Elizebeth was the youngest of ten children in a Quaker family. She grew up on a dairy farm in Indiana. An inquisitive person, Elizebeth wanted to attend college, something only one other sister had done. As her father refused to pay for her studies, Elizebeth managed to convince him to lend her the money and charge her interest. She studied languages, literature, history, and philosophy.
In 1915, Elizebeth found that her degree in English did not open opportunities for her. After year as a substitute principal, she decided to try to find work in Chicago. There, a chance meeting at the Newberry Library changed Elizebeth's life forever. She had gone to the library to view Shakespeare's First Folio, which was on display when the librarian questioned Elizebeth about her interest in Shakespeare. Hearing that Elizebeth was looking for a research job, she arranged a meeting that very day with a wealthy Chicago businessman, George Fabyan. This man believed that Shakespeare's plays contained a secret code proving that they were authored by Sir Francis Bacon.
Fabyan boldly insisted that Elizebeth visit his estate and she took up his offer to work on his project. She moved to his estate, called Riverside, where he lived with his wife and the other researchers. There she met the only person near to her in age, a young man named William Friedman. They soon spent most of their work and free time together.
Elizebeth struggled to believe in the work she was doing for Fabyan. When she and William presented strong evidence against any code existing in the Shakespearean text, both Fabyan and Elizabeth Wells Gallup, the head researcher, refused to believe them.
With the start of World War I, Fabyan saw a need for people to crack the secret codes spies might be using so he invited code experts to meet his code team at Riverbank, The War Department, impressed with Elizebeth and William's abilities, began to use Fabyan's cipher team. Soon Riverbank was receiving envelopes full of coded messages and ciphers. One decoded cipher revealed that Germany was working with Mexico to foment a war with the United States as a distraction from the war in Europe. This indicated that the United States needed it's own decryption unit and Elizebeth and William became that unit.
Initially Elizebeth and William did all the code-breaking, solving messages by Hindu groups in the U.S. who were working to target England. India wanted independence from Britain at this time so it made sense that they would try to work against the country that had colonized them. A second Hindu group was also decoded. These groups used specific books for their codes.
Working together so closely resulted in a strong bond of mutual respect between Elizebeth and William despite their very different backgrounds. They married in May of 1917 in Chicago. Because they were so accomplished at their work, the Army wanted them but Fabyan interfered, determined to keep them at Riverbank. In 1918, William, having learned that the War Department actually wanted him, "...enlisted as an officer in the Radio Intelligence Unit in the U.S. Army Signal Corps." He passed the physical exam which he had strangely failed earlier, and was sent to France in 1918. Elizebeth was unable to enlist so she was stuck in America until William returned home in April of 1919.
Although Elizebeth and William reluctantly returned to Riverbank, eventually they decided to leave. With the start of Prohibition in 1920, they accepted a job offer from the Army. By 1921, Elizabeth and William had moved out of Riverbank and began working for the U.S. Signal Corps in Washington, D.C. William began to study machines such as the German Enigma, used to encipher messages. Elizebeth took a job as a cryptographer with the U.S. Navy after quitting the Signal Corps but quit after six months and then gave birth to the couple's first child, daughter Barbara. In 1926, she had a second child, John.
In 1931, Elizebeth headed up her own team, at the US Treasury, consisting of three men and two women, had her own office and was the "cryptanalyst-in-charge". Her work involved solving codes and ciphers of criminals and smugglers, especially involved in illicit alcohol sales during Prohibition. She also testified in court.
With the approach of war and the beginning of World War II, Elizebeth began working on Nazi spy messages, especially those in South America. It was during the war that Elizebeth's incredible abilities were to play a significant role in helping the Allies win the war.
Discussion
Spying On Spies is an engaging and informative account of master cryptologist, Elizebeth Smith Friedman. Her remarkable life spans the first part of the twentieth century including World War I, Prohibition, and World War II. Author Marissa Moss writes in her Author's Note that she wanted to tell Elizebeth's story because her accomplishments were overshadowed by her husband. Most of her work was classified and it's only recently that contributions and accomplishments of Elizebeth Smith Friedman have come to be rightfully acknowledged.
Moss's account of Elizebeth's life and career as a cryptographer describes the obstacles she faced as a young woman in the first half of the 20th century. Despite her superior abilities, which were repeatedly proven, Elizebeth faced significant obstacles and her abilities were often not recognized. The main obstacles were the social conventions, expectations and attitudes towards women at this time. Elizebeth's parents believed she belonged in the home as a wife and mother, but her inquisitive mind wanted much more. She showed determination and fortitude in forging ahead with her education, managing to convince her father to lend her money to study at a six percent interest rate!
When she obtained her advanced education, Elizebeth realized her degree did not afford her the same opportunities as it would have for a man. But undaunted, she managed to obtain a position working on codes for a wealthy businessman that was eventually to lead to her life's work. During World War I she faced the obstacles of not being able to enlist in the US Army like her husband could, nor to even vote. At the end of World War I, despite being considered a military cipher expert, Elizebeth was better known as the wife of William Friedman. She was often hired, not on her own merits, but because the US Navy wanted her husband. She had to contend with a press who viewed her in very traditional terms, not as an intelligent woman but as " a pretty young woman in a frilly pink dress."
Moss demonstrates how Elizebeth's work was so crucial to the United States during World War I and World War II. For example, during World War I, Elizebeth, along with William was able to solve a cipher from the German diplomat, Arthur Zimmerman. Known as the "Zimmerman Telegram", it revealed that Germany was attempting to incite Mexico to attack the United States and so distract them from the war in Europe. During World War II, Elizabeth decoded a message which revealed Germany's plan to sink the RMS Queen Mary carrying over 8000 soldiers. From the messages, Elizabeth knew the U-boat locations and the ship was able to safely transit the Atlantic Ocean.
Her work was vital to the U.S. understanding what was happening in South America during World War II. Many Germans had fled to South America after World War I. There were Nazi spies in Argentina as well as throughout South America. The U.S. wanted to avoid a Nazi takeover of South America. After the June 4, 1943 coup in Argentina, in August of that year Elizebeth was able to decipher a message which revealed what Germany and Argentina were planning or South America: " a block of South American countries" that Argentina and Germany would rule. They could then move on to attack North America.
Because her and William's work was so top secret, their contributions have remained hidden for decades. It is only recently with the release of some of the material taken from from their home and from the George C. Marshall Research Library by the NSA (National Security Association) that the amazing work and abilities of Elizebeth Smith Friedman has come to light.
Readers interested in codes and ciphers and in recent works about Enigma and Alan Turing will enjoy Moss' biography on the incredibly gifted Elizebeth Smith Friedman. She solved the "Red" Enigma used by the SS at the same time as Turing and Bletchley Park but did it without the help of a computer, demonstrating her remarkable abilities as a cryptanalyst.
Moss has included a short Author's Note, a Glossary, a chapter titled What Are Codes? What Are Ciphers? which has copies of the Zimmerman telegram and the unsolved Voynich Manuscript, a very detailed Timeline which includes many black and white photographs of Elizebeth, William and their children, and Notes for sources for each chapter, and an Index.
Book Details:
Spying On Spies: How Elizebeth Smith Friedman Broke The Nazis' Secret Code by Marissa Moss
New York: Abrams Books For Young Readers 2024
224 pp.
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