From Code-Making to Policy-Making
Four Decades in the Memorable Career of Russell Willson
Summer 2016, Vol. 48, No. 2
By Raymond P. Schmidt
This is the story of a bright young man from a family of modest means who became a star in the U.S. Navy of the 20th century.
As a seasoned junior o铿僣er, Russell Willson received the Navy Cross in 1918 as the trailblazing inventor of a critical secret cryptographic device and manager of a complex and secure Navy-wide communications system during World War I. Willson then resumed his career at sea and was elevated to command destroyer divisions and a powerful battleship and a battleship division. During the interwar years, Willson also served abroad in two key shore postings that expanded and honed his operations and diplomatic skills.
Shortly after the United States was attacked at Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Navy senior leadership wrenched him from his brief assignment as Naval Academy Superintendent and promoted him to the second-highest uniformed job in the Navy. After failing health forced him to retire at the end of 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt鈥檚 administration tapped him for major roles that shaped international relations in the postwar world. In those roles, Willson made possibly his greatest contributions to world and national security during the 40 years he served as a Navy o铿僣er.
Willson鈥檚 Roundabout Path to a Navy Career
Russell was born in 1883, the son of Sidney L. Willson, an enlisted Union soldier from New York who, at the age of 18, lost both legs below the knees at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863. In 1884 Sidney moved his family from Fredonia, New York, to Washington, D.C., where he served as a pension agent. Although Sidney lived in pain every day, his sacri铿乧e inspired Russell early in life to seek a career in the Army. According to a newspaper account of the time, 鈥淵oung Willson is conspicuous for having made the highest scholarship record ever made by any cadet pupil in the High Schools of Washington.鈥�
Mentored by Sidney, when Russell graduated in 1901 from Washington Central High school he sought to enter the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. Unfortunately, he ran into an insurmountable roadblock鈥攁ll nominations from all sources were already awarded. Instead, Russell spent a year studying engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The next year, he tried to enroll at the U.S. Naval Academy but found this path to a commission blocked as well. Other applicants had locked in all congressional nominations from states in the eastern part of the United States.
Denied but undaunted, young Russell sought a Naval Academy nomination from Wyoming. He had spent a previous summer working there at his cousin鈥檚 ranch, and fewer students in the less-populated Rocky Mountain state sought admission to the Naval Academy.
On the train to Cheyenne to take the examination for the Naval Academy, Russell wisely wore Western boots, jeans, and hat rather than a suit and tie. At the stop before his 铿乶al destination, a small group of young men in similar garb boarded. They had somehow learned of a competitor from out of state and stormed through the cars searching for the 鈥淓astern Dude鈥� who was rumored to want 鈥渢heir鈥� nomination. When challenged, Russell denied having seen an interloper, but quickly and wisely joined the group searching in vain for the 鈥渄ude.鈥�
The next day, his competitors were surprised to see him in the examination room. Willson excelled on the test and received a nomination from Wyoming Senator Francis E. Warren.
So, in the fall of 1902 Russell embarked on his career at a dynamic time for the Navy.
Roosevelt鈥檚 Navy: Modern Ships, Wireless Technology
President Theodore Roosvelt sent the 鈥淕reat White Fleet鈥� around the globe in a show of American naval might. Ensign Willson sailed with the fleet between San Francisco and the Philippines.
Theodore Roosevelt had become President in September 1901 upon the assassination of William McKinley. At age 42, Roosevelt led the United States into playing an active role in international relations. His aggressive national security strategy required possessing a modern, powerful, and professional Navy.
Roosevelt announced that he would 鈥渟peak softly and carry a big stick鈥� in dealing with other nations. A one-time assistant secretary of the Navy, he created a Navy 鈥渂ig stick鈥� by rapidly broadening and accelerating its shipbuilding program, adding 1,000 more o铿僣ers, and doubling the number of enlisted men. All of this required higher pay and bigger operating budgets.
Before he completed his second term, Roosevelt had moved the Navy from being the sixth largest in the world to second, behind Great Britain鈥檚 Royal Navy.
At the end of 1907, the United States had 16 new battleships with numerous escort ships manned by 14,000 sailors. They comprised the 鈥淕reat White Fleet鈥� of the U.S. Navy that steamed around the world from December 1907 to February 1909, one month before Roosevelt left o铿僣e. He demonstrated American naval might and led the way to improved ship design, with faster speeds, greater 铿乺epower, and a longer range of operations.
Roosevelt鈥檚 use of updated shipbuilding technology had its counterpart in rapid advances for communications electronics. Radio became essential to world powers that needed wireless communications to direct their 铿俥ets deployed farther from home ports.
These 鈥渟ignals in the ether,鈥� however, were exposed to interception by the receivers of opposing nations. Germany used radio intelligence to defeat Russia at the land Battle of Tannenberg in the 铿乺st months of World War I and would use it later against signals emitted by other Allies, including those of the U.S. Navy.
Roosevelt Selects the Navy to Lead in Developing Radio
In 1906 Roosevelt gave the Navy major responsibility for the government鈥檚 use of radio. Nine years later, Congress created the O铿僣e of the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) and transferred the new Radio Service to that o铿僣e. When Naval Communications replaced the Radio Service in 1916, its director placed it in a state of war readiness.
Concerned about the war in Europe, President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation in 1916 that authorized construction of 156 new ships over three years. Kaiser Wilhelm鈥檚 military advisers convinced him that his navy could defeat Allied 铿俥ets and starve Great Britain into submission by the fall of 1917鈥攂efore the U.S. Navy completed its ship-building program.
This confrontational German strategy risked certain war with the United States by renouncing the Sussex Pledge of May 1916 not to sink merchant and passenger ships indiscriminately. Nevertheless, on February 1, 1917, Germany resumed unrestricted U-boat warfare in the Atlantic.
Thus, even as the U.S. Navy embarked on expanding and modernizing its ships and radio facili- ties, the German High Command lost its gamble that Allied shipping would remain vulnerable to its submarine 铿俥et for six months.
Germany also lost its gamble of attacking American codes and ciphers to obtain vital information. Thanks to improvements in U.S. Navy communications security, Germany was unable to use radio intelligence to learn American plans.
Willson Creates a Secure Communications System
Just as the convoy program ultimately protected Allied shipping against submarine attacks, Navy leaders placed con铿乨ence in a new message encryption system invented by Willson to protect the contents of its messages.
His Navy Cipher Box device鈥攖he NCB鈥攂ecame a vital part of U.S. strategy to secure communications controlling deployment of American ships to Europe with troops and supplies for the Allied cause.
President Wilson directed the Navy Department to take over all coastal commercial stations needed for its communications and to close all others. The Navy also took over almost all commercial radio sta- tions in the United States. Thus, after the United States declared war in April 1917, the Navy controlled radio stations ashore and on board all ships at sea, including communications with merchant ships.
By the time the armistice ended the war in November 1918, Willson had established a solid reputation with his seniors and among his peers by distributing his secret NCB throughout the Navy and by creating a message system that ensured the Germans could not exploit vulnerabilities in U.S. communications.
Signi铿乧antly, during Willson鈥檚 铿乺st decade after graduating from the Naval Academy, he gained broad exposure to combat ships and their maneuvers, as well as to the operational need for rapid, reliable, and secure communications among ships and with commands ashore.
Willson鈥檚 Star Rises as Navy Reaches World Power Status
Within weeks of entering the Naval Academy, Russell was called home to attend his father鈥檚 funeral. In October 1902 Russell found himself enrolled with the Class of 1906 in Annapolis, Maryland, but without the guidance of Sidney for the 铿乺st time in his life. Ironically, this timing swept him into a Navy opening up opportunities that were made possible by the same Theodore Roosevelt who had been unable to o铿�er him a nomination to West Point. He responded to the challenge.
The urgent need for junior o铿僣ers for Roosevelt鈥檚 growing 铿俥et forced the Naval Academy to graduate classes in February from 1903 through 1906. Immediately after graduation, Willson reported to his 铿乺st ship, the Pennsylvania, and served on board for the required 24 months at sea before earning his commission as an ensign.
His sea service continued without shore duty for another 44 successive months, giving him experience on a new cruiser and two battleships, including one of Roosevelt鈥檚 newest ships placed in service the previous year. These valuable assignments enabled him to steam with the First Division of the Great White Fleet on its third leg from San Francisco to the Philippines in 1908.
Ensign Willson then spent time aboard a refrigerated supply ship for the Great White Fleet and assisted in establishing wireless communications among U.S. Navy ships o铿� the Chinese coast. This led to duty as aide to commanders in the Atlantic 铿俥et operating in European waters and exposed him to their need for reliable and fast secure communications.
His 铿乶al division commander was second in command of the Atlantic Fleet who had recently been an aide to the secretary of the Navy. Thus, Russell gained his sea legs and a solid grounding in naval codes and signals before he detached for shore duty in the fall of 1911, where he viewed naval communications from the broader perspective of the Navy Department headquarters in Washington.
These successive assignments as an aide exposed Russell, newly promoted to lieutenant junior grade, to the thinking of senior o铿僣ers as well as to developing new technology in a growing Navy. They also helped him qualify in December 1911 for promotion to lieutenant鈥攖wo promotions in a matter of months. In June 1911 Russell had married Eunice Westcott. In May 1912 Eunice gave birth to a daughter, also named Eunice. Lieutenant Willson鈥檚 career and personal life had passed important milestones.
The next assignment in April 1914 took him to the battleship USS New York, then preparing for commissioning. Within days the ship arrived o铿� Veracruz, where the U.S. 铿俥et blockaded that Mexican port. The New York served as 铿俛gship for the commander of the landing force, solidifying Willson鈥檚 understanding of Navy communications and the varied information needs for conducting naval operations.
After two years on the New York, Lieutenant Willson reported in April 1916 as 铿俛g lieutenant and aide on the sta铿� of Vice Adm. Henry T. Mayo, second in command of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. Two months later, when Mayo stepped up to the position of Fleet Commander-in-Chief and was promoted to admiral, he took Willson with him as an aide on his personal sta铿� and 铿俛g lieutenant on board the super-dreadnought (after World War I typically just battleship) USS Pennsylvania. As before, his aide duties required handling communications for the commander, thus giving him an invaluable 铿俥et-wide communications perspective. Cumulatively, these tours prepared Willson to devise and test his innovative and more secure NCB cryptographic device for the Navy.
In December 1916, Willson left sea duty for OP- 58, part of the Division of Operations in the O铿僣e of the CNO. His new responsibility as O铿僣er in Charge, Code and Signal Section, left no question as to his duties: update Navy signals and secure Navy communications.
Willson understood that 铿俥et radio signals to and from ships were clearly vulnerable to interception, that current encryption of messages was slow and cumbersome, and that the process was likely to cause errors compromising security. It remained for him to prove the merits of his new cryptographic device and demonstrate its promise for overcoming these de铿乧iencies.
Code-Making: Lieutenant Willson Has a Better Idea
OP-58 squeezed into the Old State-War-Navy Building next to the White House. Later in 1917, the Code and Signal Section was redesignated a branch of the Naval Communications System. Willson鈥檚 title then became 鈥淎ssistant to the Director of Naval Communications for Codes and Signals.鈥�
A month after Willson and his wife welcomed their second daughter, Mary, in May 1917, he earned promotion to lieutenant commander. This higher rank was helpful to him in integrating elements of Navy Department Intelligence and Operations with Communications in the Code and Signal Branch during the war. He learned from our British allies, taking advantage of their leadership in naval signals and radio communications and their experience dealing with codes and ciphers.
Willson鈥檚 Navy Cipher Box encrypted 铿乿e-letter groups selected from Navy Code A-1, a new two-part code book, which provided greater security than its outdated predecessors. Willson鈥檚 NCB allowed cryptographers systematically to enter letters of code groups in one column and then read their cipher replacements down another column.
When the NCB Mark II (second model) was perfected, the Navy produced 1,000 units in 1918 and distributed them to stations ashore and to ships, along with the vital associated alphabet strips, appropriate keys telling users which strips to use, and new, more secure A-1 code book. Ships and shore stations were grouped into eight classes for distrib- uting di铿�erent strips and keys governing their selection, thereby gaining added cryptographic security.
Thus not only did Willson create the 铿乺st mechanical cryptographic device adopted for operational use by the U.S. Navy, but his expanded system for sending di铿�erent keys to various levels of command and classes of ships also markedly upgraded its overall communications security.
Willson managed the expansive wartime program that updated 铿俥et signals as well as antiquated Navy codes and ciphers.
For his contributions, he received the Navy Cross, ranked second only to the Medal of Honor. The citation applauded his 鈥渆xceptionally meritorious service鈥� as a lieutenant commander ful铿乴ling a 鈥渄uty of great responsibility鈥� during the war. It stated that he earned this medal for 鈥渢he preparation, handling, and distribution of war codes and for devising a new and very e铿僣ient system of such communications.鈥�
With the 铿乬hting in Europe still raging during September of 1918, the Navy pinned the silver oak leaf of a commander on his collar, adding monetary gain to his Navy Cross. These were welcome recognitions of his accomplishments and prospects for the future, of course, but Russell Willson chafed to return to sea duty.
Willson Finally Completes His Communications Duties
Commander Willson sailed from New York in October and, on the day the armistice was signed鈥� November 11, 1918鈥攔eported to Vice Adm. William S. Simms, commander of U.S. Naval Forces in London.
After meeting brie铿倅 with the U.S. Sixth Battle Squadron attached to the British Grand Fleet for discussions 鈥渋n connection with signal book work,鈥� his orders were modi铿乪d, diverting him to Paris for 鈥渄uty in connection with codes and cyphers.鈥� This modi铿乧ation may have related to the arrival of President Woodrow Wilson in Paris in December for meetings preliminary to the Peace Conference.
And then he sailed back home in early December on USS Leviathan, a Navy troop ship that carried more than 119,000 members of the American Expeditionary Forces to Europe during the war. Fittingly, those AEF troops made safe transit thanks in part to communications secured by the NCB.
Once home, Willson again reported to USS Pennsylvania concerning the new signal books. He o铿�ered heartfelt advice to his detailer in the Navy Department never to 鈥済et mixed up in writing a signal book鈥攊t is a hell of a job!鈥� The detailer placed Willson in line for his 铿乺st command at sea, and he was 铿乶ally relieved of all his rewarding but wearying code and signal duties.
The year 1919 brought Commander Willson the additional twin pleasures of assuming command of a new destroyer, USS Southard, and the birth of his son, Russell Jr. Over the next two years he commanded two other destroyers and a destroyer division in the Atlantic Fleet.
In September 1921 Willson returned to the O铿僣e of the CNO. His following tour at the Naval War College for the senior o铿僣er course allowed him to take Eunice and their young son and two daughters with him to Newport, Rhode Island.
But his following command of the destroyer USS Lawrence was cut short because Eunice had become seriously ill and was not expected to live through the ship鈥檚 six-month winter cruise. The Navy authorized Willson to exchange billets with the executive o铿僣er of the battleship USS Florida, which was undergoing modernization in the Boston Navy Yard.
During months of Eunice鈥檚 medical uncertainty, the Navy again took advantage of Willson鈥檚 mastery of naval communications and, in June 1925, sent him on temporary duty to assist the Navy Department with 铿乶al preparation of the General Signal Book.
The next month, with Eunice鈥檚 health stabilized, in July 1925 he was sent to the West Coast in the enviable billet as executive o铿僣er of the battleship USS Pennsylvania. Willson had gained valuable experience on the super-dreadnaught just prior to the war, and this ship would 铿乬ure again in his prospects for a future that remained promising.
Then Willson鈥檚 career abruptly changed course as the Navy detached him in January 1927 to become a senior representative of the U.S. Naval Mission to Brazil. After operations o铿僣er duty with the Brazilian Squadron for three and a half years, Willson was able to translate and conduct technical and social conversations in Portuguese.
Near the end of his tour in Rio, Willson was promoted to captain鈥攁 welcome promotion after more than a decade as a commander.
The Navy honored his next request for duty and sent him to sea in January 1931 in command of a Paci铿乧 destroyer division. Eighteen months later in July 1932, Willson returned to shore duty at the Naval Academy as head of the Department of Seamanship and Navigation. His experience in command and in-depth knowledge of shipboard duties led the U.S. Naval Institute to ask him to revise the Watch O铿僣er鈥檚 Guide, which he kept updated over the next decade. As duty in Annapolis rolled to a close, the NCB came up again in a 铿乶ancially rewarding way.
Congress Recognizes Captain Willson and His Navy Cipher Box
A closed congressional hearing in early 1935 disclosed telling facts about the NCB and its part in helping Allies win World War I. The secretary of the Navy personally asked Congress to approve monetary compensation for Willson in lieu of a patent for his device. Adm. Joseph K. Taussig testi铿乪d for the secretary that the NCB had been widely employed in the war and was still in use in 1935. It had, he added, protected the Navy鈥檚 most secret communications, speci铿乧ally those with Vice Adm. William S. Sims, commander of U.S. European Naval Forces.
The act authorizing 鈥渞elief鈥� in the form of $15,000 for Capt. Russell Willson was approved and signed by FDR. (General Records of the United States Government, RG 11)
In fact, testimony revealed that the Naval Communications System provided secure radio communications for virtually all departments of the U.S. Government. This included War Department messages to France concerning movements of troops and cargo and those from the State Department, as well as some by 鈥淐olonel鈥� Edward M. House (President Wilson鈥檚 personal representative) and the President himself.
Taussig quoted a 鈥淸German] diplomatic agent in Copenhagen [who] reported that copies of all cables鈥� exchanged between the U.S. and Europe were being read by Germany, 鈥渆xcept for those [encrypted] in the Navy cipher鈥濃�擶illson鈥檚 NCB.
Then Taussig told the committee that, as the war ended, the State Department wanted to take possession of the NCB to protect its vulnerable transatlantic cable communications. Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. William S. Benson appealed to President Woodrow Wilson. In the face of these strong objec- tions, Wilson directed instead that the Navy assume full responsibility for securing and handling every dispatch to and from the Paris Peace Conference, even those for the President himself.
鈥淧resident Wilson had his own special cipher and used to operate this machine himself鈥� in Paris, Admiral Taussig told the committee. Thus, the NCB and Naval Communications System also served the nation and the President during the 1919 Peace Conference.
The committee questioned Admiral Taussig because the cash award for a cryptographic invention was unprecedented. Taussig requested that the secure proceedings not be made public, burying this matter for decades. Finally, Committee Chairman Carl Vinson asked Willson whether he wished to make a statement concerning the bill that would award him $15,000.
His terse and priceless reply: 鈥淚 am in favor of it.鈥� The mid-1930s were good years for Captain Willson and his family. In April 1935 the Navy again detailed him to the battleship USS Pennsylvania, now in command of this 铿俛gship of the commander-in-chief, U.S. Paci铿乧 Fleet. In July, Congress and the President paid him $15,000 for the Navy Cipher Box. Their older daughter, Eunice, began working for the O铿僣e of Naval Intelligence in 1934, and their son would soon be headed to the Naval Academy in 1937.
Attach茅 Duty, Flag Officer Command, and Academy Superintendent
Over the next six years, Willson鈥檚 personal life and career appeared to hold even greater promise. He left the Pennsylvania in the fall of 1936, headed for the coveted post of naval attache and naval attach茅 for air to the Court of St. James in London.
When he departed England in January 1939, he was ordered back to the Paci铿乧 Ocean, where, in May, he was promoted to rear admiral and relieved Rear Adm. Chester W. Nimitz as commander of Battleship Division One at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. When he left 20 months later, everyone in the Navy was aware of the looming Japanese threat in the Paci铿乧.
It was time for a joyful homecoming: Willson reported as superintendent of the Naval Academy in early 1941. He arrived in time to preside over the graduation with distinction and commissioning of his only son, Russell Jr., in the abbreviated class of 1941鈥�35 years after his own February 1906 graduation. He had returned 鈥渉ome鈥� to warm greetings from the academy and Annapolis communities. But this and his next tour soon proved to be bittersweet.
Policy-Making at the Highest Levels
On Christmas night, several weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the telephone in the Naval Academy superintendent鈥檚 residence rang. Adm. Ernest J. King was calling, and Willson鈥檚 heart sank because he knew that his chances of command at sea during the war had been reduced to zero.
His tour as superintendent abruptly ended, 11 months after it began. King had selected Willson as his chief of sta铿�. Several months later, King elevated him to deputy commander in chief of the United States Fleet and promoted him to vice admiral.
Tragically, overwhelming pressures from working tirelessly for months in these critical roles for King caused Willson鈥檚 health to fail. He was forced to retire for medical reasons in December 1942. Nonetheless, King ensured that Willson received credit for his contributions, which had resulted in the 鈥渟uccessful prosecution of the war.鈥� His 鈥渆xceptionally meritorious service鈥� earned him the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, the next highest decoration after the Navy Cross.
Wisely, the Navy immediately called him back to active service as a member of the Joint Strategic Survey Committee of the Joint Chiefs of Sta铿�. He represented the JCS in working with the State Department to develop policies for postwar issues of national sovereignty and international security arrangements. He played a key role in a meeting of the Great Powers at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference in Washington, D.C., during August and September of 1944.
Undersecretary of State Edward R. Stettinius, head of the U.S. delegation, tapped Willson to chair the critical Special Informal Military Group of British, Soviet Russian, and United States uniformed military advisers who helped formulate provisions for maintaining international peace and security in the United Nations Charter.
Willson deftly handled di铿僣ult comprehensive negotiations on all questions of a military nature. His skill earned him thanks from Secretary of State Cordell Hull and President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
These and other contributions by Vice Admiral Willson prompted the State Department to retain him as a military adviser during the 1945 United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco. In February of 1946 President Harry S. Truman authorized awarding Willson the Army Distinguished Service Medal for his 鈥渆xceptionally meritorious and distinguished services in the performance of duties of great responsibility from December 1942 to December 1945.鈥�
Raymond P. Schmidt earned a bachelors degree in history from the University of Nebraska and a masters in modern European diplomatic history from the University of Wisconsin. He served 14 years as the 铿乺st civilian historian employed by the Naval Security Group and the 铿乺st o铿僣ial historian of U.S. Naval cryptology since World War II. He retired as a captain from the Navy Reserve after 40 years of combined active and inactive duty.
Note on Sources
Archivists Rodney Ross and Jane Fitzgerald at the 威尼斯人娱乐场 and Matthew Brawn at the Law Library of the Library of Congress provided critical copies of Private Law 79 for the relief of Russell Willson and the 鈥淩ed Line鈥� bill signed personally by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Vice President of the United States as President of the Senate, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Records of the O铿僣e of the Chief of Naval Operations (Record Group [RG] 38) and the Naval Records Collection of the O铿僣e of Naval Records and Library (RG 45) yielded useful technical information.
Willson鈥檚 personnel records from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri, were helpful.
Willson-Rice family albums and folders o铿�ered a wealth of materials. Countless hours of conversations and interviews and email exchanges over 12 years, as well as valuable guidance by daughter Eunice Willson Rice and granddaughter Rosamond Rice still continue to reveal new insights.
Jay R. Browne of the Naval Cryptologic Veterans Association provided critical support over the past decade.
Representative items listed here were useful in con铿乺ming events, places, names, and dates.
Robert Albion, Makers of Naval Policy: 1798鈥�1947, ed. Rowena Reed (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1980).
Robert C. Hilderbrand, Dumbarton Oaks: The Origins of the United Nations and the Search for Postwar Security (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1990).
Linwood S. Howeth, History of Communications Electronics in the United States Navy (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing O铿僣e, 1963).
David Kahn, The Codebreakers: The Story of Secret Writing (New York: The MacMillan Company, 1967).
Naval History Division/Naval History and Heritage Command, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Online and Navy Department for hardcover. Various.