In 1929, Herbert Hoover's new Secretary of State, Henry Stimson, on learning of the existence of this clandestine bureau, cut off funds with the statement that “Gentlemen do not read each others mail.” The organization was closed; Yardley was out of work.
Desperate for money, he became a writer. In 1931 he published The American Black Chamber, revealing the secrets of his defunct organization. The book became a bestseller—in Japan as well as in America. The Japanese were outraged, and set out to change their crypto systems to something more secure.
—
Yes, Gentlemen do read others mail.
Stimson was right and its shallow to pretend he was naïve. He was an honorable man. He was what a man should be, not some damned sneak. Nobody respects a sneak.
You forgot to tell everyone a little more about Stimson. He was Secretary of War starting in 1940. After his gentlemanly trust was betrayed, he was eyeballs deep in the Manhattan project.
Truman created an The Interim Committee, which began in May 1945 with Stimson as its chairman. One of the Committee’s recommendations for President Truman came from the June 1, 1945 meeting. As stated in the Committee notes for that meeting, “ The atomic bomb should be used against Japan as soon as possible; that it be used on a war plant surrounded by workers’ homes; and that it be used without prior warning.”
Nations are the same as individuals. Reading other people mail is indeed the behavior of a pussy. A man doesn’t do it. A real mans protection is his decency and strength. It is the swift and certain destruction of anyone who is a sneak and gets in a rabbit punch.
America used to know this before they got too deeply involved with Brits and post war Nazis.
Stimson was right. And we would be better off with a guy like him.