Sunday, December 2, 2018

The Woman Who Smashed Codes

Book: The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine who Outwitted America's Enemies
Basic Information : Synopsis : Characters : Expectations : Thoughts : Evaluation : Book Group : New Words : Book References : Good Quotes : Table of Contents : References

Basic Information:

Author: Jason Fagone
Edition: eBook on Overdrive from the Fresno County Public Library
Publisher: Dey Street Books
ISBN: 0062430483 (ISBN13: 9780062430489)
Start Date: November 23, 2018
Read Date: December 2, 2018
444 pages
Genre: History, Biography, World War II
Language Warning: Low
Rated Overall: 4 ½ out of 5

History: 5 out of 5


Synopsis (Caution: Spoiler Alert-Jump to Thoughts):
This is the story of Elizebeth and William Friedman, with an emphasis on Elizebeth. And by the way, that is how Elizebeth spelt her name. Both developed into master code breakers, with each starting off in a different profession.

Elizebeth was trained more as a school teacher or librarian as she graduated from college with an emphasis in English. William was into genetics, studying the mutations of flies. But George Fabyan had different plans for them. Fabyan while very eccentric had a gift for motivating people to try out-of-the-box science, he had a desire to show that Shakespeare could not have written his works. He had a willing partner in Elizabeth Wells Gallup who believed that she had found how Francis Bacon had coded messages within Shakespeare’s works which showed that Bacon had written the text.

Fabyan had set up a place where scientists could work on the projects Fabyan wanted them to work on. It was his estate called Riverbank, which was almost an amusement park and country estate like environment about an hour outside of Chicago. Here Elizebeth became Gallup’s assistant. William got roped into being her assistant as well since he was handy with a camera. Gallup had a scientific approach to her exploration of Shakespeare. But only she could reproduce decoding it as Bacon’s work. As Elizebeth watched Gallup, she came more and more convinced that Gallup was deluding herself.

World War I was starting and the United States realized that they needed code breaking capabilities. Fabyan volunteered his cryptography group-while sounding impressive essentially consisted of William and Elizebeth. They worked up a system to decode German messages.

During this time Elizebeth and William got married. Fabyan while benevolent had a tight grip on the running of Riverbank. Also he was influential on the outside as well. Both of the Friedman’s felt that they could not just quit without suffering consequences. So they plotted a means of escape-successfully. But now the question is what are they going to do?

The answer is that William joined the Army as a code breaker and was shipped off to France. There he proves his worth as a code breaker. After the War, the government did not see the need for code breakers-after all, gentlemen do not read others mail. But William was kept on. With his abilities, the government kept William busy. When he got overloaded, the government, particularly the Coast Guard, would contract with Elizebeth.

Eventually Elizebeth would be hired on full time. Elizebeth started getting messages from just off-shore: prohibition smugglers. She broke codes left and right. Then shone when called to testify. As the years progressed, more and more messages she decoded where the origins where European, particularly German.

One of the bigger cases she attacked was a master spy in Brazil and Argentina. The stakes was that this spy was turning all of South America to Nazi sympathetic countries. Elizebeth goal-decode the messages and identify the people and places. Elizebeth turned over the information. But then the FBI took credit for breaking the case. It was only after the intercepts were declassified was it realized what role Elizebeth played in this.

In the meantime, William was breaking the Japanese codes. While Elizebeth and William could not talk about their work with each other-secrecy issues, each was playing important part in war effort, saving thousands of not hundred of thousands of Allied lives. All of the stress caused by the lives depending on them breaking codes caused a mental breakdown on Williams part. While William still served in the Army, Elizebeth had to hid his breakdown.

After the war, they both retired. But not before cataloging their work. They also decide to create a library of their non-classified work. But one day, a knock on the door announces government personnel to collect the work of the Friedman’s which were now classified. Later on Elizebeth gave their remaining papers and library to the George C Marshall Library. Even there, the government took some of their materials from the Marshall Library. They also wrote a book describing how all the various methods which people did to show that Shakespeare didn't write his works had fatal flaws in it.

Even today the Friedman’s lives, methods and books are used by the cryptography community. But computers have taken over the grunt work which the Friedman’s enjoyed and excelled in. Elizebeth did not like the direction being taken. The book ends with Elizebeth inspiring the current crop of female code breakers.


Cast of Characters:
  • Elizebeth Smith Friedman-Code Breaker
  • William F Friedman-Code Breaker
  • George Fabyan-one of the world’s richest men who owned Riverbank and got together people to try the off-beat science.
  • Joseph Mauborgne-code breaker before WW I. Also figured out how to send code via the radio.
  • Elizabeth Wells Gallup-Believed that Francis Bacon had written Shakespeare’s works. She had worked out a code to show that he wrote in encrypted messages within Shakespeare’s text.

Expectations:
Recommendation: Andrea, my daughter
When: November 22, 2018
Date Became Aware of Book: November 22, 2018
How come do I want to read this book: I read a chapter in the book Code Girls about the Friedman’s. They sounded interesting. Then my daughter said she was reading a book which was really good. It was about the Friedman’s.
What do I think I will get out of it? More history about the Friedman’s and some background on how they broke code.


Thoughts:
When I read Code Girls, I was hoping that I would gain insight into women who broke codes during World War II. Instead the author through a lot of women into the story so that I lost track of who was doing what. The Woman Who Smashed Codes does not have that flaw. Fagone does bring other people into the story, particularly Elizebeth Friedman’s husband, William. But the author does not clutter up the story and lets the main characters actions and talents speak for themselves.

Why is the word “Smashed” in the title? Is there a technicalness to this word? I saw him use it a couple of times, but I do not recall an explanation.


Epigraph
knowledge itself is a power Francis Bacon, Sacred Meditations.
What is interesting about this quote is that Bacon himself was talking about Heresy in this section. The fuller quote is:

The third degree is, of those who abridge and restrain the former opinion only to those human actions which partake of sin, which actions they will have to depend substantively and originally, and without any sequel or subordination of causes upon the will, and make and set down and appoint larger limits of the knowledge of God than of his power, or rather of that part of God's power, (for knowledge itself is a power whereby he knoweth,) than of that by which he moveth and worketh, making him foreknow some things idle, and as a looker on, which he doth not predestinate nor ordain: not unlike to that devise which Epicurus brought into Democritus' opinion, to take away destiny, and make way to fortune, to wit; the start and slip of Attemus, which always of the wiser sort was rejected as a frivolous shift: but whatsoever depends not of God, as author and principle by inferior links and degrees, that must needs be in place of God, and a new principle, and a certain usurping God; wherefore worthily is that opinion refused as an indignity and derogation to the majesty and power of God, and yet it is most truly affirmed, that God is not the author of evil, not because he is not author, but because not as of evil.
When looking at this, you wonder how much of the quote was a throw-away and how much of it was the main point and whether Bacon would have placed as much emphasis on those four words as we do.


Author's Note: Prying Eyes
This chapter goes over what who the Friedman’s were-unscrambled messages, going after gangsters and Nazi’s, debunking myths. There is also a sense of the type of excitement which the Friedman’s had in solving the puzzles of codes. Fagone also tries to give a sense of why Elizebeth Friedman is not given more credit-worked as an equal to her husband but sometimes the credit for her work was given to him, secrecy of work, and the sexism of the age. It was noted throughout the book that William Friedman always gave Elizebeth credit for everything she did.

The basic unit of their life was not the equation but the word. Throughout the book it shows that Elizebeth particularly saw code through the words they formed not through some statistical analysis. Even though they did use things like letter frequencies.

Fagone came across a box of Elizebeth’s letters-all kinds of letters-which talked about love, code, to children, letters written in code. But what comes through is the fullness and excitement which they felt from solving coded messages.

It’s not quite true that history is written by the winners. It written by the best publicists on the winning team.


Chapter 1 Fabyan
The first part of the chapter talks about her upbringing and training. But it is the second part which is where it gets interesting. She is whisked off from a Chicago library to the estate of an eccentric rich man named George Fabyan.

Sometimes we get characterized by things such as our names, things which may subconsciously shape us in ways unexpected. In Elizebeth’s case, it was her maiden name, Smith. She felt that people would just tuck her away like any of the hundred other Smith’s. That was the reason why her mother spelt her name the way she did: Elizebeth, so that she would have a sense of being different.

She was raised Friends(Quaker) by parents who were part of the Friends community but not necessarily die-hard Quakers: war is wrong, silence concentrates goodness, direct contact with God is possible. Her father wanted her to get married and have children, but she wanted to go to college. She eventually ended up at Wooster College in Ohio. A pastor of mine went there many years after she did. A good school.

Poetry and philosophy were two ways to explore the unknowns of fact and thought. She studied Erasmus-an early humanist. With Erasmus, only the intellect is what counted. The power of thought was supreme. This would guide her throughout her life, even though it was not in the forefront of her words.

Elizebeth noted that there was importance in giving the right words for things, even if those words offended people.

When Elizebeth graduated from college, she felt like she was a quivering, keenly alive, restless mental question mark. She landed a position of substitute teacher about 20 miles away from her hometown. This did not feel like her final landing place. But women did not have much opportunity in those days.

We are introduced to George Fabyan when Elizebeth visits the Chicago Library to see the First Folio of Shakespeare. He is looking for an assistant for a project to decode the works of Shakespeare. He comes bounding in larger than life and whisks Elizebeth off to his villa at Riverbank. Fabyan roars at Elizebeth What Do You Know and she answers, That is for me to know and for you to find out.


Chapter 2 Unbelievable, Yet It Was There
Fagone goes through and describes life at Riverbank. How there was almost a fairy type of atmosphere there But along with the fairy tale place, there was a strong dictator who almost had the residence believing in his ability to pull strings and make life on the outside impossible. Thusly the 150 or so residences were almost captive there.

Is Bliss Fabyan Company still in business today? It does not look like it.

Fabyan decided that other rich people could buy art or build castles or waste their money however they wished. He would contribute to scientific knowledge by funding and providing a place where science could be worked on. This lead into some discoveries but also a lot of work on the fringes of science.

Does constant supervisor really make anything more honest? Fabyan thought it did with some bees.

Fabyan seemed like he thought that at Riverbank was the only place where people thought and thought outside of the box. He felt that he could make anybody think. Wonder if he thought that only if you thought in his mode were you really thinking.

The basic thrust of research at Riverbank was to extend human life. This is part of Fabyan’s desire to master Nature. Which on the surface is a good goal. But is it really the end goal? Wouldn’t it be better to learn how to live better?

Elizabeth Wells Gallup and her sister Kate Wells. Gallup and Wells believed that Bacon had written all of Shakespeare’s works and that he left coded hints in the text. Gallup books can be found at the Online Books website.

While sympathetic with the woman’s rights movement. Elizebeth felt it would not happen-why would men give up their privilege? She also recognized that women couple be just as pushy as men could be.


Chapter 3 Bacon's Ghost
Gallup felt that if there was hidden messages in Shakespeare that would be repugnant and immoral, particularly as the content of those hidden messages were revealed. On the other hand, she felt that she had an obligation to follow the facts wherever they lead. This is true, even for a Christian. Our God is a God of Truth. He reveals the hidden. But there is also the case where we might find things which is more of a reflection of ourselves than truth. She tried to establish a scientific method for finding the secret messages.


There is a discussion of the focal point which Bacon became in turning science from thought to an examination of facts, the looking at physical evidence.

Elizabeth Wells Gallup wrote a book about decoding Bacon’s work in Shakespeare. It is available online. Not having read the work by Gallup, it occurs to me how something like this can be very much open to what you want to see. The essence of Gallup’s thought is that you can make a code consisting of off/on, 0/1, dot/dash, … That if Bacon had the Shakespeare Folio’s printed that way then you could decode what Bacon had to say. The assumption here is that Bacon wrote the Shakespeare’s works, that he left a message to be decoded, and that the printing of the works would be sophisticated and consistent enough to support a long code. Later on the Friedman’s wrote a book which showed that the printing was not that consistent and that how Gallup interpreted the changes in printing was only one way to analysis the coding. If you interpreted the printing in a different way, then you can get an entirely different message. It is a dangerous thing to be looking at these things and wishing for something to be there.

This does raise the question, how can one determine that you are chasing a real thing or your imagination? Probably one of the best ways is to have a skeptical look at your work for defects.

Fabyan had a formidable mind, which was convinced that he had a different, better way of doing things. Once when he saw a girl resisting swimming lessons he ordered her thrown into the water and then walked away, leaving others to save her. This is almost a metaphor for how he worked. He would walk around spouting out ideas and then let others work out how to make them work. Such as a perpetual motion machine. He told William Friedman, I have seen impractical and improbable things accomplished. All it took to achieve improbable things was an optimistic attitude and a refusal to give up.

As Elizebeth time at Riverbank wore on, she felt a rising doubt in her mind about Gallup’s work. There was questioning in her mind about if there was other experiences concerning Bacon and Shakespeare that could explain what Gallup was seeing. But given the status of Gallup at Riverbank, Elizebeth felt she could not confront directly. In her thoughts, she was realizing that people valued politeness more than truth. This is something which we struggle with. How to say something without being offensive, without turning people from truth?

Is science a tool or a curiosity? To Fabyan and Gallup, it was a tool, something to defeat gravity, unlock eternal life, … To William Friedman it was a way of being alive. Interesting that somebody like Fabyan is willing to believe a myth-Bacon wrote Shakespeare, but unwilling to believe what he considered a myth, the Jesus story which promises eternal life while he was chasing a science to give him eternal life.



Chapter 4 He Who Fears Is Half Dead
The Zimmerman telegram may have been the most important breaking of code ever. It brought the US into World War I. It also showed the US that there was a need to break code. Fabyan volunteered the Riverbank people to this service, sucking in Elizebeth Smith and William Friedman.

But during this time, her mother got cancer and was dying. Elizebeth said that It is awful to look on the face of death like that--the beckoning face... Sombers you to what is important.

Suddenly at Riverbank there is a Department of Ciphers-William Friedman and Elizebeth Smith being the expert staff.

Black chamber: where messages are intercepted and decoded and everything seems alright afterwards.

Parker and Genevieve Hitt were the premier codebreaks when Elizebeth and William started their career. Talked about in Code Girls book.

One way of thinking about science is that it’s a check against the natural human tendency to see patterns that might not be there. Where does Fagone get this from? I am not sure it is true. What does he mean by science? I am thinking that you can verify that the patterns you are seeing is factual, but you can see plenty of scientific studies which have been updated later with a different theory once a process has been known better. Science will only show you what is observable today and how to understand that observation. Tomorrow, something new may come along. Such as Newton and his formulas for figuring out gravity held until Einstein came along and showed there are limits to Newton.

Riverbank Press published ground breaking text books on cryptology. Most are from William and Elizebeth Friedman, but may have been credited by Fabyan.

To be considered a scientific conclusion, you need to be able to demonstrate something over and over and over again. It does not depending on the skill of the person conducting it or their interpretation.

William Friedman hit learning decryption at the right age and talent. With more mathematical background, his approach would have been different.

As William and Elizebeth fell in love it was observed that One of the mysteries of falling in love is that it makes you inarticulate and eloquent at the same time. You lose the ability to speak and write in normal ways… Interesting, almost like how a romantic would put it rather than a scientific person. I wonder how this was tested?


Chapter 5 The Escape Plot
William and Elizebeth get married on the sly. They now want to leave Riverbank, but fear Fabyan’s reach if he is upset when they leave.

William and Elizabeth Friedman were ambitious people. She always lived outside of her bounds while he wanted to be “someone.”

They go missing for several hours and return married. She realizes that she did not marry for love. But as the story grows, love does break out. This leads one to ask, is love a requirement for marriage? Or a heart open to it?


Part II Target Practice 117
The Friedman’s pick up skills during the interval between the World Wars. William get put into the Army while Elizebeth ends up in the Coast Guard. She also has two children.

There is a quote from a 2010 group called Ferguson, Schneier and Kohno. It basically says to work in cryptography you must be as devious as your opponent, think like an attacker, and be paranoid. That is in a good way-not in your personal life, but in your professional undertakings.

While it was acknowledge that Elizebeth was as good as her husband in breaking code, it was William who got the work. If he could not handle it, then she got the work “second-hand.”

With Barbara, her first born, Elizebeth analyzed her baby talk and realized that she was making run on sounds, which reminded her of code.

Elizebeth really started to get her reputation as her own by breaking code of rum-runners. A group called the Consolidated Exporters Corp out of Vancouver had a operation, complete with codes to let the operators know when a shipment was coming in. Some of the people involved were Tony Cornero-a California gangster, he Reifel family-owned hotels in Vancouver and Joseph Kennedy-investor and father of JFK.

Fagone asked the question, in his own mind, was there sexism about the work and conditions which Elizebeth worked under? Fagone’s analogy was did Marie Curie experience sexism? Yes, but the field was still young and Elizebeth was an exception person.

A good statement-It made them feel [Friedman’s], as all good books do, less alone. That is what books do-draws us closer together. They make us feel like someone else understands us. The Friedman’s had become isolated because of their work.

An act of defiance: building a library. The reason why this was an act of defiance is the library they were building was a library of cryptology. A library, properly maintained, could save the world--or burn it down. The Friedman’s followed the practices of a professional librarian-down to having their children check out the books.

The Friedman’s reminds me of people who are always inquisitive.

The pseudo-Bacon phrase: Knowledge is power was how the Friedman’s operated. This was the central precept which they structured their lives and the family around.

Yardley who made money from selling stories of how the government was decrypting messages after he was booted from the service, embellished his stories. He felt he needed to do that to make his stories sellable. The Friedman’s felt that Truth is Truth. Yardley’s attitude has infiltrated our environment today where truth is given scant attention to.

Fagone notes that people thought Elizebeth (and probably William) were genius’. They would try to let William in on how good his wife was-he knew and did continuously elevate her. When Elizebeth was told people felt she was a genius, she did not think so-codebreaking ...was about teams, systems and cooperation. Fagone notes that genius never think that they are actual genius’.


Chapter 1 Grandmother Died
The goal of the German attack in September 1939 was to create confusion where the truth really lay. This is the way of evil. God is the God of Truth rather than confusion. When lying is the strategy, then God is not near.

The Germans had devised several ways to transmit code. They had invented the microdot. But also using a popular novel, underlining parts of it with the other side knowing how to decrypt it. Since people would be reading the novel, be able transmit information in plain sight without incriminating themselves

Elizabeth learned how to listen to the sounds of the world and then figured out how they were put together.

Index of Coincidence-figured out by William. Relationships between sets of text.


Chapter 2 Magic
The secrets of breaking a code cannot be revealed. Once it is having broken it is not worth anything. Your opponents will change the code. MAGIC was one of the broken codes which allowed the Allies to listen to the Japanese conversations, gain strategic advantage. Several Allied victories in the Pacific were credited to knowing where the Japanese would be and what they would do.

Ian Fleming and Roald Dahl were both British spies. Dahl was particularly good, gaining access to Roosevelt. Part of the British effort to bring the the US into world.

OSS forerunner to CIA. Came about because the FBI would not work either British.


Chapter 3 The Hauptsturmführer and the Funkmeister
Johannesburg Siegfried Becker-Hauptsturmfuhrer
Gustav ut zinger-Funkmeister

No code is ever completely solved-Elizebeth Friedman

I think this is the first place which Fagoneuses the term smash the codes. I wonder if this used by code breakers. A brief Google search leads me to think the phrase has to do with a video game rather than code breaking.

Elizabeth secret:
  • Smash the codes
  • Recover the plain texts
  • Translate to English
  • Put translations on to individual sheets
  • Look for spies identities
  • Keep immaculate records
  • Build an archive-words used

Vladimir Bezedek-linguist, read dictionaries for fun.

The FBI took credit for breaking the Becker’s code. But in reality, it was Elizebeth’s Coast Guard group which did. Until the release of papers during the last ten years, there was no way to show Elizebeth’s role. But on the FBI papers, there was the CG stamp for translation and decryption.

The explanation which Fagone gives is a Catch-22 explanation. The messages from Japan had been decrypted and sent off warning of the attack. But it was slow going to Pearl Harbor. Why? The commander at Pearl Harbor did not have a decryption machine. Why? People there was the decision to limit the distribution of these machines. Why? So the Japanese would not know the US had broken their code.

Fagone points out this is the dilemma facing decision makers. William calles it crptolgic schizophrenia. Keeping a secret so that many are saved, but a few die? In this case thousands die and the US is very near the limits of its recovery so that in the future hundred of thousands may live by not having to invade Japan.

As said before, the Friedman’s central thrust of their lives was that knowledge is power. But after Pearl Harbor and a visit from a British intelligence officer, there was a realization that it was also about getting power through knowledge as well as not knowing can be less stressful.

You do not need many words to say a lot. Roosevelt’s Pearl Harbor speech lasted seven minutes-within an hour, war had been declared.

Interesting the terms which Fagone uses. When Becker calls in when ships are leaving port in South America, it is the people are murdered. But if Elizebeth solves a code, it the Allies soldiers/sailors who are saved.


Chapter 4 Circuit 3-N
When you have mental strength, something like depression is devastating. William fell into it due to stresses at work. He describes it as Flight, fight, or neurosis. He was especially concerned with what Elizebeth would think of him. That to me is the most startling thing. Elizebeth seemed to have gotten over her ambiguity of feelings towards William and settled into a deeper kind of love. One where you are OK with another person’s weaknesses. Willing to be there for the other.

William had words of advice, which shows he was willing to look at the long picture, rather than a reaction to something he did not like. His daughter started dating a Leninist. He told her, I hope you will let nothing interfere with your enthusiasm for helping where help is needed, but don’t let the slow, snail’s-pace progress upward and onward get you down. This also gave William comfort-we are not far from being barbarians, that we are still progressing.

Elizebeth and William were on the edge of a change. They still were breaking code through pencil and paper. But the computers were coming on with brute force methods allowing for more codes to be broken faster. Still there was a balance between what a human needed to tackle and a machine being able to process.


Chapter 5 The Doll Lady
There were all kinds of fears what would happen when FDR died. Would the KKK run rampant? Would there be some subversive group suddenly appear? That was the larger than life aurora FDR had.


Chapter 6 Hitler's Lair
William was assigned after the war to visit and document the Nazi’s abilities with code. One of the places he was able to visit was Laboratorium Feuerstein-a place which Dr. Oskar Vierling conducted experiments about sound and acoustics. Not only that, but Dr. Vierling also conducted experiments in cryptography. After awhile, William felt the this laboratory was like a Nazi Riverbank.

During William’s tour, in several places the people whom he was traveling with would find copies of Friedman’s books. Fagone imagines what this must have felt like-walking into the devil’s library and seeing your book on the shelf.

Should nations even exist? That was William’s question. While this war was worth fighting, it was more out of a sense of duty to get rid of a current evil than as a means to righteousness. Even though he was Jewish, he felt that an Hebrew homeland was just another form to isolate people from each other. Our world is fragile rather than healthy.

He felt that Hitler’s residence should be left as a reminder of what a madman’s lust for power leaves you.

As William grew apart from Riverbank, he felt a bit more favorable towards Fabyan. Fagone notes that You get older and want to connect to the people who understand. You try to speak with the young and find that something is wrong with your ears. They used their own slang, their own code, and you start to feel nostalgic about your former enemies, who at least shared the same intense moment on earth and spoke words you could understand. Understanding this, I think that one can go a long ways towards closing the generation gaps.

William and a British counterpart thought it was wrong to drop the atomic bomb on a big city. They felt they should have dropped a demonstration bomb before something like this. Having read a book about Truman, I can see both sides.

At the end of the war, Elizebeth was forced to end her time as a leading code breaker with the armed forces. She went back to the Coast Guard. But she also needed to sign papers swearing her to secrecy, forever, about what she had done for her country. Seems a bit strange that a nation priding itself on freedoms, restricts their own people, with little gratitude.

Her one task with the Coast Guard before she retired was to sort and file her records while she had been with the government.

A new project was to refudiate the Bacon wrote Shakespeare theory. They invented new codes for this project which fit the writings. Some of these codes “proved” that Theodore Roosevelt wrote Shakespeare, but Bacon was trying to steal that effort. They published a book, The Shakespeare Ciphers, which attacked the theory that someone else besides Shakespeare wrote his writings. Not a best seller.

While grateful to Fabyan and appreciative to Gallup’s try to reduce the work to a science, the Friedman’s essentially tore apart these two people’s work.


Epilogue: Girl Cryptanalyst and All That
William understood the need for secrecy. But he also knew there was a balance between knowing and the need for privacy. With computers, the temptation is to listen in and sort through everything which seems it may be of interest. Then NSA wants to keep everything secret. But we live in a society which functions best with a wide dispersion of knowledge. Balancing is an ongoing routine.

When William died, people who knew him understood his greatness. He was a renaissance man in a world quickly changing to specialization.

The Friedman’s decided to give their collection of books and papers to the George C Marshall Library. The NSA decided that there was more of their papers which needed to be protected so that they brought these papers to the NSA so that they would be restricted access. Researchers noticed that there was sections missing through the careful indexing by the Friedman’s. The researchers were able to get them released. Elizebeth’s work lead to her inspiring many of the females who have worked and continue to work at NSA.

As computers took over the cryptology field, Elizebeth felt that they were a curse. Not because they could not encrypt better or code break well, but because code breaking became impersonal. She felt that nobody ever gets the thrill of seeing a message come out. Fagone notes that the field has advanced well beyond what Elizebeth could have handled by herself. But it continues to be essentially what she dealt with. Somebody trying to obscure a message by making things look like a meaningless pattern while someone else trying to make sense of it.

Ann Caracristi is mentioned as being influenced by Elizebeth’s work and inspiration. Caracristi is one of the main people in the book Code Girls.

Fagone goes a bit over the top by saying that Elizebeth’s “ghost” rattled around the NSA archives crying out for recognition.

The books ends with Elizebeth talking to an NSA biographer. Elizebeth says that There are plenty of mysteries that you can leave dangling… Enough to allure a reader. Isn’t this true of any good book?


Evaluation:
A sign of a good book is that you want more. That is how this biography of Elizebeth and William Friedman is. The story, as the title indicates is mostly about Elizebeth Friedman. But Jason Fagone crafts a story taking you from days where the two met as assistants to a woman who was try to prove that Bason wrote the works of Shakespeare to being the top code breakers in the United States during World War II. A fascinating look at that world and how this couple came to hold this position.

My one complaint about the book is the title. And this is on two counts. First, the only place in the book which I saw which used the term “smash” was Fagone himself. It sounds a bit amateurish for a couple who were pretty sophisticated. Second, this book is much more about both Elizebeth and William Friedman than just Elizebeth-even though Fagone does have more information on her than him. It is pretty evident that both of them were critical to the United States code breaking efforts during World War II and before. (And yes, Fagone does goes into how the sexism of the time held back Elizebeth’s potential and how she overcame much of it. That is part of the story of this couple, alone with William understanding his wife’s potential)
Elizebeth Friedman said There are plenty of mysteries that you can leave dangling… Enough to allure a reader. Isn’t this true of any good book? Read it and see if I am right.

 
Notes from my book group:
Not a book from any of my book groups.

Many of these questions are either from or adapted from LitLovers.
  • Why the title of The Woman Who Smashed Codes? Where does the term Smashed come from? Is this a technical term>
  • Does this story work as a biography?
  • What did you think about how the government treated them at the end? Was this the normal state of America during this time?
  • What was the Friedman’s view of how the government operated prior to World War II? After?
  • Was the secrecy of the Friedman’s work warranted after World War II? What was the environment of the time?
  • Elizebeth did not like that computers were taking over the code-breaking functions. She said that nobody ever gets the thrill of seeing a message come out if a computer decodes a message. What place should humans have in this process?
    • One thing which is striking during the code break process of World War II is the number of people required to break code. {See the book Code Girls.] What ramifications would there have been if computers had been used to decode messages during World War II? [There was some machine code breaking. The United States built an Enigma like machine] What women and/or minorities be in their current positions today? Does this affect your thoughts about automation?
  • Which character was the most compelling? Least?
    • Which character did you identify with?
    • Which one did you dislike?
  • Every story has a world view. Were you able to identify this story’s world view? What was it? How did it affect the story?
  • In what context was religion talked about in this book? Why was William not more interested in his Jewishness? Why did he not want a Jewish state?
  • If knowledge is power, why were the Friedman’s not more powerful?
  • Do we have someone today like George Fabyan who will fund research in the fringe? Would Elon Musk qualify?
  • Gallup approached finding Bacon in Shakespeare’s work using what was considered scientific methods. Was her methods scientific? What warnings does this give us about accepting a person’s work as science?
  • Elizebeth realizes she did not marry for love. But then as the book goes on, there definitely is a loving relationship between Elizebeth and William. Is love a requirement for successful marriage? What should be?
  • A library, properly maintained, could save the world--or burn it down. The library which the Friedman’s built before World War II was pictured as an act of defiance. Why? How does a library become such a power place?
  • What use is breaking a code if you cannot use it to save lives? Is this immoral? Great Britain had that same problem with Enigma. They new the village of Coventry was to be bombed. But if they evacuated the village, then the Germans would know they had broken the code. Same way with Pearl Harbor.
  • How are morals played fast and loose with during war and politics? When the Germans were able to spy on Allied shipping and sank the ships, Fagone calls it murder. But when the Friedman’s broke code and was able to sink Japanese ships, he calls it saving lives. What is the difference?
  • Why do you think the author wrote this book?
  • What would you ask the author if you had a chance?
  • What “take aways” did you have from this book?
  • What central ideas does the author present?
    • Are they personal, sociological, global, political, or economic?
    • What evidence does the author use to support the book's ideas?
    • What implications for you, our nation or the world do these ideas have?
    • Are these idea’s controversial?
      • To whom and why?
  • Describe the culture talked about in the book.
    • How is the culture described in this book different than where we live?
  • How did this book affect your view of the world?
    • What questions did you ask yourself after reading this book?
  • What place does Truth have in this book? What can we learn from the Friedman’s about how to look for Truth in our world?
  • Talk about specific passages that struck you as significant—or interesting, profound, amusing, illuminating, disturbing, sad...?
    • What was memorable?

New Words:

  • Eulogistic mellifluous (Fabyan): A speech, presentation, or writing that pays tribute to someone's lifetime achievements . Then for mellifluos-sweet or musical; pleasant to hear.
  • Code: a system of words, letters, figures, or other symbols substituted for other words, letters, etc., especially for the purposes of secrecy.
  • Cipher: a secret or disguised way of writing; a code
  • Cryptogram: a text written in code.
  • Incunabula (Fabyan): an early printed book, especially one printed before 1501.
  • Bacchanalia (Unbelievable, Yet It Was There): Roman festivals of Bacchus, based on various ecstatic elements of the Greek Dionysia
  • Elided (Part II): omit (a sound or syllable) when speaking
  • Hauptsturmfuhrer (Part II, Chp 3): a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was used in several Nazi organizations such as the SS, NSKK and the NSFK. The rank of Hauptsturmführer was a mid-level commander and had equivalent seniority to a captain (Hauptmann) in the German Army and also the equivalency of captain in foreign armies.
  • Funkmeister (Part II, Chp 3): rank designation for signals personnel equivalent to a Sergeant. German for Master of the radio waves!
     
Book References:

Good Quotes:
    • First Line: This is a love story.
    • Last Line: The transcript notes that the women laughed.
    • Achieve success! Be spectacular! Then things break your way, Chp Bacon’s Ghost Said by George Fabyan
    • No work is too insignificant to discard, therefore it should be done well from the start. Chp He Who Fears Is Half Dead, Said by William and Elizebeth Friedman.
    • A group of two operators, working harmoniously as a unit, can accomplish more than four operators working singly. Chp 4 He Who Fears Is Half Dead, Said by William and Elizebeth Friedman.
    • One of the mysteries of falling in love is that it makes you inarticulate and eloquent at the same time. You lose the ability to speak and write in normal ways. Chapter 4 He Who Fears Is Half Dead
    • It made them feel [Friedman’s], as all good books do, less alone. Chp Part II
    • A library, properly maintained, could save the world--or burn it down. Chp Part II
    • You get older and want to connect to the people who understand. You try to speak with the young and find that something is wrong with your ears. They used their own slang, their own code, and you start to feel nostalgic about your former enemies, who at least shared the same intense moment on earth and spoke words you could understand. Part III, chp 6: Hitler’s Lair
     
      Table of Contents:
      • Author's Note: Prying Eyes xi
      • Part I Riverbank 1
        • Chapter 1 Fabyan 3
        • Chapter 2 Unbelievable, Yet It Was There 21
        • Chapter 3 Bacon's Ghost 37
        • Chapter 4 He Who Fears Is Half Dead 63
        • Chapter 5 The Escape Plot 93
      • Part II Target Practice 117
      • Part III The Invisible War 175
        • Chapter 1 Gradmother Died 177
        • Chapter 2 Magic 209
        • Chapter 3 The Hauptsturmführer and the Funkmeister 223
        • Chapter 4 Circuit 3-N 249
        • Chapter 5 The Doll Lady 283
        • Chapter 6 Hitler's Lair 307
      • Epilogue: Girl Cryptanalyst and All That 327
      • Acknowledgments 343
      • Notes 347
      • Index 429

      References:
        • Get Pocket - an additional article on Elisabeth Friedman. Based somewhat on the book, but has a few other items in it as well.


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