movies. In 1933, Congress passed a law specifically to prevent Yardley from publishing a book of codebreaking yarns focused on Japan; the new law, called “An Act For the Protection of Government Records” and derided by Yardley as the “Secrets Act,” declared it a crime to reveal secrets about cryptologic information. But stories about codes and ciphers only increased after Yardley opened the gates. He had proven that there was a market for them, particularly yarns about Yardleyesque women who dealt in secrets, and when editors looked around for such a woman, they did not have to look far.
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