Hillsdale alumna Elizabeth Friedman cracked hundreds of ciphers for the US military.
After appeals from many alumni and friends of the college to recognize college alumni Elizebeth Smith Friedman, the college will introduce the Elizebeth Smith Friedman Freedom Award. The award, named after the 1915 Hillsdale alumna, will honor alumni who have promoted freedom in their careers.
Doug Goodnough, director of alumni marketing, and Colleen McGinness, executive director of alumni relations, created the award.
“The award will be honoring those people who have spent their life protecting, defending, and promoting the cause of individual freedom, which Friedman did,” McGinness said.
McGinness said the ideal candidates for this award include those in various kinds of service such as public or military service who aren’t seeking recognition.
“Anyone can nominate alumni, anyone can submit their names, and we will take those nominations and listen to their stories of freedom and service,” McGinness said.
Elizebeth Smith Friedman, the award’s namesake, worked as an editor at the Collegian and graduated from Hillsdale in 1915 with a degree in English. Shortly after, she began working for the United States military in decoding enemies’ radio signals. She broke codes in both World Wars leading to the United State’s victories, according to Buddy Moorehouse, adjunct instructor in documentary filmmaking.
“Her story is so compelling,” Moorehouse said. “She was literally one of the people who helped end World War II by intercepting and decoding Nazi radio signals, preventing them from taking over South America, which would have been disastrous.”
Friedman was the subject of a documentary film made by students in Moorehouse’s journalism course last semester. “Hillsdale Student, American Hero” is available for viewing on YouTube.
“What she did helped the Allies win two world wars and prevented some really bad things from happening,” Goodnough said.“So anything we can do to draw attention to her and to claim her as a Hillsdale graduate is just fantastic.”
Much of Friedman’s code breaking was classified until 2008, obscuring her service and preventing proper recognition.
“The government classified a lot of her work until recently, but now that it’s come to light, we see the contribution she’s made to not only the freedom of America but to the freedom of the entire world,” Goodnough said.
Moorehouse said Hillsdale owes Friedman praise and recognition as one of its own to share the impact she had on American history.
“She was a trailblazer in so many respects, and really embodied the ideals of the college,” Moorehouse said. “Her story was lost to history for so long, so anything that the school can do to honor her legacy is great.”
This year, the award will be given to Friedman as a way to honor her legacy. She died in 1980.
“Since it’s her name on the award, we’re going to honor her initially,” Goodnough said, “and then it will be given to fellow alums who display a lot of the same traits that Elizebeth did.”
In the future, Goodnough and McGinness hope to continue honoring Friedman through the award itself and through featuring her story in award ceremonies to come.
“This year will look a little different since she’s the first recipient of the award, so we’ll focus it entirely on her,” McGinness said.“But I imagine in the future it will be always using her name and coming up every year, so continuing her legacy and making sure that she is known is the biggest reason for this award.”
While the award honors the alumni who have promoted freedom, it also serves as a way to honor Friedman’s work, said Goodnough.
“She is arguably one of the most important graduates in our history, and for so many years she was unknown, and that was one of the primary reasons to create this award–to cement her legacy, not just at Hillsdale College, but in America.”
