Formatting necessary for an accurate reading of this text may be shown by tags (e.g., <DELETED> or <BOLD>) or may be missing from this TXT display. For complete and accurate display of this text, see the PDF.
[Page S2121]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS
______
SENATE RESOLUTION 133--HONORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF ELIZEBETH SMITH
FRIEDMAN, CRYPTANALYST
Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Mrs. Fischer) submitted the following
resolution; which was considered and agreed to:
S. Res. 133
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.
____________________
