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Genevieve Grotjan Feinstein was a skilled cryptanalyst whose discovery in September 1940 changed the course of history. Her successful breakthrough enabled the Army Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) to build an analog machine that solved the Japanese diplomatic system known as "Purple."

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Genevieve Grotjan Feinstein was a skilled cryptanalyst whose discovery in September 1940 changed the course of history. Her successful breakthrough enabled the Army Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) to build an analog machine that solved the Japanese diplomatic system known as "Purple." Exploitation of this system provided crucial intelligence in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters during World War II.

Ms. Grotjan Feinstein was hired by William Friedman for the SIS in 1939. By 1940 she made her discovery that led to breaking the "Purple" code, and by October 1943 she was assigned to the Soviet problem and worked on the project later known as "Venona." She devised a process for recognizing the re-use of key, which, in turn, permitted the decryption of Russian KGB messages. The discovery was labeled "... the most important single cryptanalytic break in the whole history of Venona."

Ms. Grotjan Feinstein's brilliant findings in two instances enabled exploitation of communications that provided invaluable intelligence information to policymakers. This information was used by the most senior government officials for decisions in World War II and the Cold War.

In 1943, Ms. Grotjan married Hyman Feinstein, a chemist at the National Bureau of Standards. After serving as a cryptanalyst and as a research analyst for over seven years, on May 4, 1947, Genevieve Grotjan Feinstein resigned from the government and later became a professor of mathematics at George Mason University.

Genevieve Grotjan Feinstein died in 2006 at the age of 93. Before his death in 1995, Hyman Feinstein established an award in cryptology within the Department of Mathematical Sciences at George Mason in honor of his wife.

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Genevieve Grotjan Feinstein was a skilled cryptanalyst whose discovery in September 1940 changed the course of history. Her successful breakthrough enabled the Army Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) to build an analog machine that solved the Japanese diplomatic system known as "Purple." Exploitation of this system provided crucial intelligence in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters during World War II.

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At the beginning of the war, women weren’t always welcomed into the workplace. They received less pay and some men looked down on them and felt they weren’t up to handling a “man’s job.” Most women were expected to leave their jobs after the war ended. Some women were fine with that because they got to leave with a plus which is having more confidence and making new skills.But after their selfless efforts during World War II, men could no longer claim superiority over women. Women had enjoyed and even thrived on a taste of financial and personal freedom—and many wanted more.

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Prior to World War II, women were mostly homemakers. Those that worked outside the home usually worked as secretaries, receptionists or department store clerks.

Once America entered World War II, however, men went off to war by the millions and women stepped into the civilian and military jobs they left behind. Women were proud to serve their country-but how did their service during the war inspire their fight for social change and equality?
WATCH: Women's History Documentaries on HISTORY Vault
Rosie the Riveter was more influential than glamour girls.

As America's war machine went into action, the government initiated a massive publicity campaign to persuade women to replace men on assembly lines in factories and defense plants. They produced posters and film reels of glamorous women in the workplace to entice women to serve their country as part of the home-front labor force.

Yet the not-so-glamorous image of Rosie the Riveter depicting a confident-looking woman wearing coveralls and a red bandana and flexing her muscles under the headline, "We Can Do It!" remains one of the best-known icons of World War II.

Meant to inspire patriotism, the image of Rosie the Riveter was a new and different way of portraying women, and many historians cite her as an inspiration for female liberation.

Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

Women in civilian jobs learned valuable skills.

According to Kevin Hymel, historian at the U.S. Air Force Medical Service History Office,"With their men away, women became more self-sufficient. Many brought tools home from work and used them on their own home repairs. They took on domestic roles they never had before."

World War II mobilization affected women by introducing them to new lines of work not typically suited for women at the time. It's estimated that up to six million women joined the civilian workforce during World War II in both white and blue-collar jobs, such as:

streetcar operators

taxi drivers

construction workers

steelworkers

lumber workers

munitions workers

agriculture workers

government workers

office workers

Women served in dangerous roles in the U.S. military.

Around 350,000 women served in the military during World War II. "Women in uniform took on mostly clerical duties as well as nursing jobs," said Hymel.

"The motto was to free a man up to fight. Some women became translators in Naval Intelligence, enabling them to read classified enemy communiques. One woman said when she was inducted to Naval Intelligence, an admiral spoke to the assembled women and told them, 'If you talk about anything you do here, we can legally kill you.'"

Women also served as truck drivers, radio operators, engineers, photographers and non-combat pilots. And the all-black, all-women 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion was sent first to Birmingham, England, and then to Rouen, France, to process huge backlogs of undelivered mail.

According to Hymel, "The women in the most danger were nurses, who often came under artillery and aircraft fire near the front lines. They lived in the elements, sometimes in mud, heat and freezing temperatures, yet performed their duties alongside their male counterparts."

Bernard Hoffman/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Working women endured harassment, miserable working conditions and low pay.

Working women on the home front faced unique challenges, too. Those with children struggled with child care and caring for a household on their own. Many had to learn to manage their finances for the first time and cope with a tight budget further strained by war rationing and the call to buy war bonds.

At first, women weren't always welcomed into the workplace. They received less pay and some men looked down on them and felt they weren't up to handling a "man's job." They often faced sexual harassment, long hours and dangerous working conditions.

But as women performed their jobs admirably and the demand for workers increased, men's attitudes toward them gradually became more positive.

Women's roles continued to expand in the postwar era.

The call for working women was meant to be temporary and women were expected to leave their jobs after the war ended. Some women were okay with this-but they left their posts with new skills and more confidence. Women who remained in the workplace were usually demoted.

But after their selfless efforts during World War II, men could no longer claim superiority over women. Women had enjoyed and even thrived on a taste of financial and personal freedom-and many wanted more.

Though progress was slow over the next two decades, serving their country in the military and at home empowered women to fight for the right to work in nontraditional jobs for equal pay and for equal rights in the workplace and beyond.

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Prior to World War II, women were mostly homemakers. Those that worked outside the home usually worked as secretaries, receptionists or department store clerks. Once America entered World War II, however, men went off to war by the millions and women stepped into the civilian and military jobs they left behind.

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The Purple Machine was an Allied codename for one of several Japanese cipher machines used during World War Two. The purple machine was the most difficult Japanese code to break and was used to send super-secret messages from 1939 until 1945.  The Japanese remained confident throughout the war that the Purple Machine and its code remained unbroken by the Allies, and they even continued to use the code even in the weeks immediately following their surrender in 1945. Prior to Pearl Harbor, the government revealed that it broke the Purple code before the outbreak of the war. It was the first time former Japanese forces heard that the Purple Machine had been long compromised.

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█ ADRIENNE WILMOTH LERNER

The Purple Machine was an Allied codename for one of several Japanese cipher machines used during World War Two. The nickname Purple Machine was derived from the name of the code the machine produced. The first intercepted Japanese code was dubbed "Orange" by American code breakers. As the codes increased in sophistication and difficulty to decipher, cryptologists referred to the various cipher permutations with the names of colors. "Purple" was the most difficult Japanese code to break, and was used to transmit diplomatic messages from 1939 until 1945.

The mechanics of the Purple Machine were similar to other Axis encoding machines, such as the German Enigma cipher. The Purple Machine used the twenty-six-letter Latin alphabet, programmed into a pegboard with corresponding wires that governed cipher wheels, or rotors. The machine itself consisted of a typewriter joined by wires and a circuit board to a series of four rotors that shifted the type in various permutations on a second typewriter to produce coded text. The coded text was sent by wire, preceeded by a series of coded numbers that revealed the permutations used to create the code. With the setting adjusted as specified, the encoded text could

then be deciphered by again running it through the machine.

While many pre-war Japanese codes were broken mathematically with pen and paper, effectively deciphering Purple required constructing an identical cipher machine. American cryptologist William Friedman built a replica of the Purple Machine, based on intelligence information, in 1939. When the machine became operational, American code breakers were able to monitor most Japanese diplomatic messages that used the Purple code.

While breaking Purple gave U.S. intelligence services a great deal of information regarding diplomatic activities and strategies, it seldom yielded specific information regarding naval actions or fleet positions. The Japanese used a separate code for military operations, fleet positions, and troop deployments. In the months prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, Purple Machine intercepts indicated that the Japanese were planning an attack, but the messages did not mention Hawaii, Pearl Harbor, or a date for such an attack. However, the Japanese government did use Purple to deliver their ultimatum the day before the attack. Cryptologists decoded the series of fourteen messages between the Japanese government and their embassy in Washington, D.C., and passed the messages along to the Department of the Navy. A further intercept in the early hours of December 7, 1941, indicated that the Japanese fleet was poised and awaiting the order to attack. No action was taken on the information in the intercepts, and the U.S. Pacific fleet was bombed in port at Pearl Harbor later that day.

After Pearl Harbor, deciphered Purple Machine intercepts yielded substantial intelligence information for the United States. Paired with deciphered Japanese Navy dispatches that used another broken code, Purple Machine intercepts helped the United States to victory at the battle of Midway. In the weeks before the battle, code breakers discovered a series of messages from Tokyo to Japanese diplomats and Navy officers that discussed battle strategy in the Pacific. Some of the communications yielded fleet positions. Decoded Purple messages also allowed Allied planes to track and shoot down a military flight carrying Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.

Breaking Purple Machine code even aided the Allied effort on the European front. A long series of dispatches between Japanese diplomats in Germany and the Japanese command in Tokyo discussed meetings with Hitler and revealed information about German defenses in occupied France. This information helped Allied forces prepare for the D-Day invasion of the continent.

The Japanese remained confident throughout the war that the Purple Machine and its code remained unbroken by the Allies, and continued to use the code even in the weeks immediately following their surrender in 1945. In United States hearings regarding intelligence, military, and political oversights in the days prior to Pearl Harbor, the government revealed that it broke the Purple code before the outbreak of the war. It was the first time former Japanese forces heard that the secrecy of the Purple Machine had been long compromised.

█ FURTHER READING:

BOOKS:

Clark, Ronald William. The Man Who Broke Purple: The Life of Colonel William F. Friedman, Who Deciphered the Japanese Code in World War II. New York: Little & Brown, 1977.

Budiansky, Stephen. Battle of Wits: The Complete Story of Codebreaking in World War II. New York: Touchstone Books, 2002.

SEE ALSO
World War II
World War II, United States Breaking of Japanese Naval Codes

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purple machine
█ adrienne wilmoth lerner

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█ ADRIENNE WILMOTH LERNER The Purple Machine was an Allied codename for one of several Japanese cipher machines used during World War Two. The nickname Purple Machine was derived from the name of the code the machine produced. The first intercepted Japanese code was dubbed "Orange" by American code breakers.