REF ID:A38523 

.. ...... . .. ' .G""':.. ... . ~ 

LECTURE I 

l. Appreciate the opportunity to be a. participant of SCAMP 1 58 and to talk 

a bit about some of the interesting episodes and important la.ndma.rks that stand 

out in the historical background at the science a:ild/or art ot cryptology. 

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

deal. with that area of the background ot cryptology which has primarily to do with 

its development and manner of employment as a vital military weapon 

3 Now cryptology has certainly not a1Wa.ys 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 ou1t1vation of the 

cryptologic gardens by providing her with tlle moru:y for the purpose I mentioned 

just a few months ago, we sought to use funds al.located to MDAP-the Mutual. De:t'ense 

Assistance Pact. :But those funds are specifically earmarked for research and 

development of phy-8ical. l.llBtruments, machines, guns, el.ectronic devices, etc , 

and it seemed hopeless even to try to justif1 the use of MDAP montey for cryptanalytic research and development. It was only af'ter we bad pointed out the ways 

in which military cryptol.ogy had been used in World War I aDd II tba.t the funds 

sought were granted. 

@'pp roved for Release by NSA on 09-13-2013 pursuantto E .o. 1352a 
REF ID:A38523 

4. This point a.bout cryptology being useful only for such relatively 

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

tbat Bacon or somebody else wrote the Shakespeare Plays reminds me of a story 

which may be a bit apochraphyl but is somewhat amusing 

5 The story of the old Persian Queen Semira.m.is 

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

history. This may be useful at lea.st to some of the members of SC.AMP '58, for I 

may tell you right away that there doesn't exist in English or in any other 

J.anguage 1 for that matter 1 a.n adequate or even_ a fairly good history of the 

invention and development of cryptography and of its counterpart, cryptanalysis· 

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REF ID:A38523 

There ie no real history, detin1t1ve and detail.ed. What bita and pieces one f'inds 

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

Ot course, there is a good reason why no history at cryptolOQ worthy' of the 

name has been produced tor public uee It is that a3 a rUl.e governments don't 

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

art1c1es. Thia is an understandable and sensible rule it not carried to absurd and 

illogical. 1imits by insisting that all COMINT must be kopt secret tor all time. 

Later on I may tell. you about an amusing it not enJ.ightening conference I was 

summoned to attend at the Pentagon a week ago today. 

Ot' course, now and then some cryptologic inf'orma.tion does 1eak out 1 as 'tor 

.. 

.if. 

.. 

-. ... -

example, when congressional. and other of':f'1cial. investigations either require or ~ 

_ !!._ 

accidently bring about the disclosure of such in:f'orme.tian, or when some i'ormerly _,,,.. 

--

-

.... trusted worker comits ..indiscretions, or consciously and deliberately breaks the ·'-

trust that had been imposed. 01" both these types of' security breaches--of'ficial 

or pereonal--I shall have mare to say later on. At the moment I vill merely aomment 

tllat the history which comes :t'rom such leakages and breaches or truet are apt to 

contain errors, m1sundersta.Ildings 1 diatortions, and J.ies. 

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REF ID:A38523 

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Some ot you may have wOlldered what the title ot my talk or series ot talks 

:ts. Dean Swif't 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 TflY' secret by telling you that the title iaz 

"The Influence of C-power on History." 

Lest there be some here who think I'm J.abaring UDder the delusion that this 

building and SCAMP are U.S. Navy property or that I 1ve suddenly gone psychotic 

Hf" ~ .... of, and imagine I'm Admiral Me.ban, I hasten to explain ~t the "C" in ~ title ~ 

my talk is not the word 'tSEA'' but the letter 11C" and it stands tor the word 

~ ~· CRYProLOGIC. The title at the ta1k is therefor\ "The in1'J.uence of cryptoJ.ogic 

A~ power on history." AB a sub-title I CJJ:fer this 1 nor how to win battles and~ "' A. 

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 ae an 

At this point let me hasten to deny that I'm casting any ret'J.ections upon 

certain successful--spectacularly aucceasf'ul commander~auoh as Generals EiB!bllowe'r 

t:- ~ --- -- ~ -~ 

~ Mac,j;t~ ~ names will occur to you without my calling them to your 

attention--and there will be names of men in ee.cb o:r the two ca.tegor1es--''how to 

-4--

I 

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i 

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= 

_________ _...ore1Plftl ... !P.lllllP."""'""''•W"'i'i!ic:4:;;w:":l!J!.!:fE-' ~;".,,..,. ~ wo P !'il ... t.. fi )4 .L,91 •JI! 

a c ms a&A! a:»AIZ 
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REF ID:A38523 

~"\..o -~ ~ ~-0. ~ \H-.A.'lf.U.. 

win" and "how to lose" ba.ttle1 and~· 1 \T . - -

----- ~~..----.... 

At this point I'm remiIJded at a story about General Montgomery--"Monty" and 

/ 

I have the story on pretty good authority. 

Stor7 re Monty in .N. At'rica., J.942. 

Bef'are a group such as tbis I think it hardly necessary to make this general 

\ 

statement but Ill :make it: That not all hietori&ns know- that the history of 

dip1omacy and war:tare teems with instances where the turn of events was greatl.y 

at'f'ected by the relative cryptologic power or the opposing :forces Most of' the 

hietory !n the history books, especially when f'irst written, does not tell the 

campJ.ete story or the vhol.e truth -- tor the cryptologic tacts 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 (1) Morison 

(Samuel. El.iot),, {2} Navy Op. Research on Battle ot AtlanticJ (3) Wenger lecture a.t 

'" .... i.. .. " \. 

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REF ID:A38523 

' ...,. -

a>twy ~ l'ear"'J. -Ha.rbOF;WhiCl:lTDegirIOY 'readtng-t"rom-the ··rrlle~eill'ber 1945--tsaue 

at-~...-'!-.h~prei'ace the readine; by reminding you that the war was over--or 

~ ~ M>-0..4 ().. A.~ at least V-E and V-J days had been celebrated--andAtise clam.or on the part of 

~ w""~db~tet ,_vociferous ~J:tc:rrliill who bad tor years been insisting upon l.earning and diacJ.oaine; to t~l<l~ !.~~had been caught by surprise 1n ouch " 

disastrous defeat and cal.amity as the Japanese had inflicted upon us at Pear1* 

...<.' ~~ i>>~~) p1is clamor had to be met.) 1-t could no J.onger be hushe~y the need tor mil.1 tary 

secrecy So there were investigations-..a. half dozen or more ~ 1 winding up in .a"" 

grand finale ~ Joint Congressione.1 Investigation into the Attack on Pearl 

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

every detail ~~~ .and-exhib~:f.1'\. its own lengthy investigation and hearings but also 

~ 

d1ecJ.osed 

+o~~'fo~~ 

Aeverything that ~ said and shown at all 

~ 

the previous Arrrry and Navy A.. ,... ~~~ 

inveatigations--about a halt dozen ot them. 

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

Chief or Staf't, U.S. Array at the time of the Pearl. Barbor Attack, we.a called to 

~1~ the witness stand. He testified for eeve~al~days,. l.oog.,--1.ong one.a... Toward the 

end ot the ordeal he was questioned about a letter it bad been rumored he'd written 

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~ 

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REF ID:A38523 

to Governor Dewey in the Autumn at 194li-, during tbe Presidential Campaign. Genera1 

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

disclose the letter or its contents, but to no a.vail.. Re had to bow to the will 

of' the Committee. 

A tew moments ago I commented that the sort of cryptoiogic history which gets 

published as a reEJul.t of official investigations is apt to contain errors, misundereta.cdinga 1 distortions 1 and downright lies. And this account in TIME contains 

its share ot them. Bu1.. the curiows pa.rt of this story is that TIME didn't commit 

these off'enses, they were in the original Marshall-Devey 1etter, which bad been 

prepared by somebody on Marshall's ate.ff' who got the results at COMINT but was no 

technician or cryptologist I w111 interrupt the reading of the 1etter to remark 

that undoubtedly those of you who followed at all closel.y the diecJ.osures--the 

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

ot the Joint Congressioxml Investigation of the Attack on Pearl Harber must have 

wondered about or been mystified by this queetioni It we were really reading the 

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

attack came? Why did we lose over 31 SSI men in a couple o:r hours, all those big 

• .. ' ... :;:. \ ... - -...i . l 

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REF ID:A38523 

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

'!I 

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

from. the RepQrt of the Majority of that Joint Congressional Committee, p. l7f6 & 

253 _____ __......-.-----~~~-_.....,.....,. 

---------~~----­ \.... 

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

What was meant by the name "MAGIC"? 

How did the term COlll e to be used T 

v' 

~ vee 1 ntrc.duc.e.d i.ute -our usage by -the Bri-t.!&h-

.. ...-. ll'P'" •• 

~ ~~'\k.~ ~~~~··dl..~ ~ ~ 

It was the cover ne:mei\du:ring WW II years for the :product ot. COMI.NT operations and activities• (1) Special intelligence, (2) Tratf'ic intel.ligence, (3) 

Weather intelligence 

I suppose its hardly' neceBl!lary for me to tell you how care:f'Ully guarded were 

the fruits at the MAGIC--even tbe faot ot its existence was known to only a very few 

persons. Hearings p. 261 Succeee---rather ita continuance--rested upon a. very slender 

thread 

Midway, for instance, Marshall-Dewey letter 

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

There are many persons who still argue about certain questions about Pearl 

Barbor. Every so often the story comes up and the fires at controversy are fanned 

« i PMJ • sy• 
REF ID:A38523 

once again to the blazing point (A re1Jearcber at RAND 1111 utill working on a 

rather lengthy treatise on the subject.) The right-wingers are, at course, et1ll. 

convinced a.nd are tr,-:Lng to convince other Americans that President Roosevel~ 

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

allegations of conspiracy among Roosevelt, Marshall. and Stark. Which ~ oourse is 

nonaense--d1sprovable by rather eaoy logic. Maybe I'll go into this later if you 

wish 

:But let 1 e get back to the Marshall-Devey letter 

The harm that the discloeure of this letter caused is incalculable. The 

hearings were open and the documents (4S vo1umes) are public documents. 

Should we be greatly astonished that certain gov-ernments have greatly improved 

their communications security devices and arrangements since the close of the 

Congressional. Investiga.tionsttTYT? 

I read now frOl!l p. 232 or the Me.Jority Report ot the Joint Congressional 

Committee. 

1 all witnesses :tamiliar with MAGIC :ma.terial throughout the 

1. war bave teetif'ied that it contributed enormously to the de:t'ea.t of the ene:m;r 1 

greatly shortened the war, and saved many thousands of lives " 

.. 

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REF ID:A38523 

2. General. Cbamberlin (G-3 of Gen. MacArthur's eta.ti" throughout the war 

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

1.Dforma.tion 0-2 gave G-3 in the Pacific theater alone saved us many thousands at 

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

3 I bardly need say what the latter saving alone was worth in billions of 

dollars. I ma.de a. ca.l.cul.ati.on and f'ound that $1.,111 epent tor COMINT equal.a 

$1,ff/li'J apent for other war materials and activities. 

NOW' let's see what happened during WW II when we had and didn't have COMI.NT 

on our side. 

In our struggle against two very desperate enemies, the Germans and the 

Japanese, it was often the possession of COMINT,, the so-called "MAGIC" which meant 

the difference between def'eat and success • When we had magic we coul.d put what 

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

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

bad beating. 

When we d1dn 1t have it--well, aa I said, things went badly because olll" 

prillcipa.l G-2 1& had came to rely too heavily on it. 

The Battle of the Bulge 

:Ba.J.dvin Articl.e - Read • 

-lff-
REF ID:A38523 

1. Show lst page ot 'Ba.ldwin article. (p. 3~) and read title ot. 

2. Read f'rom next card -- Merriam. 

3.. Then read ex.tracts from p 4ra. 

Extract :f'romi MerriB.111, Robert E. , Dark December i The full. account at the 

Battle Cit the :Bulge, 194-7-Zi:l'i"-Davia Publishing Co., p. 2l.l1 

/~ •tAccardiag to Eisenhm."'e?' 'a :peraonne1 officer 1 American losses in the 

Battle or the :Bulge totalled 75,89SJ men, ot whom 8,6'67 were killed, 47,139 wounded, 

and 21,14~ missing over 8,•~• or these casualties were in the 1S6th Division. 

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

divisions, the 28th and 1'!J6tb., were nearly completely a.nnihile.ted, a.J.though the 

28th Division did subsequently enter combat a:tter being rebuilt." / 

I hope I 1ve not tired you out by such a. lengthy preface to the real substance 

at nrs talks • So we'll begin by askingt 

Row o1d 1& the science of cryptology? 

Which cam.ttirat -- secret writing? 

or plain-text writing? 

The a.rt or vriting probably grew out of pictographs and its ~owth can be 

traced back to the davn at c1vilil!led man. Rebuses. 

4 l2 

- Example ot rebus (p.2) 

Cryptanalysis - and peychoe.nalyaia - in the ~ible. 

Nebuchadnezzar and his dream. Daniel, Chapter 2s 3,4,51 6,7,8,9,1s,u. 

-llr ' •+s μ .. •W· 'i WW 'lt:.i:U!,-4£' £J;::;sf!¥ "iiF \ W::.."':t':' -l' ':i"k!f.•l.JDZ CJ• t • c" iiA S LL a ! - 21f:"J* ~' 
l. 

2 

REF ID:A38523 

:Belshazzar - Danie1, Chapter 51 1-5,, 25.3m 

Read from :Bible - Daniel 

.--

(UPHARS,.:g.f 

MENE I MENE I TEKEL ( PER:Ji.5 

:Belshazzar and "The Handwriting on the Wall". 

Daniel. - The first cryptaoalyat (:B.C. 57~-569) 

The Second Psychoanalyst or interpreter ot dreams • Joseph was tirst. 

Instances of actual. cipher in the Bible: 

Jeremiah 25126 

511~1 

Scyte.J.e 

Some history tram British Manual ot Cryptography. 

Scyta.J.e - Siiartan Ephors send meseages to commanders in f'ield. Example from 

Grecian history. Greek e.t Court O'.t Persian King Darius--measage to colleague 

Aristagoras in Greece. 

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

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

Poi.yq\\)\s describes syatem used by Greeks--co-ordinate system--Letters divided 

into groups of :fiv.e and the number of f'ires 11 t in two separate pl.aces denoted the 

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:f" 

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group at letters and the position at the l.etter 1n that group. Fires as late as 

1746 in Italy to signal; code given to General the Marquis de Mirepoix in command 

mixed carps French, Spanish a.Dd Genoeee troops, still in existence. 

In Africa--beating at drums--onl.y chief's o'f tribes arid headman inif.iated. 

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

countries -- by Cartbagenians and Phoeniciana. Uised by Germans in Je7S-7l. and by 

British forces during S African Wat" 

The only systems known to have been employed between time c£ Ju1ius Caesar 

and the beginning at the l.6th Century are t'Wol 

1 i = • a. I e. s. 0. II u. :.1 

Th; t::wn csp.t •• l:tz d 

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

by the immediately f'ollowing consonant. 

Far many centuries af'ter Roman invasion l31•i tisb crypt almost entirel.y 

neglected, one reason being that the art ot secret writing vas long regarded as 

an invention of the Evil One. There are many instances of a"tudents of it being 

accused or sorcery, among whOlQ. rns.y be mentioned TrithemiutJ the Abbe of Spa.nheim ••• 

p. 6 - British Manual. C1£ Cryptography. ~ 

Viete ' - Then about him. P. 6 British Manual. 

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Correspondence between Court of' Spain Henri IV (1553-1610) aDd Chief's 

Anti-Royalists in France. 

RUliES on a atone in :f."ront of Gripsholm Castle near Stockholm. 

A.B •

1

Rune 11 - "a secret, e. myster." "Magic". 

Any of the characters of the al.phabet f'armerly in general. use by the Teutonic, 

ot Germanic, peop1ea from about the 3d Century A.D. 

:Blocked out portion .. _ another type ot ''Ruin" 

:Beginnings o"! ~~ cryptology can be traced back to the days ot the early 

years at tbe l.5th Century, when it wa.e extensively employed by the princes and 

cbancerf1es at the Pa:pal States. , 

For example, see this alphabet of l.4fi: 

J.i..10 

Cipher alphabet at 1401) 

24.5.2 

Trithemuis - 1518. 

Abbe at Spanbeim 

'rrithemian Os.th 

P.t-eaent oath Back up by P.L. 513 - nov USC 798. 

We administer a s:pecial oal:ih to everybody who comes into the field. 

lat alide - 242. 

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REF ID:A38523 

246 or ~ 

&liples of cipher alpha.bets and small syllabaries used centuries ago. 

l. 

2. 

246 3 4. 

3 5. 

6. 

7 

8. 

9. 

CharleL19.gne 1 s cipher (768-814) 

Cipher used in England during reign of Alfred the 

Great (871-961). 

Ogam. writing of ancient Eire 

Ogam-like alphabet of CbarJ.es I (1646) to Marquis 

of Worcester. 

Marquis of Worcester's 11Clock Cipher" 

Cardinal Wolsey, 1524, Vienna 

Sir Thomas Smith, Faris, 1563. 

Sir Thomas Chaloner, Madrid, J.561. 

Sir Edward Stafford, Madrid, 1586, 

J.:l 

Cipher alphabet in Sir Thomas More's Utopia, i.518. 

~ Facsimile at a cipher f'ound among the :Papers of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots 

(154-2-1587). 

3.6 

Cipher alphabet - Queen Mary Stuart and B!ehop of Glasgow, then her Ambassador or 

eolicitor in France, 1571 

iftding-card cipher. Facsim:Ue of one used in the late:r years of lil1zabeth*s 

reign (about 16,lf}. 

3_.8 

lfhe two-vard square cipher. State cipher used in Charles I 1 s time (1627) for 

communicating with France and Fl.anders (A co-ordinate system) 

~t o£ Duke o£ Bucld.ngham' s cipher used in 1627 for cOllllll.unicating vi th France. 

~ 

Iruiiierica.J. cipher used in reign of Cbarlei:s II (163'5-1685) between Prince Rupert and 

the Earl of Arlington~ Sec. State. 

~ign Of'f'ice Cipher during reign of George III (l.779) 

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• r ~' - - -.r ....., -- f .. !~ " .;_. ,. ~ f ... " 1. ....... t t ..... 

211 

Frontispiece or "The Babington Plot" by Alan Gordon Smith, London 1936. The cipher 

used by Ma.r7 Stuart Queen or Scots with Babington. (1542-1587) 

218 

Frentiepiece of "The Eo.bington Plot" b7 Smith. The Forged Po_!tscriJ?t, with 

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

postscript ) 

g 

Cipher used by Philip II or Spa.in (1527-1598) reigned i556 .. 98 (pp. lif2, 1S3)-

But monoa.lphabetic ciphers still ll.8ea today! 

H Gustav Rumrich spy case 

6 

i;orta•s table (1563) 

6.1 

Parta.•s tabJ.e aa it appears in an early Elizabethan State paper, 

f1genere Square as pictured in tbe ordinary literature. 

figenere Square aa V. describes it in his book (1586). 

1'54 

CIPb.ers uaed by Oo.J.1leo (15611..J.61~2) Italian astronomer and physicist. 

Ruyghens (1629-1695 Dutch mathematicians, physicist and astronomer 

P 9 - British Manual. 

One ~ the earliest instances or the advantage gained 1n the course ot military 

operations by the capture and subsequent solution of a. message sent by- the ene?l\Y 

took. pl.ace in l.626, Siege of Real.mont, a. town at Languedoc, then in possession ~ 

the Huguenots b'1t besieged by the King's troops under command of the Prince de Conde. 

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REF ID:A38523 

Latter about to raiee siege. Message intercepted. Rossignol reads. Ou.t 

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

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