History Related Articles & Items
About the photo: World War I cryptographers trained by William and Elizebeth Friedman, Aurora, Illinois, early 1918. By facing either forward or sideways, the soldiers formed a coded phrase utilizing Francis Bacon’s biliteral cipher. The intended message was the Baconian motto “Knowledge is power,” but there were insufficient people to complete the r (and the w was compromised by one soldier looking the wrong way). Courtesy George C. Marshall Research Library.