Zimmerman Telegram Decryption

[Carl Schwamberger]

Perhaps a expert can help me.

I recall some years ago, perhaps a decade, & probablly in a magazine (US Naval Institute Proceedings?) reading that the US cyptanalyists had also decoded the Zimmerman telegram, and Wilson knew its contents before the British passed along their decrypt to the US government. For several reasons the US gov. sat on its decrypt & used the British version in its public communications on the subject.

Can anyone here identify a source that has this version? Or a source that might show this to be wrong?

Thanks

[cstunts]

Carl,

Why not just reread Tuchman? The Zimmermann Telegram isn't hard to locate.

I'm rather intrigued by this question, too, but cannot find anything along those lines--or even suggestive of it--in Tuchman.

[Carl Schwamberger]

Tuchman is just one source, however well regarded. Plus that research was done fifty (?) years ago. If something like that had actually emerged in recent publication it might have represented documents Tuchman missed, or did not have acess to.

Anyway the evidence presented here reveals my memory as faulty, so it is something of a answered question.

[Rob Stuart]

... US cryptanalysts had also decoded the Zimmerman telegram ...

The US government had no cryptanalysts in early 1917, so far as I know. Its famous "Black Chamber" was not set up until 1919. Furthermore, the British ability to read the Zimmerman telegram was partly due to "pinches", IIRC, and there is no evidence that the US broke into German consulates or otherwise obtained physical access to any German codes or ciphers.

[OpanaPointer]

Thought I'd posted a link to this a while ago. SRH-234 is the one you're interested in. This may also be useful. http://ibiblio.org/pha/A%20CENTURY%20OF ... IGENCE.pdf

[Rob Stuart]

http://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic_he ... ndex.shtml would seem to confirm that the US was not targeting foreign diplomatic comms in January 1917.