Catharine Kingsley
WWII Cryptographer
Catharine Kingsley grew up in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where she attended Oklahoma State University. She graduated in 1943 as a Language major. She mastered five of them: English, Spanish, French, German and Latin. During World War II, Catharine worked as a code breaker and a spy-buster. She was one of many civilians who worked to protect America from enemy agents. In 1944 Catharine moved from Oklahoma to work for J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI in Washington, D.C. She was paid $200 a month, working eight-hour days and six days a week. The work involved scanning intercepted correspondence and looking for repetitive letters and words forming a pattern, which in turn conveyed a secret message. Catharine Kingsley never wore a uniform. In fact, she was never issued a gun as she served our country during WWII. Interview with Catharine KingsleyProgram Credits: Honest Media Müllerhaus Legacy Website Team Date Created: November 7, 2010 Date Published: April 14, 2015 Notes: Recorded by John Erling in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Digital Audio Sound Recording, Non-Music. Tags: J. Edgar Hoover, Pearl Harbor, Eisenhower, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Adolph Hitler, Smithsonian Institute, Francis Scott Key, Hope Diamond, Peter Marshall, Abraham Lincoln, George Patton, General Douglas MacArthur, VE Day (Victory Europe), Winston Churchill, WWII (World War II), FBI, War Bonds, Code breaker, Cryptography, Charles Chibitty |