Parker Hitt: The Father of American Military Cryptology

Colonel Parker Hitt's 1916 Manual for the Solution of Military Ciphers was a foundational text in the history of cryptology, making codes the default communication method for the U.S. military in the twentieth century. His invention, the M-94 cipher device, was used by the Army for three decades until the Germans decrypted it during WWII. Historian Betsy Rohaly Smoot's biography reveals that Hitt was a champion for women in the workplace, supporting the employment of Hello Girls and working alongside his wife, Genevieve Young Hitt, the first woman to break ciphers for the US government.

Format: Hardback
Length: 320 pages
Publication date: 22 March 2022
Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky

The interception of dispatches and orders written in plain language has often led to defeat and disaster for the force whose intentions become known to the enemy. Colonel Parker Hitt's 1916 Manual for the Solution of Military Cyphers, a foundational text in the history of cryptology, played a significant role in this. Thanks to this manual and Hitt's early cipher inventions, codes became the default communication method for the U.S. military in the twentieth century. During World War I, codebreakers and cipher machines proved their worth, leading to the widespread adoption of codes.

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 World War II. To this day, Hitt is known as the father of American military cryptology.

In her biography, 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, supporting the 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 also of early military cryptology. Drawing from a never-before-seen cache of Hitt's letters, photographs, and diaries, Smoot introduces readers to this unique cryptanalyst's life.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780813182407