Hearkening my son’s high recommendation to visit the International Spy Museum in Washington DC, we chose a hot summer day to enjoy that.
A few years ago, my son visited with a group he was part of.
Ever since he’s been insisting that we all go.
RECEIVING SPY ASSIGNMENTS
Upon arrival, we received our secret spy assignments that we carried throughout the rest of the tour.
SHAKESPEARE
Aha!
Since I knew that Shakespeare had a good enough education to write his own plays, I was especially interested in the literary code-cracker, William Friedman.
Immigrating to America from Russia in 1892 to flee persecution for being a Jew, Friedman became interested in cryptology when he read Edgar Allen Poe’s The Gold-bug.
After college studies, Friedman started working in genetics for Riverbank Laboratories.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Wells Gallup believed that Francis Bacon was the true author of Shakespeare’s plays.
Since Friedman was an expert photographer, he photographed historical manuscripts for Gallup’s research.
MARRIAGE AND CRYPTOGRAPHY
Along the way he fell in love and married cryptographer, Elizebeth, who was Gallup’s assistant.
Soon after, Friedman began directing Riverbank Laboratory’s Code and Ciphers department along with the Genetics department.
Meanwhile, he began publishing several works on cryptography.
When America entered WWI, Riverbank Laboratory offered their Department of Codes and Ciphers to the war effort.
Since the Army and Navy were only beginning such departments, none other existed.
Thus, Riverbank fell into partnership with the federal government.
When the Friedman’s broke an important international code, the federal government sent their Army officers to Friedman for training.
During WWI, Friedman joined the Army to serve directly under General Pershing as his personal cryptographer.
In 1957, Friedman and his wife wrote The Shakespearean Ciphers Examined, where they revealed flaws in Gallups work, debunking her premise.
The Folger Shakespeare Library awarded the Friedmans for this work.
ARLINGTON HALL
This caught my eye because we had just been to Vint Hill Farms Station, which was affiliated with Arlington Hall Station.
Eventually becoming the chief cryptanalyst for the War Department, Friedman later led the Signals Intelligence Service (SIS) at Arlington Hall.
In 1938, the SIS assigned Friedman to crack the Japanese Purple codes, which he did, predicting the attack on Pearl Harbor, which was ignored.
OPERATION SPY TOUR
Later in the day we took a special tour, called Operation Spy, where we interacted with other spies in an actual spy-thrilling adventure.
CHARADE
Since we were still in the mood for undercover agents when we arrived home, we watched Charade with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn.
