High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! William Frederick Friedman (September 24, 1891 – November 12, 1969) was a US Army cryptographer who ran the research division of the Army`s Signals Intelligence Service (SIS) in the 1930s, and parts of its follow-on services into the 1950s. In 1940, subordinates of his led by Frank Rowlett broke Japan`s PURPLE cipher, thus disclosing Japanese diplomatic secrets before America`s entrance into World War II.