Letters from the Truest Memoirs of Herbert Yardley and Other Sources

Introduction:

This project was based on the Washington Naval Conference of 1920, American cryptographic efforts at the same, and a variety of other fun historical tidbits I discovered in the process of writing. The sections of the document labeled “Historical Notes” are in fact accurate, and provide further context. The project takes the form of a series of letters written by one Herbert Yardley, addressed to an unknown reader, in addition to several (fictional) telegrams and letters to other persons, alongside the historical notes. 

Letters from the Truest Memoirs of Herbert Yardley and Other Sources

Historical Notes-The Washington Treaty

The Washington Conference of 1920 was the first international disarmament conference. Conducted in the wake of the First World War, the 5 victorious powers: the British Empire, United States, Japanese Empire, France, and the Kingdom of Italy met in Washington D.C., in order to prevent a naval arms race they believed would bankrupt their nations. The lead negotiator for the United States was Charles Evan Hughes, who would later become Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The conference was a success, ending the uncontrolled upward trend in battleship size and government naval expenditures, though the treaty system would ultimately fail in the 1930s. Alternate treaties concluded at the same conference saw a re-dedication to the American sponsored “Open Door” policy in China, and limitations on island fortifications in the Pacific. The United States was particularly successful at the conference due to the existence of an early cryptographic signals intelligence unit known as the Black Chamber or Cipher Bureau, dedicated to intercepting foreign diplomatic communications, run by Herbert Yardley. The Black Chamber was ultimately dissolved only days after the stock market crash of 1929, when the new Secretary of State, Henry Stimson, proclaimed that “gentlemen do not read each others mail”. 

Letter 1-Herbert Yardley, date unknown

Dear reader, 

Know that if you are reading this, it has been some time since my death. In fact, it has most likely been decades, if all of my wishes have been heeded. I was a man of the early 20th century, an employee of the United States Department of State, and Department of War. If you have an interest in cryptography or espionage, you may even recognize my name. I, Herbert Yardley, published a book called only The American Black Chamber, about my work for our esteemed government. Since then, it has been claimed that I was desperate for money, that that was my primary, indeed only, motive for the publication of that first manuscript. First, yes. If you, dear reader, have, since opening this for the first time, gone to the library to look up a man named Herbert Yardley, and noticed that there is not one mention of any other manuscript, well, that should tell you something indeed. My second manuscript was somewhat more specific, on Japanese diplomatic codes, not the general sweep of The American Black Chamber. My third manuscript, however, was to have been something special indeed. 

My dear reader, what I had discovered in my years of codebreaking work will leave you truly shocked and appalled. Our government has seen fit to conceal from us discoveries of a most extraordinary nature.  

Historical Notes-The American Black Chamber

In 1931, a destitute Yardley would publish a book titled The American Black Chamber, exposing the signals intelligence operations of the United States throughout the 1920s, which became wildly popular. While the United States government was unenthused about the book’s publication, they did not attempt to prevent it. After the passage of new laws, however, the United States government would prevent the publication of a second book, on Japanese diplomatic codes. That manuscript was not obtained by the public until the 1970s. 

Letter 2-Addressed to Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, 1930

The Honorable Charles Hughes, 

Sir, I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to you on behalf of a former associate of ours, a particular Herbert Yardley. Mr. Yardley was the chief of the Black Chamber during our conference in Washington, and has since been greatly affected by what seems to be to be an extraordinarily strong attack of nerves. He has begun to go on about secret actions performed by the government of these United States in a manner which many of his former colleagues have found greatly distressing. His office was sadly dissolved shortly after the crash last year, and many of my former employees have been left nearly completely penniless. To say that this has not improved Mr. Yardley’s condition would be a grievous understatement. He is threatening to write a “tell-all” describing the actions of the Chamber during the last decade, which he has extended to include, as I have said, some truly fantastical claims. Mr. Hughes, I am asking for your aid in ensuring that the government of these United States rededicates itself to providing for its former employees in this time of crisis, if only to prevent Mr. Yardley from exposing secrets which we would prefer to remain secret, and imply the existence of many more. 

Your Humble Servant, 

-John Garret

Telegram 1-Found in the collection of Herbert Yardley, origin unknown

MR. SMITH REPORT WASHINGTON STOP CONTACT GARRET STOP REDS AWARE OF PROJECT STOP SIBERIA WITHDRAWAL SOON STOP JAPANESE TO COVER DEPARTURE STOP

Historical Notes-Entente Interventions in Russia

Following the October Revolution, Entente forces occupied portions of Northern Russia and Siberia, in an attempt to combat the emerging Soviet Union alongside White—Russian Royalist, Republican, and otherwise anti-communist, including some socialist—forces. This intervention failed, but Entente troops remained in Siberia into the early 1920s, with Japanese forces withdrawing only in 1922. 

Letter 3-Herbert Yardley, date unknown

You see, dear reader, reports of the treaties conducted at the Washington conference, are, to say the least, incomplete. I intercepted enough transmissions by other governments to become very interested in what our own government was doing, and what it was really cooperating on. Oh, the conferences goals were indeed disarmament, the resolution of the “China Question”, and so on. However, there was a second layer to the negotiations, a secret treaty for a secret project. Our government had found something in Siberia, and they wanted it, badly. Badly enough to allow Japan (since I know not when you will be reading this, dear reader, you must remember that our nations were not much fond of one another even then) access to it if they maintained their intervention for a few more years, time enough for the objects in question to be removed. 

Historical Notes-1926 Byrd Expedition

In 1926, then Lieutenant Richard Byrd, USN, commanded an aircraft expedition in an attempt to reach the North Pole, which he claimed to have accomplished. Lt. Byrd was awarded the Medal of Honor. The achievement was controversial, and recent evidence involving erasure of sextant readings suggest that Byrd only made it around 80% of the way to the North Pole. 

Telegram 2-Found in the collection of Herbert Yardley, addressed to Lt. Byrd, 1926

PROCEED TO BETA POINT STOP RENDEZVOUS WITH BRITS STOP PREPARE FOR EXPEDITION STOP

Letter 4-Herbert Yardley, date unknown

Dear Reader, 

Ultimately, the matter of which I seek to inform you is one of greatest import for all humanity. Mr. Byrd, you see, never did make it to the North Pole. That, however, was not in any means his true purpose. Mr. Byrd’s telegram, addressed to a small branch office in Naval Intelligence, contained a number of barometer and temperature readings which are, simply put, very much impossible on the Earth which we currently inhabit. Indeed, our government has concealed access to a great variety of other worlds for some time now. I applaud them for preventing the reds from getting it first, of course, imagine the situation we would be in now, but do not understand why they have kept this from us as well. 

Sources (Washington Conference):

Ichihashi, Yamato. The Washington Conference and After. 1928. New York, AMS Press, 1969.

Jordan, John. Warships After Washington. Barnsley, Seaforth Publishing, 2011. 

Murfett, Malcolm. Look Back in Anger: “The Western Powers and the Washington Treaty of 1921-1922”. Arms Limitation and Disarmament: Restraints on War, 1899-1939, edited by McKercher. Praeger, 1922, 83-103. 

Symonds, Craig. The Battle of Midway. New York, Oxford University Press, 2011. 

Other than the above sources, the project stuck to Wikipedia for the details on Adm. Byrd, and the various dates, such as the Entente intervention in Siberia. To be clear, the sources above were primarily used for a previous project, but the notes taken for that project proved very useful.