Parker Hitt: The Father of American Military Cryptology (American Warrior Series)

""Success in dealing with unknown ciphers is measured by these four things in the order named: perseverance, careful methods of analysis, intuition, luck." So begins the first chapter of Colonel Parker Hitt's 1916 Manual for the Solution of Military Ciphers, a foundational text in the history of cryptology. An irrepressible innovator, Hitt possessed those qualities in abundance. His manual, cipher devices, and proactive mentorship of Army cryptology during World War I laid the groundwork for the modern American cryptologic system. Though he considered himself an infantryman, Hitt is best known as the "father of American military cryptology." In Parker Hitt: The Father of American Military Cryptology, Betsy Rohaly Smoot brings Hitt's legacy to life, chronicling his upbringing, multiple careers, ingenious mind, and independent spirit. In the 1910s, after a decade as an infantry officer, Hitt set his sights on aviation. Instead, he was drawn to the applied sciences, designing signal and machine-gun equipment while applying math to combat problems. Atypical for the time, Hitt championed women in the workplace. During World War I he suggested the Army employ American female telephone operators, while his wife, Genevieve Young Hitt, became the first woman to break ciphers for the United States government. His daughter, Mary Lue Hitt, carried on the family legacy as a "code girl" during World War II. Readers of Elizabeth Cobb's The Hello Girls, Liza Mundy's Code Girls, and David Kahn's The Codebreakers will find in Parker Hitt's story an insightful profile of an American cryptologic hero and the early twentieth-century military. Drawing from a never-before-seen cache of Hitt's letters, photographs, and diaries, Smoot introduces readers to Hitt's life on the front lines, in classrooms and workshops, and at home"-- Provided by publisher

"Success in dealing with unknown ciphers is measured by these four things in the order named: perseverance, careful methods of analysis, intuition, luck." So begins the first chapter of Colonel Parker Hitt's 1916 Manual for the Solution of Military Ciphers, a foundational text in the history of cryptology. An irrepressible innovator, Hitt possessed those qualities in abundance. His manual, cipher devices, and proactive mentorship of Army cryptology during World War I laid the groundwork for the modern American cryptologic system. Though he considered himself an infantryman, Hitt is best known as the "father of American military cryptology."

In Parker Hitt: The Father of American Military Cryptology, Betsy Rohaly Smoot brings Hitt's legacy to life, chronicling his upbringing, multiple careers, ingenious mind, and independent spirit. In the 1910s, after a decade as an infantry officer, Hitt set his sights on aviation. Instead, he was drawn to the applied sciences, designing signal and machine-gun equipment while applying math to combat problems. Atypical for the time, Hitt championed women in the workplace. During World War I he suggested the Army employ American female telephone operators, while his wife, Genevieve Young Hitt, became the first woman to break ciphers for the United States government. His daughter, Mary Lue Hitt, carried on the family legacy as a "code girl" during World War II. Readers of Elizabeth Cobbs' The Hello Girls, Liza Mundy's Code Girls, and David Kahn's The Codebreakers will find in Parker Hitt's story an insightful profile of an American cryptologic hero and the early twentieth-century military. Drawing from a never-before-seen cache of Hitt's letters, photographs, and diaries, Smoot introduces readers to Hitt's life on the front lines, in classrooms and workshops, and at home.

"The history of war teems with occasions where the interception of dispatches and orders written in plain language has resulted in defeat and disaster for the force whose intentions thus became known at once to the enemy." So begins Colonel Parker Hitt's 1916 Manual for the Solution of Military Ciphers, a foundational text in the history of cryptology. Due largely in part to this manual and Hitt's early cipher inventions, codes became the default communication method for the U.S. military in the twentieth century as codebreakers and cipher machines had proved their worth during World War I. A modified version of Hitt's invention, the M--94 cipher device, was used by the Army for three decades until the Germans decrypted the code during the middle of WWII. To this day, Hitt is known as the "father of American military cryptology." In the first biography of this American hero, historian Betsy Rohaly Smoot brings Hitt's legacy to the fore, chronicling his extraordinary military career and deviation from masculine tropes during the early twentieth century. Smoot reveals that Hitt was a champion for women in the workplace, giving his support to employment of the "Hello Girls," American female telephone operators for the First Army switchboard and working alongside his wife, Genevieve Young Hitt, the first woman to break ciphers for the United States government. Readers of Liza Mundy's Code Girls and David Kahn's The Codebreakers will find an insightful profile of not only an American hero in Parker Hitt's story, but of early military cryptology as well. Drawing from a never-before-seen cache of Hitt's letters, photographs, and diaries, Smoot introduces readers to this unique cryptanalyst's life. Cover Halftitle page American Warriors Title page Copyright page Dedication Epigraph Contents Preface Note on Terminology Introduction 1 | The Making of the Man 2 | The Making of the Soldier 3 | Genevieve Young 4 | The Making of the Expert 5 | To France 6 | Chief Signal Officer 7 | Jack-of-All-Trades 8 | Commerce 9 | Retreat 10 | Return to Service 11 | The Old Soldier 12 | Legacy Acknowledgments Notes Selected Bibliography Index