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

by Liza Mundy

The U.S. military’s decision to tap “high grade” young women—and the women’s willingness to accept the summons—was a chief reason why America, in the aftermath of its entry into World War II, was able to build an effective code-breaking operation practically overnight. That millions of women served the war effort by rolling up their sleeves and donning trousers and jumpsuits to work in factories—the celebrated Rosie the Riveter, who helped build bombers and tanks and aircraft carriers—is well known. Far less well known is that more than ten thousand women traveled to Washington, D.C., to lend their minds and their hard-won educations to the war effort. The recruitment of these American women—and the fact that women were behind some of the most significant individual code-breaking triumphs of the war—was one of the best-kept secrets of the conflict. The military and strategic importance of their work was enormous.