.. , .. ..,. 

I.... o:.':c-1(. ,,_..L 

: .. ...... ""' .-•I ,., 

'. ' 

. - '. 

-, 

. _ 

..,, -..... __ .,. ---· 

,. ...... - .. , '> 

.· .... "' .. 

~- -. l!J &·-, ... '·• .. , ___ rr. .... _ - ..... _:..:-._-....,._ ~ ·its.·"'" ... -

"' "" _ .. # -·-

t"pproved for Release by NSA on 12-20-2013 pursuant to E. 0. 1352B 

... !.& #' ~ .. fli: ...... ~ ...... 

. z .. ,,. - .. .. : 
f • 

REF 

FRONT 

' \ 
The following cards represent the sequence arrl content 

of my lecture "The inf'luence o£ ceyptologic power on 

histoey, 11 given before the cadets of the Third Class, 

U.S. Military Academy, West Point, H.Y. on 28/29 Mq 19S2 

/jhe class was divided ,into two sections to accomodate 

seating capacity of' lecture roam, about J9J.7 The 

lecture took 80 minutes, with a S-m:inute break about 

midwq. 
THE INFLUENCE OF CRYPTOLOGIC POWER ON HISTORY. 

REF ID :A62878, ... 

------- Colonel Bessell, other members or the Faculty, and 

Cadets or the Third Cl~ss: 

OA1m 1 

This morning I'm going to tal.lc about cryptology, that 

is, the subjects or cr1Ptogra"Pb1', cryptanalysi.s, and a 

type of military intelligence now called conmunicati.ons 

intelligence 1 or OOMINT, tor mort. /Detlll.!/_ ID a way, 

we are iiiik1ng cadet history to-d~, 'l'or so. rar as I am 

aware this is the . very fl.rst ti.me lilen a lecture on these 

subjects has ever been given at the Academy. 

When the off'icial request that I give this talk was 

made, it was stated that: · 

"The purpose or this lecture is to sippl.emenro~> 
cad.ti course in Mat.hijmaticn Siat.ist.ics-, by lett.:ll)g 

the cadets hear an ~ ~<tUAEfl2r8f74a ted ·to an 

important military appll~a.tl.uu at ~tatistics. It is 

also intended,, as a by-product,, to enhance the cadets• 

appreciation ot security precautions in JJiilitar7 

communications. n 

Cryptology is, in the final anal.;ysis, imeed. an application of statistics, and,, when used for militar,v" purpose 

it can be importiant indeedl But the idea that it is a 

subject of importance was not always evident or· general.17 

accepted,, and to illustrate I will tell you a sto:ey I 

read some years ago in an old book on crypt.ograph7. The 

stor;y :maz be apogrmal,, but I tell it for what it is 

wrl.h. /Bemiramis 

- I'm now going to read you a paragraph or two from 

TIME MAGAZINE the is sue of 17 December 194.5 •e /Read 

1st 2-3 (CONTINUED ON CARD ! 
CAIW 

The account goes cB1U" tdP l,~iaj &Aau what the 

ns'1ior7" is. I hope I'll have t.ime to return to it a 0 

bit later. 

Wit.h this mtrod.uction, I th1nk wa•re ready to begin. 

But relax, gentlemen, rel.a.xi I do not illtand to bother 

you vi.th my mathematical demonstrations ot the statisti.cal met.beds or principles emplo78d in cryptology ~[!or 

I suppose you•ve had enough of that in the course in 

Probability and Statistics to do you tor som time to 

co•. Anyhow,lthat weuld be too dry a talk tor me as 

well as tor yo'ir.. I prefer to talk to you about aanething which I think is tar more interesting -- the 

backgrolllld of Cl)"J>tology, eapeciall.7 t.Hat part ot it . which will give you soma idea ot how cryptograph7 and 

(OVER) 
ci"yptana17sia have- betn used and mis-used in modern warfare am diplomacy, a~~l IBJJ.8 realize that 

the often startling -results which nn out.ained 1181"8 

derived b7 the application ot,..,_fl!Jm$· of ~the V8r.r i>rin~ · ~ ciples 70u were -taught and have studied in 70ur course 

10u•ve just completed. .It ma.1 be that it I show JOU 

only a very rev of the outstanding ard authentic vnpl e 

or such incidents in cryptologic historT you will cme 

to have a sufficient respect tor what C1"1Ptologic scienc 

can do tor or against you to remember tor a long tine 

after you enter upon your aetive milita17 career the .. lessons taught by those incidents. You mould remember· 

than beca\lse throughout 10ur active career as officers 

in various .positions in the military service, whether 

those positions are tactical or administrative in 

character, you will have the responsibility ot writing 

(CONTINUED ON CARD 3) 
CARD 3 

messages and doing theH11FcofDc;"tAblt8f/4a.rds tbe 

requiremnts- of secrec7. PerDa.ps _you will also some 

time be reBP,ODSible tor seeing to it tba:t the c011111Pm:icatiOD,B ot 10ur own cQDPIMUld or ot commands μnder your 

cognizance are secure, that is, that the7 von't be 

easil7 read b7 unauthorized persons or, 1D time of var, 

b7 tbe eneJQ'. Some ot JOU m.1' even :t'iDd )'Ourselves 1D 

positions where it will be 10Ul" job to supervise the 

-.king ot -our own cryptos3'Bte•, or o'f· breaking the 

eneJQ"'s. Bence, an appreciation of SOE of tbe pitfalls 

and achievements of cr;yptol087 will be useful to all or 

most of 1011, at least some time or otber 111 your 

militarJ' careers. , 'It would be nice if I were permitted to raise the G.4)~+"'l" (OVER) 
f'ull7 and tell 10\l~~ _ tM-;t:.y~tiD& secrets 

tbere are behind i~.1Jsut..L,+6U ~ 'trl ie11 as I cio 11 tbat I caa 't lift tl:le curtain entirely -- I can cml.y 

let 10U have a peek. 'lbe necessity for secrecy in 

the field I 'm going to talk about is so great tha"t 

in May 1950 Congress enacted speci~ legislation to 

give us tbe protection we need. The law ia known as 

P ublic Lav 513 and if' I should violate it by telling 

;you too Jmch, even though my talk has been off'iciall:J 

authorized and everibe>Q" here is present by proper 

authority, I coUJ.d be separated f'ral1 $10,000 if' I had 

that mch, or could ·0et1glven-tlie dub- - - - - . _1pe~ f!J7 .next 10 18&J"S as a guest of' one of Uncle 

5am1s 1iist1'tut1oas f'or the re-education of' crtl'!'Js 

or be given both treatments, ne1'tl'Jer of'v.ru 8JIJ.' 

(SE ATrACJim CARD) 
t ~ ,. 

anxious to try. ~paert\on jt;dioll31-7'81 to your 

seats in tbe expec~O!! ~_e~_:g ~ real hot ~ stuff'. 

( •> 
'the title of rq talk · ia ''Prm biolog tO 

crnrtoJ.o81: a t8V 'epiaoaliHn Ea :&Wii ti.if/ Ille Seduction 

ot a Co:rnellian aad its Aftemath. 0 

Ro c1oubt JOU vant to kllaw who seduced • to d.o vbat 

and what the atte:naath of the aeduCtion vaa, or ia. 

Pirat, let • 1181' that the seduction has to do 

w:lth a situation in wbich it cm.e about that a graduate 

student in the NJ College at Cornell who had chosen 

gen.etics as h1a area ot interest in the bio~cal. 

f1.el4 &ad vhoae stulliea therein •;ace&l such 

umilitN'Y ev:tel"Driaea as maft71ag pa:l.ra ot Droaopbila ~la \:frldt flies, to most of us), setting~ the mai"rie4 coupJ.e in a pleaaant houaekeep1rag 

sitmtion am watching the· 'Qpea and mmbera ot the 

-2-
I will 'befiin b7 reacli~ frail the 

17 Dec ·1945 ia&\Ut of ~ • fW& vaa at 

the time not Ollq dramatic in ita 1lapact but also 

devastating to our national aecur:l.tJ' because it 

told ot diacloBUl'ea about a hitherto ext:rmeq vellkept u.s. secret weapon of Worl4 War II, a weapon 

vhich ill the opinion ot top-level Congreaaional 

peraoaagea "contributed enomouaq to the defeat ot 

the erlelll71 great~ ahorteaed the var, and saved 111811¥ 

thoUS&Dda ot lives." 

Read frail UNI, P• 20. 

In a tev minutes I'll ccae back to this ato17, 

tor it ia one in which I had the Sood tortune to plq 

a directing role. 
resultant progerq-how-it c8lle about, in.rt, that such 

a atudent -got nixed 'Q BBeaiIDil$fiit!Yl87 o~ such 

aecreey that during Worl4 war II he vaa practicall.J' 

directed to have no dealings with hie rite vbo was in · an analogous llilitar,y activit7 in the R&VJ"--in tact, 

he was ini'erential 17 directed to sleep in a separate 

:rocn tor tear he would talk in his sleep and thus 

disclose AntT secrets to a Rav character--vhich 

wouldD •t d.o at all, tor at that juncture the mill tarJ' philo~ dictated that ADf¥ aecrets were ADq secrets, 

and Rav secrets vere Kav secrets, ~ never th.e 

twain abaJ.l meet at all. 

But let's get riSht down to the &toZ7 nav. It 

begins in • 1915~ I'd :received 1117 B.S. in February 

1914 and. sttqed Oil to pursue- work in the Graduate 

-3-
Scl:iool., loold.ag tovar4 rq d.ovtorate degree in genetica. · 

But a certain Co-eel :BiE-'Brpl&r Al&28 TMelice R1sl.97T--

ha4 set her a1gbta 'on ae and I •d decided 'that an ucXlua 

would be wiae ~re it vas too late. 

Bov 'b1' rare goad fortune the Dean o'f the Ag College 

had. Just receivecl a request :tnn a wealtq Chicagoq 

tor a J01U18 qualitiecl geneticist who might be interested 

in atartiq a genetics laboratorJ' on his tann or estate 

(callecl Riwrbank er the Riverbank Laboratories), about 

35 mil.es veat ot Cbieago. Dean Malm, I think it vaa, 

DClllinated ae tor the Job and. that• s how I cmm to work 

tor Colonel. (IC'elltuclq variety) George Pa'bJan, who bom 

a Boston Bralinin 'becmle the black sheep of his tmd.q • .., ti.rat talk with hDI about the Job, vbeD I asked. 

about his agricultural act1Yi.t1ea at Riverba.ak and 

- ~-
wanted. to Jaiov what he ra.illeid out on tb.8 · ta.na, . Coloiiel 

""FabJ&D i'eplied "I ~ID•t ¥aid' keel what part 

I was to ~ in these acti"V'1.ties and his ~ vaa 

characteristic: "Bell, I vant JOU to hel;p • raise it1 11 

I :prmiaed' to do 97 best. I clOIL 't think I cl1cl too 

bad.q. 

I left Itbaca, and doubtless a 'brokell-hearted. Co-ed.--

and went direct~ to Mverbaak after a couple months• 

tour or genetics laboratories in the Bast (at the 

Colollel • s a;penae). 'l'here at Riverbank I toWl4 a cou;p1e 

ot other acti'ri:tlea or a scienti:fic or qmai-acienti:fic 

nature. .AllloDg these 'VILB a division clevoted--ot all 

veil'd things, ao I tb.ougb.t at the time--to at~ing 

to Pl'O'ft 'b1'"iaeua or ~ tbat Prancia 'Bacon 

vaa the real author or the great pJ.qa attri'b11ted to 

Willi• Sbakeapeare. •5• . 
OOlonel J'a'b7an prOvided. • v:lth la'bora~- tac111 ties, 

greeuhouae space, ~ tH>~'IPdfS.i at\llies 

in genetics--aad ba.tchelor quarters in a villi mill. Jle 

gave ~ u abaoluteq tree hand in reapect to the pro 

I might VBDt to lltuQ--tbat is, except in the- case of 

one ep1acde which 11111' be of acme interest it -not amusement to tell. (soliins wild oats 'bJ' moonHght.) 

1'av in the 198.1' 1915 Ddi -av JOUD8 men just out of 

collep were attl.ueDt enough to own autdlobiles, aid 

I was.no exception in this reg&l'd. RiTerbank vaa 35 

miles trm the bis ci 't7, Chicaso, aid several miles 

trm the nearest tow'rl. So I 8tlQ'ed pretv close to 

hcllle. Col. J'a'b7an saw to it, though, that time voul4 · 

D0t hand. too heariq OD rq hand.a, 'bJ' getting - interested in the cipher vork of his YeZ7 old but still 

-6-
veri abl.e pi'otoge, · Mrli: lliu.beth Wells' GiU.up, ~who vas 

in charge -ot the BacoD-mRJlaD~ ~f/,S Getting 

• interested in crnrtosraiaiv waa tile first step in IQ' 

aeductim. I tell JHml tor the aub.1ect am. bepn 

stu4Jing it in IV leiaure hours. I even began bel;ping 

Colone.l ll'ab;,yan and Mr's. Gallv;p 'b7 making certain dravings and exhibits which later on plagued • no end. 

'l'heae were extead.ed. to illustrate points abou1; the cipher 

qstm which Praacis Bacon had. invented. am. described. 

in his aclmovlaclgecl works and which 001. Pab;,yan amf 

Mrs. Gal 1~ ftmq believed. vaa ilDbeaded in the plqa 

in the tom ot secret •saaaes tell.1ng tall stories 

that were CC!llQ)leteq at var:Lance with biator,y aa recorded in the hiato17 books• 

We'll. aov leave this pbaae at m;, talk tor a few 

minutes while I de'Vote .~ t1ae to telling 1011 a bit 
about vhat I learned ot the hiator,r ot crnto~. 'l'be 

aub.1ect is ver.1 ~ila.lD.t: ~2tiLibrate its ... b7 

a stor.1 which ~ be a ~t ..,ar.vpbal.. 

Saairamis 

I clal'e&Q, in npzd. to the )01nt about when 

crntograpl:q' waa ftrat used, aa 1D the case at the 

hell alJd. the eg, that DO~ nalq kDovS which caae 

first, intell1gl.bl.e writing or secret writing, that ia 

writing to ammnmicate acaetbing to ame~ or vr1t1ns 

to hide ever./th1ag trm ~ except a fev coga.oaceatil, aa vaa true 1a. the case· of Bgpt1an hierogqpbic writing •. 

So let's DOV go in tor a bit of the h1aj;o17 ot 

crnt;ol,og, which ia the elngl.e tam that •braces both 

-8-
crntosz'&Ph1' (define) am ~· (define). REF ID:A62878 

-9-
Sttfi£ 1 

- RE"" ID: A6287R - Instances of cipher in thg :Biblvi J9:-;.;iah 2°•26 and 

Sl:4l (circa 6SO B.c.) 

lfncidentally -- Daniel wa-s ear:Qr psychoanalyst 

(Nebuchadnezzar's dreams) and first cryptanalyst. 

(Belshazzar and the handwriting on ttre banquet-hall 

wall.JI 

Mane - God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished. it. 

Tekel - Thou art weighed 'in the balances and found 

wanting. 

Upharsilij Thy' kingdmn shall be di'd.aed and given to · Peres ) the Medea and Persians. 

@ -10- (OVER) 
But I want to call H2'F ~~~A&?'\Y"7bbe fact that 

the USe 0,. ~toinosrnh- ---- .... __ ,. ;.;::.":::\: J .. ~'-er than .&. -- rt1 r D- ...,,.. AJ fiVlllilllliiill l.ICl.'-A &l&""""aa .a. ~I.di 

6$0 B. C. - it was used even by the ancient Egyptians. 

IJ;KPlai~ . 

-ll-
REF ID : A62 8 7.i8IDE 2 

The scytale of the ancient Lacedaemonians - an example of a transposition cipher. 

(Origin of European Field Marshal's baton -

one of the insignia of his high off~ce.) 

Caesar's Cipher 

-12-
....

---- --

Examples of cipher Jl,Uetl~!J.er.r:5 fl ' s7llabaries used centuries ago: 

l. Bmplo19d by Cbarlenagoe (768-814~.A.D.) · 

2. Used 1D England during reign ot Altred (871.-899 

3. Ogam vri ting of ancient Ireland 

4. Ogam-like alphabet used by Charles I, 16116 

to Marquis of Worcester. 

5. Marquis of Worcester 'a cipher (the so-called 

"Clock Cipher") 

Cardinal. Wolsey, Vienna, 1524 '&il-~~-::.:Slr !hos. Smith, Paris, 1563 

Sir '!hos. Chaloner, Madrid, 1561 

Sir Bdv. Stattorcl, Madrid, 1586 

-13-
REF ID : A62 8 7 ft«JJB I 
REF ID:A6~ An early Italian .cipher alpbabet (llf.ol.) f'ro1ll Mu.trite). 

C'Beg1DD1.llgs of modern ceyptograi>h1' were in Venice, 

1D the Papal States, about l.ltoo. Earliest MSS 

of Gabriel Lavincle (1380? J7 · 

/jicco Simonetta - earliest treatise on crn-tanal 111ia - or cryptograph;y in the world (1474)] 

!Use of VSZ'iants indicates also acme lmovledge of - principles of solll'tion by frequency of occvrrencP:J:/ 

-14-
r~ alic1e;l (Tz:11Pmiua 24iila.adf SI.DB 15V 

I.: RB\:E" p.t.arlP1~62 8'718 L oa""" :I 

245'-TR1'5BMIOS - Earliest book, 1516 on cryptography 

(SBGAROGRAPBIA) 

MBIS'ilm sqa 'l. plumed 4 books; 'f. tinished first on 

March 27, 1500; aecoad cm April 20 same ;,ear. 

"Darm war er bekamltlich 1n den Verdacht d.er Zauberei 

geraten, uDd. ao hatte er die Arbeit mit dea dritten 

Buch abgebrochen, das Kein 'lermiD dea Abschlusses 

mehr angibt ••• " 

-15-
REF ID : A62 BSJ.P ii 

Porta!.s Table, :f'rom his book, De turti vis literarum 

notia, vul.go de ziteria, laples, 1563 

CBeapolitaa •tbe•t1c1an, inventor ot camera obat:m.i,.J 

LBarliest solver ot ke19d mul. tiple-al.pbabeta accordiDg 

to Mendelsohn, but I think Alberti did 1 t tirst,..-

WFJ 

® -J..6-
REF ID:A62878 5 

\ 

The VigeQere Table as it usuall7 

appears in tbe literature 

-11-
. ,. h SLilB 5.1 , REF ID:A6287~ 

The Vigenere table as it appears iD iige1111re's OWl1 book, 

'rraicte des chittres, ou secretes manieres d'escrire", 

Paris, 1586. -

f!_igenere did not invent the square, and ne~r clai•d 

~ did - - first one to publish it. Was probabl7 

invented by A1berti or som earl.1 cryptographers 

employed by Papal States. Bellaso first suggested 

ke71J ' 

(Will jump directly to C & C of AEr1can Revolutionary 

period.) · 

-18-
Ciphers 

Codes 

Americans:- Br1tish:-

(a.S1mple momoalpb.sub. (a.MonoaJ.pbabetic sub 

(b.Moaoalph.with variants (b. Vigemre with re-

( b7 use o:f' long ke7 ( peating ke7 

( sentence a la Franklin( c .Grilles · (c.Vigenere with repeating 

ke7 

'(a.Dictioaaries 

(b.KeJ'book using words 

(c.S7llabaries 

(Secret inks 

lGrilles 

-19-

(a: Dictrlcmaries · 

( l)Entick 's 2~Bailey 's 

(b.Small alph.l-part 

cod.ea of' 600-700 

(OVER) 
( items & code names 

- REF II(1~A162lil8 such as 

( Blackstone - page 

( lille, no. of words 

( in line. 

British used code names.. ID Clinton Papers following 

are found: 

American Generals - Apostles (Wash:1Dgton ~= J&Es 

(Sullivan 5 Matthew 

Philadelphia - Jerusalem 

Detroit : Alexandria 

Delaware .:.- Red Sea 

t:~uehamla • Jordan 

ans a Pharisees 

Congress -=:· Synagogue ,. •r 

- .. . -20- ' 
stIDM 6.41} .6.S] 

REF ID:A62878 \~ See nm:.t card fer -t-aAt.. 

Benedict Amold - "James Moore, F.d.ward Fox, Gustavus" 

Major Andre - "Josept1 Anlrwa, John Anderso:nn 

------- Arnold, disgruntled 111. th injustices of Congress, starts 

ott anoll1Jll.OUS correspondence, giving info:nnation showing 

he is well-placed. Arnold gets command ot West Point. 

They used secret inks; Bailey• s dictionary; word cipher 

with wrds out of Blackstone and songbooksJ grilles; 

slips or pa.per enclosed. in specially constrllcted. hollow 

bullets. Ard.ri captured Sep 1780, writes out f'ull confession am was hanged. Arnold barely escaped to British 

lines (peculiar part ot Amold•s treason). 

~-
SLlIE 6.4 

REF ID:A62'8'78 

One of the cipher letters sent by Benedict Arllald to 

Sir Henry Clinton: - 15 July l 78o 

"If I pouit out a plan of cooperation by which (Sir) 

B(enry) (Clinton) shall possess himself of West 

Paint, the garrison, etc. etc. , twnty tbmlsand 

pounds of Sterling I think w1ll be a cheap purchase 

for au obJect of so mu.ch importance." 

(For full text see tJPewritten sbeet accompanying 

plate 6.5) 

-22-
SLIDE 6.6 

REF ID:A62878 

Treason against Washington 

.Arnol.d lays a trap"' for Washington. 

-23-
I 

' 

REF ID : A62 ~:-9¥f 
LOVELL, James SLIDE 231 

REF ID:A62878 

Congress' cipher expert who managed to decipher 

nearly all, if not all, of British code messages intercepted by the Americans." 

Philada. Sep. 21,1780 

Sir: 

You once sent some papers to Congress which no one 

about you could decypber. Should such be the case w1 th 

some you have lately forwarded I presume that the result 

of my pains, herewith sent, will be usetul to you. I 

took the papers out of Congress, and I do not think it 

necessary to let it be known here what my success bas bben in 'the attempt. For it appears to me that the 

-25- (OVER) 
Enemy ma~ ( Qnly such cha.nges in their Cn_her when they 

meet with misfortune l?':giii ~ Ai~t~ce in position 

only to the ~eme alphabetJ and therefore if no talk of' 

Discovery if made by me here 'or by your Family you may 

be in chance to draw Benefit this canq>aign from 1DY' last - Night's watching. 

I am Sir with much respect 

-26-

Your Friend 

James Lovell 

(TBE Em>) 
, SLIDE 6.31 

REF ID:A62878 

Extract from encoding section, Jefferson syllabary. 

-~-
LECTURE ~·.3 REF ID : A62'®!!.tIDE ea 

'?be syllabary used by Thomas Jef'f'erson (Extract from decoding section) 

that all 'round genius also may be regarded as 

being the first American in~ntor of cryptographic devices -- as will be discussed later.£:. 

-aB-
SLIDE 6.10 

REF ID:A62878 

Dlandol frontispiece (a cryptographer at work)( 1793 

Bis assistant -- early model WAF (WAC) (WAVE) 

-29-
REF ID :A62 ~4.o 

Chmqpoll1cm, Jean Francois 

L'"Besida himself (when he had discayered the secret 

of the cartouches) Champollion left the apartment 

where he lived1 ••• and ran to the library of the 

.Institute where his brother was working. "I did it" 

he sbouted1 tbrow1ng some sheets of paper on the 

table 1 and tell into an apathy which was to last 

five long days." -- I know how it feels but it 

never lasted five days with me~-wnJ 

-30-
REF ID:A62878 

Egyptian Hierogl"yphs - Solution of 

Champollion - 1821 

. 

-31-
LECTURE 

The Rosetta Stone 

FOR SLIDE 4.n 

REF ID:A62878 

["Norbert Weiner in Cybernetics calls decipherment 

of Egyptian hieroglyphics the greatest achievement I in cryptanal.ytics. Champollion's first decipherments in 1821.. :l · 

-32-
For SLIDE la.. 2 

REF ID:A62878 

CUtouchea f:ran the Rosetta stone and the Obelish 

:f)'all Pbilae. 

f!.ihe two top ones thought -tP.. represent Pl'OLEMr. The 

bottan one was suspected to represent CLEOPATBA. lote 

the 1'9Peated SJDlbol (bird) for the two A' a in 

CJNJP!1R!.J 

-33· 
REF ID:A62878 

Top cartoucbe - which is tbe middle one of preceding 

q,lide - suspected to represent PrOLEMY. 

Middle cartouche - which is the bottom one of preceding 

slide - s~cted to represent CLEOPATRA 

Bottom cartouche - the letters and unknowns of KL ???? 

-34-
.. REF ID:A62878 

952 

Cr1Ptology - History 
REF ID: A62878 4.4 

Pl'OLEMr and CLEOPATRA 

-35-
REF ID: A62B7B 4.5 

-36-
I ' • 

931 REF ID:A62878 

• 

The Friedman 

Collection 
LECTURE REF ID :~Ms 6 

Cryptographic hieroglyphics from DriotoD 

J:"Refer to confirmatory evidence of early 

invention of cryptography -- with writing 

itselt.J 

-37-
4 

REF ID:A62878 

Tbe Michigan Cryptographic Papyrus 

-38-
922 ~ .. +ID7A62878 Fane Philip S. , .... __ -~r~ 

tings of Thomas J Rev 

J pp. 816. 

American revoluti""'"'"_.., 

cr1Ptology o 

Revolution, ican 

British ~logy in 

Amei;ican Revolution 

/" 
. . ~ 

.AP"lER SLIIB 4 REF ID:A6Z8-;sEdga.r Allan Poe in the 1840 1

s rekiildl.ed interest 

in cryptography by his story ''The Gold Bug" and 

a couple of essays and stories on ciphers and 

deciphering. 

-39-
SLIDE 7 

REF ID:A62878 Cipher device used by t~ Cc:lfad.arata Ar:::y, during the 

Civil·War. Captured at Mobile in 1865. 

{"Nothing but the old Vige~re cipher with repeating 

key. Many messages intercepted and deciphered by 

Federals 1 who had a f'ew skilled operators. Ads in 

Richmond papers for persons skilled in deciphering 

shows "the Confederates lacking • ..l 

-4o-
1

, -REF ID : A62 8 "fJj!D!i · 9 

FEderal Army Route Cipher 

{Complete set with me - invite ' Ls to see exhibits). 

-41-
REF ID : A6zM lO 

Example of a message in Federal Army Route Cipher -

a message to Grant from Geheral Halleck in Washington.' ... 

-42-
REF ID:A~! Cryptographic message supposed to have been sent by 

President Lincoln to General Burnside 

- J:Reeii backwards: •tif' I should be in 'a boat off Aquia 

Creek at dark tomorrow, Wednesday evening, could you 

without inconvenience meet me and_J>ass an hour or 

two with me (Signed) A. Lincoln_/ 

J:Possible explanation of Pres. distrust of' Fed. 

systems since he was getting decrypts._l 

-Ja.3-
SLIDES 214 & 215 

REF ID:A62878 

Period of decline after Civil ~a.i' 

War Department Code of 1885 - copied from Slater 's 

Tele.graphic Code of 1870. 

This code was used in the Spanish-American War - 1885 code with simple additive_:"l11 :· 
.157 , REF J:D: A62878 

we' caae now to 1914 -- and the outbreak ot 

World War I, in Europe in August.. Although- for 

moat Americana that war was 3,000 miles across the 

ocean, there were a very tew Americana who were 

astute enough to try to take a glimpse ot that which 

could or might happen in .the not too distant tuture. 

One such .American was Colonel George ~~. ray 

employer. 

-i.5-
REF ID:A6287WR" LID~l~ 

Colonel George Fabyan 

How I came to be a cryptologist - Riverbank Laboratories 

Departments of Genetics, Ciphers, Acoustics 

World War I in progress since 1914. u. s. position. 

Fabyan's foreaignt - u.s. had no cr;vptologic bureau. 

He foresaw it voul4 be necesa&17 to bave people 

trained tor cryptologic work on foreign canmun1cat1oni 

and he established contact with Government Departmenta. 

(J.) tor ceyptana.J,ytic operations. (Amy, Rav, State, 

Justice, 'rre&SU27) (2) School tor officer training -- Amy and Rav, but mostq Amy. 

-45.1-
REF ID :A62878 159 

Colonel Fabyan makes contact vi th Captain J. o. 

Mauborpe, then an instructor at the. *'5ignal: 1 Corps 

SChool at Ft. Leavenworth. Here's a picture of 

Mauborgne taken almost 30 years later--when he was 

Major General, Chief Signal Officer ot the kaq. 

-1&6-
REF ID : A62~fIDE 159 

Major General J. O. Mauborgne 

['l. As Ma.Jar in 1920 bead of Research and Engineering 

Division of OCSIGO, gave real impetus to R&D in crypto 

graphic field. 

2. His contact w1 th Riverbank. brings knowledge of 

Hitt's device and he got some ideas as to alphabets 

and form. 

3. Be bas some test messages set up in his alphabets. J 

-lt.7-
J'OR SLIDB 2l3 

REF ID:A62878 

Mauborgne •a paaphl.et on solution of PJ.a.yta1r cipber 

Q'stm. 

It vaa to Mauborgne that COlonel l'&bJaD vent tor 

gu;ld•nce and aaaiatance in. hia desire to establish a 

laborato17 or bureau tor the atwq of m111taq 

crrptol.ogy. 

..li&-
160 

REF ID :A62878 .. Another .I.marl.can. Arlq otncer whose interest· 

1u cr;ypto1.oSJ'exerc1sed a ve-q 1Qortant effect \GIOD 

us at R:l.verbank was 

captain Park.er Hitt, DU'. 

We begin serious at~ of 11111 'tal7 cf'Jptolog 

using aa our principal text Hitt• a Manual tor the 

Solution ot Mllita.ry Ciphers. 
212 

REF ID:A62878 

Title page of ''Manual. f'or tbe solution of military 

cipebers" by Parker Bi tt, 1916 

-50-
Thia vaa the lieColld act in the ato17 ot s:t · seduction. I began pu.tRgf inlllii.1'&2 ~rl itqtag 

ciphera--3/4 t:lllle in s:t genetics laborator;y. 

i'he thil'd. aat vaa when close study together and 

daiq--aoat of the time, aoon. hourll•-contact brought 

me to aee the virtues aid beauteous characteristics of 

the JOUDa la47 vho was at~ the head. of the grou;p -~ag 

Bacon-shakespeare cr,,ptograa. (She'd arrived at Rherballk exa.ctl1' one :year after me; ve were married e:xac~ 

one ;rear thereafter: 'D1e title of sq talk had a subtitle in which there is mention of an a.:ttemath of rq 

seduction trm. biolo!I' to crJPt;olo81; one ot the most 

11Qortant 11a.tte:matha ' ia here vi th us tonight--our aon 

John (vhoae middle nmne is !8:i:'.:a.tter the we ot his 

godfather, Bamaq Spillman), so a Cornew.an, claaa 

ot 1950. stand up, John, and take a bow. 
John ia a member of the Bell Telephone Laboratories 

and ia cloing ame 1nte~D6I~'flf6Pe·t;e vq ot --'-"n• 

~- A.----+·- ...,, , ___ ,. - __ .. __ ,. .. ..,,_ ""~""-ft·ter1 '""°uun:n.i._,, ,,...,.&IUD"'"" 11r ..._.i.vuv ...... .i.~ __.._ • 

There ia another "afte:math" -- a ve17 Dice JOUD8 

wman, our daughter Barbara, Radclltte Graduate anc1 ,-

vite ot a graduate electronics engineer and. graduate 

research ~sician at the Rational Institutes of Mental 

Health, who cambinea both sciences 111 his studies ot 

the electronics ot the brain aDll the nervous syat• • 

.. 

-514-
- We assist the Bri~Inl~cB !lnSthe case 

of the Hindu Conspiracy, i.916-17. 

SLiDE 33 

One of the ciphers used b.Y the Hindu conspirators - 1916-17. 

SLIDE 34 

So1ution of the Hindu letter. 

-52-
REF ID:A62Bi!If! 28 

The Zimmerman telegram 

f:'DJe telegram which brought American into the·, war 

on the Allied side, World War I. Many reasons for 

thinking we-might go in on the side of the Germans 

and had they been more.astute di~lamatical.ly, it 

might have turned out that way!J 

WA-t...T~ll eROf'IKH' TE " ' II 's }ov AfUf 1HE:RJr . ~'f"5(°a."M. 

o~ ~e -z,Mt'll;.R>!llNN \ELE6-lll.A~ • 

-53-
• 

The Zimmerman tlegr~ ~! 81/ ~ British 

Room 40 O.B. 

"Bt!re is a translation of the thing. It was important because the message said the Germans were goins to 

resume unrestricted submarine warfare and this part, 

here, dealing vi th Mexico, was the straw that broke the 

camel •a back. People in the Middle West were very 

lukewarm. toward the idea of our 'Setting into the War - on either side - but when the Germans began talkiD@j . a:"t>out returnins to Mexico, Texas, New Mexico and 

·A:i!°izona, there was something else age.ins. so we got 

into the war within a couple of weeks ar;ter the British 

~ -54- (OVER 
gave us and established the a~th.e..Pt~1-ti ef the 

''The Zimmermann TeiR" _ID . Ab2 B 7 8 lllliiiiil""'-- -

(How the Zimmerman telegram was deciphered makes a 

fascinating story in itself .and shows how astute use 

was made by the British 9f this telegram. German 

amazement and embarrassment. Question of rrpy work 

etc. in Mexico. British covered iip the trail 

excellently~ ) 
LECTURE NOOE REF ID : A62 Bff- SLIDE 2

2 

The Waberski cryptogram 

"Now I am coming to a very interesting example ot the 

use ot ciphers by German agents in the World WAr I 

period. Here is a cipher message which was found on 

a German spy in the United States soon after he crossed · the MeBican border into Texas. After some, weeks :Lt 

was deciphered by G-2's code-solving organization in 

Washingtonm Ml-81 as it was called. · , ... 

'D!xt on next card 

•. -55-
The Waberski message. 

F<B SLIDE 25.1 

REF ID:A62878 

Here is the deciphered German text, and this is 

vbat it said: "To the Imperial Consular officials 

of the Republic of Mexico. Strictly secret,.! The 

bearer or this is a subject of the Empire who 

travels as a Russian under the name of Pablo Waberski • He is a German agent. " And so f'o:rth. The 

Court sentenced him to be shot; President Wilson 

commuted the sentence to lite imprisomnent; and he 

was out of the pokey af'ter only one year!" 

-55.1-
SLIDE 82 

REF ID:A62878 

One of the classes of student officers at the 

Riverbank School of Cryptography, 1917-18. 

t:9Got so immersed in crypt I used it everywhere possible - cipher suppers etc. J 

® -56-

.. 
I.ECTURE REF ID:A62~ ;..., ltC.'f 

Original Wheatstone cipher device ( inventedA and 

described in 1879). 

LFirst improvement on the Alberti dd.sk .. J· 

-57-
REF ID : A62 8 ~§' 

Modified Wheatstone 

-58-
REF ID:A62878 

I go overseas to G-2, A-6, GHQ 

~ortance of invention and development of radio 

in C()Dlllllmications, especially military. 

-59-
I was natural.ly quite inquisitive about the various 

codes and ciphers uaerR¥ouila~Bliil by our 

allies, as well as in thoae used bJ' our adversaries, 

princi~, of course, the Gennans. I found that we 

Americans were woe~ unprepared. 

The principal code used tor Az:lq cnarrnnications, 

including highest camnand., was the War Department 

Telegraph Code ot 1915. 

-6o-
REF ID : A62 B iB 216- -

Title page ot War Department Telegraph Code of 1915. 

The Br1 tish varn us against its inaecur1t7--even 

when super-ea.ciphered·-and hence there is a clear 

implication that the7 had been reading our messages, 

Anq at least :tor sure. Ma.Jbe state and 1'&'YJ'1 too: 

-61-
LECTURE NOTE FOR SLIDE 12 

REF ID:A62878 

Transposition cipher system used by the French Army , in World War I. Copied from a German book on cryptography (Figl) and correct. 

-62-
LECTURE NarE REF ID:A6287b SLIDE 13 

Cipher system used by the Italian Arm:! in World War 

I. A simple numerical. equivalent of the Vigenere 

table and S19tem. 
SLIDE ~j 

REF ID:A62878 

The Playfair Cipher -

["'rhis cipher was used by the British and Americans 

and was thought to be "hot stuff" in .. 1914. Solution 

was described ln Mauborgne 's "An advanced problem 

1D ceyptography. 

Cipher allegedly invented by Pl.ayf'air, but he did not 

do it -- rather Wheatstone. Wheatstone is credited 

with having invented the electrical bridge, but he 

did not do it - rather Christy.J 

-64-
REF ID : A62 ~lfE 14 

The German ADFGVX cipher sJ&tem, used by- the German 

High Command during World War I. 

/:First new system used by them. Invented by- putting 

together two well-known steps.J 

-65-
sum: ll 

REF ID:A62878 

Cipher system used b;y t.be Ru&i:iiau& iD iiorld War I 

(from a book by the Austrain cryptologist, Andreas 

F!igl) 

J:Mi.suse of this cryptogrJq>hic system (or failure to 

use) cost the Russians defeat at Tamlenberg r:1 

lq>ortance of that defeat 

Russo-Finnish War 1940 

-66-
-------------------------------------

~ ---.r \-o ~ --~~ 16 

An example of a commercialucode l~~ 

["Call attention to 2-letter difference. All kinds, 

suited and specially constructed for general or 

specific businesses and industries~ such as leather, 

steel, automotive, shipping, etc . .J 

-67-
LECTURE FOR SLIDE 17 

REF ID:A62878 

Chinese official telegraphic code r-----.... .,.. ______ ,,,, 

-68-

Pack of running 

doos - "destruction" 
REF ID : A6~~IJJE 18 

A highly specialized "commercial. code" 

/:"Call attention to 3-letter difference: 

YGATA - CCICA 

mKRO - Delirium TREMENS 

YGCm .. CONSTll'ATIOR 

YGMAN - DIARRHEA 

1 -69-
( SLIDES 19-22 'REF rID :'"A6'2878 '•J ,,.. 

Prior "to Werld War I and, in fact, for the i'irst ~wo 

years of' World War I code was thought to be iq>ractical 

f'or military f'ield or tactical use. But · the Germans 

began to use code late in 1916 and the Allies followed 

suit. Question of reproduction then as it is t~. 

!la-Field codes in WW I - will show only one example in 

slides -- the German t-ne of KRUSA code. Exhibits 

can be examined later. 

-10-
SLIDE ""' REF ID : A62 8 7 8 -c:O 

One of th e German Army Field Codes, World War I 

KRU 

KRUS 

KRUSA 

676 x 3 1928 (1) 

~(2) 

~ 

676 

32S6 (3) 

LExhibits o:f' all these with ms.-:J.. 

-71-
LEC'l'URE NOJ.'B REF ID : A6lfJ tDB 19 

Two-part tactical code used by French A:rmy 1n World' 

War I. The code groups were then enciphered! 

-72-
LECTURE FOR SLIDE 22 

REF ID:A62878 

British Army Field Code, World War I 

["A two-step process. How ve got copy -- Relations 

with British wre not close. For that mtter, 

relation with French in these mtters were not 

too close either-. Bow we learned of ground inter- cept.J . 

-73-
REF ID:A62878 

An early AEF Code in world War 1 

SLIDE 21 

LAn indication of' h&w poorly prepared we were 

for C<JEEC • .l.. 
REF ID : A62 8 Mt SLIDE U. 

One of the Americ;.an field codes, World War I 

/.BJ.ver series for the First .Anqy; Lake Series tor 

the Second A.ra,,] 

-75-
SLDE 14.1 

REF ID:A62878 

"Special Code Section Report" b7 G-2, .A-6, GHQ, AEF 

20 lfov 1918. 

["A crypt ''bulletin" from the ADFGVX cipher. This 

forms a good example of Special Intellipnce in World 

War I.J 

-76-
IBCTURE FOR SLIDE 133 

REF ID:A62878 

Back in Washington - MI-8 was working. 

Officers of M.I.-8 in World War I 

["Point out Manly who solved the Waberski telegram. 

Practically all professors at universities -- shows 

that ideas as to caliber of' intellect required were 

good and recognition of' fact tbat no poet f'rom 

which to draw trained ~'personnel because there is 

no civilian occupational specialty of tbe same 

nature._/ 

-77-
REF ID:A62878 

Yardley and THE AMERICAN BLACK CBAMBER. 

'l'he demise of the ABC in 1929. 

I take over trm. Yardl.87 8Dd establish SIS. 

-78-
REF ID :A62tl®S!JD1 ;n 

A complicated cryptographic system used qy rum runners 

during Prohibition &qs. 

Jira. Fr1edmn1s work in the Treasury and Coast Guard. 

Sto1'7 re 9Advise Andrewls wife send Andrew spare glass 

qe. 19 "You must have found that rumm;y all qy your• 

self. Lat me smell 70Ul' breath11 • Next dq - apology 

and explanantion.J 

-79-
REF ID:A62878 

ESf and The Gol'don Lim ease. 

-80-
REF ID : A62 Blffi SLIDE iJi.9 

1'be s.1.s. atatt in 1935· 

1. (call attention to the vault door - when ve worked 

in great secrecy.) 

2. We stwJ7 all kinds of cipher aach1.nes and I invent 

same. 

-81-
REF ID:A62878 

A cipher machine of the 1920-30's period -

THE KR!BA. 

-82-
REF ID :A62878 55 

'l'he treatise on the mHA shoving hOv many pe:mutat1ona and ccnbinat1ona it atto:rd. 

-83-
REF ID:A62878 

Ge:naan Amed Forces cipher machine of World 

War II - A mocl1f'1cat1on ot THE ENIGMA 

-84-
REF ID:A62878 

A printing model of the EIIGMA - never 

satisfactory. 

-85-
REF ID:A62878 147 

Geman tel.epr.LDter ciphering machine. 

-86-
REF ID:A62878 26o 

!he HAGELDf CX-52 machine. 

-87-
REF ID:A62878 

But moctern ~m:11 ans elec'tricBl, high-speed, 

printing -- to su1 t the needs of modern high-speed 

electricl CCllllllUllicat1ons on a world-wide basis. 

STOP 

Read next card before shoving next slide. 
It would be nic~cilt~mm=r.Rop#>le tor me 

to raise the secreC7 e-.:..:£..&:!: =ire~~ -£han I already 

have, and tell JOU all about certain of the fascinating 

cr,yptologlc ex;pl.oi ts and episodes of WW I and W II, 

with those of the intervening years, too. But 1011 are 

certainly well aware of the liJn1 tations and restrictions 

which all goverm.ents, and ours included most certa.inl.¥ 

iJlllose on work and activities and results obtained in 

this field. 

Soon after V-J Day President Truman issued a 

memoram.1111. which had the effect of an Executive Order. 

Here it is 

-89-
REF ID:A62878 

The Truman Executive 

Memorandum ot 28 August 1945 

-90-
The :lmediate or short-tem~se· ot this 

memorandum was to s~itt):Pt:19M~,Bd1sclosures 

ot a crnrtologic import which were being called for by 

certain vocifel'OUS members of Congress who wanted to 

look into the Pearl Barbor disaster and t17 to find 

what akulldugger,y had been buried by the Democratic 

Administra.tion--even by the Jtm1dent, the Chief's of' the 

Amq, Ravy, etc. But I'm sorq to sq it didn't work 

at all well, as intended. 

There were if JOU will recall a number of investigations into the Attack on Pearl Harbor, culminating 

in a long and ex;pensive Joint Congressional Investigation 

which put out a 40-volme report on the subJect. I'll 

read an extract or two f'rca the main report itself. 

Read frail P.H. Repo~ .va.rious pages. 
REF ID:A62878 229 

MARSH.AU. - D!.Wf LE'l':rERS 

(Read fran.) 

-92-
REF ID:A62878 

Collange, Gabriel de 

SLIDE 169 

(Bis photo matches the mental picture the average 

;t.ayman has of' a cryptanalyst.) 

The veil of' secrecy has produced an air of' mntery;; 

Bf'tore the World War II, it was possible to do much 

processing merely vi th pencil and paper. Mow cryptanalytic work is a very big business -- complex, 

expensive, but pays big dividends. 

-93-
IECTURE N<n'E FOR SLIDE 131 REF ID:A62878 

Cryptanalysis of modern systems bas been facilitiated 

by the invention1 development 1 and application of 

special cryptanalytic aids by ways of machines. The 

nature of the problem - not merely the number of 

permutations and combinations but the tn>e is more 

important -- question of testing out multiplicity of 

assumptions and hypotheses, comQnJy by statistical. 

methods. 

High-speed tellting is secret: 

-94-
The secrecy ban :SEPE g!D.t At6idi7l1Bld that 

even our recent:cy published book The Sbake~ 

Ciphers· Examined had to be sullllitted by me~ arance 

by the authorities in the Pentagon. .And even now I'• 

vaiting--and have been waiting since last lfovaaber--

to have the answer to a question I ra.ised about 

reprinting in a non-classified journal 8Cll1e tJliings I 

wrote over 25 years ago, SCllle of them BIJ1hov; aDd aa 

tor writing for scientific journals such as the 

Scientific American, their request that I do a l.engtq 

piece tor them. to be published at the end of 1958 or 

ear:cy in 1959 is still under consideration by the 

authorities. Secrecy is necessary of course, but I 

wonder if that much ia real:cy nece•8&1"7• 

-95-
I think it advi~:EboJQ,: A§~ ~re here. 

It is pe:miss1ble to 8111' that: modem crntology 

is important and big busineaa--it coats a great deal! 

Ro longer is the picture the average lqman has ot the 

c~at valid. 

242 

Section 798 ot title 50, USC 

-96-
Thus f'ar we have dealt with writings which fall :l.n 

a category that El" be ~Ti b!N)~~at;erms as 

writings in which the large ma.joriv or :people see no 

secret or hidden messages J only a small minority claim to 

see or find cryptic texts in them. In these cases we 

JllB1' say that "no:nnal n people don't see or can• t find 

cryptograms in those books; those who sar the7 do see and 

f'.l.nd such hidden texts are -- well.J let's be fair and 

merely' designate them as -- people with certain 

idiosyncrasies. Let's not sq thq1 re 0 abnom.al11 or 

11subnonnaJ..• Let's never forget that it was once "normal 

to think that the earth is tlatJ 11abnormal11 to think it 

round. 

With tm.s prefator.r remark I think it 'Wl.11 be 

interesting to take a brief look at another categozy of 

-AS-- i,-
il c4&«01'~ writings.,l\W.:teh has ~~~are have been 

discussing. Here I zef'er tu the oat.egul7 of writings 

of certain authors who claim their work is in plain 

text· and is perfectly intelligible, but JD8n7 or D1B7be 

most people find it mintelligible. Some, indeed, are 

uncharitable or ignorant, perhaps, and call the writings 

or these authors sheer nonsense or, worse, plain bunk, 

as exemplified :tn a rather wll-lmown piece or doggerel 

-a,= ene Willi81ft llazs-. which goes like this1 

1

'l'here' s a wonderful ranily named Stein, 

'l'h.ere1 s Gerj;._1 ...... ¥ there's Ep1 and there's Ein; 

Gert's~ are bunk, 

Ep1 s statues are junk, ~ 

And no one can understand Ein." \;!.~ ,, 1 -· J:.aa""' .'C-eh.~~tl' c.5Lciwr~J! 1 ;r.., ;uka+ ~ ~r..~f.,\("{ c.a\\•d.. \.i\ao.,a.'C'~ l..t.xJ°ll'f"Q :~n. 'le.r~ 9-::""u\lif.r~ c~".";~''"' J.~~· .... t.:.. 
Here is an example from Gert.ru.de Stein's 

writings (107.1), ar!IBBreI~ei'nz E. E. Cummings G Sil before, and after what Max Eastmanf J fi:rdt::it 

wa+ caUe.cJ._"'!ill!C'lla.t~,k .. ct:C_.P..Yl.lC~~gp:._ ~~~ it. 

is in th~z'itt1:D' whicnCiirlliiliigspubi.isiiei"Ue poemt"° -

"f'~\.,k,\.:. I .')o,~~ Cl\bb. f'l~ if' Sl.l ~lo~ t~~- .At this point; a~ tne risk or offending some or-= 

m:r listeners who I hope will be patient with. me until 

I •retum to more serious comments, I want to show a 

couple of slides which were made from extracts from an 

anonymous article -- it could have been written, I 

suspect, only by James Thurber -- published about 2S 

years ago in the New Yorker. Before showing these two 

slides I mst givea bit of explanation. It was in 

1931 that a certain book was published by a very 

reputable and respectable American publishing house. 

-:rr- ~l-
So tar as I am a~a~ :ff l1~~6)181"7CAlJ' book that 

cannot be republisha"" er rap:"""...n .. ~- in 'tli!S country 

because an Act or Congress, passed very ·hurriedly in 

1933, forbids doing so. The book was written by one 

Herbert O. Yardley, liho had worlced in the gove:mment 

service in a very trusted capaci "t7 and had, ~e 

raa:it ef 'ftis e1m-, lost his job in 1929. This annoy-ed 

him excessively-, in fact to a degree which caused him 

to write a book that purports to tell how messages of 

other governments were intercepted and read by him and 

his subor~~s b.Y cryptanalytic processes, and the 

book was'P"'w!=tntlle title The .American Black Chauber. · It creat~ a sensation but that's ill I can say a'bOut 

it here. A couple of years later came the article :In. 

the New Yorlcer with the title The Literaq Black Chamber. 

-;;e;-:. ~ 
I show only two cases or suocesstul treatment; in 

!h!, Literary Black 9!!1!1!!!. I~ 1't;t2'81Jtsls with one 

ot Miss Stein's works a.&d quotiOs a parag~ph f'rom it. 

[Then read :tram slide S-31] 

- '!he next case deals with one of Mr. CUmmings' poems entit~ed 11 Is ).n 

[Point out briefiy the wrk done in reducing to 

plain-code in the ABC Cable Code, Slide S-32.] - - -=----

Well, that's enough or what Nl1' pe amsing or 

unamusing satire on these two devotees ot "modern 

literature." I wish now to return to serious consideration of that sort or literature in the light of what 

was said a few moments ago about writings in plain 

language and writings in secret language. 

-~n 
How I don't exae._~f'eel tha'f!_~...,w,.erks of the 

"modemistsn are actal:a'.9' cmt.A~ ~MeCsense ot that 

word as it is used in CI7Ptolo81"; nevertheless, because 

their intelligibility is not patent to the eye or ear 

one could justifJ' calling them cr,yptographic in a 

certain sense. -

But first let me show a good example,· one taken 

f'rom the writings of the greatest of them all, James 

J07ce. Here i~ a tiny' sample ot Joyce• s last and most 

important wrk, Finnegan's Wake '§:c11 • I show it in 

the form in which it was first pu shed, as an installment or the book tor lihioh Jo;yce had as yet selected no 

title. We won't have the ti.me to point out the meani_ng 

or meanings of this fragment even if I lmow them. ~ •\ I ~\_ ~ ~- 'd''f 
tet me confess at once that I don't know w17 muc 

about this sort offfE;B'toJD,lJc62ll 'JiB&tudied some of 

it casuall.¥ and .find that iiheil t..'le proper keys are used 

it becomes intelligible--i ts meaning or significance 

becomes clear, it has been reduced to plain language. 

But you general.17 have to wrk at the blsiness, just 

as you do when you solve a c:mss-word puzzle, or better 

7et, a cipher. I'd like to read. you a bdd l:ut 

interesting commental",f by one or America• s.:..important 

literary critics and authors or "non11.odem1' writings, 

viz., Edmund B. Wilson, who says the follow:l.ng in 

regard to James Jayce 1 s Finnegan 1 s !!:!!& 

1'.tad.q'1 when we are getting so many books in which 

the style is perfectJ.y clear but the meaning 

non-existent or equivocal, it a.ff'ords a certain satis-

-~ -'?~--
faction to read something ,.:that look~~:Uce. ,nonsense 1bn 

the surface but undem~ ~=tAP.t'e&:SiJ~se. Admirers 

of Ba1zac and Trollope tbink nothing of devoting years 

to reading their favorites through, and why should w 

ID:rudge time to B'oyce? The demands that he makes are 

considerable but. the rewards he provides are astounding ••• It is an exciting, a unique experience to fU1d 

pages that have seemed to us meaningless start into vivid 

life, full of energy, brilliance and passion. 11 

How I think that what Wilson says here is fair 

criticism. and a succint appraisal of the phenomena 

involved. The point is, as I've hinted before, that a· 

work of-one of the "modernists" requires work on our 

part to decipher or decode it before its hidden meaning 

or real significance becomes clear. Some persons are 

. -~-~-
dubious about the value or such work'o both the work of 

the producer or the ~cel:Q..ie\pai~ ~it.er, and the 

wrk or the decipherer or the "reducer" or the product, 

i.e., the reader or listener. But let •s be fair about 

this. Just as the mathematician, or the devotee"' of the 

game of chess or ngo, P of bridge or arrr other complex 

card game, engages in what is basicall.7 (leaving aside 

psychological factors) a mental activ.l.t7 or a rather high 

order and just as these persons derive great. satisfaction 

and pleasure from reaching a solution or plqing a good 

game or chess, etc., so mes the cryptologist derive 

great satisfaction and pleasure from. solving a cxyptogram 

(leaving aside also in this case other factors such as 

the possible ef'f ect a solution :ma;v: have on national 

defense); so also does the devoteJ derive satisfaction 

and pleasure .:t'ram decoding or deciphering wrds of the 

11modemists .n -_.a,'- r, _ 
In bringing 1111' rather ~_gtb;r W~ .].o a close, I 

may summarize or tie uljUii" odODne~I! about all ! 1 w 

said by closing with these canments1 First, we've found 

no valid ciphers in the Shakespeare Plays which state 

that Bacon or anybodJ' else wrote them. Second, it takes 

work and sometimes hard work to solve a complex problem in 

mathematics, or in cryptography", or in "modem literature.• 

'lhird, that the pleasure one derives from reaching a valid 

solution is often in i tselr sutt::Lcient recanpense for the 

work done; but sometimes the pleaSJ.re is accompanied also 

by a sense of unending satisfaction if the solution turns 

out to be something of great value or importance in any 

t:l.eld of endeavor that makes high achievement in our 

civilization worth while.