Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II

Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II

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In the same vein as "Hidden Figures", this history of the female codebreakers that contributed significantly to the progress of WWII is long overdue. The author interviewed a number of the codebreakers and their families and researched the topic extensively when the previously classified information was finally declassified. The codebreakers were sworn to silence while employed and for many years afterwards; in most cases their husbands and families had no idea of the importance and complexity of the job the young women were doing during the war. It was generally believed that they had fulfilled some menial clerical function.

The author incorporates personal information from a number of the "code girls" and factual information on many others. Women were responsible for many of the most important code breaking accomplishments during the war, and their efforts definitely helped the U.S. to win the war on both fronts. They actually learned of the Japanese surrender before many in the government and military did!

Women were recruited from colleges and universities, and many had been trained as teachers, one of the few occupations available to educated women at the time. They underwent extensive screening and training to ensure that they were fit for the work. They arrived in Washington, D.C. in droves and were housed in hastily constructed rather Spartan accommodations. The work was scheduled 24 hours a day, and housing was so limited that it wasn't uncommon for multiple girls to use the same bed. They were housed and fed, and provided with a wage that was more than any of them could ever had made as teachers; nevertheless their pay rate was still 25-30% less than men doing the same work. It was an exciting time to be in the Capitol, and the women also had lively social lives, some of them being courted by multiple men in uniform and all of them maintaining a steady correspondence with one or more men who were serving the country.

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"Irresistible.... We owe Mundy gratitude for rescuing these hidden figures from obscurity. Even more valuable is her challenge to the myth of the eccentric, inspired, solitary male genius, like Alan Turing."―Elaine Showalter, Washington Post

"Code Girls...finally gives due to the courageous women who worked in the wartime intelligence community."―Smithsonian.com

"Liza Mundy's Code Girls reveals one of World War II's last remaining secrets: the true tale of the young American women who helped shorten the war and saved thousands of lives by breaking the codes of the German and Japanese armed forces. But it's also a superbly researched and stirringly written social history of a pivotal chapter in the struggle for women's rights, told through the powerful and poignant stories of the individuals involved. In exploring the vast, obscure, and makeshift offices of wartime Washington where these women performed seemingly impossible deeds, Mundy has discovered a birthplace of modern America."―Glenn Frankel, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of High Noon.. . . .

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https://www.amazon.com/Code-Girls-Untold-American-Breakers/dp/0316352535