i 

August 21, 1950 

REF ID:A4161637 

MEMORANDUM CONCERNING 

A 

B'ILL FOR THE RELIEF OF 

WILLIAM F. FRIEDMAN 

Submitted 

at R_equest of 

MAJ'OR J'AMES R. MILLS, J'AGC 

Chief, Patents Division' · · 

By 

FISCHER, WILLIS AND PANZER 

Dupont Circle Building · 

.Washington 6, D. C. 

@'pproved for Release by NSA on 12-08-2014 pursuantto E.O. 13526 
REF ID:A4161637 

0: Major James R. Mills, JAGC 

Chief, Patents Division 

E: Bill for the Relief of William F. Friedman 

Int,roduction 

At a conference held on June 8, 1950, I submitted to you orally our 

roposa.1 to have submitted to th,e Congress a bill for the relief of Mr. 

illiam F. Friedman, now Chief of the Technical Division, Armed Forces ' I 

ecurity Agency, Department of Defense. This proposal was made to you puruant to the authorization and direction your office had received through 

hannels from the Department of Defense to investigate and report upon the 

atter, and to determine the attitude of the Department of Defense in that conection. I presented an oral argument to you and your associates at that time 

which I emphasized that it was not our purpose in presenting the matter to 

e Department of Defense to request any affirmative action on its part, but 

ather, to acquaint the Department with the situation and to request merely an 

indic~tion that the Department of Defense has no objection to the submi1:1sion of 

e bill to the Congress for consideration upon its merits. At the end of the 

conference, you asked that we submit the matter fully in writing as a convenien 

asis for your ascertaining the policy of :the Department of Defense with reference to the proposed bill. This memorandum.is accordingly submitted in 

triplicate in compliance with you~ request. If there is any additional information you wish, please let me know. 

- 1 -
REF ID:A4161Q37 

William F. Friedman 

~r. William F. Friedman has been an officer of the Army and a 

civilian employee of the War Department and .the Department of Defense for 

almost thirty years; he began his civilian emplbyment with the War Department in 1921. Throughout the entire period of his employment with those 

departments he has worked in the highly specialized field of military communications, specifically cryptology, and for his en~ire period of employment the character of his work has been highly classified. He is now Chief 

of the Technical Division, Armed Forces Security Agency, Department of ' I 

Defense. In World War I, Mr. Friedman was a first lieutenant in the Military 

Inte.lligence Divisi~n, assigned in 1918 and 1919 to General Headquarters, 

AEF, in France, in charge of the German code solving section of the Intelligence Division. From 1922 to 1941, he held a commission in the Signal 

Corps Reserve, attaining the grade of Lieutenant Colonel. He was retired in 

1941 from the Reserve Corps upon the finding of the Surgeon General of a 

permanent impairment of health. Despite his illness, however, he received 

for his work in connection with World War II the highest civilian awards of 

honor bestowed by the United States: ·the Medal for Merit awarded by 

President Truman and the Commendation for Exceptional Civilian Service 

awarded by Secretary of War Sti.Inson. The citation accompanying his 

Medal for Merit reads as follows: 

WILLIAM F. FRIEDMAN, for exceptionally meritorious 

condu.ct in the performance of outstanding service, conspicuously above the usual, with the Government of the 

United .States during the period from 8 September 19),9 

to Z September 1945, in duties of considerable r.esponsibility while Director o.f Communications Research, Army 

Secu_rity Agency, Military Intelligence Service, Washington, 

D. C. By untiring and self-sacrificing devotion, by exceptional technical ingenuity in an extremely specialized 

- z -
\ 

\ 

REF ID:A4161637 

field, which ranks him ampng the world~s foremost autho:dties, by abl.e leadership,' by initiative a:p.d zeal above and 

beyond the requirements of duty, Mr. Friedm~n disti:p.guished 

himself in contributing directly and tremendously to the 

successful prosecution of the war effo.rt. The conduct of 

Mr. Friedman has been in keeping with the highest traQ.itions of the Government Service. 

The .citation accompanying the Commendation for Exceptio~al Civilian Service 

rea:ds a.s follows: 

For outs~nding performance of service to the War 

Department, over and beyond the requirements of duty, 

during his extended period of service with the Signal 

Corps. He has demonstrated a degr.ee of initiative, forethought and leadership which has preyed of utmost importance to the Army Signal Corps in the execution of its 

mission. , His research and developments in the field of 

military ~ommunica tions have been valuable to the operation of all units of the Armed Forces. · 

Th.e,highly classified nature of Mr. Friedman's services, of COU;~s,e, made it 

impossible ~ set out spe,cifically in the citations qu~ted above the work for 

wh.i!f!h. he was honored. In this connection, however, it is interesting to .note 

that he was one of the first in World War II to recei:ve these awards. 

During the period of his employment with the War Department, Mr. 

Frie~an i:p.vented a number of systems and devices in the field of military 

ccnnmunications 1 some alone, others in collaboration. With re.spect to some 

of the lnventiOlns·, patents have b.e.en issued; ~s ~o others, patent ~pplications 

are being held in secrecy under the ~three-year rule,,, (35 U.S.C., §37) or 

P_.L. 700 (35 U .S.C ., §42) or both; as to at least two, the need for secrecy was 

such that no patent applications were ever filed with respect to them. Some of 

the.inventio~s on which patents have issued we:re held in secrecy for a time 

either under the ~three-year rule~ or P.L. 700 and w~re subsequently allowed 

to go to issue. The specific inventio~s, patents and patent applications in- , 

vo1v.ed in this matter, with the rel~vant information concerning each of the ' : 

inventions are set out in the follow,ing table: 

' 'i 

- 3 -
["-. 

fl') 

"" r-t 

"" r-t 

.. 

,:( 

Q 

1-i 

~ 

~ ' ·~ - ' 

' 

ISSUED PATENT~-i: 

Held Under 

Used ·by 

Pat. No. Description Inventors Filed Issued 

3-Yr. 

Rule 

Pub. 

700 Govt Owner License 

2,395,863 Crypto Device Friedman 19 Oct39 5Mar46 No Yes Yes Inv Govt 

~, ¥> S", 167 J_Strip ~pard) ,, --VY,,~ . lz...11.u~ ~~ .'i..., ? 1~~ -::::- v t. '1M.K'4' . I~ · \ \1 \( 

,. ~ l ))l-, 'f+~- 11 ~~-'PENDING APPLICATION . - · -

~erial Nos. 

682,096 {Conv. M-134) Friedman 25 Jul 33 Yes Yes Yes Govt Inv 

107 ,244 (Conv. M-134-T2) Friedman 23 Oct36 Yes Yes Not yet Govt Inv 

70,412 SIGABA ( C onv. , .,. Friedman & Z3Mar36 Yes Yes Yes Govt Inv 

M-134-C, ECM)/ Rowlett 

47·8,193 Facsimile enc. sys. Friedman 6Mar43 f5~5.~ Yes No ? Inv Govt #' ;i..,'5''5'1-,St\'i 

549,086 (Conv. M-325) Friedman 8Nov44 Yes- Yes Yes Inv Govt 

443,320 SIGCUM - Friedman & 16 May4Z Yes Yes Yes Inv Govt 

(Conv. M-ZZ8) Rowlett -

?-

In addition to the inventions set out in the table above, two basic inventions in the 

cryptana~ytic 'field were made by Mr. Friedman and submitted for action to the 

Signal Corps Patent Board in April, 1937. Because it considered these inventions 

so highly dassified, the Board recommended that no patent applications be filed, 

and, in fact, no epplications were ever filed with respect to them. However, at 

least one of these basic inventions was used and developed and extensions of it 

are now in use. 
REF ID:A4161637 

The inventions described above all arose in connection with the 

official duties of Mr. Friedman, but not as a result of any specific direc.tion 

) 

or designation to invent the things involved. In fact, all the inven_tions listed 

above were made while Mr. Friedman was engaged in other work which was 

in part responsible for his ultimately receiving the Medal for Merit. The 

offieial descriptions of the various posts held by Mr. Friedmap. in the course 

of h~s employment cannot of course be submitted because of their classified 

nature; but Mr. Friedman assures us that nowhere in the official records will ~ -.. , ' ; ~ 

there be found any designation to invent a specific thing, and that, in fact,. no 

such designation was ever made. Further, specific findings have been made 

with respect to sev~ral of his inventions, including one of the latest and most 

significant still in secrecy (Serial No. 443,320, filed 16 May 42), that they 

were not the result of any specific direction or designatio~ to invent the thing 

involved, these findings being made "by a board having special jurisdiction for 

that purpose, the Signal Corps Patent Board. And, in co,nsonance with ~is 

state of the facts, under the provisions of A.R. 850-50, Mr. Friedman, along 

with his colla}>orators, has in fa.ct been allowed to retain, either by ownership 

of the patent or exclusive license, the domestic commercial rights and all 

foreign rcights in the inventions listed in the table above. 

On April 25, 1936, Mr. Friedman subscribed a document purporting to constitute an agreement to make a complete assignment of any inve'.!1-

tions thereafter made by him to the United States, if the Chief Signal Offic.er 

requested such assignment. No such a request has been made with respect 

to any of the invq;mtions described above and in all the inventions made subsequently to April 25, 1936, Mr. Friedman has been alJowed to retain rights 

under th~ provisions of A.ll. 850-50, to the same extent as in those _inventions 

- 5 -
REF ID:A4161637 

made prior to that date, ~xcepting those two so highly classified that no patent 

app~ications were filed. The provisions of the "three-year rule._ and .P.L. 700 

wer.e, of course, invoked to maintain secrecy. 

The salient fact regarding all the inventiOns which were or still remain in se.crecy, is that the rights retained by Mr. Friedman ca_nnot pe exercised while an invention is in a secrecy status. In making this point, we wish 

to emphasize_ that there is no question as to the wisdom of the judgment plachig any of the inventions in secrecy. Indeed, it appears that most of the inventions still in secr,ecy are of such significance to our national defense, that 

the prospect of their release at any time in the ~ear future s,eems remote, 

and Mr. Friedman would be among the first :to argue that the re.tention of the 

secrecy status with reference to them is necessary in the national interest, 

whatever may be the consequences to his personal fortunes. 

Legal Status 

It is not our purpose to argue the strict legal status of the r.ights 

Mr. Friecbnan may have in his inventions or of any claim he may have arising 

from these r,ights. The reasons for this will become clear, we believe, when 

we discuss later in this mc;?morandwn th~ natu_re of the relief we seek fo~ 

Mr. Friedman. ,But because the legal issues are r.elevant to the equitable 

considerations later to be discussed we wish to point out the nature of those 

issues. 

It seems fairly beyond the realm of dispute _that the rights whi.ch 

Mr. Friedman may have-in his inventions have been substantially and adversely affected in at least two ways in connect.ion with those speeific inventions which were in secrecy and i:;ubsequ,ently released as well as with those 

that today remain in secrecy; first, to the ,extent that the secrecy 

- 6 -
REF ID:A4161637 

requirement has prevented and still prevents the use of such rights during the 

p.eriod of secrecy and secBnd, to the extent that foreign governments may have 

been or still are permitted the use of any of the inventions dur~g the p~ripd 

of sec,recy~ The firs~ type of impairment has oc.curred:to a :more o:r: less substantial degree in respect of all those inventions described above which w .. ere ' ' 

placed hi. ~~crecy. Bec~use of the secrecy surr,ounding the use of the inventions, the Department of the Army and the Department of Defense alone would 

know the exact measure of the second type, namely, that re~ulting from the 

use of any particular invention by foreign governments. One of the conditions 

under which Mr. Friedman was permitted ta retain counsel i,n this matter was 

that he would not disclose any classified information and therefore we are not 

in fμ.11 ppssessian of :the facts. 

With respect to the inventions released from secrecy, and on which 

patents have issued, the question is raised whether Mr. Friedman has a claim 

in the case of Patent No. 2,395,863 under the provisions of P.L. 700, 35 U .5.C ., 

§4Z whieh provi4es as follows: 

Wh,ene:ver the publication or disclosure of an invention by the 

granting of a patent m,ight,· in the opinion of the Comm,issioner 

of Pate.nts, be detrimental to the public s~fety ot defense he 

may order that the invention ·be kept secret and withhold the 

grant of a patent for such period or periods as in his opinion 

the national interest requires: Provided, That the invention 

disclosed in the appli~ation for said patent ~ay be held 

aoa~doneQ. upon it being established be.fore or by the Commissioner that in violation of said order said invention has been 

publish,ed or d.isdosed or that an application for a patent therefor has been filed in a foreign country by the inventor or his 

assigns or legal representatives, without the ce>nsent o~ approval of the Commissioner of Patents. 

When an applicant whose patent is withheld as herein provided 

and who faithfμlly obeys the order of th~ Commissioner of 

Paten~s above referred to shall tender his invention to the 

Government of ,the U~ited States for .its use, he shall, if and 

when he ultimately .rece.ives a patent, have the right to sue for ' ' ' 

- 7 -
REF ID:A4161637 

compensation in the Court of Claims, sucp. right to compensation to begin from the date of tl:le use of the invention by the 

Government: Provided. That the Secretary of War or the Secretary of the Navy or the chief officer of any established,defense 

agency of :the United States; as the case may be, is authorized 

to enter into an agreement with the said applicant in full settlement and coin.promise fbr the damage accruing to him by- reason 

0 . the order 0£ s crec . and for the use of the invent.ion by the 

G·overnment. Emphasis added] 

With respe,ct t() those inventions still in secrecyo whic:h are oJ such 

significance to our national interest that their ultimate release from secrecy 

seems at best remote, the·question is raised whether the Se.cretary of the 

Army, or the Secretary of Defense, in accordance with the authority granted 

: 

by P.~. 7bO, should not "enter an agreement with the ... applicant in full 

settlement and compromise for the dama~e accruing to him by reason of the 

or.der of secrecyw. 

We appreciate fully that the appl~cation of the provisions of p.:r,.. •. 70 

to inventors in the po1dtion of M:r. Friedman is ~ubject to argum_ent: we point 

~ut the legal issues here not tp argue such issues, bu_t rather to show sub$equently the relevance of these issues to the equitable considerations in the 

matter. 

The R_eli~f Se>:u.ght 

As _we have already indicated, it is not our purpose to argue the 

strk_t legal issues that may exist in the ~ase of Mr. Friedman, .the reason 

being that the strict legal issues are not the foundation for the relief we ar.e 

seekmg on his behalf. Mr. Friedman does not request any affirmative action 

of the :Pepartment of the Army or of the Department of Defense. 

What we seek on Mr. ~riedman.,s be:b,alf is a~ opportunity to -- --

prese_nt_his case to the Co~gress without ~bjection on th_e part o~ the Depart1t1~nt _~f Defense. 

- 8 -
REF ID:A4161637 

We propos~ to have submitted to the Congress a bill authorizing the 

Secretary of the Treasury to settle all claiins and rights of Mr. Friedman in 

respect of all the ~v:entions described above for the sum of $100,000D the bill 

b'eing in the follo;wing form: 

For ~e ~elief of William F. Friedman. 

Be it enacted by the Senate, and House of Representatives of 

the United States of America in Congress assembled, - . That the Secretary of the Treasury beD an~ h~e is hereby, 

authorized and directed to pay to William F. Friedman, out I 

of any money in the Treasury n'ot otherwise appropriated, the 

sum of $100,000 in full settlement for all rights in respe'ct of 

his inventions ,in connection ,with milUary, naval and air communications facilities, whieh are no.w or a,t any time have been 

plac;ed in secrecy status by the War D,epartment or the Department of Defense, including but not limited to all ,right!! with respect to his inventions covered by Patent Number 2,395,863, 

and by patent appiication serials 682,096, 107 ,244, 70,412, 

443,320, 478,193 and ~49,086 and with res1>2ct to all inventions 

fo~ which patent applicatfons have be,en withheld by the War 

Department or Department of Defense in order to preserve 

secrecy: Provided, That no part of the amount appropriat,ed 

in this act in excess of 10% thereof shall be paid or deliver,ed 

to or r,eceived by any agent or attorney on account of services 

rendered in connection with such claims and rights. 

The ,s\Uh of $100,0QO will not be submitted as having any re:lation to' I 

the legal measure of damag~s due to the impairment of Mr. Friedman's rights 

in his inventions because of the secrecy ord.ers. We thin,k that a figure determined in ac_cordance with any legal measure of damag,es ~ould reach a 

magnitude in his ~ase which would be far beyond the range and purpose of the 

relief we seek; indeed, the experience of the War Pepartment in the p~rchasing of rights in inventions of this nature would probably offer a fair indication, 

' I of the valu_e of th,e foreign a-nd domestic comme~cial rights in Mr. Friedman's! 

inventions. The sum of $100,000 will be submitted to the Congress as a sum 

.Mr. F,riedman can reasonably request in the light of the equitable considerations to be discussed below. 

- 9 -
REF ID:A4161637 

At thi.s point, we wish to make it doubly clear that we ask nothing of 

the D;epartment of Defense except an indication tμ.at the Department .wi.11 not 

object to the submission ~f the bill described above to the Congress for consideration upon its merits. It is of course, obvious that Mr. Friedman, who 

is a high level technical consultant in the Department of Defens.e, .would be 

highly .embarrassed if he w·ere to take any action in th~ matter without first 

solicitb1g ~~ attitude of the D.epartment upon it. It seems equally obvious 

that it is desirable from the Department's viewpoint that we ascerta.in it$ 

policy before proceed_ing. 

The ~quitable Considera.tipns 

Mr. Friedman is now 59 years old and has d.edlcated. his .entire 

adμ~t life to the work he has done for the War Depar.tment and the Department · 

of Defense. He has made inventions of the greatest importance, an.d has retained rights in them which he will probably never be able to ~xercise in his 

lifetime because of .the orders maintaining them in se.crecy. He has rec.eived 

~e highest honors the United St.ates .can bestow upon a civilian, but, i,ronically, 

the very significance of the wo,rk which brought him honors has placed upon 

him burdens and disabUities to .which he would not otherwise have been subj.ected. lt will be necessary to catalogue only a few of them in order t1:1 demon 

s tra te this. 

(a) In the course of his work, but beyond ~e requir.e~e~,ts J>f any . ' 

of his du~ies, Mr. Friedman performed basic research~ developed techniques 

and made disco.veries and inventions of a significance to the national interest 

which we understand would challenge the most cr.eative imagina~ion to evaluat 

in any monetary terms. In accordance with the firm policy of the. War Department to offer an incentive for inventive genius, which brought about such 

... 10 -
REF ID:A4161637 

exceptional re.stilts in the case of Mr. F·riedmaJ:'.I., he was granted the domestic 

commer.Cial rights and for.eig_n rights in his inventions. If those inventions had 

been of only minor significance to. the J;lational interest, Mr. Fri_edman w~uld 

hav~ b~en in a position to benefit from those .rights., B.ecause of their inestimable importance to the national {nter,est, ho.wever, Mr. Friedman has 

b~en effectively and properly (from the point of vi,ew of the national interest) 

fore~losed from exercising any of his r~ghts in his most significant inventions. 

It se.ems equitable, and desirable from. the viewpoint of the government, to 

m,itigate by some token the penalty which has thus unintentionally been impos,ed up~n_ high achi~vem·ent, and to vindicate in some small measure the long 

standing War D.epartment policy of stimulating inventions, a policy wh,ich 

failed here simply because U was so succe~sful. 

(b) The desirability of some relief for Mr. Friedman in,this sitq,ation is heightened by referen~e to the policy of .the Congress expressed in 

194~ by the statutory authority granted to all Government departments to 

make awards to government personnel for any suggestions beneficial to the 

government (5 U.S.c.,§116a), without limitation in amount, so far as the Department of Defense is .co_ncerned. In furtherance of this pqlicy, awards have 

been made for suggestions improving m_ethods of packing, office procedures, 

files and the like. It is not reasonable to assume that a Congress which 

authorized such rewards for any helpful suggest~ons i9 the government, ~ould 

D:O.t authorize relief for Mr. Friedman in the extraordinary situation in which 

he f_inds himself. 

(c) Although it may be that the provisions of P.L. 70.0 do not apply 

to inventors in the position of Mr. Friedman, they point generally to the consideration given to the problem set out in paragraph (a) above by the co·ngress 

- 11 -
REF ID:A4161637 

and show .a f,urther disposit~on ~n ,its part to grant relief against inequities of 

this nature. The patent pro.:visions of ijie Atomic Ene?gy Act (4Z u.s.c., §1811) 

1 

likewise sho.w the eonc~rn of the Congress to av~id stifling the bi:ventive urge 

in thos,e areas of our natio,nal inte.rest of the hig.hest impo~.tance by compensating for th~ penalties which are dictated by necessity. 

(d) The secrecy which has surrounded ~11 the achiiev.ements of 

'Mr. Friedman in connection with his duties for the Government, has effec.-

' ' 

tively Circumscribed any opportunities of Mr. Friedman to engage in his prof~ssion else.where :whether by teaching, wrlting~ lecturing, by independe~t 

inyention or otb.e.rwise. lt may be noted in this c.onnection that Mr. Friedman 

has written a numb~r of basic works in his field whi~h ar,e maintained in 

secrecy and are av~ilable for use only ~o a c~mpa:ratively small groμp ,wi.thin 

the D.epartment of Pef.ense. 

(e) The secrecy surrounding all his -w,ork has eff.ec;t.lv~Jy denied 

Mr. F.rie~an the re~ognition his superior work deserves and to which men. 

in all pz-ofessions and sciences aspire. The recent experience of the Atq~lc 

Energy Commission in its efforts to reta~ in its employ scientists of ~e ! ' - : ' 

highest calibre und~.r a blanket of secrecy is rele:vant to the present case. 

(S~e Report of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, 81 st Cong., I.st Session, · 

Oct., 1949, Senate Report No. 1169, p. 36.) 

(f) The immeasurable stress of his work and the burd.en of respo.nsibility imposed by the necessity for constant secrecy ever since 1921 _w.ere 

major factors in the impairment of Mr. Friedman's health .whi.ch now makes 

his liv.elihood increasingly precarious. 

Ii is this !ast .consideration which finally induced Mr.. F.riedman to 

permit us to bring the matter to the attention of the Department ~f Defense. 

- lZ -
REF ID:A4161637 

Of course, this consideration needs no documentation because much- of the ' - <' _,_ I ~ ' 

medi;Cal at!ention Mr. Friedman has rec,eiyed over the pa.st sev.eral yea_rs has 

' ' 

been in a,;rmy a_nd veteran hospitals. As already indicated, also, Mr. Friedman 

was requbed to retire from th_e Reserve Corps in 1941 fo~ this reason. We 

are ,enjoine4 by Mr. Friedman from expanding upon this consideration and, 

laying upon it the stress we think it deserv,es. This alon~ explains the bareness of it$ presentation. 

The Precedents 

There are at least two precedents for the relief we propose to seek 

from the Congr,ess on behalf of Mr. Friedman, both involving the inventio~ of 

devices in the field of military communications. The first, an ''Ac~ fo,r the 

Relief of Captain Russell Willson", and the second, an uAct for the Relief of 

Maude P~ G.resham and Agnes M. Driscoii-~. The full statement of fac'ts and 

the legislative history of eai::h of these acts is attached he.retc as Appendix A. 

(a.) In each of the cited cases, a single cryptographic device ,was involved, invented in one case by a naval office.r and in the other by a n~val 

\ 

officer in collabpration with a civilian employee of the Navy Department. In 

the case of Mr. Friedman, at least nine inventions are involved. 

(b) The practical signifkanc,e of the h'.tventioni; involv:ed i,n th? two 

Cited case·s is unknown to us and Mr. Friedman is enjoined from disclosing 

th~t information. Only the Department of Defense is in a position to weigh 

that significance in comparison with the significance of the inventions of 

Mr. Friedman. 

(c) As :i.ri the case of Mr. Friedman, the devices involved in the 

cited cases were inventions by officers and personnel of an organization n~w 

a part of· the Departme_nt of Defense, made without designation to invent, put 

to us_e by the government and maintained in a secret status. 

':" 13 -
REF ID:A4161637 

(d) In the two cited .cases no patent applications were ever filed 

and accordingly the inventors had no pat~nt rights in .the inventions whatever; 

with respect to two of Mr. Friedman's inv.entions, he is in exactly the same 

position. As to the other seven inventions listed in the table above, Mr. 

Friedman was,. in fact, granted the domestic comme~cial rights and foreign 

rights. It has already been indicated, however, that these dghts have been 

defeated by the very importance of the inventions, and have been completely 

nullified for all practical purposes by the n.ecessity for holding the inventions 

in sec~.ecy. In the case of one of his inventi~ns (Serial No. 682.,096), these 

rights have now been suspended fo.r 17 years; in anothe.r (SeJ'ial No. 107 ,2.44),: 

14 years; for how many mo.re years th~y .will re~ain suspended is not even 

subject to rough estimate. Obviously, suspension in these circumstances be-· 

' 

comes synonymous with nullification. , 

(e) The personal considerations in the two cited cases were simi-: 

lar to those in this case. 

(f) In the two cited cases, the claims submitted to the Congress 

received the express approval of the Navy Department. Mr. Friedman asks 

only that the Department of Defense express no obj.ection to the presentation 

of his matter to the Congress. He would of course be happy if the Department of Defense were to give the matter its affirm~tive approval, but .he does, 

not ask that much. 

Aside from the cases clt.ed abov.e, which seem parallel to the 

present case in all respects including the very nature of the inventions involved,. ther_e are others where officers and employee~ of the milita.ry services sought and received relief from the Congress for ·inventions which were 

put to use by the government. These cases, of course, are not dir.ectly in 

- 14 -

I 
REF ID:A4161637 

point here, because we do not intend to make any request baseq upon government use of Mr. Friedman's inventions and for this reason are not cited here. 

They are mentioned, however, to show generally the disposition of the 

Congress to aid in the effectuation of the War Department and Navy Department policies of offering this form of incentive to stimulate invention in the 

national interest. 

Con.c;lusion 

It has been our purpose to make this memorandum as brief as a 

reasonable presentatio:r;i of the .matter of Mr. Friedman would allow. It is 

respectfully submitted as a bas.is for the request for an indication that the 

Department of Defense has no objection to the prese~tation of the matter to 

the Congress on its ~erits. The considerations which seem to make tha_t request a reasonable one in the circumstances have been set out al~ng with the· 

factual background of the matter. Favorable consideration of the request 

would be greatly appreciated. 

Respectfully submitted, 

FISCHER, WILLIS AND PANZER 

-Henry G. Fischer 

Attorneys for Willi~m F. Friedman 

- 15 -
1 

l 

c~! 

August 21, 1950 

REF ID:A4161637 

MEMORANDUM CONCERNING 

A 

BILL FOR THE RELIEF OF 

WILLIAM F. FRIEDMAN 

Submitted 

at Request of 

MAJOR JAMES ~. MILLS, JAGC 

Chief, Patents Division 

By 

•' 

FISCHER, WILLIS AND PANZER 

Dupont Circ,le Building 

,Washi,ngton 6, D. C. 
REF ID:A4161637 

0: Major James R. Mills, JAGC 

Chief, Patents Division 

Bill for the Relief of William F. Friedman 

Introduction 

At a conference held on ,June 8, 1950, I submitted to you orally our 

roposal to have submitted to the Congress a bill for the relief of Mr. 

illiam F. Friedman, now Chief of the Technical Division, Armed Forces 

ecurity Agency, Department of Defense. This proposai was made to you puruant to the authorization and direction your office had received through 

hannels from the Department of Defense to investigate and report upon the 

atter, and to determine the attitude of the Department of Defense in that conection. I presented an oral argument to you and your associates at that time 

which I emphasized that it was not our purpose in presenting the matter to 

e Department of Defense to request any afHrmative action on its part, but 

ather, to acquaint the Department with the situation and to request merely an 

in~ication that the Department of Defense has no objection to the submiE?~.ion of 

~e bill to the Congress for consideration upon its merits. At the end of the 

conference, you asked that we submit the matter fully in writing as a convenien 

asis for your ascertaining the policy of the Department of Defense with refer- ' 

'" ence to the proposed bill. This memorandum is accordingly submitted in 

triplicate in compliance with your request. If there is any additional information you wish, pleai;;e let me know. 

- 1 -
I, 

REF ID:A4161637 r 

William F. Friedman 

Mr. William F. Friedman has been an officer of the Army and a 

civilian employee of the War Department and the Department of Defense for 

alm,ost thirty years; he began his civilian emplbyment with the War Department in, 1921. Throughout the entire period oi his employment w.ith those 

departments he has worked in the highly specialized field of military communications, spec_iiically cryptology, and for his entire period of employment .the character of his work has been highly classified. He is now Chief 

of the Technical Division, Armed F~rces Security Agency, Department of 

Defense. In World War I, Mr. Friedman was a first lieutenant in the Military 

Intelligence Division, assigned in 1918 and 1919 to General Headquarters, 

AEF, in France, in charge of the German cod.e solving section of the Intelligence Division. From l 9ZZ to 1941, he held a commission in the Signal 

Corps Reserve, attaining the grade of Lieutenant Colonel. He was ret~red in 

1941 from the Reserve Corps upon the finding of the Surgeon General of a 

permanent impairment of health. Despite his illness, howeve·r, he received 

for his work in ,connection with World War II the highest civilian awards of 

honor bestowed by the United States: the Medal for Merit awarded by 

President Truml:i.n and the Commendation for Exceptional Civilian Service 

awarded by Secretary of War Stimson. The citation accmnpanying his 

Medal for Merit reads as follows: 

WILLIAM F. FRIEDMAN, for exc~ptionally meritorious 

condu.ct in the performance of outstanding service, conspicuously above the usual, with the Governm,ent of the 

Vnited States during the period from 8 September 193·9 

to Z September 1945, in duties of considerable responsibility while Director of Communications Research, Army 

Secu.rity Agency, Military Intelligence Service, Washington, 

D. C. By untiring and self-sacrificing devotion, by exceptional technical i,ngenuity in an extremely specialized 

- 2 -
REF ID:A4161637 

field, which ranks him among the wo:rld•s foremost authorities, by abl.e leadership, by initiative and zeal above and 

beyond the ~equirements of duty, Mr· Friedman distinguished 

himself in contributing directly and tremendously t9 the 

successful prosecution of the war efiort. The conduct of 

Mr. Friedman has bee:z:i in keeping with the highest traditions of the Government Service. · 

The .citation accompanying the Commendation for Exceptional Civilian Service 

reads as follows: 

For outstanding performance of service to the War 

Department, over and beyond the requirements of duty, 

during his extended period of service with the Signal 

Corps. He has demonstrate.d a degree of initiative, forethought and leadership which has proved of utmost importance to the Army Signal Corps in the execution of its 

mission. , His research and developments in the field of 

_military communications have been valuable to the operation of all units of the Armed Forces. 

The.highly classified nature of Mr. Friedman's services, of course, ma(!.e l.t 

impossil:>le t.o set out specifically i,p. the citations qu~ted above the work for 

which he was honored. In this connection, howeve.l', it is interesting to npte 

that he was one of the first in World War II to receive these awarQ.s. 

The Inventions Involved 

During the period of his employment with the War Department, Mr. 

Friedman invented a number of systems and devices in the field of military 

c:·ommunication~. ~ome alone~ others in collaboration. With respect ~o some 

of the inventions, patents have been issued; !J.S ~o others., patent ~pplications 

are being held in secrecy under the "three-year rule"' (35 U .S.C., §37) or 

P_.L. 700 {35 U .S.C ., §42) or both; as to at least two, the need for secrecy was 

such t4at no patent applications were ever filed with respect to th_em. Some of 

the inventions on which patents have issued weir\~ held in secrecy for a time ' \ ' 

either ~nder th:e "th~ee-year rulelll or P.L. 700 and .were subsequently allowed 

to go to issue. The specific inventions, patents and p~~~nt applications involved in this matter, with the rel~vant informatlon concerning eac)l of the 

' 

inventions are set out in the follo~blg table: 

- 3 -
REF ID:A4161637 

APPENDIX A 
ISSUED PATENTSJ·i:-.- ' -... 

Held Under 

Used by 

Pat. No. Description Inventors Filed Issued 

Pub. 

700 Govt Owner License 

Z,395,863 Crypto Device 

.(Strip Board) 

Friedman 190ct39 5Mar46 No Yes Yes Inv 

PENDING APPLICATIONS 

~erial Nos. 

682,096 

107 ,244 

70,412 

478,193 

549,086 

443,320 

(Conv. M-134) Friedman 25 Jul 33 Yes Yes Yes Govt·-

(Conv. M-134-T2)· Friedman 23 Oct36 Yes Yes Not yet Govt 

SIGABA ( C onv. ,. Friedman &- Z3 Mar36 Yes ·Yes Yes Govt 

M-134-C, ECM)/ Rowlett 

Facsimile enc. sys. Friedman 6Mar43 Yes No ? Inv 

(Conv. M-325) Fri~dman 8Nov44 Yes Yes Yes Inv 

SIGCUM - Friedman & 16May4Z Yes Yes Yes Inv 

(Conv. M-228) Rowlett 

In addition to the inventions set out in the table above, two basic inventions in the 

cryptanaJytic 'field were made by Mr. Friedman and submitted for action to the 

Signal Corps Patent Board in April, 1937. Because it considered these inventions 

so highly classified, the Board recommended tha:t no patent applications be filed, 

and, in fact, no applications were ever filed with respect to them. However, at 

least one of these basic inventions was used and developed and extensions of it . - . 

are now in use. 

Govt 

Inv._ 

Inv 

Inv 

Govt 

Go vi 

Govt 
REF ID:A4161637 

The inventions described above all arose in c,onnection with the 

official duties of Mr. Friedman, but not as a result of any specific direction 

or designation to invent the things involved. In fact, all the inven_tions listed 

above were made while Mr. Friedman was engaged in other work which was 

in part responsible for his ultimately receiving the Medal for Merit. The 

official descriptions of the various posts held by Mr. Friedman in the course 

of his employment cannot of course be submitted be~aμse of their classified 

.n~~re; but Mr. Friedman assures us that nowhere in the official records will 

there be found any designation to invent a specific thing, and ~t, in fact,. no 

su~h designation was ever. made. Further, specific findings have been made 

with respect to several Qf his inventions, including one of the latest and most 

' significant still in secrecy (Serial No. 443,32.0, filed 16 May 42.), that .they 

were not the result of apy specific direction or designation to invent the thing 

involved, these findings being made by a board having special jurisdiction for 

that purp_ose, the Signal Corps Patent Board. And, in con,so~ance with this 

state of the facts, und_er the provisions of A.R. 850-50, Mr. Friedman, along 

with his c;ollaborators, has in fact been allowed to retain, either by ownership 

of the patent or exclusive license, the domestic commercial rights and all 

foreign. rights in the inventions listed in the table above. 

On April 2.5, 1936, Mr. Friedman subscribed a document purporting to constitute an ,agreement to make a complete assig;nment of any inve~-

tions thereafter made by him to the' United States, if the Chief Signal Officer 

requested such assignment. No such a request has been made with respect 

to any of the inyentions described above and in ail the inventions made subsequently to April 2.5, 1936, Mr. Friedman has been allowed to retain rights 

under the provision~ of A.R. 850-50, to the same extent as in those _J.nventions 

- 5 "": 
REF ID-: A4 l 6163 7 

made pri~r to that date, excepting those two so highly .classified that no· patent 

applications were filed. The provisions of the "three-year rule"' and P.L. 700 

'»ere, of ca·urse, invoked to maintain secrec:y. 

The salient fact regarding all the inventions which we.re or still. remain in secrecy, is that the rights ,retained by Mr. Fried.man cannot be exercised while an invention is in a secrecy status. In making this point, we wish 

to ,,mphasi~e that there ls no question as to the wisdom of the judgment placing any of the inventions in secre,cy. Inde'ed, it appears tliat most of the inventions still in secr.ecy are of such ·significance to our national defense, that 

the prospect of their release at any time in the near. future s.eems remote, 

and Mr. Fried.man would be among the first to argue that the ret~n~ion of the 

secrecy status with reference to them is necessary in the national interest, tr.,.,,-

whatever may be the c.onsequences to his personal fortunes. 

Legai Sta~u~ 

It is not our purpose to arg.ue the strict legal status of the rights 

Mr. Friedman may have in his inventions or of any claim he may have arising 

from these rights. The reasons for this will become clear, w.e believe, when 

we discuss later 'in this memorandum th.e nature c;tf the relief we seek for 

Mr. Friedman. But because the legal issues are. relevant to the equitable 

considerations later to be discussed w.e wish to point out the natur,e of those 

issues. 

It seems fairly beyond the realm of dispute tliat the rights which 

Mr. Friedman may have in his inventions have been substantially and adversely affected in at least two ways in connection with those specific inventions which were in secrecy and subsequently released as well as with those 

that today remain in secrecy; first, to the extent that the secrecy 

L .·~ - 0- -
REF ID:A4161637 

requirement has pr.evented and still prevents the use of such rights during the 

period of secrecy and second. to the extent that for.eign governments rpay hav 

been or still are permitted the use of any 9f the inventions during the period 

of se_c:re.cy. The firs~ type of impairment has occurred to a mor,, or l_ess sub 

staptial degree in respect of all those inventipns described above wh~ch w~re. 

placed in .secrecy. Because of the secrecy surrounding the use of th.e inventions, the Department of ~e Army and the Department of Defen~e alone would 

know the exact measure .of the second type, namelyo that .resulting from the 

use of apy particular invention by foreign governments. One of the conditions 

under which Mr. Friedman was permitted to retain counsel in ~his matter was 

that h~ .. would not disclose any classified inf~rmatio:g. and therefore w~ are not 

in full posses~ion of the facts. 

With respect to the inventions released frp.m ~ecrecy, and on which 

patents have issued, the question is raised whether Mr. Friedman has a claim 

in the case of Patent N.o. Z,395,863 under the provisions of P.L.,yoo, 35 U.S.C., 

§42 which prqvides as follows: 

Whenever the publication o.r disclosure of an invention by the 

granting of a patent might, in the opinion of the Commissioner 

of Patents, be detrimental to the public safety or defense he 

may order that the invention. be kept ~ecret and withhpld the 

grant of a patent for such period or periods as ip. his opinion 

the national interest requires: Provided, That the invention. 

disclosed in the application for said patent may be held 

abandoned upon it-being established before or by the Commissioner that in violation of said order- said invention has been 

published or disclosed or that an application fo.r a patent therefor has been filed in a foreign country by the inventor o:r his 

assigns or legal rep,resentatives, without the consent or approval of the Commissioner of Paten.ts. 

When an applicant whose patent is :withheld as herein provided 

and who falthfully obeys the order of the Commissio~er of 

Patents above referred to shall tender his inventjon to .the 

Government of the United States for its use, he shall, if and 

when h~ ultimately receives a patent, have the right~ sue for 

- 7 -
REF ID:A4161637 

compensation in Ui.e Court of Claims, suc;h :rig)lt to compensation to begin from the date of the use of the invention by the 

Governmen.t: Provided, That the Secretary oLWar or the .Secretary of the Navy or the chief officer of any established defense 

.agenc-y of .the United States, as the case mav be,.. is authorized 

to enter into an agreement 'with the said applicant in.full settlement and compromise for the damage· accruing to hllri by. reason 

of the. order of sec:recy. and fo_r the use of. the invention by the 

Government.. [Emphasis added] 

With resp~c;:t to. those inventions still in secrecy0 whi.ch are of such 

significance to our national interest that their ultimate ~elease from secrecy 

seems at best remote, the·questi~n is raised whether the Secretary of the 

Army, or the Secreta;ry of Defense, in accordance with the autho;rity granted 

by P.L. 1bo, should not "enter an agreement with the ... applicant in full 

settlement and compromise for the damage accruing te him by reason of the 

order of secre~yft. 

We appreciate fully that the application of the pl"ovisions of P.L. 70 ~ ~ 

to inventors in th,e position of Mr. Friedman is subject to argument: we point 

out the legal issues h_ere no,t to argue such issues, but rath.er to _show subsequently the relevance of these issues to the equitable considerations in the 

matter. 

The R_eHef Sought 

As we have already indicated, it is not our purpose to argue the 

strict legal issues that may exist in, the case of Mr. Friedman, .the reason 

being that the strict legal issues are not the foundation for the relief we are 

seeking on his beh~lf. M_r. Friedman does not request any affirmative action 

of the Department of the Army or of the Department of Defense. 

Wltat we seek on Mr. Frie.dman•s b~half is an Q,pporμinJty to 

present his .case to the Co~gref?S without objection on_ th_e part of th.e D.ep~rt- - -

me!lt _of _Pef~n~~· 

- 8 -
REF ID:A4161637 

We propose to have submitted to the Congress a bil;i authorizing the 

Secretary of the T.rea.sury .to settle all claims and rights of Mr. Friedman in 

respect of all the inv:entions described above for the sum of $100,000, the bill 

being in the following fo.rm: 

For the relief of William F. Friedman. 

·Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 

the United States of America in Congress ·assembled, ' - - ' 

That the Secretary pf the Treasury be, and he is hereby, 

authorized and directed to pay to William F. Friedman, out 

of any money in the Treasury n'Ot otherwise appropriated, the 

sum of $1 ()0,000 in full settle:roent for all rig;hts in respect of 

his inventions in connection with military, naval and air communications facilities, which are no.w or a.t any time have been 

placed iJ! se~recy status by the War D.epl\i'trinent or the D.epartm~nt of D.efense, including but not limited to all rights with respect to his inventions covered by Patent Number 2,395,863, 

and by patent applicat~on serials 682,096, 107 ,244, 70,412, 

443,320, 478,193 and 549,086 ~nd with resp..ect to all inventions 

for which patent applications have been withheld by the War 

Department or Department of Defense in order to preserve 

sec;r.ecy: Pr.i:>vided, That no part of the amount appropriated 

in this act in excess of 10% tliereof shall be paid or delivered 

to or received by any agent or attorney on account of services 

rendered in connection with such claims and rights. 

The .sum of $100,000 will ri,ot be submittecl as having any relation to' 

the legal measure of damages due to the impairment of Mr. Friedman•s rights 

in hls inventions be¢ause of the secrecy orders. We think that a figure determined in accordance with any legal measure o_f damag~s could reach ~ 

magnitude in his case :which would be far beyond the range and purpose of the 

relief we seek; indeed, the experience of the W~~ Department in tb:e purchasing of rights in inventions of this nature .would probably offer a fair indication, 

of the v~lue of the foreign and domestic commercial rights in Mr. Fdedman'si 

' 

inv~ntions. The sum of $100,000 will be submitted to the Congress as a sum 

Mr. F.riedman .can reasonably requ~st in the light of the equitable con.sidera- , . 

tions to be discussed below. 

- 9 -
REF ID:A4161637 

At thi.s point, we wish to mak~ it doubly clear that w~ ask nothing of 

the Department of Defense except an indication that the Department will not 

object to the su)>mission of the bill described above to the Congress fo.r con.-

sideration up.on its merits. It is of course, obvious that Mr. Frie~an, wb.9 

is a high level technical consultant in the Department of Defense, would be 

highly embarrassed if he were to take any actfon in the. matter w_ithout fi~st 

soliciting the atti~de of the Department upon it. It seems equally obvious 

that it is desirable from the Department•s viewpoint that we ascertain its 

policy before proceeding. 

'rhe Equitable Considera.tipns 

.Mr. Friedman is now 59 years old and has dedicated hi,s .entire 

adult life to the work heh.as done for the War Department and the Department 

of Defense. He has made inventions of the greatest importance, and has retained rights in th.em wh.ich h.e will probably ,never be able to exerci~e in his 

lifetime be~ause of the orders maintaining them in se_crecy. He has received 

~e highest honors the United States .can bestow upqn a civilian, but, ironically, 

the very significance of the work which brought him honors has placed upon 

hirn burd~ns and disabilities ~o which he would not otherwise have been subjected. It will be necessary to catalogue only a few of them in order to demon 

strate th~s. 

(a) In the c.ourse of his work, but beyond t.Q..e ~e.qu4'~:roen,t.s 9f any 

o.f his _dU;tie~, Mr. Friedman performed basic research, developed techniques 

and ·made discoveries and inv~ntions of a significance to the natiol_lal interest 

which we understand would challenge t4e most creative imagination to evaluat 

i_n any monetary terms. In accordance with the firm policy of the War Department to offer an incentive for inventive genius, which brought about such 

- 10 -
REF ID:A4161637 

I 

e·xc_eptional reE:1ults in the case of Mr. Friedman, he .was granted the domestic 

commer.cial rights and for~ign rights in his inventions. If those inventions had 

been of only ml.nor signi,ficance to the 1'-ational interest, Mr. Friedman would 

have b_een in a position to benefit from those rights., Becaus_e of their inestimable impo.rtance to the national inter.est, ho,wever, Mr. Friedman has 

b~en .eff_e¢tively and properly {from the point of view of the national interest) 

foreclosed from exercising any of his rights ln his most significant Piventions. . ' . 

It seems equitable, and desirable from the viewpoμit of the government, to 

mitigate by some token the penalty which has thus unintentionally been impo's.ed upon high achi~vement, and to vindicate in some small measure the long 

standing War Department policy of stimulating inventions, a policy which 

faiie¢t here simply because it was so successful. 

(b} The desirability of some relief for Mr. Friedman in this situation i.s heightened by reference to the policy of .the Congre·ss ~xpressed in 

1946 by the statutory authority granted to all Government departments to 

make awards to government personnel fp_r any suggestions beneficial to the 

government (5 U.S.C.,§116a),without limitation in amount, so far as the Qepei-rtm:ent of Defense is concer:n,ed. In furtherance of this policy, awards have 

been made for suggestions improving methods of packing, office p~ocedures, 

files and the like. It is not reasonable to assume that a Congress which 

a"Jthorized such :rewards for any helpful ~uggestions to the gov~rnment, ~ould 

no.t authorize relief for Mr. Friedman in the extraordinary situation in which 

he finds hlms'elf. 

(c) Although it may be that the provisiphs of P.L. 70.0 do not apply 

to inventors in the ·position of Mr. Friedman, they point generally to the consideration g,ive~ to the problem set out in paragraph (a) above by the Congress 

.. 11 -
REF ID:A4161637 

and she~ a f:urther disposition pn its part to grant relief against inequities of 

this nature. T.he patent provisions of the Atomic En~rgy Act (42 U.S.C., §1811) 

likewise show thE! con,c~rn of the Congress to avoid stifling the hfventive urge 

in those areas of our national interest of the highest impo,tanc.~ by compensating for the penalties which are dictated by necessity. 

(d) The secrecy which has surr~und~d ~11 the achi~vements of 

Mr. Friedman ~ CQn~ection with his duties for the Government, has effectively circum'scribed any opportunities of Mr. FJ:'ied.man to engage in his pro- . ' ' 

fession .els~where whether by teaching, writing, lecturing, by independent ' ' 

inventiOn or otherwise. It may be noted in this connection that Mr.· Fri.edman 

has written a numb~~ of baiilic works in his field whi;<:h ar.e maintained in 

secrecy and are avcdlable for use only ~o a ~omparatively small group within 

the Department of Defense. 

{e) The secrecy surrounding all his work has effectively d~nied 

Mr. Friedman the recogni~ion his superior work dese·rves and to which men 

in all professions and sciences aspire. The r.ecent .experience of Uie Atomic 

Energy Commission in its efforts to retain in its employ scientists

9 

of the 

highest .calibre unde.r a blanket of secrecy is relevant to the present case. 

(S~e Report of the Joirit Committee on Atomic Energy, 81 st Cong., l st Session, 

Oct·., 1949, Senate Report No. 1169, p. 36.) 

{f) The immeasurable stress of his work and the burden ef respm;1-

sibility imposed by the necessity for constant secrecy ever since 1921 were 

majo;r factors in the impairment of Mr. Friedman's health whi.~:ti, now makei;; 

his livelihopd increasingly prec~rious. 

It ii;; this last ~consideration which finally induced Mr. F.riedman to 

permit us to bring the matter to the attention of the Department ~f Defense. 

- 12 -
REF ID:A4161637 

Of course, this consideration n!Beds no documentation because n:iuch of the 

medical attention Mr. Frie~an has rec:eived ()Ver the pa.st several yeari; has 

b.eep in army and veteran hospi~ls. As already indicated, also, Mr. Friedman 

' was .required to r~tire from th_e Reserve Co~ps in 1941 for this reason. We 

are enjoined by Mr. Friedm~n from expanding upon this consideration: and 

laying upon it th_e stress we think it deserves. This alone explains the bareness of its presentation. 

The Precedents 

There are at least two precedents for the relief we propose to seek 

from the Conaress on behalf of Mr. Friedman, both involving the invention of 

device_s in the field of military c.ommunications. The first,. an ••Act for the 

Rel~ef of Captain Russell Willson", and the second, an .. Act fc;»r the Relief of 

Maude P. Gresham and Agnes M. Driscoll•. The full statement of facts and 

the legisl~tive history oj each of these acts is attached he.reto as Appendix A. 

(a) In ~ach of the cited cases, a single cryptographic device was ~-

valved, invented ~ one case by a paval 9Jficer and in the other py a naval 

officer in collaboration with a civilian employee of the Navy Department. In 

the c,ase of Mr. Friedman, at least nine i,nventions are involved. 

(b) The p:ractieal significance of the inventions involved in the two 

ci~d cases is unknown to us and Mr. Friedman is enjoined from disclosing 

th_at information. Only the Department of Defense is in a posi~ion to weigh 

that significance in coμiparison with the significance of the inventions of 

Mr. Friedman. 

(c) As in the case of Mr. Friedman, the devices involved in the 

cited cases .were inventions by officers and personnel of an organization now 

a part of the Department of Defense~ made without designation to invent, put 

to ~se by the gover~ent and maintained in a secret status. 

- 13 -
REF ID:A.161637 

(d) In the two cited cases no patent applications were ever fi~ed 

and accordingly the inv:entors had no patent rights in the inventions whatever; 

with respect to: two of Mr. Friedman's inventions, he is in exactly the same 

position'. As to the other seven inventions listed in the table above, Mr. 

Friedman was, in fac:t, granted the domestic commerc.ial ri.ghts and foreign 

rights. It has already been indicated, however, that these rights have be'en 

defeated by the very importance of the inventions, and have been completely 

nullified for all practical purposes by the n.ecessity for holding the inventions 

in secr.ecy. In-the case of one of his inventions (~erial No. 682.,096), these 

rights have now been suspended for 17 years; in anot~e:r (Serial No. 107 ,2.44),: 

14 years; for how :rp.any more years they .will remain suspend.ed is not even 

subject to r~ugh estimate. Obviously, suspension in these cir·cumstances be-'. 

, comes synonymous with nullification. 

(e) The personal considerations in the two cited cases were sμnilar to those in this case. 

(f) In the two cited cases, the claims submitted to the Congress 

:rec:eived the express approval c>f the Navy Department. Mr. Fr.ied~an asks 

only that the Departinent of Defense express no obj.ecti.on to the presentat,ion 

of bis :rp.atter to the Congress. He would of course be happy if the Department of Defense were to give the matter iti; affirmative approval, but he does 1 

not ask that much. 

Aside from the cases ci~ed above, which seem parallel to the 

present case in all respects including the very nature of the inventions involved, there are others wheJ;"e officers an~ _employees of the military s.ervices sought and received relief from the Congress for 'inventions which were 

p~t to use by the government. These cases, of course, are not directly _in 

- 14 -
,• 

REF ID:A4161637 

point here, becaq.se we do not intend to make any request based upon government use of Mr. Friedman's inventions and for this reason are not cited here. 

They are mentioned, however, to show generally the diSposition of the 

Congress to aid in the effectuation of the War Department and Navy Department policies of offering this form of incentive to stimulate_ invention in the 

national interest. 

Conclusion 

It has been our purpose to make this memorandum as brief as a 

reasonable presentation of the matter of Mr. Friedman would allow. It is 

respectfully submitted as a basis for the request for an indication that the 

Department of Defense has no objection to the presentation of the matter to 

the Congress on its merits. The considerations which seem to make that request a reasonable one in the circumstances lu;lve been set out along with the· 

factual background of the matter. Favorable conslderation of the request 

would be greatly appreciated. 

Respectfully submitted, 

FISCHER, WILLIS AND PANZER 

-Henry G. Fischer 

Attorneys for William F. Friedman 

- 15 -
REF ID:A4161637 

APPENDIX A 
REF ID:A4161637 

i-lTH (..\.1NGREss } HOUSE 01!~ REPRESENTATIVES { 

/,,f 81·s.~ion 

CAPT. RUSSELi ... WI [,l ... SON 

REPORT 

No. 284 

M ~ HCH 4, 1935.-Conunitt.Pd to the Committee of the Whole Hou~e and ordered 

to be printl'Cl 

Mr. ~J,A Ht:>, from the Con}mittee on Na val Affoirs, submitted the 

following 

REPORT 

[To uccompa11y IL R. 5564] 

Tlw Committee on Nnvnl Affain:;, t.o whom was referred the bill 

(1-1. H. 5!iM) for the relief of Capt. Russrll Willson, United States 

Nn,·y, having considPred the same, report it to the House with the 

n•commt>nclntion tlrnt it do pass. 

Tlw purpose of the proposed IPgislation is to give Cnpt. Russell 

'Will-;on, UnitPd StntPs Nuv.v, $15,000 in full settlement for u certain 

invPnt.ion of his used in connect.ion with the secret conununictttion 

facilit.it•s of the N uvv. 

Tlw value to the "Navy nnd to th<' Government of this invention 

cnnnot he mensuretl in dollars nnd cents. Its vnlue to the GovernrnPnt lllll,\' be judged by the fact. th11t it \ms used during the ·world 

'Ynr in nil dispntdies betwePn the N av.v Department nncl navnl headquarters in London, including those cOJH'tll"ning movements of transport..,, wlwrP its seerecy protected thousands of lives and millions of 

dollars wort.h of property. 

Being inrnre of eompnrativc ens:' with whieh eonfidcntial nnd secret 

mess11ges were intercepted nnd decodPd hy unauthorized persons, 

Captnin 'Yillson eonceived nnd pcrfeeted this invt~ntion while on a 

tour of S<'U duty in 1916. For Captain 'Villson to have patented this 

invention would haYe <lPstroyed its usefulness in that it would then 

huve heen open to public.inspection; instead, he gave it to the Nnvy. 

The pfliciency of the device may he more fully ttpprecintccl from a 

st.ntenwnt made before the committee du!ing the henrings on this 

bill which is quoted as follows: 

Towmd the end of the \Vorld War a dispatch from a diplomatic ugent in 

Copenhaμ;en reported that copies of all cables were reaching Berlin and all were 

being deciphered e"ccpt thise in Nayy cipher. 

This ~ill proYides for long-delttyed compcns:1tion for u device which 

during the 'Vorld ·wtll" was the basis of the Navy's system of secret 

communications. 
( 

REF ID :A416.1637 

2 CAPT. RUSSELL WILLSON 

The Navy Department fa\•ors this proposed legislation as is indicated by the letter of the Secretary of the Navy to the Speaker of 

the House of Representatives which is hereby made a part of this 

report. 

NAVY DEPARTMENT, 

Washington, February 4, 1935. 

The SPEAKER OF THE Hot::sE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

Washington, D. C. · 

MY DEAR MR. SPEAKER: There is transmitted herewith a draft of a proposed bill for the relief of Capt. Russell Willson, United States Navy. The proposed legislation provides that the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed 

to pay Capt. Russell Willson, United States Navy, out of aJly money in the 

Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $15,000 in full settlement for a certain invention of his used in connection with the secret communication facilities 

of the Navy. Captain Willson while serving at sea in 1916 conceived and designed this invention relating to the secrecy of naval communications, and developed it in 1917 

without suggestions, ideas, or help from any other person at any time. He submitted the invention to the Navy Department which accepted it in 1917. The 

invention has been used by the Navy continuously since that time. For reasons of public policy, it has never been patented. Captain Willson has not in any way, 

directly or indirectly, received any compensation for his work in producing this 

invention, nor for its use by the Navy during and since the war. The sum of $15,000, which the Navy Department believes should be appro- priated, is modest in comparison with the value of the invention to the Government dt1.ring the World War and during the 16 yea1s thereafter that it has been 

in continuous use. The Navy Department recommends that the proposed legislation be enacted. 

Sincerely yours, CLAUDE A. SWANSON. 

0 
REF ID:A4161637 

Calendu No. 835 

74TH C<>MGBE88 } 1st Session · SENATE ~{ BBPoir.r 

No. 792 

CAPT. RUSSELL WILLSON, UNITED STATES NAVY 

MAY 13 (calendar day, JUN1D 6), 1936.-0rdered to be printed 

Mr. HALE, from the Committee on Naval Affairs, submitted the 

following 

REPORT 

[To accoml?any H. R. 5564] 

The Committee on Naval Affairs of the Senate to whom was 

referred the bill (H. R. 5564) for the relief of Capt. Russell Willson, 

United States Navy, having considered the saffe, report it to the 

Senate without amendment with the recommendation that the bill 

tlo_I>a.ss. · . The purpose of this bill is to give 'Captain Willson $15,000 in full 

settlement for a certain invention of his used in connection with the 

secret communication facilities of the Navy. · ' . This bill, if enacted, would involve an additional cost to the Government of $15,000, but the bill is recommended by the Navy Department and the committee feels that this is a just claim in view of the 

great value his invention has been to the Navy. The House report, which explains this bill in detail, is hereby made 

a part of this report. 

(B.Rept. No. 284, 14th Cong., 1st sess I 

The Committee on Naval Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 5564) 

for the relief of Capt. Russell Willson, United States Navy, having considered the 

same, report it to the House with the recommendation that it do _J>_ass. 

The p~rpose of the proposed legislation is to give Capt. Russell Willson United 

States Navy, $15,000 in full settlement for a certain invention of his used in con- nection with the secret communication facilities of the Navy. The value to the Navy and to the Government of this invention cannot be 

measured in dollars and cents. Its value to t:he Government may be judged by the fact that it was used during the World War in all dispatches between the Navy Department and naval headquarters in London, including those concerning move- ments of transports, where its secrecy protected thousands of lives and millions 

of dollars worth of property. Being aware of comparative ease with which confidential and secret messages were intercepted and decoded by unauthorized persons, Captain Willson con- ceived and perfected this invention while on a tour of sea duty in 1916. For 
REF ID:A4161637 

2 CAPT. RUSSELL WILLSON, UNITED STATES NAVY 

Captain Willson to have·patented this invention would luwc destroyed its useful- ness in that it would then have been open tu public inspection; instead, he gave it to the Navy. 

The efficiency of the device may be more fully appreciated from a statement 

made before the committee during the hearings on this bill which is quoted as follows: 

"Toward the encl of the World War a dispatch from a diplomatic agent in 

Copenhagen reported that copies of nil cables were reaching Bcrlm and all were being deciphered except those m Navy cipher " 

This bill provides for long-delayed compensation for a device which during the 

World War was the basis of the Navy's system of secret communications. 

The Navy Department favors this pro_poscd legislation as is indicated by the 

letter of the, Secretary of the Navy to the Speaker of the House of Representatives 

which is hereby made a part of this report. 

NA VY DEPARTMENT, 

Washington, February 4, 1995. 

The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE -oF REIRESENTATJVES, 

Washington, D. C. 

MY DEAR Ma. SPEAKER: There is transmitted herewith a draft of a proposed 

bill for the relief of Ce.pt. Russell Willson, United States Navy. The proposed 

legislation provides that the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed 

to pay Ce.pt. Russell Willson, United States Navy, out of any money in the 

Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $15,000 in full settlement for a certain invention of his used in connectio1rwith ttic secret communication facilities 

of the Navy. · Captain Willson while serving .at sea in 1916 conceived and designed this invention relating to the secrecy of nave.I communications, and developed it in 1917 

without suggestions, ideas, or help from any other 1;>erson at any time. He submitted the invention to the Navy Department, wluch accepted it in 1917. The 

invention has been used by the Navy continuously since that time. For reasons of public policy, it has never been pa.tented. Captain Willson has not in any way, 

directly or indirectly, received ·any compensation• for his work in producing this 

invention, nor for its use by the Navy during and since the war. The sum of $15,000, which the Navy Department believes should be appropriated, is modest in comjlarison with the value of the invention to the Government during the World War and during the 16 years thereafter that it has been. 

in continuous use. The Navy Department recommends that the proposed legislation be enacted. 

Sincerely yours, 

CLAUDE A. SWANSON. 

0 
REF ID:A4161637 

[PRIVATE-No. 79-74TH CONGRESS] 

[H. R. 5564) 

AN ACT 

For the relief of Captain Russell Willson, United States Navy. 

Be it f·mrwted by the Sennte and llousP of Repre~,?11totfo1JS of the 

Uni.terl States of America in Oong1·e.~.~ a>1semblt!rl, That the Secretary of the Trea,.ury be, and he is her·eby, authorized and directed 

to pay to Captaiu lfossell "Villson, United States Navy, out o'f any 

money in the TrPa.-.ury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of 

$Hi.OOO in full <;ettl1•nwnt for his invention which has been accepted . by the Xavy I>epartment for use in connection with naval communication facilities. 

A11proved, Jur~e 13, 1935. 
c, 

75TH CONGRESS } 

1st Sea.~ion 

REF ID:A4161637 

Calendu No. SEN~TE { 

MAUDE P. GRESHAM 

MAY 10, 1937.-0rdered to be printed 

539 

REPORT 

No. 526 

Mr. WALSH, from the Committee on Naval Affairs, submitted the 

following 

REPORT 

[To accompany S. 1453) 

The Committee on Na val Affairs, to whom was referred the bill 

(S. 1453) for the relief 'Of Ma.ude P. Gresham, having considered the 

same, report favorably thereon, with amendment, and, as amended, 

recommend that the bill do pass. 

Amend the bill as follows: 

Page I, lines 6 to 8 inclusive, strike out the following: 

Navy, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of 

$15,000 in full settlement for the late Commander William J:i'. Gresham's invention 

which has. 

And insert in lieu thereof the following: 

Navy, the sum of $8,750 and to Agnes M. Driscoll the sum of $6,250, out of any 

money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, said sums to be in full and 

complete settlement of all claims by said parties a~ainst the United States arising 

from the in\'ention of the late Commander William 1". Gresham which said 

invention has. ' 

Amend the title of the bill so as to read: 

A bill for the relief of Maude P. Gresham, and for other purposes. 

The purpose of the bill is to pay to the widow of the late Commander 

William F. Gresham, United States Navy, the sum of $8,750 and to 

Agnes M. Driscoll the sum of $6,250 in full and complete settlement 

of all claims by said parties against the United States arising from the 

invention of the late Commander William F. Gresham which has been 

accepted by the Navy Department for use in connection with naval 

communication facilities. ' 

The hill was introduced at the request of the Navy Department. 

The Department states that the bill is ia accord with the program of 

the President and involves an additional cost to the Government of 

$15,000. • 

Commander Gresham invented a device that greatly increased the 

efficiency of an important part of the naval commumcation service. 

I' ii 
REF ID :1

A4161637 

2 ::\I.\l:DE I'. llHE~H.\::\l 

This device wns of such a secret and confidentinl nnture, nnd of such 

importnnce to the Nntionnl defense, thnt the N1ivy Department contiscu ted it for the cxclusi ve use of the N n vy und prevented Comnrnnder Ureshum from obtaining a patent thereon. If this invention 

had been pnt.ent<'d its usefulness would huve been destl'Oyed, us it 

would then hu.vc been opPn to public inspection. 

Prior to his denth, Communcler Grcshu111 requested that he he compensntecl fm· his i11,·e11tion i11 the amount of $30,000. Upon receipt 

of his request the Seeretnry of the Nnvy eonvened a hoard of three 

officers to recommend the amount of compensation to he puid to 

Commander Gresham. The board found, after cu.reful comparison 

of Commander Gresham's invention with earlier and similar devices, 

that it greutly increased the efficiency of 1t11 import1mt component 

part. of the nurnl communication service und that $15,000 v:ould he 

u fair compensation therefor. 

The N nvy Department has recently conducted a further investigation into the mntter nud is of the opinion that Commander Greshum 

was the sole inventor of the device, hut that the fundumental cryptographic principles which the machine was designed to employ prolmhly 

was conceived hy Mrs. Driscoll and disclosed hy her to Commander 

Gresham. The committee is therefore of the opinion that Mrs. 

Driscoll's rights 11.n<l interests in the invention are substantially equttl 

to those of Commander Greshum u11<l thu.t she is entitled to 11 fair 

percentage of any compensn.tion which may he granted to Mrs. 

Gresham. The committee, therefore, recommends un amendment 

grunting ~lrs. Gresham the sum of $8,750 an~l Mrs. Driscoll the sum 

of $6,250. 

Payment of compensation in like amount to Capt. Russell Wilson, 

United Stutes l'\asy, for an invention which during the World War 

was the basis of the Navy's system of secret communications, was 

authorized and directed by the act of June 13, 1935. 

The committ,ee has inspected this invention and believes that it is of 

great value to the Oo,·ernment in connection with the secret communication Iucilities of the Navy and is of the opinion that, although the 

value of this invention to the Governmm1t cannot he measured in 

dollars und <'ents, $1.5,000 is a fair compensation therefor. 

0 
REF ID:A4161637 

75TH CoxoREl'IS } HOUSE 01•' lrEJ>Rl:~EN'l'A'l'lYES { J.~f. :J1'.~.~io11 

REPORT 

No. 1099 

MAUDE P. GRESHAM AND AGNES M. DRJSCOLL 

JUNE 24, 1937.-Con1111ittecl to the Committee of the Whole Huui;e 0.1111 ordered 

to he printed 

Mr. CoFFJo:E of ·wnshington, from the Committf'e on Cluims, submitted the following 

REPOR_rr 

[To accompany R 1453] 

The Commit.tee on Clnims, to \\ hom wns referred the bill (S. 1453) 

for the relief of Muude P. Oreshnm, hnYing considered the sume, 

report thereon with the recommendut.ion thut it do puss wit.h the 

following umendments: 

Page I, line 6, strike out the figures "$8,7 50" nnd insert in lieu 

thereof "$8,690.55". 

Pnge 1, line 11, nfter the nnme "Greshnm", insert "nnd Agnes 1\f. 

Driscoll,". 

Amend the title of the bill to rend: 

A hill for the relief of Mnude P. GrC'Rham nnd Agues M. Driscoll. 

STATEMENT OF FACTS 

As amended, this bill proYides for the payment of $8,690.55 to 

Mnude P. Greshnm, widow of "'illinm F. Gresham, lute communder, 

United Stutes Navy, nnd the sum of $ti,2T>O to Anges M. Driscoll, in 

full nncl complete settlement of nil cl:iims by said pnrties against the 

United St.ates arising from the invent.ion of the late Commander 

William :F. Gresham and Agnes .M. Driscoll, \\hich invention has 

been ucceptc>d by the Nnvy Depnrtment for use in eonnection with 

nnvnl conununicntion fncilitics. 

The invention here compcnsnted for hns not bC'en viewed by your 

committc>c und its exaC't nature• is not kno'' n, but the Nuvy Department stntes tlwtIt greatly increased t.hc l'fficiem'.1· of nu importaut co111p011e11t part of the 11a\'al 

communication service 11.nd that $H>,OOO would lw a fair t·ompem.nt1on therefor. 

A similnr finding hus hec>n mude by the Sl'nute Committee on Navnl 

Afl'nirs, "hieh vil'wed the invention, urn! whieh found thut Agnes M. 

Driscoll nssisted in the dc>sign of eertnin of its fundnmentnl prineiples. 
REF ID:A4161637 

2 :\l.\l"DJ.; P. nm..:sH.UI .\~D AGNJ..:s 1\1. l>HISCOJ.1, 

Therefore, tlu.• bill includes an award both to the widow of Commander 

Greshnm and to Mrs. Driscoll nnd the pn.yment of these claims is 

similnr to the action tnken by the Congress in connection with another 

navnl invention under Private Law No. 79, Seventy-fourth Congress. 

It will he noted that the committee has reduced the payment to 

Mrs. Gresham hy $59.45, which sum was overpaid to her husband 

as a rental allowance and was the subject of S. 1313, Private Law 

No. 86, Seventy-fifth Congress. That law authorized a credit in the 

accounts of the disbursing officer who made tl1e payment to Commander Gresham. At the time, your committee endeavored to 

ascertnin why the overpayment was not collected from Commander 

Greshnm, and the Department replied that such action was usually 

taken but that the officer's death hnd precluded it in the case in 

question. As the disbursing officer was held liable for the payment, 

this committeP recommended the bill, the evidence disclosing that it 

was made without negligence on his part and prior to his receipt of 

certain pertinent instructions. Your committee is not attempting 

to take a small position with regard to the $59.45 overpayment, but 

it is constrained to the opinion that it should have been refunded to 

the Government either by Commander Gresham or his estate, and 

consequently we can see no reason why it should not be recovered 

on behalf of the Government. The deduction here made accomplishes that purpose. 

Further facts relative to these claims appear in the report of the 

Senate Committee on Naval Affairs and a letter from the Navy 

Department, both appended. 

[S. Rept. No. 526, 75th Cong., 1st sess.) 

The Committee on Naval Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (S. 1453) for 

the relief of Maude P. Gresham, having considered the same, report favorabl~ 

thereon, with amendments, and, as amended, recommeud that the bill do pass. 

Amend the bill as follows: 

Page 1, line 6 to 8 inclusive, strike out the following: "Navy, out of any mone~ 

in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $15,000 in full settlement 

for the late Commander William F. Gresham's invention which has". 

And insert in lien thereof the following: "Navy, the sum of $8,750 and to Agnes 

M. Driscoll the sum or $6,250, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise 

appropriated, said sums to be in full and complete settlement of all claims by 

said parties against the United States arising from the invention of the late 

Commauder William F. Gresham which said invention has". 

Amend the title of the bill so as to read: "A bill for the relief of Maude P. 

Gresham, and for other p11rposCf1." The purpose of the bill is to pay to the widow of the late Commander William 

F. Gresham, United States Navv, the sum of $8,750 and to Agnes M. Driscoll the sum of $6,250 in full and complete settlement or all claims by said parties against 

the United States arising from the invention of the late Commantler William F. 

Gresham which has been accepted by the Navy Department for use in connection 

with naval communication facilities. 

The bill was introduced at the request or the Navy Department. The Department states that the bill is in accord with the program of the President and involves an additional cost to the Governnumt or $15,000. ~ Commander Gresham invented a device that 11:rcatly increased the efficiency of an important part or the naval communication 1;ervice. This device was of 

such a secret and confidential nature, and of such importance to the national 

defense, that the Nav_y Department confiscated it for the exclusive use of the 

Navy and prevented Commander Gresham from obtaining a patent thereon. If 

this invention had been patented its usefulness would have been destroyed, as it 

would then have been open to public inspection. 
REF ID:A4161637 

MAUDE P. GUE_SHAM AND AGNES l\I. DRISCOLL 3 

Prior to his death, Commander Gresham requested that he be compensated for his invention in the amount of $30,000. Upon receipt of his request the 

Secretary of the Navy convened a board of three officers to recommend the 

amount of compensation to be paid to Commander Gresham. The board found, 

after careful comparison of Commander Gresham's invention with earlier and 

similar devices, that it greatly increased the efficiency of an important component 

part of the naval communication service and that $15,000 would be a fair com- pensation therefor. 

The Navy Defartment has recently conducted a further investigation into the 

matter and is o the opinion that Commander Gresham was the sole inventor 

of the device, but that the funqamental cryptographic principles which the 

machine was designed to employ probably was conceived by Mrs. Driscoll and 

disclosed by her to Commander Gresham. The committee is therefore of the 

opinion that Mrs. Driscoll's rights and interests in the invention are substantially equal to those of Commander Gresham and that she is entitled to a fair percentage of any compensation which may be granted to Mrs. Gresham. The committee, 

therefore, recommends an amendment granting Mrs. Gresham the sum of $8, 750 

and Mrs. Driscoll the sum of $6,250. 

Payment of compensation in like amount to Capt. Russell Wilson, United 

States Navy, for an invention which during the World War was the basis of the 

Navy's system of secret communications, was authorized and directed by the act 

·of June 13, 1935. . The committee has inspected this invention and believes that it is of great value to the Government in connection with the secret communication facilities 

of the Navy and is of the opinion that, although the value of this invention to the 

Government cannot be measured in dollars and cents, $15,000 is a fair compensation therefor. 

NAVY DEPARTMENT, 

Washington, February 5, 1987. 

The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF Rli:PBESENTATIVES, 

Washington, D. C. 

MY DEAB Ma. 8PEAKl!IB: There is transmitted herewith a draft of a proposed 

bill for the relief of Maude P. Gresham. " 

The purpose of this_proposed legislation is to_pay to the widow of the late Commander William F. Gresham, United States Navy, the sum of $15,000 in full 

settlement for an invention of the late Commander Gresham wliich has been 

accepted br the Navy Department for use in connection with naval communication facilities. 

Prior to his death, Commander Gresham requested that he be compensated for his invention in the amount of $30,000. Upon receipt of this request the Secretary of the Navy convened a board of three officers to recommend the amount of 

compeneatiln to be p_aid to Commander Gresham. The board found, after careful 

comparison of Commander Gresham's invention with earlier and similar devices, 

that it greatly increased the efficiency of an important component part of the 

naval communication service and that $15,000 would be a fair compensation therefor. 

Payment of compensation in like amount to Capt. Russell Willson, United 

States Navy, for an invention was authorized and directed by the act of June 13, 

1935 (49 Stat.-). The proposed· legislation, if enacted into law, would involve an ad4itional 

exi>ense to the Government of $15,000. 

The Navy Department recommends that the proposed legislation be enacted. 

The proposed legislation is in accord with the program of the President. 

Sincerely yours, CLAUDE A. SWANSON. 

0 
REF ID:A4161637 

(PRIVATE-No. 267-75TH CONGRESS] 

[CHAPTER 583-lsT SESSION] 

[S. 1453] 

AN ACT 

For the relief of Maude P. Gresham and Agnes M. Driscoll. 

Be it enacted liy the Senate and HoU.<Je of Repre.~entati'IJes of the 

United Siate.~ of America in Oongre8.<f a,.<;.~ernbled, That the Secretary 

of the Treasury ue, and he i:, hereby, authorized and directed to pay 

to .Maude P. Gresham, widow of William F. Gresham, late commander, United States Navy, the sum of $8,690.55, and to Agnes M. Dri~coll the sum of $6,250, out of any money in the Treasury not 

otherwise appropriated, said sums to be in full and complete settlement of all claims by baid parties against the United States arising 

fr<,m the i11vention of the late Commander William F. Gresham and 

Agues .M. lJriscoll, which baid invention has been accepted by the 

Nu,·y Department for use in connection with naval communication 

fa<"ilities: Provided, That 110 part of the amount appropriated in this 

A<·t in excess of 10 per centum thereof shall be paid or delivered to 

or received by any a~eut or agents, attorney or attot11eys, on account 

of :-:.erviccs rendered in connection with said claim. It shall be 

unlawful for any agent or agents, attorney or attorneys, to exact, 

coll•\ct, withhold, or receive any sum of the amount appropriated 

in t hii;; Act in excess of 10 per cent 11111 thereof on account of services 

r:11derc<l in <:011ncction with <,aid claim, any contract to the contrary 

llOc\\'ith<,land111g. Any rel''-iOll violati11g the provisions of this Act 

shall be deemed guilty o a mi·~demeanor and upon conviction thereof 

hhall be fi11e<l in any smu not exceeding $1,000. 

Approved, August 11, 1937. 

I I 
REF ID:A4161637 

APPENDIX A 

\ 
REF ID:A4161637