REF ID:A38392 

LECTURE I SECTION I 

l. Appreciate the opportunity to be a participant of SCAMP •58 and to talk 

a bit about some of the interesting episodes and important landmarks that stand 

out in the historical background of the science and/or art of cryptology. 

2 In inviting me to speak on the subject I assume that the objective is to 

deal with that area of the background of cryptology which bas primarily to do with 

its development and manner of employment as a vital military weapon 

3 Now cryptology bas certainly not al.ways been considered a vital military 

weapon, or even as a weapon For instance, even as recently as in 1955, when the 

U S. was trying to help our most important ally in the cultivation of the 

cryptologic gardens by providing her with the money for the purpose I mentioned 

1 

• ... 

t " 1~ 

MW:PP-'tk \"\....\v..a~ ~~~o..J.. just a few months ago, we sought to use funds allocated to -MBAP .. tbe Mutual. Defense 

~r---#..x Aesistanee Pact But those funds are specifically earmarked for research and 

development of physical instruments, machines, guns, electronic devices, etc., 

Mkll>f 

and it seemed hopeless even to try to Justify the use of J4DAP montey for cryptanalytic research and development It was only after we had pointed out the ways 

in which military cryptology had been used in World War I and II that the funds 

sought were granted. 

@'pp roved for Release by NSA on 10-10-2013 pursuantto E .0. 1352a 
REF ID:A38392 

4. This point about cryptology being useful only for such relatively 

unimportant things as personal diaries, love missives, and attempts to prove 

that Bacon or somebody eJ.se wrote the Shakespeare Plays reminds me of a story 

which may be a bit apochraphyl but is somewhat amusing. 

5. The story of the oJ.d Persian Queen Semiramis 

Stay 1 weary traveJ.ler 1 

If thou art footsore, hungry, or in need of moneyUnlock the riddle of the cipher graven beJ.owAnd you will be J.ed to riches beyond aJ.J. dreams of avarice' 

0 1 thou vile and insatiabJ.e monster• To disturb these poor bones• 

If thou had. 1 st J.earned something more useful than the art of 

deciphering, 

Thou would'st not be footsore, hungry, or in need of money! 

Many times during the course of the last 41(J years I've had occasion to wish I 

knew the old gal's present address so that I could put as a 1st Ind to her basic 

communication the singJ.e word "Concur". 

It is planned that I give a series of talks on the highl.ights of cryptologic 

history. This may be useful at least to some of the members of SCAMP •581 for I 

may teJ.J. you right away that there doesn't exist in Engl.ish or in any other 

language, for that matter, an adequate or even a f'airJ.y good history of the 

invention and development of' cryptography and of' its counterpart, cryptanaJ.ysis 

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There is no real history, definitive and detailed. What bits and pieces one f'inds 

here and there in popular accounts are generally full of misunderstandings, misstatements, and downright lies 

Of' course, there is a good reason why no history of' cryptology worthy of the 

name has been produced for public use It is that as a rule governments don't 

publish them or permit its cryptologic workers to publish histories, brochures, or 

articles. This is an understandable and sensible rule if' not carried to absurd and 

illogical limits by insisting that all COMINT must be kept secret for all time. 

Later on I may tell you about an amusing if not enlightening conference I was 

summoned to attend at the Pentagon a week ago today 

Of course, now and then some cryptologic information does leak out, as for 

example, when congressional and other official investigations either require or 

accidently bring about the disclosure of such information~ or when some formerly 

trusted worker comits indiscretions, or consciously and deliberately breaks the 

trust that bad been JJDpOsed Of both these types of security breaches--of'ficial 

or persona.1--I shall have more to say later on At the moment I will merely comment 

that the history which comes from such leakages and breaches of trust are apt to 

contal.ll errors, misunderstandings, distortions, and lies 

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Some of you may have wondered what the title of my talk or series of talks 

is. Dean Swift asked me yesterday to tell him so that it could be indicated on 

the announcement sheet. I told him I preferred to state the title myself and I'll 

now disclose my secret by telling you that the title is. 

"The Influence of C-power on History " 

Lest there be some here who think I'm laboring under the delusion that this 

building and SCAMP are U S Navy property or that I've suddenly gone psychotic 

and imagine I'm Admiral Mahan, I hasten to explain that the "C" in the title of 

my talk is not the word "SEA" but the letter "C" and it stands for the word 

CRYP.OOLOGIC. The title of the talk is therefore "The influence of cryptologic 

power on history." As a sub-title I offer this: "Or how to win battles and wars 

and go down in history as a great tactician, strategist and leader of men, or, 

on the other hand, how to lose battles and wars and go down in history as an 

~J incompetent commander, 18, heei:, a ,..•no-good-nik • " L:. ..... 

At this point let me hasten to deny that I'm casting any reflections upon 

certain successful--spectacularly successful comma.nders--such as Generals Eisenhower 

and MacArthur. But names will occur to you without my calling them to your 

a.ttention--a.nd there will be names of men in each of the two categories--"how to 

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win" and "how to l.ose" battl.es and wars. 

At this point I'm reminded of' a story about General Montgomery--"Monty" and 

I have the story on pretty good authority. 

Story re Monty in N Africa, 1942 

~ef'ore a group such as this I think it bardl.y necessary to make this general 

statement but Ill make it: That not all historians know that the history of' 

diplomacy and warf'are teems with instances where the turn of events was greatly 

affected by the relative cryptologic power of the opposing forces Most of the 

history in the history books, especially when first written, does not tell the 

complete story or the whole truth -- for the cryptologic facts are usually ver 

carefully hidden from historians, even from official historians, and are not brought 

to light for years, decades, centuries, and maybe never (Tell about (l) Morison 

(Samuel Eliot), (2) Navy Op Research on Battle of Atlantic, (3) Wenger lecture at 

Naval War College 

Sometimes the course of history is materially or drastically changed by the 

existence of COMINT, or it could have been changed by its proper use--as some say 

about the COMINT available to us before Pearl Harbor, but sometimes, also, the 

course of history is materially changed by the non-existence of COMINT where it had 

previously existed and was used. We will discuss an incident of the latter type 

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REF ID:A38392 

too, in due course But first, an incident of the former type--Pearl Harbor The 

story of Pearl Harbor, which I begin by reading from the 17 December 19~5 issue 

of TIME. I should preface the reading by reminding you tbat the war wa.s over--or 

at least V-E and V-J days he.d been celebrated--and the clamor on the pa.rt of 

vociferous Republicans, who he.d for years been insisting upon learning and disclosing to the world the reasons why we had been caught by surprise in such a 

disastrous defeat and caJ.a.mity as the Japanese had inflicted upon us at Pearl, 

this clamor had to be met It could no longer be hushed by the need for military 

secrecy So there were investigations--a half dozen or more, winding up in a 

grand finale of the Joint Congressional Investigation into the Attack on Pearl 

Harbor It was this investigation which not only itself brought into the open 

every detail and exhibit in its own lengthy investigation and hearings but also 

disclosed everything that was said and shown at all the previous Army and Navy 

investigations--about a balf dozen of them. 

There came a. day in the Congressional Hearings when General George c. Marshall, 

Chief of Staff, US Army at the time of the Pearl Harbor Attack, was called to 

the witness stand He testified for several days, long, long ones. Toward the 

end of the ordea.l he was questioned about a letter it had been rumored he'd written 

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to Governor Dewey in the Autumn of 1944, during the Presidential Campaign General 

Marshall balked He pleaded most earnestly with the Committee not to force him to 

disclose the letter or its contents, but to no avail. He had to bow to the will 

of the Committee. 

Read TIME to "Uneasy Secret" 

A few moments ago I commented that the sort of cryptologic history which gets 

published as a result of official investigations is apt to contain errors, mJ.Sunderstandings, distortions, and downright lies And this account in TIME contains 

its share of them But the curious part of this story is that TIME didn't commit 

these offenses, they were in the original Marshall-Dewey letter, which had been 

prepared by somebody on Marshall's staff who got the results of COMINT but was no 

technician or cryptologist I will interrupt the reading of the letter to remark 

that undoubtedly those of you who followed at all closely the disclosures--the 

remarkable and shocking disclosures from the point of view of national security--

of the Joint Congressional Investigation of the Attack on Pearl Harbor must have 

wondered a.bout or been m;ystif'ied by this question. If we were really reading the 

Japanese code long before Pearl Barbor, why were we caught by surprise when the 

attack came? Wby did we lose over 3,~~~ men in a couple of hours, all thoee big 

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battleships in harbor, and all those planes on the ground? 

You weren't alone in thinking about this mystery. Listen to these extracts 

:f'rom the Report of the Majority of' that Joint Congressional Committee, p. 17fll & 

253 

I'll return later to the Marshall-Dewey correspondence But now. 

What was meant by the name "MAGIC"! 

How did the term come to be used? 

It was introduced into our usage by the British 

It was the cover name during WW II yea.rs :f'or the product of COMINT operations and activities. (1) Special intelligence, (2) Tra:f':f'ic intelligence, (3) 

Weather intelligence. 

I suppose its hardly necessary :f'or me to tell you how ca.ref'ully guarded were 

the fruits of the MAGIC--even the fact of' its existence was known to only a very :f'ew 

persons Bea.rings p. 261 Success--rather its continuance--rested upon a very slender 

thread 

Midway, for instance, Marshall-Dewey letter. 

(J Red ma.chine. OSS in Lisbon Marshall-Dewey ltr ) 

There a.re many persons who still argue about certain questions about Pearl 

Harbor. Every so often the story comes up and the fires of controversy are fanned 

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once again to the blazing point. (A researcher at RAND is still working on a 

rather lengthy treatise on the subject.) The right-wingers are, of course, still 

convinced and are trying to convince other Americans that President Roosevelt 

brought the attack about and deliberately Some of them make shocking charges and 

allegations of conspiracy among Roosevelt, Marshall and Stark. Which or course is 

nonsense--disprovable by rather easy logic Maybe I'll go into this later if you 

wish 

But let's get back to the Marshall-Dewey letter 

The harm that the disclosure ot this letter caused is incalculable. The 

hearings were open and the documents (4~ volumes) are public documents. 

Should we be greatl.y astonished that certain governments have greatly improved 

their communications security devices and arrangements since the close or the 

Congressional Investigations?????? 

I read now from p 232 of the Majority Report of the Joint Congressional 

CommJ.ttee 

l " all witnesses familiar with MAGIC material throughout the 

war have testified that it contributed enormously to the defeat of the enemy, 

greatly shortened the war 1 and saved many- thousands of lives." 

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2. General Chamberlin ( G-3 of Gen. MacArthur 1 s staff throughout the war 

in the Pacific (told me (and he put it in writing for me on request): "The 

information G-2 gave G-3 in the Pacific theater alone saved us many thousands of 

lives and shortened the war by no less than two years." 

3 I hardly need say what the latter saving alone was worth in billions ot 

dollars • I made a calculation and found that $1.. 9J(IJ spent for COMINT equals 

$1,9J9J(IJ spent :f'or other war materials and activities. 

How let•s see what happened during WW II when we bad and didn't have COMINT 

on our side 

In our struggle against two very desperate enenu.es, the Germans and the 

Japanese, it was often the possession of COMINT, the so-called 11MAGIC11 which meant 

the difference between defeat and success. When we had magic we could put what 

little we had at the right time in the right place. ~when we didn't have it--

as in the famous and almost terribly disastrous Battle of the Bulge we took a 

bad beating. 

- READ :f'rom letter -

When we didn't have it--well, as I said, things went badly because our 

principal G-2's bad come to rely too heavily on it 

The Battle of the Bulge. 

Baldwin Article - Read 
REF ID:A38392 

l Show lst page of Baldwin article (p 3f/J) and read title of 

2 Read from next card -- Merriam. 

3. Then read extracts from p 40'. 

Ex.tract from: Merriam, Robert E , Dark December: The full account of the 

Battle of the Bulge, 1947-Ziff-Davis Publishing Co , p 211• 

"According to Eisenhower's personnel officer, American losses. in the 

Battle of the Bulge tota.l.J.ed 75 189f/J men, of whom 8,6f/J7 were killed, 47,139 wounded, 

and 21,144 missing. Over 8,f/Jf/Jf/J of these casualties were in the lf/J6th Division 

Because of heavy German attacks, 733 tanks and tank destroyers were lost. Two 

divisions, the 28th and lf/J6th, were nearly completely annihilated, although the 

28th Division did subsequently enter combat after being rebuilt " 

I hope I've not tired you out by such a lengthy preface to the real substance 

of my talks • So we' 11 begin by asking: 

How old is the science of cryptology! 

Which cam first -- secret writing! 

Or plain-text writing! 

The art of writing probably grew out of pictographs and its growth can be 

traced back to the dawn of civilized man Rebuses. 

4 12 

Example of rebus. (p 2) 

Cryptanalysis - and psychoanalysis - in the Bible 

Nebuchadnezzar and his dream Daniel, Chapter 2: 3,4,5,61 7,8,9,1f/J,ll. 

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1 

2 

REF ID:A38392 

Belshazzar - Daniel, Chapter 5. 1-5, 25-3fJ 

Read from Bible - Daniel 

(UPHARS IN 

MENE, MENE, TEKEL (PERES 

Belshazzar and "The Handwriting on the Wall". 

Daniel - The first cryptanalyst (B C 57fJ-569) 

The Second Psychoanalyst or interpreter of dreams Joseph was first 

Instances of actual cipher in the Bible: 

Jeremiah 25:26 

51:41 

Scytale 

Some history from British Manual of Cryptography 

Scytale - Spartan Ephors send messages to commanders in field. Example from 

Grecian history. Greek at Court of Persian King Darius--message to colleague 

Aristagoras in Greece. 

Conveying info in wartime by bundles of ribands of different colors, notches 

on stick, knots tied in various ways. Fires or beacons--all nations of antiquity 

Polybuis describes system used by Greeks--co-ordinate system--Letters divided 

into groups of filie and the number of' fires lit in two separate places denoted the 

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group of 1etters and the position of the letter in that group. Fires as late as 

l.746 in Italy to signal, code given to General. the Marquis de Mirepoix in command 

mixed corps French, Spa.nish and Genoese troops, still in existence 

In Af'rica--beating at drums--only chiefs of tribes and headman initiated. 

Ceasar's cipher - invented and used many centuries earlier in various 

countries -- by Carthagenians and Phoenicians. Used by Germans in 1S7S-71 and 'by 

British forces during S African war 

The only systems known to have been employed between tl.lDe at Julius Caesar 

and. the beginning of the 16th Century are two: 

l 1 = . a=: e = :. o = :: u =: : 

Th:. t::wn c:p.t: :l:t:.d 

2 System in which consonants remain unaltered but the vowels are replaced 

by the immediately following consonant 

For llle.nJ centuries after Roman invasion :British crypt almost entirely 

neglected, one reason being that the art of secret writing was long regarded as 

an invention at the Evil One. There are many instances of students at it being 

accused of sorcery, among whom may be mentioned Trithemius the Abbe of Spanhe:un 

p. 6 - British Manua1 of Cryptography Read. 

-

Viete - Then about him P 6 British Manual. 

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REF ID:A38392 

Correspondence between Court of Spa.in Henri IV (1553-16lf/J) aDd Chief's 

Anti-Royalists in France. 

3.1 

RUNES on a stone in front of Gripsholm Castle near Stockholm 

A.S 11Rune11 - 11a secret, a myster " "Magic". 

Any of the characters of the alphabet formerly in general use by the Teutonic, 

of Germanic, peoples from about the 3d Century A.D 

Blocked out portion -- another type of ''Ruin" 

Beginnings of modern cryptology can be traced back to the days of the early 

years of' the 15th Century, when it was extensively employed by the princes and 

chancerries of the Pa.pal States 

For example, see this alphabet of 1401! 

4.11/S 

Cipher alphabet of 14f/Jl) 

245 2 

Trithemu.is - 1518 

Abbe of Spanheim 

Trithemian Oath. 

Present oath Back up by :P.L. 513 - now USC 798 

We administer a special oath to everybody who comes into the field. 

1st sl.ide - 242 

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246 or 3 

.Examples of cipher alphabets and small syllabaries used centuries ago 

! 246 

3 1 

J 

1. Cbarlemagne's cipher (768-814) 

2 Cipher used in England during reign of Alfred the 

Great (871-91/Jl). 

3 Ogamwriting of ancient Eire. 

4. Ogam-like alphabet of Charles I (1646) to Marquis 

of Worcester 

5. Marquis of Worcester's "CJ.ock Cipher" 

6. Cardinal. Wol.sey, 1524, Vienna. 

7. Sir Thomas Smith, Paris, 1563. 

8. Sir Thomas Chaloner, Madrid, 1561. 

9 Sir F.dward Stai'i'ord, Madrid, 1586 

hl Cipher alphabet in Sir Thomas More's Utopia, 1518. 

1:2. Facsimile of a cipher found among the papers of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots 

(1542-1587). 

3 6 

Cipher alphabet - Queen Mary Stuart and Bishop of Glasgow, then her Ambassador or 

solicitor in France, 1571 

3.7 

SITding-card cipher. Facsimile of one used in the later yea.rs of Elizabeth's 

reign (about l6!1JllJ). 

3 8 

The two-word square cipher State cipher used in Charles I's time (1627) for 

communicating with France and Flanders (A co-ordinate system) 

3.9 

Part o'£ Duke of Buckingham's cipher used in 1627 for communicating with France. 

3 11/J 

iiliiiierical cipher used in reign of Charl.es II (J.631iJ-1685) between Prince Rupert and 

the Earl of Ar1ington, Sec. State. 

3.11 

F"Oreign Office Cipher during reign of George III (1.779) 

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217 

Fr'Ontispiece of "The Babington Plot" by Alan Gordon Smith, London 1936. The cipher 

used by Mary Stuart Queen of Scots with Babington. (1542-1587) 

218 

Fr'Ontispiece of "The Babington Plot" by Smith. The Forged Postscript, with 

Phillips' endorsement (Ciphers involved in the Babington PJ.ot. The forged 

postscript } 

5 2 

Cipher used by Philip II of Spa.in (1527-1598) reigned 1556-98. (pp. 102, 103) 

But monoalphabetic ciphers still. used today' 

hl Gustav Rumrich spy case 

6 

Porta•s table (1563) 

6 1 

Porta•s table as it appears in an early Elizabethan State paper 

2. Vigenere Square as pictured in the ordinary literature. 

hl 

Vigenere Square as V. describes it in his book (1586}. 

1914 

Ciphers used b7 .Galileo (1564-1642) Italia.Il astronomer and physicist. 

Huyghens (1629-1695 Dutch mathematicians, physicist and astronomer 

P 9 - British Manual 

One of the earliest instances of the advantage gained in the course of Dll.litary 

operations by the capture and subsequent solution of a message sent by the eneJey" 

took place in 1626, Siege of Real.mont, a town of Languedoc, then in possession of 

the Huguenots but besieged by the King's troops under command of the Prince de Conde 

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Latter about to raise siege. Message intercepted. Rossignol. reads. Out 

of powder and would have to surrender if not immediately received new supply. 

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