Title: A resolution honoring the life and legacy of Elizebeth Smith Friedman, Cryptanalyst.
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications

Summary:
This resolution honors the life and contributions of Elizebeth Smith Friedman, a pioneer in codebreaking.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 133 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 133

Honoring the life and legacy of Elizebeth Smith Friedman, Cryptanalyst.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 1, 2019

   Mr. Wyden (for himself and Mrs. Fischer) submitted the following 
             resolution; which was considered and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Honoring the life and legacy of Elizebeth Smith Friedman, Cryptanalyst.

Whereas Elizebeth Smith Friedman was born on August 26, 1892, in Huntington, 
        Indiana;
Whereas, at 19 years of age, Friedman began to study Greek and English 
        literature at Wooster College in Ohio and later graduated from Hillsdale 
        College in Michigan after transferring there;
Whereas Friedman stumbled upon her career as a codebreaker by accident after 
        assisting with cipher research at the Riverbank facility of businessman 
        George Fabyan;
Whereas, in the 1920s, government agents recruited Friedman to break codes for 
        the Coast Guard;
Whereas, based on her work, the Coast Guard subsequently asked Friedman to form 
        a group to decrypt intercepts;
Whereas, in the early 1930s, Friedman created and managed the first codebreaking 
        unit ever to be run by a woman;
Whereas, during World War II, Friedman and her team in the Coast Guard, working 
        simultaneously with, but independently of, the well-known British 
        codebreaking group led by Alan Turing, broke the Enigma G machine used 
        by Germany, enabling the decryption of intercepted messages between 
        German operatives in South America and their overseers in Berlin, thus 
        stopping an alliance between Nazi Germany and countries in South 
        America;
Whereas Friedman co-authored several of the Riverbank Publications, which became 
        the ``textbook'' for training individuals in the United States on 
        encryption and codebreaking from the 1930s to the 1950s;
Whereas J. Edgar Hoover of the Federal Bureau of Investigation took credit for 
        the achievements of Friedman and her team, leaving her work widely 
        unrecognized until after her death;
Whereas, in the 1990s, to honor the contributions of both Friedman and her 
        husband, who was also a codebreaker, the National Security Agency 
        renamed its auditorium as the William F. Friedman and Elizebeth S. 
        Friedman Memorial Auditorium;
Whereas Elizebeth Smith Friedman continues to be a beacon of inspiration for 
        women in the national security community and for women pursuing STEM-
        related fields;
Whereas the work of individuals such as Elizebeth Smith Friedman distinctly 
        shows how strong encryption technology can change the course of history; 
        and
Whereas Elizebeth Smith Friedman died on October 31, 1980, leaving behind a 
        legacy of remarkable skill and technical ingenuity, woven together to 
        solve the most complex secret messages in the world: Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved, That the Senate honors the life and contributions of 
Elizebeth Smith Friedman, a pioneer in codebreaking.
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