The Woman Who Smashed Codes
Page 47
William got bronchitis ESF to Barbara Friedman, February 9, 1945, box 3, folder 26, ESF Collection.
extra-long time getting dressed ESF to Barbara Friedman, February 22, 1945, box 3, folder 25, ESF Collection.
304 “evil influences” ESF to Barbara Friedman, April 12, 1945, box 3, folder 26, ESF Collection.
a family friend died WFF to Mrs. A. J. McGrail, November 29, 1945, attached to a “Harvard Honor Roll” sheet filled out by WFF and listing the accomplishments of Colonel A. John McGrail, NSA.
held her arm ESF to Barbara Friedman, May 3, 1945, box 3, folder 27, ESF Collection.
“where I am, when I am” Ibid.
“Remember, darling” Ibid., May 11, 1945.
305 “We have difficulty believing” Ibid., May 9, 1945.
“It’s absolutely terrifying” Ibid.
slept with the windows open Ibid., June 18, 1945.
sent her a poem Ibid., June 4, 1945.
a ninety-day assignment Ibid., July 4, 1945.
“the last great secret” Randy Rezabek, “TICOM: The Last Great Secret of World War II,” Intelligence and National Security 27, no. 4 (2012): 513–30, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02684527.2012.688305.
306 the military air terminal ESF to Barbara and John Ramsay Friedman, July 14, 1945, typed letter to her children, box 3, folder 27, ESF Collection.
She thought he looked handsome Ibid.
waited until the C-54 took off Ibid.
CHAPTER 6: HITLER’S LAIR
307 rumbled up the twisting incline WFF diary of touring postwar Europe, dictated July 26, 1945, signed September 2, 1945, thirteen-page typescript in large blue binder, Marshall Foundation, 3–4.
a castle on a mountaintop Ibid.
acoustics research Army Security Agency, “European Axis Signal Intelligence in World War II as Revealed by TICOM Investigations and by Other Prisoner of War Interrogations and Captured Material, Principally German,” May 1, 1946, NSA, 37–44.
The Allies wanted to know Ibid.
308 character in a murder mystery WFF diary of postwar Europe, 4.
Vierling’s prototypes “European Axis Signal Intelligence.”
a brief supper of hot dogs Ibid.
growing spookier Ibid.
six TICOM teams Randy Rezabek, “The Teams,” TICOM Archive, http://www.ticomarchive.com/the-teams.
“a heavy feeling of sadness” WFF diary of postwar Europe, 1.
309 ate a C-ration Ibid., 4.
like LEPIDOPTERA Ibid., 2.
309 “The destruction to be seen” WFF diary of postwar Europe, 8.
his own cryptologic publications TICOM discovered a copy of his classic paper “The Index of Coincidence” that had been translated into German from French. See Rose Mary Sheldon, “The Friedman Collection: An Analytical Guide,” rev. October 2013, Marshall Foundation, PDF file, 90.
for his own library Item 167.3, WFF Collection.
a grim duty WFF to ESF, October 6, 1917.
310 “Zionism is only one” WFF to Barbara Friedman, March 15, 1945, box 4, folder 8, ESF Collection.
did not sleep well WFF diary of postwar Europe, 5.
rode in the Army staff jeep Ibid., 5–7.
“He gave us a little speech” Ibid., 5.
311 loved to entertain friends Heike Görtemaker, Eva Braun: Life With Hitler (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011), 216.
“I think it is too bad” WFF diary of postwar Europe, 7.
“I shall have it made” Ibid., 6. The paperweight isn’t part of William’s collection at the Marshall Foundation; no one seems to know what happened to it.
this bowl of smoking ice ESF to WFF, July 26, 1945, box 2, folder 8, ESF Collection.
312 “At 1535 a visit with Dr. Turing” WFF spiral-bound diary of his 1945 England trip, box 13, folder 13, ESF Collection, 21.
stripped Turing’s security clearance Andrew Hodges, Alan Turing: The Enigma (London: Vintage, 2014), 574–664.
an apparent suicide Ibid., 614–15.
country village of Beaconsfield WFF diary of 1945 England trip, 16.
three high-value German POWs WFF to commanding general, Army Security Agency, “Report on Temporary Duty, ETO,” October 1, 1945, NSA.
unbreakable all the way Ibid.
313 a burlesque show WFF diary of 1945 England trip, 8.
asked him to tell stories Ibid., 36.
asleep and dreaming Ibid., 27–28.
“nearly as big as Dallas” Peter J. Kuznick, “Defending the Indefensible: A Meditation on the Life of Enola Gay Pilot Paul Tibbets Jr., The Asia-Pacific Journal 6, no. 1 (2008), http://apjjf.org/-Peter-J.-Kuznick/2642/article.html.
314 a sex dream about Enid WFF diary of 1945 England trip, 28.
martinis in befuddled silence Ibid., 32–33.
“renewed call to surrender” Ibid.
listen to radio bulletins ESF to WFF, August 12, 1945, box 2, folder 8, ESF Collection.
315 “end the war P.D.Q.” Ibid., August 7, 1945.
315 watch some tennis WFF diary of 1945 England trip, 37–38.
“A day we will remember!” WFF to ESF, August 10, 1945, box 3, folder 9, ESF Collection.
“war will be a fact” Ibid., August 14, 1945.
praising his son’s vocabulary WFF to John Ramsay Friedman, August 13, 1945, box 4, folder 8, ESF Collection.
316 Elizebeth stayed in ESF to WFF, August 15, 1945, box 2, folder 8, ESF Collection.
“Bobbie, darling” Ibid.
“The O.S.S is starting” Ibid., September 4, 1945.
Elizebeth heard a radio interview Ibid., August 16, 1945.
317 a cold Sunday Ibid., undated (late August 1945).
came over with his wife Ibid.
“I find it hard to tell you” WFF to ESF, August 19, 1945, box 3, folder 9, ESF Collection.
She realized how tricky ESF to WFF, August 26, 1945, box 2, folder 8, ESF Collection.
“Dearest” Ibid.
“very soon” WFF to ESF, August 29, 1945, box 3, folder 9, ESF Collection.
“I LOVE YOU!” Ibid.
General Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur, “General MacArthur’s Radio Address to the American People,” September 2, 1945, https://ussmissouri.org/learn-the-history/surrender/general-macarthurs-radio-address.
318 Elizebeth heard Truman say ESF to WFF, September 4, 1945, box 2, folder 8, ESF Collection.
“It is our responsibility” Harry S. Truman, “Radio Address to the American People After the Signing of the Terms of Unconditional Surrender by Japan,” September 1, 1945, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=12366.
no point in having fought a war ESF to Barbara Friedman, April 12, 1945, box 3, folder 26. She wrote that now Americans needed to fight “for a truly international post war world.”
She wondered if William heard ESF to WFF, September 4, 1945, box 2, folder 8, ESF Collection.
“You are the dearest and best” Ibid.
Around September 12 WFF, “Report on Temporary Duty.”
Elizebeth opened the door As best I can tell, neither Friedman ever wrote about this exact moment of reunion. I admit I’m inferring it from what WFF writes in his letters about the schedule of his trip home and the timing of his arrival.
319 sorted through the voluminous files ESF, “foreword to uncompleted work.”
319 a detailed technical account “History of USCG Unit #387.”
historians of codebreaking Ibid., “Foreword.”
Five copies were printed Ibid. Two copies went to the navy’s OP-20-G, one to the Coast Guard brass, one to the Army, and one to British intelligence.
destroy the rest ESF, “foreword to uncompleted work.”
“government tombs” Ibid.
prepared to leave Ibid.
The navy forced her Ibid.
At the end of her final workday ESF, “foreword to uncompleted work.”
320 “to that particular form” Ibid.
“thrilling records” Ibid.
On Au
gust 14, 1946 H. L. Morgan (Acting Chief, Civilian Personnel Division, USCG) to ESF, August 14, 1946, box 6, folder 8, ESF Collection. This folder also contains the envelope in which the Reduction in Force letter arrived, and on the front and back of the envelope, ESF wrote a note explaining that it was her idea to eliminate her own job.
321 show by the Amazing Dunninger ESF to Barbara Friedman, December 3, 1944, box 3, folder 25, ESF Collection.
both debunker and illusionist Wikipedia, s.v. “Joseph Dunninger,” last modified March 9, 2014, http://www.geniimagazine.com/magicpedia/Joseph_Dunninger.
“came away with theories” ESF to Barbara, December 3, 1944.
322 alive and kicking WFF and ESF, The Shakespearean Ciphers Examined (London: Cambridge University Press, 1958), 9.
asked the Friedmans Ibid., 161–63.
the following message Ibid.
323 “IN HER DAMP PUBES” Ibid., 258. They were renowned for their scientific insights and their serious feats of codebreaking, but this is one of those passages that shows how the Friedmans were also very funny, in a delicate and savage and wonderfully idiosyncratic way.
“great natural gifts” Ibid., 205.
“a sincere and honourable woman” Ibid., 264.
“found in her texts” Ibid.
“was therefore at the mercy” Ibid., 265.
“whose work on the question” Ibid., ix.
they thanked Fabyan, too Ibid.
“give the devil his due” ESF to Mrs. Percival White, March 28, 1958, box 1, folder 23, ESF Collection.
“Vile creature” ESF interview with Valaki, transcribed February 16, 2012, 5.
323 an accident ESF, “Pure Accident.”
324 She tries to imagine herself ESF must have done this when she wrote the book, because there’s a passage by her describing “the gradual crystallization” of her opinions about the Bacon Cipher project in 1916 and 1917. The rest of the book is written in the first-person plural “we” but this passage uses the singular “I.” WFF and ESF, Shakespearean Ciphers, 211.
EPILOGUE
327 otherwise ordinary Tuesday Transcript of Donald F. Coffey oral history interview with NSA, November 4, 1982.
Scattered clouds Weather Underground, “Weather History for KDCA, December 30, 1958,” https://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KDCA/1958/12/30/DailyHistory.html.
at least three men Possibly four men. S. Wesley Reynolds, NSA director of security, writes that he visited the Friedman home with an NSA man named Cook and a third man from the attorney general’s office. Coffey would make four. See S. Wesley Reynolds memo, January 2, 1959, RG457, Entry UD-15D19, “Reclassification of Friedman Articles,” box 57.
a rented truck Coffey oral history.
328 a Defense Department order Garrison B. Coverdale to William G. Bryan (undated), RG457, Entry UD-15D19, box 57; see also Rose Mary Sheldon, “The Friedman Collection: An Analytical Guide,” rev. October 2013, Marshall Foundation, PDF file, 5.
forty-eight items Ronald Clark, The Man Who Broke Purple: Life of Colonel William F. Friedman, Who Deciphered the Japanese Code in World War II (Boston: Little, Brown, 1977), 252; see also “Inventory of the material taken from Friedman’s house,” RG457, Entry UD-15D19, box 57.
“went berserk” Coffey oral history.
denied this Ibid.
wrote in a memo S. Wesley Reynolds memo.
The ciphers were obsolete Sheldon, “Analytical Guide,” 7.
“The NSA took away from me” Clark, The Man Who Broke Purple, 252.
329 silent rage Coffey oral history.
“The mad march of red fascism” J. Edgar Hoover, “Speech Before the House Committee on Un-American Activities,” speech, March 26, 1947, http://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/hoover-speech-before-the-house-committee-speech-text/.
“psychic giddiness” Zigmond Lebensohn to Ronald Clark, May 10, 1976, box 1, folder 38, ESF Collection.
329 unable to work or solve puzzles Ibid.
a rope and a noose John Ramsay Friedman to Ronald Clark (undated), box 14, folder 14, ESF Collection.
“a tree to hang myself” Sheldon, “A Very Private Cryptographer,” 15.
proponent of electroshock therapy Lebensohn, “Electroconvulsive Therapy . . . A Personal Memoir.”
The first course of shocks Lebensohn to Clark, May 10, 1976.
330 “was almost elated” Ibid.
“Anxiety kept her figure slim” Murial Pollitt to ESF, October 6, 1981, box 12, folder 15, ESF Collection.
to get the pen moving Ibid.
“I found it an outlet” ESF to Anne [?], October 24, 1951, box 1, folder 17, ESF Collection.
stayed active Ibid.
“That part of my life is over” Ibid., October 13, 1951.
suitcase full of lantern slides Ibid.
at least fifteen mutilated sheets ESF speech to Mary Bartelme Club. Her draft of the speech begins with an unnumbered page called “Introduction” followed by fourteen more pages. The last page ends in midsentence; the concluding pages appear to have been lost or destroyed.
agonized about what to say ESF to Anne [?], November 8, 1951, box 1, folder 17, ESF Collection.
331 pink ballroom at the Blackstone Hotel Irene Powers, “Benefit Fetes Aglitter with Holiday Spirit,” Chicago Tribune, November 18, 1951.
wasn’t free to talk ESF speech to Mary Bartelme Club, “Introduction.”
“Perhaps you may think” Ibid., 1.
showed slides of code messages Ibid., 1–7.
two and a half hours ESF to Anne [?], December 26, 1951, box 1, folder 17, ESF Collection.
a luncheon at Cambridge ESF, “foreword to uncompleted work.”
“As befits a woman” Ibid.
sheet of lined yellow paper ESF, “Notes for ‘Foreword, 1959,” box 17, folder 20, ESF Collection. This is the seven-page handwritten draft of the “foreword to uncompleted work” typescript.
“FOREWORD” ESF, “foreword to uncompleted work.”
332 President Truman established James Bamford, The Puzzle Palace: A Report on NSA, America’s Most Secret Agency (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1982).
332 the most secret of agencies Ibid.
“mostly nonsensical” WFF to Roberta Wohlstetter, September 17, 1969, box 14, folder 12, ESF Collection.
“secrecy virus” Clark, The Man Who Broke Purple, 252.
333 a nice ceremony “Ceremony Honoring William F. Friedman,” Arlington Hall Post Theatre, October 12, 1955, box 14, folder 12, ESF Collection.
feared the NSA WFF undated letter, box 14, file 12, ESF Collection.
“Frightening to be alone” Clark, The Man Who Broke Purple, 258–59.
“a great desire to live” WFF to Wohlstetter, September 17, 1969.
His feet swelled so much ESF to John Ramsay Friedman, March 20, 1967, box 4, folder 2, ESF Collection.
334 taking notes on his condition ESF daybook, 1969, box 20, ESF Collection.
The doctor stayed at the house Ibid.
“My beloved died at 12:15” Ibid.
“Dear heart be courageous” ESF Collection.
“the greatest brain of the century” Joe Mauborgne to ESF, telegram, box 14, folder 1, ESF Collection.
“His effect on world history” Herman Wouk to ESF, November 3, 1969, box 14, folder 1, ESF Collection.
“Our business now involves” Juanita Morris Moody to ESF, November 7, 1969, box 14, folder 2, ESF Collection.
335 “Woman’s Privilege Card” Cosmos Club “Woman’s Privilege Card,” November 14, 1969, box 17, folder 24, ESF Collection.
She designed his tombstone ESF sketch of WFF’s tombstone, box 13, folder 31, ESF Collection.
specified that certain letters Ibid. The a- and b-forms are clear on ESF’s sketch, and she also included a more detailed tracing of that specific line of text. Later, ESF explicitly told Ronald Clark that “WFF” is the cipher message; see ESF to Clark, October 7, 1976, box 15, folder 4, ESF Collection. See also Elonka Dunin, “Cipher on the El
izebeth and William Friedman tombstone at Arlington National Cemetery Is Solved,” http://elonka.com/friedman/index.html.
an emotional thank-you letter John Ramsay Friedman to Eugene McCarthy, November 12, 1969, box 293, Eugene J. McCarthy Papers, Minnesota Historical Society.
336 Immediately after his funeral ESF letter to family and friends, January 28, 1970, box 13, folder 31, ESF Collection.
a sense of duty Ibid.
entice a first-rate historian Ibid.
336 paid for a typist Ibid.
six-hour days ESF to Ronald Clark, June 12, 1974, box 15, folder 1, ESF Collection.
“entertained like a queen” Ibid.
got her on tape ESF interview with Marshall staff.
337 had not indexed The only guide to the thousands of documents in the ESF Collection is an eighteen-page “Container List” that lists the names of the folders in the twenty-two boxes but does not describe their contents.
asked her to inspect ESF to David Kahn, undated two-page letter on carbons, box 15, folder 2, ESF Collection.
The NSA men’s chorus “Dedication Ceremony for the William F. Friedman Memorial Auditorium,” program, May 21, 1970, box 14, folder 12, ESF Collection.
338 a competent account ESF to Marshall Foundation, July 14, 1977, box 15, folder 4, ESF Collection.
her savings dried up ESF to Stuart and Mabel, April 30, 1974, box 15, folder 1, ESF Collection.
“There is just one thing” ESF typewritten diary, February 7, 1967, box 3, folder 20, ESF Collection.
She gave an interview Connie Lunnen, “She Has a Secret Side,” Houston Chronicle, May 24, 1972.
“In a few years” WFF and ESF burial wishes, box 16, folder 23, ESF Collection.
arteries failed Maureen Joyce, “Elizebeth Friedman, U.S. Cryptanalyst, Pioneer in Science of Code-Breaking Dies,” Washington Post, November 2, 1980.
Washington Post Ibid.
New York Times Alfred E. Clark, “E.S. Friedman, 88, Cryptanalyst Who Broke Enemy Codes, Dies,” New York Times, November 3, 1980.
her ashes were scattered John Ramsay Friedman eulogy at Arlington National Cemetery, November 1980, box 6, folder 26, ESF Collection.
339 “beacon of hope” Barbara Osteika (ATF historian, Department of Justice), in discussion with the author, April 2015.
An FBI cryptanalyst Jeanne Anderson (FBI cryptanalyst, Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit), in discussion with the author, via e-mail, September 2015.