Marie Anne Meyer (April 7, 1897 – 1969) was an American linguist and spy who worked for the National Security Agency from 1943 to 1960.[1] She was assigned to the Venona project and is credited with making some of the first recoveries of the Venona codebook.[2][3] She studied eight foreign languages and was the first person to receive the NSA's Meritorious Civilian Service Award.[1][2]
Marie Anne Meyer | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 7, 1897 |
| Died | 1969 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Linguist |
Meyer was born on April 7, 1897 and raised in Bloomington, Illinois.[1] She attended Illinois Normal State University in Normal, Illinois and graduated with a bachelor's degree in education in 1919.[1] She began teaching at schools after graduation and continued her education through summer sessions at the University of Chicago, studying French and Latin.[1] In August 1930, she received a master's degree in Latin.[1] In the 1930s and 1940s, she continued to study languages, taking summer classes in Sanskrit, Greek, and German.[1]
In 1943, Meyer was hired by the Signal Security Agency, most likely as a German linguist.[1][2] In the summer of 1946, she took a University of Chicago course in Russian[2] and was assigned to the Venona project by the National Security Agency.[3] She is credited with making some of the first recoveries of the Venona codebook.[2][3] For the rest of her career, Meyer worked on other facets of the Russian problem and taught Russian classes at the NSA training school.[1] A 1950 NSA memorandum described Meyer as a "highly professional Russian linguist holding the highest level of competency."[1]
Meyer retired in 1960 and was the first person to receive the Meritorious Civilian Service Award.[1] She spent her retirement years engaging in research at Catholic University in Celtic languages.[1] She died in Illinois in December 1969.[4]