Skip to main content
Back to Show
American Experience

Elizebeth Friedman: Cryptanalyst Pioneer

Elizebeth Smith Friedman was an American codebreaker from Indiana. During Prohibition, her decrypts and testimony brought down international drug rings and liquor smugglers. Friedman’s codebreaking in WWII enabled the US to win the “Battle of the Atlantic” and smash Nazi spy rings.

Support Provided By
Season
Woodstock
1:38:42
They came to hear the concert of their lives, but experienced something far more profound.
The Eugenics Crusade
1:53:12
The Eugenics Crusade tells the story of the campaign to breed a “better” American race,
The Gilded Age
1:52:46
The Gilded Age: Full Film
Rachel Carson
1:53:15
The woman whose groundbreaking books revolutionized our relationship to the natural world.
The Perfect Crime
52:03
After attempting to commit the perfect crime, would two boys get the death penalty?
stonewall-uprising-preview
1:20:50
The Stonewall riots marked a major turning point in the modern gay civil rights movement.
My Lai
Unlock with PBS Passport
52:21
The 1968 My Lai massacre and its subsequent cover-up.
The Polio Crusade
52:01
In the 1950's a Polio outbreak swept the U.S., devastating communities nationwide.
The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer
Unlock with PBS Passport
1:49:38
The man behind the atomic bomb is put on trial for suspected communist ties in 1954.
Victory in the Pacific
Unlock with PBS Passport
1:49:22
The final months of WWII from the vantage points of both the Japanese and the Americans.
Seabiscuit
52:55
An over-worked horse and a broken-down jockey capture the nation's imagination.
The Presidents
Unlock with PBS Passport
1:52:37
Part of the award-winning "The Presidents" collection.
Active loading indicator