Table of Contents
I. History of the Navajo Indians
II. Who, How and Where did the Idea Come From?
III. Developing the Code
IV. Using the Code
V. After the War
During World War II the Germans felt that they had
an unbreakable code. This coding system was the Enigma Machine.
As we have learned through out the semester the Enigma machine was breakable.
A group of mathematicians were able to break the code using various mathematical
concepts. The Germans weren’t the only ones that had an unbreakable
code; the United States also had a code that proved to be unbreakable.
This code was one that was developed by the Navajo code talkers.
I. History of the Navajo Indians
Let’s start our discussion about Navajo Code Talkers
by looking at the history of the Navajos and their language. The
Navajo’s language has evolved from the language of the Athabascan tribes.
The Navajos picked up characteristics of this language while traveling
through America. The Navajos are originally from Alaska and northern
Canada, and migrated to Arizona, New Mexico, and southern Utah.
There were problems between the Navajos and the
United States for many years. In 1860, Colonel Kit Carson was ordered
by General James Carleton to “solve the problem”. In 1863, Carson
and his troops went in and forced the Navajo’s to move.
“ Carson’s troops trampled and burned Navajo cornfields and vegetable
gardens.
They chopped down the orchards, killed the wild game, burned the firewood,
and drove off or slaughtered the sheep. They burned Navajo villages
to the ground and killed any Navajos who resisted.” (Aaseng, 1992)
After all this the Navajos had no choice but to surrender,
they were left with nothing. This led to a 300-mile walk to Fort Sumner.
The Navajos called this the Long Walk. This walk was very brutal
on the Navajo Indians; many Navajos died on the Long Walk. It took
three week to get to Fort Sumner, were the U.S. Army planned to reform
the Navajos.
Once they arrived at Fort Sumner the conditions
were even not any better. Fort Sumner was very similar to what we
would call a concentration camp. Although they had said that they
were going to reform the Navajos, many of them didn’t see it the same way.
The Navajos remained at Fort Sumner for four years in those four years
up to 2,000 Navajos died. In April 1868 several Navajo leaders
decided to go to Washington to speak with President Johnson. Once
in Washington the Navajo agreed to sign the “Treaty Between the United
States of America and the Navajo Tribe of Indians”. Since the Navajo’s
signed the treaty they were finally allowed to return home.
The first part of this treaty was about
laws. The United States laws were to be followed by the Navajos.
However the Navajos could also make and enforce their own laws on the reservation.
These laws however had to be approved by the U.S. Government. The
other main point of this treaty was land area. However this turned
out to be a problem because the Navajos had no concept of land ownership.
The Navajos didn’t understand the boundary set that created their reservation
because they just used what land they needed. Another problem
arose with the reservation; the U.S. Government would take and give back
land, as they wanted it. For example if the railways needed it they
would take what they needed then return the land to the Navajos when that
railway was no longer used. The final thing that was promised in
this treaty was that the Navajo children would get free English education.
The Navajos found it necessary to send their children for this education
because, they realized that laws were going to have to be written now not
just agreed upon with spoken word. Although they were granted free
education many Navajos didn’t take advantage of it. This would be
more apparent when they would go to recruit Navajo for the Code Talker
Program. The Navajos received their homelands as their reservation
because the land most of them lived on was remote, and not suitable for
farming.
Despite all of the harsh treatment of the
Navajos and the great efforts by the U. S. Government to try to change
them, the Navajos kept their culture. The Navajos did not soon forget
the Long Walk and other injustices toward the Navajos by the U. S. Government.
Stories would be passed on from generation to generation. Even after
being told of this harsh treatment the sons and grandsons of some of the
Navajos who survived the Long Walk, fought for the United States Government
in World War I. The main reason that the Navajo decided to help was
the fact that if the United States was in harm that would directly effect
them since they lived in the United States.
II. Who, How and Where did the Idea Come From?
The idea of having an Indian language as a code
was first used in World War I by the Canadians. The Indian language
that they tried was that of the Choctaws Indians. Two main reasons
that it didn’t work were because of the fact that the Indians knew very
little English and the Indians didn’t have equivalent terminology for the
military terms.
The man that is known for coming up with the idea of using Navajo language
as a code is Philip Johnston. Philip Johnston was the son of
missionaries who did a lot of work with the Navajo Indians. He knew
the complexity of the language and he knew that the military was looking
for a code that they could use during World War II. Philip was also
a veteran of WWI, so he knew how difficult it was. He also knew of
the effort to use the Choctaw language during WWI.
Johnston brought his idea to the U.S. Marines in California.
He then met with Lieutenant Colonel James in February of 1942. The
Lieutenant was very judgmental