctrines Ibid.
“let the rest take care of itself” Ibid.
“She strings together consonants” Fabyan, What I Know About the Future, Item 602, WFF Collection.
133 3932 Military Road ESF Personnel Folder.
203 slow small patrol boats David P. Mowry, “Listening to the Rum-Runners: Radio Intelligence During Prohibition,” 2nd ed., Center for Cryptologic History, 2014, 16.
five thousand miles of coastline Ellen NicKenzie Lawson, Smugglers, Bootleggers, and Scofflaws: Prohibition and New York City (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2013), 7.
in radio prowess Commander J. F. Farley, “Radio in the Coast Guard,” Radio News (January 1942): 43–48.
134 a ninety-day contract ESF, “Personal History,” Personnel Folder, July 1, 1931.
work from home ESF interview with Clark, 15.
Fifteen thousand people U.S. Treasury Department, Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1926 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1927).
six separate law enforcement agencies “SA Eliot Ness, a Legacy ATF Agent,” Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, https://www.atf.gov/our-history/eliot-ness.
135 a soft-spoken father of two Robert G. Folsom, The Money Trail: How Elmer Irey and His T-men Brought Down America’s Criminal Elite (Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books, 2010), 313.
“the Treasury fist” “T-men (1947) Quotes,” IMDb.com, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039881/quotes.
solution in the margin “Elmer Irey Retires: Boss of Treasury T-men Was One of World’s Greatest Detectives,” Life (September 2, 1946).
independent sea captains Frederick Van de Water, The Real McCoy (Mystic, CT: Flat Hammock Press, 2007).
the envy of many small nations ESF, “History of Work in Cryptanalysis,” April 27–June 1930,” box 4, folder 17, ESF Collection; ESF, “West Coast,” narrative of West Coast smuggling operations, box 4, folder 23, ESF Collection.
“The whole half of the world” ESF interview with Clark.
136 “Mrs. Friedman is the only person” Roy A. Haines, Acting Prohibition Commissioner, to Civil Service Commission, April 22, 1927, box 4, folder 16, ESF Collection.
“see what you can do” Office of Chief Prohibition Investigator to ESF, February 1, 1926, box 4, folder 10, ESF Collection.
sent from Halifax, Nova Scotia “1,000, Following for Your Information,” January 29, 1926, box 4, folder 10, ESF Collection.
“most secret communications” ESF, “History of Work in Cryptanalysis,” April 27–June 1930,” box 4, file 17, ESF Collection.
used different code systems ESF, “History of Chief Smuggling Interests on the Pacific Coast,” box 4, folder 23, ESF Collection.
137 “If I may capture a goodly number” ESF, “A Cryptanalyst,” Arrow (February 1928), box 12, folder 9, 531–34, ESF Collection.
maps of the radio traffic ESF, “Chart Showing Operations of Liquor Smuggling Vessels as Directed by Short Wave Radio Through Secret Systems of Communication, Pacific Coast,” August 1933, box 6, file 1, ESF Collection.
“I sort of floated around” ESF interview with Clark.
138 She traveled to the West Coast ESF autobiography, 52.
138 sailing up the Hudson River Transcript of ESF interview with Margaret Santry, NBC national radio broadcast, May 25, 1934, box 19, folder 6, ESF Collection.
brothers named Hobbs ESF, “History of Chief Smuggling Interests.”
“to Joseph Kennedy, Ltd.” Ibid. For more on Joseph Kennedy’s connections to Vancouver rum interests, see Stephen Schneider, Iced: The Story of Organized Crime in Canada (Mississauga, Ontario: Wiley, 2009), 207.
Elizebeth wasn’t afraid ESF interview with Ed Meryl. Asked if she was ever in physical danger due to her work, ESF responded dismissively—“Not that I know of”—despite the fact that she needed bodyguard protection during the I’m Alone proceedings.
She went to Houston, Texas ESF autobiography, 52, 92–95.
650 messages in 24 different code systems ESF, “History of Work in Cryptanalysis.”
a one-legged cabdriver “Bond for Armatou Lowered to $250,” Galveston Daily News, March 26, 1930.
139 “he was in a very mean mood” ESF interview with BBC for “Codebreakers” TV special, box 15, folder 5, ESF Collection.
“Only woman on plane” ESF Vancouver trip log, written for her children while flying cross-country, October 16–17, 1937, box 16, folder 2, ESF Collection.
out for afternoon tea ESF to WFF, 1932, box 2, folder 3, ESF Collection.
“messages unearthed from a safe” ESF to WFF, October 21, 1937, box 2, folder 4, ESF Collection.
“under the press of duties” ESF to Josephine Coates, January 23, 1930, box 1, folder 2, ESF Collection.
two thousand messages per month ESF, “History of Work in Cryptanalysis.”
a single clerk-typist ESF, “Memorandum upon a Proposed Central Organization at Coast Guard Headquarters for Performing Cryptanalytic Work,” box 5, file 6, ESF Collection.
twelve thousand rum messages ESF, “History of Chief Smuggling Interests.”
a seven-page memo Ibid.
140 thirty of these books Ibid.
a refuge from problems ESF interview with Clark, 15–16.
“Position,” “Landing boat” See intercepted rum messages and worksheets in box 4, folder 14, ESF Collection.
Elizebeth came home ESF interview with Clark, 15.
“pair of shoes, size 15” Ibid.; ESF, “History of Chief Smuggling Interests.”
141 a codebreaking team of her own “History of USCG Unit #387,” Foreword.
Cryptanalyst-in-Charge ESF, “Memorandum upon a Proposed Central Organization.”; U.S. Treasury Department, Office of the Secretary to ESF, June 30
, 1931, ESF Personnel Folder.
Scouring civil service lists ESF autobiography, 53.
worried that her new employees Ibid., 56.
the top scorer Ibid., 53.
“he did not comprehend” Ibid., 54.
Hyman Hurwitz Hyman Hurwitz, Official Personnel Folder, National Personnel Records Center, National Archives at St. Louis, requested September 2016.
142 Vernon Cooley Vernon E. Cooley, Official Personnel Folder, National Personnel Records Center, National Archives at St. Louis, requested September 2016.
Robert Gordon Robert E. Gordon, Official Personnel Folder, National Personnel Records Center, National Archives at St. Louis, requested September 2016.
“able, agreeable, and cooperative” ESF autobiography, 55.
a productive routine Ibid.
pound for pound the best This is my own conclusion. It was shared by the future officers of British Security Coordination, who arrived in the United States in 1940 and determined that Elizebeth’s coast guard unit was the most effective in the country. See British Security Coordination, The Secret History of British Intelligence in the Americas, 1940–1945 (New York: Fromm International, 1999), 469–70.
“The world is a mess” George Fabyan to WFF, January 23, 1932, Item 734, WFF Collection.
Elizebeth took her daughter ESF untitled two-page narrative about her work with the League of Women Voters, box 7, folder 6, ESF Collection.
“The only thing we have to fear” Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “Inaugural Address,” March 4, 1933, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=14473.
143 outside in the freezing wind James A. Hagerty, “Roosevelt Address Stirs Great Crowd,” New York Times, March 5, 1933.
handed out League of Women Voters fliers ESF League of Women Voters narrative.
“ardent worker” Ibid.
Eighteen days later, in Germany “Dachau Opens,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, https://newspapers.ushmm.org/events/dachau-opens.
at a press conference “Himmler sets up Dachau,” The Nazi Concentration Camps, Birbeck University of London, http://www.camps.bbk.ac.uk/documents/003-himmler-sets-up-dachau.html.
143 “I pack my bag” ESF, “Pure Accident.”
“Please state your name” United States v. Albert M. Morrison et al. (E.D. La. 1933), No. 16,981, May 2, trial transcript vol. 1, 141.
twenty-three suspected agents “Wireless Station Operator Called in Rum Ring Trial,” Times-Picayune (New Orleans), May 2, 1933. The Times-Picayune says there were twenty-four defendants; ESF says twenty-three, on page 80 of her autobiography. ESF never miscounts things, so I am going with her number. A few of the indicted men, including Isadore “Kid Cann” Blumenfeld, a gangster from Minneapolis, never appeared in court, creating some confusion.
a fleet . . . a pirate radio station United States v. Morrison, No. 6,981, May 1, trial transcript vol. 1, 47–62. This is Woodcock’s opening statement, which gives an overview of the case.
at least thirty-two coded radio messages Ibid., Bill of Exceptions, Exhibit X 29.
mailed them Ibid., May 2, trial transcript vol. 1, 170.
144 their system Ibid., Bill of Exceptions.
“the greatest rum-running conspiracy” “Greatest Liquor Plot Case Trial Delayed 35 Days,” Times-Picayune (New Orleans), April 15, 1932.
a hat with a flower “Code Expert Testifies at Trial,” Times-Picayune (New Orleans), May 3, 1933.
a stack of yellow papers United States v. Morrison, No. 16,981, May 2, trial transcript vol. 1, 150–55.
quietly switching seats Ibid., May 1, trial transcript vol. 1, 64–76.
a rawboned man Ibid.
the aliases Ibid., May 1, trial transcript vol. 1, 47.
“Mr. Burk” Ibid., May 1, trial transcript vol. 1, 64–76. “Mr. Burk” was what Morrison called himself when he dealt with the shortwave radio operator in New Orleans, Charles Andres.
Nathan Goldberg, Al Hartman, and Harry Doe “Bond Reductions Ordered for Six Held in Rum Plot,” Times-Picayune (New Orleans), April 15, 1931.
$500,000 and more than two years ESF autobiography, 80; the first radio messages from the ring were intercepted in March 1931.
methodical former Army colonel S. J. Woolf, “Col. Woodcock: Leader of the Dry Army,” New York Times, November 2, 1930.
“a steady attack” Ibid.
“Have you a message” United States v. Morrison, No. 16,981, May 2, trial transcript vol. 1, 143.
144 “QUIDS, ABGAH” Ibid., Bill of Exceptions, Exhibit X 29.
“incompetent, irrelevant” Ibid., May 2, trial transcript vol. 1, 145.
Eight other defense attorneys Ibid., May 2, trial transcript vol. 1, 1.
145 handled Capone’s appeals “Capone Renews Fight for Freedom,” Town Talk (Alexandria, Louisiana), April 30, 1934.
Walter J. Gex Sr. “Leader of City and County Passes Away; Last Rites Monday P.M.,” Sea Coast Echo (Bay St. Louis, Mississippi), February 1937.
“I believe I am asked” Ibid., 145–47.
“That certainly is some information” Ibid., 162.
“GD (HX) gm” United States v. Morrison, No. 16,981, Bill of Exceptions, Exhibit X 6.
“SUBSTITUTE FIFTY CANADIAN” Ibid., May 2, trial transcript vol. 1, 150.
“How shall I address you” Ibid., 164–66.
146 “I move that all of the testimony” Ibid., 168–69.
the jury convicted five “Five Men Found Guilty of Liquor Plotting Charge,” Times-Picayune (New Orleans), May 7, 1933.
two years in prison “Woodcock Move Clears Five Men in Rum Plot Case,” Times-Picayune (New Orleans), May 9, 1933.
“made an unusual impression” ESF autobiography, 88.
“a pretty government” Lyle, “Divine Fire,” 174.
“a pretty middle aged woman” ESF autobiography, 70.
“a pretty young woman with a filly pink dress” Ibid.
“a pretty little woman who protects” Lyle, “Divine Fire,” 174.
young enough to resent ESF autobiography, 70–71.
badly written Ibid.
Facing off against Edwin Grace ESF autobiography, 84–85.
“CLASS IN CRYPTOLOGY” Ibid., 82.
147 She hoped the attention Ibid., 83.
“He never put into words” ESF interview with Valaki, November 11, 1976, transcribed January 10, 2012, 16.
“a certain grim look” Ibid.
A former artillery officer “About Henry L. Stimson,” Stimson Center, https://www.stimson.org/content/about-henry-l-stimson.
“Gentlemen do not read each other’s mail” Kahn, The Reader, 98.
148 a new army codebreaking unit Frank Rowlett, The Story of Magic: Memoirs of an American Cryptologic Pioneer (Laguna Hills, CA: Aegean Park Press, 1998), 6–33.
adjacent desks Ibid.
he popped his head in the vault “We Discover the Black Chamber,” ibid., 34–39.
148 “Welcome, gentlemen” Ibid.
149 challenging them to solve different machines Rowlett, The Story of Magic, 59–76.
Angooki Taipu A Craig P. Bauer, Secret History: The Story of Cryptology (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2013), 296–300.
Angooki Taipu B Ibid., 301–4.
Converter M-134 WFF, “Important Contributions to Communications Security, 1939–1945,” 1, NSA.
150 held secret for many years Fischer, Willis and Panzer, “Memorandum Concerning a Bill for the Relief of William F. Friedman,” August 21, 1950, NSA.
an enduring frustration Ibid.
evolved into the SIGABA WFF, “Important Contributions,” 3–5.
Up to four rotors Timothy J. Mucklow, “The SIGABA/ECM II Cipher Machine: ‘A Beautiful Idea,’ ” Center for Cryptologic History, National Security Agency, 2015.
10,060 SIGABA machines Ibid.
“the absolute security” WFF, “Important Contributions,” 5.
“Never said a word to me” ESF interview with Pogue, 24.
“never opened his
mouth” Ibid., 53.
151 “was hugging me warmly” Barbara Friedman to Ronald Clark, September 26, 1976, and “P.S.,” October 6, 1976, box 14, folder 14, ESF Collection.
make himself a sandwich ESF interview with Pogue, 27.
“nothing more or less than exhaustion” Ibid., 46.
the ice pick lobotomy Michael M. Phillips, “The Lobotomy Files: One Doctor’s Legacy,” Wall Street Journal, http://projects.wsj.com/lobotomyfiles/?ch=two.
eventually, William did His psychiatrist starting in the 1940s was Dr. Zigmond Lebensohn of George Washington University, a junior colleague of Freeman. See Zigmond Lebensohn, “The History of Electroconvulsive Therapy in the United States and Its Place in American Psychiatry: A Personal Memoir,” Comprehensive Psychiatry 40, no. 3 (1999): 173–81.
“Any story of my experiences” ESF, “A Cryptanalyst,” Arrow (February 1928), box 12, folder 9, 531–34, ESF Collection.
152 a letter years later to Barbara ESF to Barbara Friedman, February 12, 1945, box 3, folder 26, ESF Collection.
Immortal Wife Irving Stone, Immortal Wife (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1944).
“to be a good wife” Ibid., 33.
“gray-haired” Ibid., 134.
“Everything that happened to John” Ibid., 140–41.
153 “In many ways it parallels” WFF to John Ramsay Friedman, August 13, 1945, box 4, folder 8, ESF Collection.
a square of red paper 1928 Friedman holiday card, Item 568, WFF Collection.
154 “Friedman’s Wishing Tree” “Friedman’s Wishing Tree,” box 13, folder 9, ESF Collection.
scavenger hunts “The Single Intelligence Skool, Pap Problem No. 1,” and other scavenger-hunt materials (envelopes, cryptograms, etc.), box 13, folder 9, November 6, 1938.
“The first item was a series of dots” Virginia Corderman to Vanessa Friedman, October 2, 1981, box 12, folder 15, ESF Collection.
Elizebeth designed a menu Ibid.
155 The Crypto-Set Headquarters Army Game Item 2097, WFF Collection.
A second prototype, Kriptor Item 2098, WFF Collection.
sent it to Milton Bradley WFF to ESF, November 29, 1938.
beguiled and frustrated Modernist fiction baffled WFF, but he collected it, read it, tried to make sense of it, thought the sentences were often beautiful, and corresponded with Joyceans, including J. F. Byrne, Joyce’s real-life schoolmate and the inspiration for “Cranly” in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Byrne thought he had invented an unbreakable cipher that he called the “Chaocipher.” WFF told him his cipher was worthless. See Sheldon, “The Friedman Collection: An Analytical Guide,” 466, and Item 1405.1 in the WFF Collection.