During the 1920s Herbert O. Yardley was chief of the first peacetime cryptanalytic organization in the United States, the ancestor of today's National Security Agency. Funded by the U.S. Army and the Department of State and working out of New York, his small and highly secret unit succeeded in breaking the diplomatic codes of several nations, including Japan. The decrypts played a critical role in U.S. diplomacy. Despite its extraordinary successes, the Black Chamber, as it came to known, was disbanded in 1929. President Hoover's new Secretary of State Henry L. Stimson refused to continue its funding with the now-famous comment, "Gentlemen do not read other people's mail." In 1931 a disappointed Yardley caused a sensation when he published this book and revealed to the world exactly what his agency had done with the secret and illegal cooperation of nearly the entire American cable industry. These revelations and Yardley's right to publish them set into motion a conflict that continues to this day: the right to freedom of expression versus national security. In addition to offering an expos on post-World War I cryptology, the book is filled with exciting stories and personalities.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Naval Institute Press
ISBN-10
1591149894
ISBN-13
9781591149897
eBay Product ID (ePID)
30506348
Product Key Features
Author
Herbert O. Yardley
Publication Name
American Black Chamber
Format
Trade Paperback
Language
English
Series
Bluejacket Bks.
Publication Year
2013
Type
Textbook
Number of Pages
400 Pages
Dimensions
Item Length
9in
Item Height
0.8in
Item Width
6in
Item Weight
8.5 Oz
Additional Product Features
Lc Classification Number
D639.S7y3 2004
Copyright Date
2013
Topic
Communication Studies, Intelligence & Espionage, Military / World War I, Military / United States
Lccn
2004-042696
Dewey Decimal
940.4/8673
Intended Audience
Trade
Dewey Edition
21
Illustrated
Yes
Genre
Language Arts & Disciplines, History, Political Science