Adelaide Hawkins
Adelaide Hawkins (née Mulheran) (March 6, 1914- July 10, 2008) was a cryptologist at the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II. Biography. Hawkins was born in Wheeling, West Virginia. Her father was a machinist but his work was not enough to support the family so she lived with an aunt to ease financial strain. One year after graduating high school, Hawkins married Ed Hawkins. The couple had three children. Ed Hawkins worked for the Army Signal Corps Reserves and was assigned in Washington, D.C., where he began studying cryptography and cryptanalysis for the signal intelligence  group's extension program. Hawkins joined her husband in his training after she became interested with the work of the crypto analysis community in Washington. Career. When a new unit was being set up at her husband's workplace, she was asked to join as the coordinator of information. Her first briefing was given by James Roosevelt, son of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Beginning in December 1941, Hawkins managed the agency's message center in Washington DC, specializing in secret codes, or ciphers. She helped train spies working behind enemy lines in communications. She went on to work with the  CIA. She was a member of the “petticoat panel,” an effort by the CIA in 1953 to “to study the problems of professional and clerical advancement to determine…whether they believe there is any discrimination as such against women for advancing professionally.”