The United States Postal Service released a stamp this month honoring women cryptographers who cracked codes during World War II. The most prominent among them may have been 1915 Hillsdale alumna Elizebeth Smith Friedman, according to Adjunct Instructor in Journalism Buddy Moorehouse.
“She essentially pioneered the science of codebreaking and then used her skill to help win World War I and take on Al Capone’s mob during the 1930s,” said Moorehouse, whose documentary filmmaking class is researching Friedman’s life for a film that will screen on Nov. 9.
Women’s cryptographic skills became indispensable in World War II, Moorehouse said. Since many men were deployed overseas, the U.S. government enlisted women students and schoolteachers to break encrypted German and Japanese messages, build code-breaking machines, and secure U.S. communications. Among the women they recruited, Friedman stood out, Moorehouse said.
According to Moorehouse, Friedman changed the course of the war by cracking Nazi codes sent to the coast of South America.
“If the Nazis had taken over South America, the war might have had a very different outcome,” Moorehouse said. “Elizebeth Smith Friedman literally prevented that from happening. She helped win the war. She was an American hero in every sense.”
Hillsdale College instilled a love of literature in Friedman, Moorehouse said. Following graduation, she researched hidden ciphers in Shakespeare’s plays. After proving Shakespeare wrote all his own plays, she became hooked on the growing field of cryptography, Moorehouse said.
Friedman went on to bust liquor smugglers, expose spy rings, and shorten world wars, becoming “America’s first female cryptanalyst,” according to the National Security Agency.
The efforts of women cryptographers like Friedman were not recognized during their lifetimes and remained classified until decades later, the National Security Agency said.
To bring awareness to their story, the United States Postal Service created a stamp commemorating their influence on American history this year.
“The Postal Service strives to recognize people and events of historical importance,” Tatiana Roy, publicity officer for the USPS, told the Collegian in an email. “During World War II, women cryptologists were one of the conflict’s best-kept secrets.”
The stamp artwork depicts a Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, or WAVES, recruitment poster beneath excerpts from the Purple Code, a Japanese code used before Pearl Harbor that women cryptographers deciphered.
Antonio Alcalá, the designer of the stamp, said he wanted the woman on the stamp to represent all women cryptographers. He chose a blurred face to highlight their secretive profession.
“My opinion is that women’s contributions to our culture are often under-recognized,” Alcalá told the Collegian in an email. “The more we can bring these stories and accomplishments to the American public, the better. We all benefit from knowing about our history.”
Alcalá said he sees a stamp as an excellent medium to spread the word about a little-known group
“I don’t expect the stamp to tell the full story of women cryptologists, but I hope the stamp helps make the viewer interested in learning more,” Alcalá said
