September 24: The Cryptographer

William F. Friedman (Wolf Friedman), who led the team that broke Japanese secret codes and warned the State Department of the imminence of the attack on Pearl Harbor, was born on this date in Kishinev in 1891. Friedman learned about cryptography as a child from Edgar Allen Poe’s story, “The Gold Bug,” but became a student of agricultural genetics until he met his wife-to-be, Elizebeth Beth, a gifted professional cryptographer. During World War I, the Friedmans broke a code used by German-funded Hindu activists who planned to ship arms to India to help its independence struggle against Great Britain. By the war’s end, Friedman went to France to serve as the personal cryptographer for General John J. Pershing. While Elizebeth became well-known in a number of Prohibition trials involving the Coast Guard and the FBI, William was preparing training materials that were fundamental to his field and designing cypher machines, including one that intercepted December 7, 1941 message to the Japanese Embassy in Washington, D.C. ordering a withdrawal from peace talks. In 1952, Friedman became chief cryptologist for the National Security Agency. In their retirement, the Friedmans wrote books about the application of cryptology in understanding the works of Shakespeare.

“Knowledge is Power.” —The Friedmans’ headstone engraving in Arlington cemetery